Just saying hello

I'm an Air force veteran unfortunately I don't have any housing I live in my vehicle.

I have lived in a 1992 Honda Accord the engine finally called it quits after the camshaft by the keyway sprocket went kaput, a 1993 Chevy blazer which the engine went kaput because my husband didn't put oil in the engine, 2010 Chevy Silverado which was a lemon sold to me by a corrupt dealer, a 2018 Tacoma SR5 V6 which I traded in for my current 2018 Toyota Tundra SR5 5.7 l V8 crewmax.

All of these vehicles I've loved the Tacoma was way too small for what I needed the Honda was quite thrifty on gas the Silverado would have been a dream truck had it not had frame damage which the dealer didn't tell me about.

If you're ever going to move to Pompano Beach in Florida, don't go see Lou Badrocht Chevrolet because Mike Chacon screwed me over on that truck they knew about the damage but didn't tell me and then refuse to fit me into another vehicle because they said all deals were final despite lying about the condition of the vehicle.

AutoNation treated me well by upgrading me to a Tacoma but because it was not large enough for what I needed so I took a hit with some negative equity and upgraded to the tundra also through AutoNation, for the roominess it has and that rear window opening totally worth it.

Due to life circumstances and disabilities I am currently living in my vehicle I've been homeless since 2014 and out of all the vehicles I lived in, I would have to say if you're going to be homeless and you want a roomy vehicle the Toyota Tundra is a way to go.

I've had all kinds of shells on my different pickup trucks and so far Bob top truck accessories and canopies over in Oregon had a pretty good aluminum custom shell they made it was 3 ft tall very roomy I had a lawn chair sitting in there that I could sit on and leave the window open with the tailgate up and it was just like camping at any place you go to.

So far I'm going to pimp my vehicle out with some upgrades and I'll get some pictures out later when I get the side steps in the front grill guard put on which I already have on order from Alex's truck and trailers accessories in Miami FL and I'm probably going to make my way over to either Oregon or California to put on a custom shell on my truck.

I was thinking you know the cheaper end which is Bare Base bones just a 3-ft tall carpeted shell on the back to be honest it looks an eye sore if you don't have a roof rack and basket on it because it's just so tall it sticks out like a sore thumb. But the roominess I have to admit outweighs whatever kind of an eye sore it looks like, and I didn't think it was so much of an eyesore is so much as that my sister did because my sister lives on a golf course in Florida so she kind of has standards she's like the HOA president so you can't have an ugly looking truck because she says the county Code enforcement guys will ticket the HOA. Personally that sounds a little fishy but they used to ticket my dad on his privately owned home down in Miami when he was still alive.

both my parents are deceased but yeah he had a 1964 Ford Fairlane sitting in the back he had his boat sitting in the back he had his 1974 Ford F-250 pickup truck with a camper sitting in the back as well as his shed and then my sister's husband's shed and county code enforcement said it was too crowded in the backyard so he kept getting tickets and he had to get rid of everything and he paid someone actually tow his Fairlane out. He paid a tow truck guy 300 bucks. I think he feels like someone was just trying to get that classic car because after he had the Fairlane towed out, they stopped ticketing him cause they used to get him even for the grass not being cut and all kinds of weird stuff.

That's something that I noticed they didn't have in Ohio where my dad's family is from where we have family reunions but my husband is from Ohio too so when I was living in my car I usually stayed at Smith Park during the day but after hours find a parking lot to park in but Ohio doesn't have code enforcement the way Florida does so there's that.

However back to the campers, the shells in California, Bellair campers, I was going to see about having them make me a custom shell that looks to be a little bit more premium since comes with a vent and fan on the roof too bring in more air flow and it's definitely cost twice as much as a one you would get at Bob tops and canopies in Oregon but I think the quality would probably be better something to look at for sure and weigh all one's options

I've been living in a vehicle since 2014. then in 2018 my husband decided that he wanted to take advantage of me financially and have me thrown into a hospital for the rest of my life because I got 100% service connected rated with the VA I have a brain injury from my time in Iraq and so now I'm doing this on my own since 2020 when he decided that he was going to cheat on me at the encouragement of his community over there that he surrounded himself with. My husband decided to give up on trying to get me locked into a hospital after the court told him that they would not grant him access to my bank account because my mother was on it and she was not incompetent. Always please be careful who you decide to trust or get married to protect yourself.

