Car Obsession and the Expenses of Transportation

Have you heard of a business called AutoNation? It's a car dealership and more, and I think their name is absolutely genius. AutoNation. Yeah. That is so accurate. People who know me personally know that I've been a licensed driver since 1987. I personally have owned over 10 used cars in my name over the years. I've had American cars and foreign cars. I've seen all kinds of mechanics and paid for all kinds of repairs. I've been a member of AAA and AARP and I discovered that AAA is better for a used car driver. As a driver, I've had some traffic violation tickets in 37 years of driving, paid them and/or went to driving school to be reminded about safe and defensive driving. Over that 37 year period, I have probably spent in car payments, car insurance payments, gasoline costs, and repair costs, enough to have afforded me a brand new car in the range of 50k. I like that new Ford Bronco... the price tag says it's only 30k. Ha ha ha.

Currently, I own my vehicle. It's a used vehicle that I purchased from a private seller. I suppose he thought it better to sell it than trade it in. I don't blame him. That is the wiser way to do it. Dealerships give you next to nothing for a trade in, and going in with cash always gets you closer to the deal you want. I consider myself wise also for buying the used car from him. I didn't have much cash. 2k with a low credit score wasn't going to get me into any kind of new car that I liked. So I bought the used car and obtained the title outright. No car payments except for the full coverage insurance payment that costs about $225 per month. Why would I pay that much every month? Shouldn't I try to save some money with just basic legal coverage? I'd only save $100 per month and if a tree falls on my car, I'd get nothing but a smashed windshield. Do I think I need full coverage because I'm a bad driver? No. But I'm not so conceited as to think that I can never make a mistake. Nor is 2k in cash easy for me to replace or obtain considering I'm unemployed and collecting social security benefits. Look, my social security check is less than what a minimum wage worker takes home every month. I get that check at the beginning of the month and I've got to make it last all month. It's not easy. Having a car, new or used is an expensive luxury, I know. But do you think that transportation of any other method is any cheaper or easier? It's not. Let me explain.

Today I got paid and I wanted to get out of the house - go get some retail therapy if you know what I mean. I had paid for my cellphone service, paid my car insurance, and I had a little set aside to go shopping with. I can walk to the local Target store (even though I rarely ever find something there I think is worth buying) but it's not an easy walk for me anymore. It's about 15 blocks away or a quarter mile. Seems easy enough, right? If you're fit it's a piece of cake. But I'm 53. I have severe arthritis in my legs and knees. I live in Florida. It's July. It's over 90 degrees F out there and the humidity is ghastly. If anyone is doing any walking or biking, you might as well consider them an Olympian. I was doing that today and by the time I got back I realized that I wanted to write this article to express my opinions about all the transportation options I thought about on my walk there and back.

First I took my bike. I did not return on my bike. Why? Well, the bike (a trike) had 3 flat tires. When I stopped at the gas station to fill the tires with air, I found the process excrutiatingly difficult. I put in my debit card to pay for the air, but no air filled the tires. So I left the bike there. I'm not going to buy new tires for a bike. I'm not going to scream and throw a tantrum because the gas station doesn't offer free air for our tires anymore. I'm not going to worry about the cost of that bike. If someone has an air pump of their own, I guess they just got a nice bike. I simply got off the bike and began to walk. Sweating and complaining about the heat and humidity, but thinking to myself that I was a lot safer on the sidewalk walking then dealing with a trike that hits every bump on the sidewalk near the cars doing 60 miles per hour right next to me.

