My car broke down and I don't have a few thousand dollars for repairs. What should I do?

[Randy]

I am married with three children on unemployment because my company went under and my wife is a waitress. We have a van, but no other car. Last night our van broke down luckily beside a mechanic, but unfortunately that was the only luck we had. Today we were informed that the oil pump malfunctioned so the oil pressure was very low. This caused no oil to get to the engine which in turn burned the engine up. I didn't think it was that bad because the engine didn't even smoke or emit a burning smell which is common with engines running on little or no oil, but I was told that the van is in need of a new engine which after labor is a few thousand dollars. Our van was a 98 chevy venture with 100k miles on it so I don't even think it's worth that much. Now we are in need of a car for my wife and to get necessities especially since two of our kids are babies. We have no money to put down and neither of us have good credit so that limits us further. If anyone has any suggestions as to what we can do to obtain a car or anything please tell me. P.S. We don't live near a bus stop so that's also out of the question.