On Monday morning, I took my car into the shop for repairs. I have to say, I’m quite pleased with how easy things have been. I dropped the car off and they called Enterprise to come pick me up. The agent picked me up and took me to their office to get my rental going. Because it was all through insurance, I only had to pay the deposit, and was only going to be required to pay 20% of the rental – well under the deposit, so I would be getting money back.
I had an option of two different cars – a base rental and then something one step up (an additional $5/day, so about 50 cents out of my pocket). I took the nicer car and man, it is fabulous. I drive an 8-year-old car that I love, but I didn’t realize just how many bells and whistles have been added to cars in the past 8 years. My rental is a 2012 with just over 10,000 miles on it. It is a really nice car to drive. It’s too much car for me – it’s probably considered a small luxury sedan, and the blind spots are driving me crazy, but I’m loving all the features. And the new car smell… yes, I know it’s probably toxic, but it’s so nice.
Does this make me want a new car? Yes. Am I going to go get a new car? No. My car has less than 60,000 miles on it (thanks mostly to 3 years of living with easy Metro access and rarely driving). I’ve had it under 8 years. I would love to get the car to 100,000 miles before thinking of getting a new car, but at minimum, I’d like to have it 10 years. But I need to start doing what I have been saying I should do. I need to create a car savings fund. I don’t have a car payment right now, and would love to be able to buy another without a car payment. While I don’t know if that will happen or not, what I can do is start putting money away each month in a savings account to help me towards that goal.
I’m enjoying driving the rental, but I can’t wait to get my car back. I’ve been through a lot with that car. It’s the first big thing I’ve ever owned (growing up, I shared cars with my siblings, and they were owned by our parents). Plus I’m a little terrified of dinging the rental. That would not be good.
