It’s not a dramatic lifestyle change, but we have decided to try having only one car. It’s a fine idea and makes absolute sense from every direction: less money, less environmental impact, more room in our new smaller garage. Since we bought the townhouse I have been saying we need a shorter second car and we've spent some time cruising parking lots and test driving cars that are less than 14 feet in length. But I couldn't commit and perhaps 90% of the time one car was sitting idle so, really, did we need two?
The sticking point is that it was my beloved car that had to go. Mine was a 2002 Subaru Outback Limited with all the bells and whistles in a metallic black finish. But it is ten years old and has 160,000kms on the clock compared to Jim’s 2008 Subaru Tribeca with 60,000kms. I have a long history of loving my cars and hanging on to them long enough that they are friends. There was a 1982 Ford wagon that gave me a lot of grief, and whenever I said “I love this car”, my carpool buddy answered, “and the car tests your love every day”. There was a 1972, orange and tiny, Toyota Corolla that took me over the Airline Route in Maine on only 2 cylinders and from which a wheel fell off on I95. A notable exception to my love affair with my cars was a Honda Accord, the precursor to the Outback, which was a nice enough car but truly boring. I hate trading my cars to a soulless dealer where they sit, abandoned, waiting for a new owner (except for the Honda for which I cared nought). I suppose my cars have been a symbol of independence and freedom; freedom of the road, not having to answer to anyone for my whereabouts. Teenager feelings which probably weren’t relevant when I was a teenager and certainly aren’t now.
I am a great one to stall if I don’t like a project but eventually I get on with it. I had my car ‘detailed’ on January 6, borrowed a proper car cover (I’ll get it back to you soon Kaye!) to keep it clean assuming it would take a couple of weeks to sell, listed it on Used Victoria and Craig’s list on January 8, and waved goodbye to it on January 9. The new owner, Matt, loves Subarus, is a surfer, has a young family, and does environmental impact assessments so needs to be able to get to some obscure places. He gave up a perfect surf day when he saw my ad because he recognized a good deal. When he was faced, in our living room, by the competition who had come from Pender Island to look at the car he asked “what will it take to close this deal right now?” So we did and it all happened so fast I didn’t really have time to feel sad.
The Tribeca is a nice car only it’s burly and with 6 cylinders it sucks down gas. It’s a big workhorse of a vehicle, not as fun to drive and not as easy to park and it’s also a bit too tall for me to easily get the kayak on and off the roof. But we are going south in a couple of weeks and it is perfect on a long highway haul.
Meanwhile we’ve got some money stashed away if this one-car experiment doesn’t work out.
