re: #214 Decatur Deb

Yup. The newer vehicles are inherently more reliable than the pre-80s ones, but they have traded off most of the DIY repairability. The fun part was watching Wifes ‘new’ van decrease in real value against my old LandRover. Right now the Rover is worth twice the 3500 I paid for it, because I can fix the thing. It costs me 30 bucks and 20 minutes to put a new fuel pump on the LR, $600 dollars the time the dealer fixed hers.

Jesus H. Hubert Humphrey Herbert Walker Milhous Nixon Jong-Il Nikola Tesla River Tam Late Seventies Jack Nicholson Christ, did I ever get treated like the only woman on a pirate ship the last time I bought a car.

Problem The First was that due to my own stupidity and indescribably toxic marital conditions, my previous car suddenly required repair that was more expensive than it was worth as scrap metal, never mind that I didn’t actually possess that amount of money at the time.

Problem The Second was that I didn’t have any friends or family I could call on to help me out in any way, financially or otherwise. Helping me out “otherwise” would have been more valuable. Important life lesson: Sometimes the greatest gift you can give (or receive) is the knowledge that an incipient course of action is really a Huge Fucking Mistake.

Problem The Third was that I went to a walking-distance car dealership. By myself. On foot. And I let it be known that I had come there on foot, and needed a car. As the song says, “Any clever predator could have a piece of me”. Everything on the lot was a gas-guzzling truck, and to make a long story short, I bought a car, thinking it would surely be more economical over time than a gas-guzzling truck. Well, lo and behold, that car has cost almost as much in repairs and maintenance as the original sale price of the car.

I lack the male gene responsible for car love and knowledge. If someone tells me my car needs a new frommitz regulator or an airflow recapitulator, I usually don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about, and as a result I either disregard their advice (in which case it turns out to be real, and ignoring it was the worst thing I could possibly do), or I follow their advice (in which case I am proven to be a fool soon parted from his money).