GETTING FROM A to B
From the movie Funny Girl, won't you agree Barbara's Streisand's rendition of Second Hand Rose remains a classic treat? The song was a daughter's celebration of items worn from her dad's thrift shop.
Fuel Economy
Our 2008 Jetta got a Soapy Joe's car wash as part of my birthday gift. My loyal steed's odometer reads 205,070 miles. Still a great runabout car, its fuel economy is 34 miles to the gallon (mpg). It recently kissed a light fixture at Mission Bay Sportcenter and is begging for a tire rotation. I think it deserves new tires for Christmas, just saying!
One daughter is set on obtaining her driver's permit this month and she had practiced at a local community college empty parking lot on her dad's 2009 Passat. Having racked up 230,000 miles on its original engine, we bid it farewell last December as the service bay manager said they can no longer resuscitate. We just bought a 2016 model from the same dealership because, in its April 2020 issue, Consumer Reports included it among the top 124 Best Used Cars.
My husband likes the electronic stability control as a standard safety feature while I appreciate the 29 mpg economy and its generous interior and truck spaces. My self-described secondhand rose daughter is excited to resume her training.
Capital Goods Market
COViD-19 has lessened the need for driving to work as most white-collar, nonessential jobs embraced telecommuting, Zoom web-conferencing, and virtual private networks. Nowadays, getting from A to B typically entails home to Office Depot to the grocery store, and back. In appreciation of this, State Farm reduced our auto insurance bill and gas prices have remained steady.
The pandemic has also caused a big economic slowdown to the auto industry and its capital goods market with the loss of jobs and supply chain disruption. Published in 2011, the Wiedemers in their book Aftershock had foreshadowed we are in one of the last two bubbles to burst the American economy. I quote their advice:
Keep Spending Low and Income High. We already covered this more than you may have liked, but it bears repeating. Cut spending now and hang onto your job for as long as you can. Invest wisely and later you will have the means to pick up a lot of mad bargains when others cannot.
Status Recall
While yearning High School driver's ed training in 1978, I recall public transportation, pedestrian walkways, and singing along to The Wiz' Ease On Down The Road.
I am enjoying this slower time once again of saving gas and reducing carbon emissions. While Southern California's car status symbols are literally catching ash from the raging Bobcat Fire, my logical self thinks to stay frugal, never cheap.
We bought a new car end of last year, I wonder now that we are retired, if we need the second car. Or maybe, they will last that much longer!
ReplyDeleteThere definitely is a point of diminishing return when we can decide to let go of an older car--- lack of replacement parts or continual ridiculous repair bills. I donated my Acura RS to a couple who sold it for airline tickets for the mission field. Based on our personal circumstances, we get to make sound decisions, Jenny, to become worry-free. Kudos!
DeleteYes, stay frugal, never cheap. I look for great deals, but I won't purchase anything substandard.
DeleteI bought a new car in Nov 2017 and bought another Labor Day Weekend. Never wanted two car payments again, but became a necessity as we needed an SUV or van. I should have retired this year as well, however, raising a 3, 9, 11 year old grandchildren has made that dream disappear. So small efficient cars are not in my near future, nor is a new Harley Davidson! But sometimes we have to do what it takes for family.
ReplyDeleteI get it; my husband has always dreamed of owning an Audi, but reality backed by Consumer Reports' research encouraged a well-maintained, reliable secondhand car will fit the bill. He negotiated for cash payment of the "new-to-us" 2016 VW Passat (50,000-mile odometer) at half the price of a new 2020 model. Car pricing depreciation is real!
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