Then I noticed a bus go by. And I thought about a store I like at the mall that has beautiful dresses for excellent prices. It's way too far to walk, but the bus could get me there. Then I thought about the nightmare of riding busses. It used to be a bit easier. I could purchase a daily bus pass for $5 and ride the bus back and forth to wherever I had to go for the day. Not anymore. They stopped the ticket bus passes. Probably because people were handing them out to their friends and they weren't making enough money. So now the only way to ride the bus is if you have a smart phone and the bus app or if you pay $2.25 in cash per ride. That's not an unfair price, but when you don't have a smart phone and the app, you are paying more than those who do. That part is unfair. And who really wants to wait at a bus stop with no bench standing in the heat sweating, wondering while the psychotic voices plague the bipolar mind, when the bus is going to show up? Who wants to get on a bus wondering if it's actually going to the place you want to go to or if there will be a bus to get you back from where you started? It's truly a horrific experience for me. One time, the bus driver took off before I was even seated and I fell on the bus. My arthritic knees didn't appreciate that very much even if my ride only cost $2.25.

Some people swear by Uber and Lyft. Ha ha ha. I thought it was a brilliant idea when it first came out and after I had signed up for a brand new Toyota Corolla I aslo signed up to be an Uber driver. That was another nightmare whether I was the driver or the passenger. As the driver, I had to endure picking up drunks who said the most beligerent things and were about to puke in my new car at any moment. I was always worried about some crazy person wanting to hurt me or steal from me or gyp me in some way. As a passenger, I could only use their service if I had a smart phone with their app. They are quick to charge you, but not so quick to pick you up, not so quick to understand exactly where you are located, and some of them have no clue where they are without gps so they look lost and make me feel very insecure about that. They don't take cash, so if you don't have any money on your credit or debit card, you don't get to ride even if you do have the app. Ugh. Just forget about it. I want my car.

So I have a used car. After obtaining the title to the used car for the 2k in cash, I spent another $500 in getting it insured, then another $500 in legalizing it with title transfer, tag, registration, tax payments, etcetera. I've yet to fill the tank with gas though it's been sitting in my driveway for about 2 months. I just made my 3rd full coverage insurance payment and I still can't drive it. It needs a new battery and the rack and pinion replaced. Yeah, more money and trusting that maybe once that's done it will run like it is supposed to. But I know that the same kind of problems could occur with a new car. And that's worse. Nothing's worse than making a car payment, a full coverage insurance payment, and then finding out that you have to have repairs. That happened to me in 2021 after we got our stimulus checks and I got into a used Hyundai Santa Fe with payments from a BuyHere/PayHere joint. I was losing my mind. I didn't even have the title to the car and that luxury wanted to wipe out my social security check completely. Big sigh. Don't tell me that we (Americans) don't love our cars. We put ourselves through financial hell for our cars. And that's why I still say a person's car is sacred. If you think that vandalizing or damaging someone else's car on purpose is cute or funny, I hope that karma beats the holy crap out of you. Not only have you gone against the law, you have gone against what I know for a fact is the blood, sweat, and tears of an average American citizen trying to survive in a crazed land of awful transportation modes. Leave other people's cars alone. Don't touch. Don't even think about it. If you don't believe in Karma, believe in car alarms. Believe in jail. Because that's where you belong.

Anyway, I go through a lot for the love of car ownership, especially knowing that my knowledge of fixing a car is extremely limited. I don't like to play the damsel in distress, but I know next to nothing about mechanic work. Seems lately it's getting harder and harder to find a decent mechanic. One that won't jack up the prices for a scam or take advantage of a person who doesn't know what they are talking about. I used to make jokes that there was no such thing as an honest politician. The politicians are getting much more honest than the mechanics these days. And the new trend is that all the "haves" with new cars will be forced to only go to the dealership for their maintenance and repairs, even after they've made their last payment and gotten their title. So trying to save a buck for knowing the right person might be a thing of the past very soon.

I know, I sound so jaded right? I'm really not. I love my used car more than I can eloquently express. I love the freedom of driving myself where I want to get. I love car washes and bumper stickers and the smell of a new car or a used car. I'm one of the biggest automobile fans I know. And I still think it's worth every penny and every tear I spend, because the other options drive me more insane than all the costs of having my own.