*weep*
The insurance company called today. My car has been totaled.
I'm really upset. Before they came and towed my car to the body shop they explained what would happen if my car was totaled. One option was for them to take my car to the salvage yard and give me a check for the value of the car. The other option was that they'd give me the car back, plus a check for the value of the car minus what they'd get at the salvage yard. I could put that money towards making a few repairs on my car to bring it back to drivable condition. Neither option was good.
I know what the logical thing to do is. Mike and I have a vehicle already - the van. And five or six days a week, that van just sits in the street. Mike walks or bikes to work every day. The only time we really take it out is on the weekends. There's no reason to pursue a second vehicle right now. We should take the check for the full value of the car, finish paying off the loan (I have about $2400 left), and put the rest in the bank as a cushion in case something gets complicated with Philo's birth. Then in the fall when we know where we're living and where Mike's working we can re-evaluate whether we need another car. I know that this is the thing to do.
However, I can't help but feel like I failed somehow. Where I grew up, families with two adults had two cars. Period. If you had one car, it was because you were too poor to afford one*.
And although I'm not willing to go buy and insure a second car that will spend most of the week sitting on the street just so I can say we're a two car family, I still feel like I've messed up.
Mike is enthusiastic about going down to one car. He's been wanting to get rid of one of the cars for awhile. He thinks it'll be easier to pay for insurance and maintenance on just one car. And it will be. But I'll still miss my little car. I had an emotional attachment to it. When they said that I could pick up my personal effects and the plates, it nearly made me cry.
*sigh*
Rest in peace, little car.
* I grew up in the country were everything was miles apart and there was no public transportation. A car was more of a necessity there than it is here in the city.
posted by Danulai @ 7:46 PM
4 Comments:
what would happen if you traded the minivan in for something a little more practical and easier on gas? a nice little sedan perhaps? i mean, with one kid, having a minivan is a bit excessive...there, that's my anti-minivan logic for you.
Bob and I spent the first five years of our marriage with only one car. You'll be fine.
Still sad, though. Stupid reckless uninsured drivers!
Aw that sucks! I was hit by an uninsured driver a few years ago, it was nothing but hassle and headache and I never got a cent from the girl who did it. But I had to laugh at what you said about families w/ one car being poor. hahaha. True. I live in a house with 4 other people who foam at the mouth over my 8-year old car with 123,000 miles on it. At least you have a backup! You might lose a 2-car insurance discount though. When I move I'm going to tell my insurance I still live at home since my sister (who doesn't live there) does that too - we get a multi-car discount. If I change my address with them, my insurance goes up.
Sympathy abounds.
No, really.
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