I am officially a City Kid! I sold my car yesterday! And didn’t get a new one!!
I was wasting money on car payments, gas, and insurance every month, and I was going to just downsize to a cheapy cheap car, but then I decided I should just bite the bullet and go carless as long as I can.
So I went to Carmax, and sold my baby, Chiquita, my gorgeous yellow Xterra. It was my perfect car, in virtually every way, and I really didn’t want to let it go, but $500 a month won out over perfect. The biggest hurdle was that I owed money on my car. Because it is an SUV, and people aren’t buying SUVs like they used to, my car lost more money in the last year than I paid on it, and while I was ahead last September, I went upside down this summer. I wound up having to pay Carmax $1000 to buy my car. Crazy, right? But the writing I saw on the wall was the potential to lose a lot more than the equivalent of 2 months of car related bills, so paying a little to save a lot made weird sense.
I cried when I sold my car. I cried a lot. It was horrible. I kept seeing my car driving around the lot, driven by someone else, and it just made the tears come back. They were the type of tears that just roll out of your eyes entirely uncontrollably. I was in the middle of Carmax, and I didn’t care. It was really sad for me.
So now the Band-aid has been ripped off, and I am officially dependent on trains, cabs, buses, and my bike. I think of those modes of transportation, I will be using trains and my bike the most. At least until the winter!
Wish me luck in my carless life, and say a little car prayer that Chiquita’s next owner loves her as much as I do.
So long my beautiful, perfect car.
tonguetyed.wordpress.com 
Every time I see a yellow xterra I think of you 🙂
I am about to sell my Audi 80…it was my teenager dreamcar and I really bought one 3rd hand. Has been my buddy for almost 6 years…many stories, many trips cross the country. I’ve just ordered a new modern Volvo but I’m really feeling like abandoning a friend…I’m so sad….