Another duct tape story.
I totalled my first car, lost an argument with a big brown sedan, but since I was only two years into the payments, I still owed more than what the insurance company said it was worth. So if I took the check and let them scrap the car, I'd have to come up with $1500. What a screwed up situation. My other option was actually keeping the car, not getting it repaired, and let the insurance company and the bank fight about it, since the collateral on the loan was toast. I chose that option.
So far another year and a half, I drove a car with the passenger side totally caved in, windows covered over in plastic sheeting, and the whole thing held together with duct tape. The door was all bent up and didn't fit right anymore: duct tape. Some of the trim was dangling: duct tape. Yep, it looked like hell. But the alignment amazingly was perfectly fine, the engine was fine, even the rear window defroster still worked. I could drive it on the highway.
Since my only choice was to toss the car, pay $1500 and still have to buy another one, and just kept it and drove it into the ground.