When I read this article I immediately was reminded of the old Married... With Children episode where Al's trusty Dodge's odometer rolled over the million mile mark to zero. The joke was that Al's much beloved car was all that he could afford, so he ran it ragged forgoing all comfort, "common sense" and repairs. This sounds pretty in character, considering his son Bud often described on how to live frugal, such as making a hearty soup from the remains of an M&M found under the fridge.
While I don't think I'll ever let myself reach that level of destitute, and with all comic relief aside, Mister Bundy's logic seems to have played out well in reality.
About a month ago I blogged about what a steady discipline can do when it comes to buying and leasing new cars and the kind of money someone can save if they simply buy a car and go against the popular trend of buying another one immediately after paying it off. Sure, I'm absolutely certain that Frank Oresnik had to put his fair share of repairs into the '91 Ford pick up that he so loved. Heck, he had so many oil changes (300+!) that the plug on the drain pan had to be rethreaded a number of times.
But the pick up served him well. It's maintenance costs likely never exceeded what it would have cost him for monthly payments on a newer model. It really does to show you what kind of abuse, wear and tear many automobiles are designed to really take before shutting down altogether.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Taking your car the extra mile
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1 comments:
Good post.
I agree with you Ed. My grandmother gave me my first car and I ran it ragged. I only had to pay for insurance, registration, gas and general repairs. It really saved my bacon while I was in college. It was ugly as sin and I was on the end of friendly joking more then once, but I had more money to spend on things like books!
-Joan
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