I got the car fixed, planning on keeping it for a while. But a mechanic friend of mine had suggested I get an additive for the problem, it’s specifically for shudder control issues. I was thinking he suggested this as a temporary fix – after I told him I had the repair done, he said that he thought the additive might have fixed the problem for good! I didn’t understand that when he first suggested it. In any case, getting $500 toward the fix seemed pretty good, and I figured I should take them up on the offer.
I had figured out how to drive the car without it stalling, by only coming to a stop very gradually, and just rolling through stop signs whenever I could. I do a lot of small town driving without much traffic, so that’s actually manageable. But it’s fixed, and I’ve had no problems since then.