Thats putting a lot of faith on the battery being fully capable, but if your alternator failed, the battery has probably been stredded for a while, and I’m guessing, it isnt new either. If you cant afford to fix the alternator, then you cant afford the tow truck either. wear your layers, and your good socks, and move swiftly, but dont allow yourself to sweat, better to be slightly cold than overheated. Find a friend who can help you with a ride.
If you say “I’m a little worried that something might be broken” the only reasonable response is to say it needs to go to the shop for inspection.
It likely had fingers of the same material that go into the piece above it, which where guillotined off when you ran into the parking block that scratched the upper material (not judging, we’ve all been there). If you get a new piece, it should still have those, which serve as the attachment to the piece above, and should be fairly ‘simple’ to install.
rockauto has an extensive parts catalog. Be mindful you don’t just get the cheapest thing, cause they do sell from a variety of manufacturers, and cheap parts tend to be cheap. That said, the most expensive is usually overkill as well, so, point is, make sure you know what you are ordering and who actually made it, cause rockauto is just a reseller.
If you really want a record that actually shows something, pull an oil sample and send it to an oil lab (Blackstone as an example) minutes before each oil change, and youll have the history of reports showing how often you pulled samples, as well as a chemical analysis of the materials in the oil that help track and predict invisible engine wear, potentially allowing you to get ahead of problems before they are problems. Its like $30, which still puts you way cheaper than a dealer oil change, AND you get real data from it.
Well, as I see it, there are only 2 possibilities. It’s either something, or nothing. ;)