I have not driven since 2008. That is 42 dog years. There has been a certain amount of freedom I have enjoyed by not driving, but the reality is, I do finally have a need for a vehicle. So I turned to Craigslist and was considering a vehicle from a friend of a friend...but timing wasn't right, etc. I was going through my options, reading over everything, when suddenly a new ad was posted for a 1999 VW Jetta, with relatively low miles for its age.
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| Joan Jetta when reconditioning is complete. |
I called, I went, I purchased. I have already named her, Joan Jetta. I insured her, registered her and began going through the reconditioning phase. The actual truth was Joan Jetta was not a one-owner vehicle, but she was close to being one. The vehicle was transferred from one family member to another and I decided to run a VIN history report, which can be done on number sites. The title was clean. No hail, no water damage, no accidents and no odometer roll backs...which made me decide, that in concert with the low mileage this was the vehicle to recondition.
When you run your list of pros and cons, as I ran mine, was the condition of the body was excellent. Minor rust, good bones, and a solid engine. I budgeted a target amount for reconditioning her. I weighed out not having to pay a high sales tax for vehicle registering, no car payment, lower insurance costs and researched existing Jettas, same year and found a lot of them were still on the road, had upwards of 300K on engines and read over maintenance issues and recommendations. So I decided then and there "Joan" was going to be worth the investment.
So, starting from the inside out, you take care of all of the fluids. replace the timing belt and other drive belts, hoses, spark plugs, distributor cap, ignition wires, oil change, coolant flush, engine flush and it becomes apparent that this girl has got a lot of life left in her. Her battery was changed out and she already had a new exhaust system and new brakes, so she's in pretty good shape for a teen-ager.
I am going to be honest, I had missed driving, but today, I heard about the new Climate Warnings issued by the UN. "Invest NOW or change will be irreversible." I had just rejoined the millions of drivers on the road and tried to soothe myself by stating that at least it wasn't a gas guzzler and that I was doing my part by reconditioning her. However, what it made me want to ask was what if there was a way to hybridize this vehicle? Since she is getting reconditioned, why not make the existing vehicle greener and not contribute to the waste cycle we seem to have with our vehicle cycle in the USA. That is a huge waste problem right there, but there is change, with more owners holding on to their cars longer with the average vehicle age being 11.4 years old (Autonews.com).
As a renewed driver on the road, what could I do to minimize my impact? There are some obvious things I can do, like minimize by drive time and whenever I am in the city, I use public transportation. It's when I have to go out to the 'burbs, I need to drive. Car Karma, is one way to look at how to minimize a negative impact and turn it into a positive one. There is use and then there is abuse and disuse. As this journey continues, hopefully we can look at ways for transformation of what we have instead of just trying to sell each other new stuff to replace our old stuff. If we are going to even begin to take climate change seriously, the impact to our food supply, the impact to our environment and all of the steps that this global society needs to take will have to be voluntary for us to thrive.
It's not really about whether or not anyone believes in climate change...we all have seen the ill-effects of pollution. We are poisoning ourselves, corporately and individually by chasing after little bits of paper, to live. What if chasing after those little bits of paper was what was killing us? Just a thought...that perhaps we could really be smarter than a pigeon in B. F. Skinner's box.
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