Old Cars, Small Bank Accounts

An anniversary recently passed. It’s been 20 years since we bought our car. In those 20 years, we’ve moved three times and owned three different houses. We keep cars longer than houses.

We traded in our old 1999 Honda Accord, the one that had hit a calf, the one that had been driven in the garage with bicycles on the roof, the one that had had a hard life with us. In trade, we got a brand new 2002 Honda Accord the same color as the old one. It was hard to tell we had a new car.

My son was so excited because for the very first time, we owned a car the same year as the year. Our family has always bought used cars, meaning the year they were purchased was after the year they were manufactured. It was a big deal to him which made it a big deal for me. I’d really never thought about it before.

Hubby gets very attached to his vehicles, and it’s hard for him to let them go. Consequently, when we buy a vehicle, we own it for a very long time. Hubby takes really good care of the vehicles and gets them serviced regularly. That’s why they run so well for so long. His truck is a 2000 Tundra with 210,000 miles on it. It runs great and is very comfortable. It got us safely to Oregon and back last December. It’s set up just the way he wants it so to get rid of it, I’d have to pry his fingers away from the wheel with a crowbar. Unlikely to happen.

My car has done very well for us. With almost 200,000, it still runs great. It has a cassette tape deck and a 6-CD player, very fancy when we bought it. I have no problem with it now other than it sits low. As both the car and I have aged, it gets harder to get up out of the car. I need a car that I don’t get up out of, but one that I can step out of.

We don’t like making car payments, so we try to save up enough to buy them outright. You probably know how the car market has changed since Covid hit. I’m saving money, but it seems like the longer I save, the higher the cars go, even the used ones. It’s like reaching for something that keeps getting moved back with every effort. But I’m not giving up! One of these days, I’ll get my new used car and not have to get up out of it. I’ll just slide out. Won’t that be great!