Now the Cars… THEY went somewhere
For some time now we’ve talked about selling one of the cars. There are a lot of great reasons why we could easily do it. I take public transportation to work every day, if I ever needed a car I could get a ZipCar. We’d save money on insurance and repairs, not even to mention the fact that on most evenings and weekends we’re either running errands together or flopping at home together.
But for as long as we’ve been talking about it, I’ve been coming up with excuses why we shouldn’t go down to one car. I generally say that I wonder if it’s even financially prudent to sell a car now if we might need to buy another in 3-4 years or so. Wouldn’t it just be smarter to hang on to our rapidly depreciating vehicle and let it sit in the driveway instead of having to shell out MORE money to buy another car at a later date?
And then there’s the argument that we’d have to put more money into Matt’s car before selling it to get a good price, why not just hang onto it in it’s current state?
But I’m coming to terms with what’s at the root of my problem with car-sharing. The very smallest issue is the stupidest of all… as we would sell Matt’s hatchback that means he’d be driving MY WAGON. MINE. He basically does this anyway, but there’s still that differentiation that he’s driving MY car while HIS car sits in the driveway. And if he’s the one driving it at least 3 hours a day wouldn’t it then become HIS car by default? That would mean HIS sunglasses would be in the side door pocket and HIS cds would be in the glove compartment. And the spare napkins would inevitably run out and not be replaced. And what would be the fate of my emergency stash of feminine products and nylons!?
Then there’s the issue of feeling trapped. Because I might not be able to make that girls-night-out in the suburbs as Matt’s running late from a Friday afternoon meeting at the office. This is not a legitimate fear because #1 – I have no female friends and #2 – I probably don’t have female friends because of my natural disdain for people who live in the suburbs. Plus Matt’s the kind of guy who would do everything within his power to get me to the girls-night-out despite his late meeting, the darling.
But the deepest fear is that this would lead me down the slippery slope of stay-at-home mom-ness, trapped inside the house, speaking Toddler all day long and relishing the bi-annual opportunity to head to Chipotle and eat a burrito by myself. I often feel like I’ve sold off so many parts of my independence just to be married. Does the car really need to be that big last piece?
It’s a control thing. I want the freedom to be able to drive to New York for the interview I’ll have with Chris Matthews after winning a Grammy for audio engineering. Not sure why he’d be interviewing for that, but these are the stories I tell myself.
Matt made a great deal with me… if we sell the car I can be assured that at any time if I need a ride somewhere or if I need to call dibs on the vehicle, I’m more than welcome to, and he’ll be super-accommodating. I guess I’d just feel better about it if he threw in some promise about on-demand chocolate cake any time I want.
May 21st, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Well, as a guy, I would say it make sense to me. You live in an area where decent public transit exists (I hate you Harrisburg for your lack of this). You’d save money.
I think, personally, the thing I would struggle with the most - and I imagine this is part of what you’re working through - is the “freedom” factor in all this too. It’s not so much the fact that I (or you) do something all the time having a second car. It’s the fact that “I know I can.” In some ways that just reminds me being a kid who wanted something not so much because I was going use it, but just because I know I could have it. Growing up sucks at times.
May 21st, 2008 at 2:21 pm
You’re absolutely right. Hopping in the car, pumping up the music and just going for a drive was always my therapy from college onward. I could always escape from whatever was plaguing me by just driving away. Guess I’m all grown up now and I have to DEAL with issues instead of running from them. The frustration of going down to one car is merely a symptom of a larger problem.