A nursing student is grateful for a stranger’s generous act.

Kayla Cooper has a new car after a man overheard her conversation with a salesman did not end well.

Dan Laguardia was trading in his Scion at Auto City in El Cajon and sat within earshot of Cooper's meeting.

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“I could kind of tell she wasn’t getting what she was there for,” said Laguardia.

Cooper, who works two jobs while attending nursing school, said the salesman was nice, but the down payment they were looking for was not, so she left Auto City crying.

“I would have to literally pull a needle out of a haystack to try to get myself a car so I could get to work,” said Cooper.

Cooper was borrowing cars from family and friends to get to work, and she said she was going to lose her job if she couldn’t find a car before the end of the month.

Laguardia said he was touched by what he heard, so he asked the salesperson to call Cooper back to the dealership.

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“The car had more value to her than it did for me trading it in,” said Laguardia.

Cooper didn’t believe the random act of kindness at first, but it was official when Laguardia signed over the car’s title to her for nothing.

“I was shaking,” said Cooper. “It’s a whole car; how can someone be so generous to give their car away?”

“That gives her a bit of a jumpstart in life,” said Laguardia. “Which, if everybody did that for everybody else, we’d be in a much better place.”