Two Skids Forward; One Slide Back

Or: Doing My Part to Help the Local Economy

Let's start off by admitting that I put a lot of miles on my car each week. A lot!

On a normal work day, I log no fewer than 120 miles. On Mondays, with the drive to Akron for work and then Cleveland for rehearsal, it's about 175 miles. And then little jaunts like the post-Christmas visit to my mother in Western North Carolina add about 1300 miles to the odometer. To net it out: When I left Tucson at the end of February, 2008, the odometer showed 52,000 miles. When I took the car to the dealer for maintenance today, the total was over 133,000. That's a lotta miles.

My daily required commute to the office requires an enormous outlay for gas. I fill the car up every other day, and use mid-grade. The car's specifications indicate high-test is required, but as most of my miles are "highway miles", I cheat and just use mid-grade. When you add up all those gallons, and put them together with the wear and tear and monthly maintenance required because of the excessive mileage, it's no wonder that I can't seem to get ahead on my credit card bills. I'm spending a ton o' money on my commute.

I've complained for the past two weeks about not being able to get up my driveway through the accumulated snow. When I got the estimate call from the dealer today, my colleague suggested the reason I couldn't get up the driveway was not the snow, but rather my bald tires.

Today's Acura service visit mandated new tires (Michelin at $1200+ or Bridgestone at $980? I chose Bridgestone.), a new battery ($130+) and new windshield wiper blades. (At $30+, that's chicken scratch!) There will, of course, be other charges—change the oil, top off the fluids, … .

The only good news out of all this is that I've got a sound, reliable, safe car that should last me at least another three years or, thanks to the real estate crisis and my need for cash two years ago, until it's paid off.

The funniest part will be the call I receive in three days from the sales department of Acura of Boardman. A nice young man will offer to give me back everything I spent today if I trade my car in. Nice dream. Oops—no can do.