10 miles into the 600-mile drive to visit my sister for Christmas, my car's transmission* went belly up. Fortunately we had a plan B and were still able to celebrate the holidays with family, but the spectre of having to pay for a new transmission loomed. Having to buy a whole new car would have been terrifying indeed.
Cars are prohibitively expensive. It's stupid how much we've forced ourselves to depend on them.
https://www.newsweek.com/americans-can-no-longer-afford-their-cars-1859929
@DrTCombs my radicalization resulted directly from a blown engine in my car in 1999
@bikepedantic I can relate. Mine began when my car was totaled by a runaway canoe in 2001.
@DrTCombs I want to hear more about that "runaway canoe"
@CathyTuttle I wish I still had pictures!
I was working at #DavidsonCollege at the time. I was away on a work trip, and left my car at the downhill end of a giant parking lot at work. On the uphill end was a trailer full of canoes, insufficiently chocked. . My car was one of the only cars in the entire lot, and it was directly downhill of the canoe trailer, so when a wind picked up and blew the trailer off its chocks, it headed straight for my car with a big head of steam...
@CathyTuttle ...The hitch end of the trailer slammed into the side of the car and stopped halfway through the back door. The canoes kept going, including one that came through the back seat window on the driver side, making it almost through to the passenger side before it stopped.
The trailer's impact bent the frame; the canoe destroyed the door. The college comptroller noted the "Davidson Outdoors" on the side of the canoe and the 289k miles on the car and just handed over a check.
@CathyTuttle It wasn't a very big check though, so it took me a while to find a replacement. In the meantime, I looked at the bike I'd been using for years for recreation and exercise and a light bulb went off.
@DrTCombs @CathyTuttle Assuming you lived in town, Davidson is actually a pretty okay place to be a bike commuter. If you were coming from Mooresville or Huntersville, I am so sorry.
@hydropsyche
I lived across campus in staff housing, so it was kind of absurd that I drove at all!
@CathyTuttle
@DrTCombs @CathyTuttle Also this is just an amazing story!
There's quite a bit more hilarity to it, including the fact that I had actually loaned the car to a co-worker. He's the one who noticed the canoe situation and called campus police, and then stayed up all night waiting for our bus (which was several hours late) to return so he could break the news to me gently and then drive me home.
@hydropsyche @CathyTuttle
Davidson was so small there were only 2 campus cops and the one who showed up recognized my car and left a folder of pictures of the scene at my house for me, in case I needed them to go up against the college's insurer. And indeed the insurer did try and push back but it's hard to argue against a photos of a whole ass canoe in a backseat.
@DrTCombs @bikepedantic Your subsequent explanation in this thread provides context (yikes!), but on its own this post is delightfully provocative. Here’s a canoe and bike image to complement it.
I do enjoy that it was arguably the world's most serene form of transportation that wrecked my car.
@DrTCombs @bikepedantic I’m loving your positivity 😀
@bikepedantic @DrTCombs Mine came while waiting for the diagnosis and prognosis of my 20 year old car. Turns out, the fix wasn’t too bad. But that weekend I looked at cars then recovered from sticker shock and looked at e-bikes.
@DrTCombs That's beautiful
@DrTCombs Most of them spend most of their time just parked up. Basically they are very expensive and unsightly litter.
@DrTCombs With DOTs providing no options to get around in many places other than in a car, and cars now deeply unaffordable, many in US are set up for bankruptcy or a life dedicated to affording their cars.
AAA put 2023 average cost of owning and operating a car up to $12,000
From the article "Manufacturers cite disappointing sales results as primary reasons for discontinuing smaller, more affordable vehicles from their lineup," is not an excuse, it is an indictment of poor regulatory policy.
*the transmission was actually fine. squirrels ate through the wiring harness, because subaru is "so committed to the environment" that they use plant-based insulation on their wires.