Car Shopping

What a great cartoon! :)

A co-worker told me recently of having a car accident that totalled her year-old car. What a shame, in a way. I can see if your car was 5 or 10 years old, and you had gotten some good use out of it. The insurance paid for a good amount of it, but she still owes $5K on it. So, she's on the "hunt" for another car.

She described going to a couple of dealers and checking out a couple of models. She knows she wants a particular make (Toyota). She talked about the models, year, engine size, leather interior, gas mileage, size of the interior, odometer reading, etc. Her descriptions sounded like she was describing a wonderful meal - a meal she couldn't wait to sink her teeth into. A meal that aroused all of her senses - she was practically drooling! Her new car desire was so strong, almost overpowering. She has to turn in her rental car in a few days, as her insurance only pays for it a certain period of time, since her car was totalled.

It's too bad that she hasn't considered living car-free. This is a good opportunity and time for her to try it, if she wanted to. She talked about next month she'll be moving in with her brother nearby for six months, to be able to save money so she can buy her own place. Think about much more money she COULD save if she didn't have to have car expenses... The location she's thinking of moving to (about 20 miles from DC) has commuting "slug lines" that could get her here to DC easily and for free. Or she could get into a carpool, or take the Virginia Railway Express train and connect to the Metro subway.

People think that you absolutely NEED a car to get around, but you really don't. You CAN work around it (or at least try it), once you find out what your resources are.... And living in this area, with so many resources, really makes it a lot more do-able, compared to some people who live in more rural areas.