Good Car-ma

Back in 2005 I was broke. I had just started law school in San Francisco, and I was living with my parents in San Jose. I had no car.

My dad would drop me off at the train station on his way into work in the morning and pick me up at the station on his way home. The train wasn't too bad, except for the fact that my commute was 2 hours each way. After a few months of this, I decided I couldn't deal with it anymore. So I looked in the classified ads and found a car in my price range that looked decent.

The car was a 1990 Toyota Camry with 195,000 miles on it. The seller wanted $1200 for it. I took the car for a test drive and decided that I wanted to get it. My dad recommended against it because he said that it was too risky to buy a car that old and with mileage that high. I ignored his advice and bought the car anyway.

I named the car Liandra. That car had character. A few months later, I was driving home one night and the window roller handle broke off with the window in the down position. So I had to drive from San Francisco to San Jose with the window down. It was freezing! My dad and I were able to get the window rolled back up when I got home, but it slipped out of gear. So, for the next seven years, I drove with the window permanently jammed in the up position. This wasn't so bad until last year when the air conditioner broke.

I went through three batteries, a starter, an alternator, a set of brakes, and two sets of tires. But Liandra kept plugging along. The radiator died just as the odometer turned to the 300,000 mile mark. Every time I took Liandra to the shop, I was sure that it would be the visit she was finally declared dead. But she just kept going.

I've always been interested in biofuels because I dislike the fact that most of the oil used to make our fuel comes from countries that oppress their people. So I decided that my next car would be a diesel so that I could use biodiesel instead of a petroleum fuel. (I considered electric cars, too, but they don't have the range I would feel comfortable with yet.) Over the years I've been watching the market for a suitable replacement, but nothing came up in my price range.

About 6 weeks ago, I found the perfect car for sale on eBay. I saw a 2000 VW Jetta TDI for sale in Salinas. (Salinas is about 40 miles south of the middle of nowhere, aka about 2 1/2 hours south of where I work in Sunnyvale.) Diesel cars are hard to come by in California, so I bought it. Jen (my sister) gave me a ride, and we went to pick it up. On Valentine's Day, no less.

I had arranged to drop it off at my mechanic's shop for an oil change, smog test, and safety check, so I slipped my keys into the drop box that night. The next morning I got a call from my mechanic. Turns out the seller totally misrepresented the condition of the car. The car ended up being in the shop for 3 weeks and practically had to be rebuilt from scratch. No wonder I got such a good deal on it. (By the time the mechanic's bill got paid, it ended bumping it up to the price of buying a used car from a dealer. Still a fair price altogether, but annoying.)

My neighbor wanted to buy Liandra as soon as I got the Jetta back from the shop, so I said yes. While the Jetta was in the shop, I got into a car accident on my way into work one morning. I was fine, but Liandra's bumper was pulled away from the car by about half an inch. (The accident was the other driver's fault.) I settled with insurance and got some money from the damage.

I told my neighbor about the damage, and she still wanted to buy the car. So, with 307,000 miles, Liandra now has a new owner. I honestly expected that if I ever sold that car it would be to a junkyard. But I'm thrilled that somebody else is going to get some use out of her. Three cheers for the Energizer Car.

On Friday I filled the Jetta up with biodiesel produced from used restaurant fryer oil. It wins the most creative recycling award in my book. Plus, it's nice to feel like I'm flipping off OPEC with every mile I drive.