I knew it was going to happen in the near future. I was just hoping it could hold out for a little while longer. My 2000 Subaru Impreza with 245,000 miles is dead. A new(er) car was next on my "to buy" list when I learned that I was getting laid off from CMRLS.
At least the car had the good manners to die not too far from home. I wasn't out of state or going 70 mph in the left lane of the Mass Pike. I was pulling into a parking lot at UMass/Amherst in the early afternoon when the engine shrieked and stopped running. I had planned to carpool with some people to a meeting in Boston, but that was not to be. They went without me.
I called AAA and a tow truck with a very nice driver took me and my car to the Subaru dealer in Northampton. From there, the dealer's chauffeur service brought me home. Today I learned that the car is beyond repair. Now I need to buy a car. How?
Can I get financing with no job? I have savings, but not enough for a decent car and I was planning to use those savings to pay the mortgage and utilities and things like that. Is this the time to dip into my IRA? Lots of questions to ask before I find any answers.
Periodically I wish I lived closer to town and near mass transportation. This is one of those times. Living in the Hatfield hills (yes, Hatfield has hills) I'm totally dependant on a car. Even my newspaper box is 1/2 mile away.
The good news (and there is good news) is that I've been hired as adjunct faculty in the Simmons GSLIS satellite program at Mount Holyoke College. I'll be teaching Organization of Information. I start in the spring - as long as I have a car to get me to So. Hadley.
Were you expecting 500,000 miles? That would be quite a "Yankee" outlook! :-)
ReplyDeleteI was aiming for 300,000. I know people who have eked that much out of their cars. I've gotten over 200,000 from most of the cars I've owned in the last 25 years.
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