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Well, finally retired the #3 car--couldn't get the idiots down at the dealership to fix the engine problems. They've lost all their competent mechanics to the post-Katrina exodus, and it really shows. The shop foreman is really good at coming up with excuses why they charge me lots of money to fix the car and it's still busted, though. I'd rather he applied that imagination to writing bad fanfics, frankly.
So I traded in the elderly Buick ('92, with 228,000 miles on it) for a lovely old well-preserved (73K miles) '96 Nissan Maxima. Lovely, lovely car. White, pale leather interior (Yay for less greenhouse effect!), power everything, good sound system, sun roof... just plain sexy car. Got to get her insurance papers Monday, basic servicing, etc, and the kid will be taking her back to college eventually, but for now I can just admire her in the driveway. Need to find a name for her, though.
Thinking about it, since I've been married, we've retired four cars from old age, and three from being totalled in wrecks. It says something about the better, safer construction of cars that we can have three totalled in 20 years and no one hospitalized. Also, we all wear seat belts. One of the vehicles that survived to old age had been in the body shop three different times for collisions that fell short of totalling it. Old Age == so many miles on it, the repair bills cost more than a new used car in good condition--about 200K miles or so. I'm a thrifty person who drives cars into the ground, not someone who swaps cars out every 2-3 years.
So I traded in the elderly Buick ('92, with 228,000 miles on it) for a lovely old well-preserved (73K miles) '96 Nissan Maxima. Lovely, lovely car. White, pale leather interior (Yay for less greenhouse effect!), power everything, good sound system, sun roof... just plain sexy car. Got to get her insurance papers Monday, basic servicing, etc, and the kid will be taking her back to college eventually, but for now I can just admire her in the driveway. Need to find a name for her, though.
Thinking about it, since I've been married, we've retired four cars from old age, and three from being totalled in wrecks. It says something about the better, safer construction of cars that we can have three totalled in 20 years and no one hospitalized. Also, we all wear seat belts. One of the vehicles that survived to old age had been in the body shop three different times for collisions that fell short of totalling it. Old Age == so many miles on it, the repair bills cost more than a new used car in good condition--about 200K miles or so. I'm a thrifty person who drives cars into the ground, not someone who swaps cars out every 2-3 years.
