Her parents spent $11,000 on a used electric car for her. It's a Ford Focus Electric. The car is a 2014 model, with 60,000 miles.

"In March, it started giving an alert," she said. "And then we took it to the shop and it stopped running."

"The Ford dealership had advised us that we could replace the battery," he said. "It would only cost $14,000."

$3,000 more than what the family bought the car for. And that quote didn't include installation and labor costs, Ray Siwinski said.