Finally Broken In

On May 24, 2003, I made my first large independent purchase. I had just graduated college three weeks before. For two years, my younger sister and I had shared a car and done quite well. It was actually easier than I had anticipated; probably because we both lived and worked on campus and did most of our activities on site. I’ve always been quite independent, and want to do things “All By Myself” (there is a side story to that regarding my wedding that I will share one day). So I marched down to the credit union to see what kind of loan they could offer me. Went to Hyundai to see what kind of loan they could offer me. I test drove the Elantra and was pretty set on it, but went over to Honda to check them out. I test drove the Civic and fell in love, plus got the best rate at the time. I emptied out my savings account that day for the down payment. I got an economical car with four doors and good resale value.

Two towns over, Kevin was driving his brand new car; a Ford Mustang with all the bells and whistles (maybe not all the bells and whistles, but he did have custom rims and a killer sound system). Not the economical choice I had made.

Kevin loved his car, and I mine.

Fast forward 3 years. Kevin is living in Moreno Valley, visiting my apartment in Riverside almost every day, and commuting to Ontario for work. So we switch cars so he can have the better mileage. Especially since I only drove the 3 miles round trip from my apartment to work and back. I hated the mustang. I missed my little Civic without blind spots. I did learn to parallel park the mustang better than the Civic though.

Three more years brings us to today. I still drive the Mustang. Someone ripped the silver pony off the front grille. The paint is chipped and the protective coating on the spoiler is bubbled. Kevin drives the Civic to work for the better gas mileage. We take the Civic wherever we go. It’s dented on the back where I backed into the cop. The sides have shopping cart marks on them. But we own them both, a beautiful feeling of being (somewhat) debt-free.

This weekend the Civic hit a new milestone. One hundred thousand miles! My father said the car was finally broken in. As long as it doesn’t break down, I’m good.

The funny thing is I bought the car for the better resale value, but I think we may drive it until it is done.