I have to be honest until I bought my Toyota Tacoma I really was more of a Honda fan but I always thought I'd upgrade my 92 Honda Accord LX Coupe to Honda Prelude, I always wanted one of those, but then after I got into my Chevy Silverado and then I thought about maybe getting a more premium trim like the High country but then after I was driving around my Tacoma for a bit you know cuz I had to trade in the Silverado for the Tacoma since the Silverado had catastrophic failures and I had enough of it's other issues, it was raining in through the seat belts, through the brake light and had some engine issues, transmission issues, and it was time to trade her in because the truck just would not go past 45 miles an hour. the amount of work it would have required would have cost me $10,000 just on parts and didn't even include labor so i was like nope I can't afford all this repairs plus the frames busted so it's not really worth putting money into it, I couldn't justify that.

So here we are with the bigger Toyota truck and I figured that you know I would at least try to get one that had a little sliding third window but I was thoroughly pleasantly surprised to find out that the entire window rolls all the way down like the drivers and passenger side windows. When you live in a vehicle that makes a huge difference when you're trying to get some air flow in your vehicle cause sometimes it gets so hot.

Well I'm not a fan of the sealed transmissions but I think the sheer fact that the roominess of the Toyota Tundra the crewmax cab by the way is quite well worth it and since I can't turn a wrench anymore because of carpal tunnel and arthritis in my hands plus tendonitis in my elbows and wrists and occasionally I get trigger fingers in both hands so I can't turn a wrench anymore so I have to take it to a mechanic instead of working on it on my own which for me kind of sucks because I enjoy working on vehicles and turning a wrench.

I lucked out in my truck I bought it with 77k miles on it and it only had one owner and so far it has been very reliable for me quite an upgrade from the Silverado and definitely more roomy than Tacoma and believe me I loved that little Tacoma I had a Lear r100 on the back of it but it just wasn't big enough for the shell and it certainly wasn't big enough in the cab for me kept knocking my head on the side every time I'd hop in.

I think if I upgrade to another vehicle it will have to be the premium trim of the Toyota Tundra the 1794 edition I mean it comes with all the bells and whistles but as much as I would love to have that truck I can't afford that model trim it's an $80,000 pickup and a used Toyota Tundra SR5 was just what I was looking for.

So all I have an attached to Shell on this pickup yet I do have plans to do so because it's kind of necessary when you live in a vehicle. I would love to live in an apartment but everybody I've spoken to says you're too much of a financial Risk because your credit score is so low so after I raise my credit score they tell me you haven't lived in a house or apartment for a long time and the last time I lived anywhere in any housing situation was while I was going to Miami Dade College down in Miami Florida after we moved up to Ohio I was living in my car.

Having done this in a two-door Honda Accord and then other subsequent vehicles I thought that the 93 Chevy Blazer which had a two-door but it had the Tahoe body on it says the larger size is a rare version of it it had a 350 engine and that thing was solid until my husband lied to me saying that he was putting oil in the engine every week and then one day it rolled to a stop lost all power and I looked at him and I said did you put oil in the engine and he goes nope and I said so you lied to me and he's like yeah and I said what'd you do with the $2 oil that you supposedly put in there he goes yeah I bought tacos for Drake instead. I was like oh okay well you know he's got his own job and he's got a wife and he can buy his own tacos that was money that I gave you for the engine.

I know he was regretful of that felt pretty bad about that but you know he's not one that's really good with cars is more better with computers I usually was the one tinkering and vehicles but then he asked to have more responsibility sometimes you can't always trust the person you're with that they're going to do what they say they're going to do.

My husband tried to get me locked into a hospital for at least 5 years but up to the rest of my life so it seems to me that living in a vehicle might be something I'm doomed to do for the rest of my life my credit score has been raised up it's gone from a 490 up to a 714 but because I haven't lived anywhere in over a decade people still don't want to rent to me never mind the fact that I served my country I feel like you know they talk about the homeless issue with veterans and stuff and it seems like car dealerships are doing more for homeless people than the homeless housing authority.

 

Welcome from WA.
Air force brat here.

Sounds like you have been through a lot and still have a pretty good attitude.
Good luck finding the right camper.

 

https://belairshells.com/
This

 

Hello and Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)!

 

Welcome from NY.
Thank you for your service.

I hope things get better for you.