It was my grandparents' car, but my grandpa recently stopped driving, and I inherited the car. It runs great, and though it has a few cosmetic bits of "character" (uh, it bumped into a lot of things in the last year of its previous ownership...) I'm thrilled to own it. I do feel a bit like I'm cheating on the Taurus or something though, this will take some getting used to before I'm accustomed to the Avalon. I have not yet figured out what I'll do with the Taurus. I'd like to sell it, but it's been made clear that having people ("strangers") come look at it isn't going to be allowed here, so I'm kind of stuck. I'm sure no used car place will want to fix up and resell a car that old with that many miles, and selling it for scrap won't put much in my pocket. I've known that car for 15 years, been through a lot of good and bad things with it. You can bet I'm going to be sappy and sentimental and cry when it goes away. If someone spent the money to give it a tuneup and fix the fuel pressure thingamabob that's messing up the mileage, I imagine it's still got some miles left as a commuter car. It was the mileage issue that kept me from driving it much in the last few months. I took the little pickup unless I was in dire need of air conditioning. And I didn't get the Taurus fixed because I knew I'd be getting the Avalon.
Whatever I do, I don't have time to mess with it til after I am back from Wyoming. Nor do I have time to wash the Avalon and clean the upholstery, which it desperately needs...
Want to buy a cheap Taurus? :-)
We also tend to drive our cars until they're about done for, and have the same poor outlook about getting any cash at disposal time.
ReplyDeleteWe've found a number of charities that will take these old cars and eke a few more miles from them. All of these charities write a tax deduction receipt for current book value. Not much, but something that's not painful (strangers visiting) and helps someone else.
I'm sure your favorite search engine can find charities like these in your area.
Nice upgrade! I'm glad you have a vehicle you can rely on now.
ReplyDeleteAlden's 1993 Toyota pickup has about 230,000 miles on it these days, and we're just holding our breath and counting our luck until it dies. We just had some work done on it, though, so I don't think we'll be in the market for a Taurus anytime soon...although you never know...
I love the idea of giving it to charity if you can't find a buyer!
We once sold an old Taurus that needed work to CarMax, and I see they have one in your area. Jann
ReplyDeleteJust in time for The Audacity of Taupe.
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