Capitalism is hell so thought it be best we all have a space to both rant a bit and also give each other some insight on how we best get by. Remember that you don't wanna put anything too incriminating or personal since wreckers are always looking for dirt but maybe you can tell us about your "friend".
Mind you this isn't a neoliberal "pull yourself from your bootstraps" comm poverty will not be eliminated by simply making "better" individual choices instead think of this comm as a safe place to vent about surviving under capitalism and a place to share whatever hard earned knowledge you wished you knew of earlier.
damn, thats fucked. My BIL taught me car repair on the driveway of a suburban condo while stripping down and refurbishing a super fucked up drift rocket he got for cheap. Kinda place that would totally call the cops on us if they knew it was illegal.
Tool libraries should be a thing, they could have a garage with jacks and stuff.
Just have to work faster than the cops can circle and order parts first. When I was in the city the library did tool rentals, it was mostly sewing and yard stuff, but as a short man being able to rent a sewing machine to hem pants was gold. Forgot to add libraries usually (not always)have seed banks/donations where you can pick up seeds for a garden.
Issue with garage with jacks would be liability of people getting hurt or clunkers getting stuck for too long. It is a good idea, just not sure how to make it feasible.