Cash for Clunkers

Where are those federal handouts when you really need them? Mike has been driving my 1997 (purple) Toyota Corolla for about four years now. We decided when I was pregnant with Zander and we bought the van that we would get rid of his Stratus and keep my little Corolla. Sure, there was more room in the Stratus. Sure, it was quite a bit more manly than the Corolla. But, the insurance and registration was cheaper and the Corolla was likely to break down less than the Stratus. So Mike bit the bullet and agreed to make my old car his new car.
Over the years he has called it everything from the purple dinosaur to the little Barbie car. He never really did take a liking to it. I can’t say I blame him. I mean what self-respecting man admits to liking a tiny, purple car. So, needless to say, he never really took care of it either. I’m pretty sure I can count on one hand the number of times he changed the oil. So, even though the car only had 140,000 miles on it, it finally gave up … while Mike was on his way to pick Nick up from school. Good thing he’s training for a marathon because he had to book it to school to get Nick in time. I would have been late.
But, no matter how crappy that car was getting (and it was definitely getting crappy) I still have soft place in my heart for it. I mean, it was in my possession for more than 10 years. That’s a long time for someone to own a car these days. So, when the tow truck came to take it away I admit I felt a little sad to see it go. (Pay no attention to the really dirty windows – I thought it might be weird if I went outside to take the picture so I took it from the living room).



I was quite surprised to learn that the junkyard actually pays pretty decent money for completely broken down cars. I was just happy to get it towed and not have to pay for it, but I gladly pocketed the $300 the junkyard gave me, too.