Car Free�

I am a recovering car-owner. An ex, former and one-time vehicle supporter.

And like many ex-smokers I cannot help but sing the praises of my new vehicle-less existence and encourage others to join me.

I was a long-time car-owner. I had the same car for 12 years and it served me well overall, though with the inevitable variable reliability.

But in truth, while the car was an essential and necessary part of my life for the first 6 years, I really haven�t needed it for the last 6.

I can, and do, walk to work. Most of my friends and family live within easy public transport, if not walking, distance. Much easier, in fact, than driving there with traffic and parking hassles. And as I like a drink, so taxis are my very close friends. If I want to go on a driving holiday � which I never do, I grew up in a staunchly airline-centric family � it is so much more economical to hire a car for a few days than to own one full time. And if there�s an emergency of any kind the cars of Smurfette and Betty are in easy reach.

It took me a long time to translate not �needing� the car to actually giving the car up.

In the end I was motivated by the following things:

1. I went away on business for three weeks and when I got back the car wouldn�t start;

2. I couldn�t be bothered getting the car fixed or even getting the door-to-door battery man to come to the house and replace the battery, nor could I be bothered paying for it when I�d just spent three weeks in New York buying shoes; and

3. 3 months went by and I hadn�t needed to drive it at all, and even if I had needed to drive it I wasn�t confident driving on the freeway, or let�s face it, further than the 10 minutes of stop-start city traffic to Nathan and Smurfette�s (and I always drink when I go there anyway, so never drive).

Over the 3 months I adjusted to the fact that the car was more hassle than it was worth. Particularly as it was worth about $50 on a good day. By that time my emotional attachment to my companion of 12 years had been replaced by a desire to be more hassle-free, and not to have to fork out the registration and insurance that was about to fall due.

So much so that I didn�t even try to sell it. I just called the wreckers, cancelled the registration and took the $50 from the guy who came to pick it up. I did stay and watch him pull it up on to the flat-bed truck and then waved to it as it drove up the street and around the corner, but I didn�t feel more than a momentary loss.

And since then I have been free. Free, I tell you!

No more trepidation when I leave the house in the morning that the local kids and/or deros have used the car for breaking-in practice again. Or that the cobwebs have completely overtaken the car and there�s no way to open the doors any more. No more concern that I might not make my hair appointment because the car won�t start.

And everywhere I turn the car owners are suffering. The Boss had to call from the side of the freeway and ask me to take a meeting he couldn�t make it to because his fancy German automobile was broken down, again, on the side of the road. This would be the car that �costs [him] $2,000 every time someone touches it�.

And Maria, Maria has been having the car year from hell. She�s now up to getting a whole new engine. And she actually needs her car. But I have been encouraging her to give it up anyway. Life�s so much easier when you don�t have to worry about new engines or delivery men doing a hit-and-run on your passenger side door.

I do still drive sometimes. I rent a car to go away for the weekend, and it�s nice and shiny and clean and has shock absorbers and a CD-player, unlike my old car. In fact I now associate driving with shiny cars and holidays � I�ve driven more overseas in the last year than I have at home. Though the last car I hired didn�t seem to have much acceleration power, which was highly reminiscent of my car. Driving has become a pleasant experience rather than a constant fear of breaking down.

I can�t see spending money on a new car at any time in the near future. I don�t plan to live anywhere that I�d need one (and hell, I once survived in LA for a whole year without a car, which probably means there�s nowhere I can�t live without one), and there are sooo many other things for me to spend my hard-earned on. Like shoes, and DVDs and that new iMac I really don�t need and, you know, a house.

Of course, as soon as I win the lottery I�ll be out buying an expensive German automobile that costs me $2,000 every time someone touches it. Or perhaps a Jag.