Babying your car
We went to Iowa last weekend so my brother Nick* could put new tires on my car. All week, before we got to Iowa, I kept telling Steven we had to make sure not to bump in to any curbs, as to not scratch up the new tires. You see, when we park in parking lots, we’re those people who park as far away from the store as possible, preferably next to a curb, on the right side of the vehicle**.
Yes, we baby our cars. And if I am getting new tires, I want them to look nice for as long as possible!
Chubby Tubby, showing no respect for the new tires by using them as a scratching post.
I know, I know – it’s just a car. Well, it’s NOT just a car to me. It’s the first car I bought for myself, it is expensive, and I want to take care of it. It irks me to no end how people disrespect each other’s property, especially cars. It’s inconsiderate and there’s no excuse for it.
I won’t have it forever, and yes, it’s just a physical possession, but while it’s mine, I want to keep it in good condition. And that is how I feel about all of my possessions – I earn money to pay for them, and I want to keep them in good change.
Do you baby your car (if you have one) or do you think “it’s just a car”?
I repaid him for an hour of labor with cookies and by paying for his race entry to the 5K – that counts, right?
**If you park with the curb on the left side of your vehicle, there is a greater chance that someone will park next to you, on your right, and open up their driver’s door and scratch your car. If you park with the curb on the right side of your vehicle, there is a chance that the person parking next to you may not have a passenger, decreasing the chance of scratches. I know, I know, this all assumes people park how they are supposed to in parking lots, which doesn’t always happen.
Themocracy
I babied my first car like crazy – well, my first brand new car. The cars I had before that were beaters, and while I took good care of them mechanically (my Dad wouldn’t have it any other way!) I didn’t superficially. But my first brand new car was different.
Our cars now though? Not so much. I guess 4 kids will do that to you – they are viewed more like a necessity to get from point A to B. Maybe when the kids are gone and we again are fortunate enough to have the cars we really WANT versus NEED it’ll be back to babying them.
I was going to ask that in my post – if it changes once you have kids! I know I was surprised to open the door to my aunt’s expensive SUV and see kids’ toys and food all over!
I love my car and I take good care of it, but I am not that particular about where I park it (except in my apartment complex parking lot thanks to all the incidents I’ve witnessed there). However, I feel like I’m more likely to park with my drivers side door next to the curb since it’s the side of the car I see the most and therefore I’d be more annoyed if there were scratches or dings. Also, I like to think that the driver of another car would be more cautious opening their doors than their passenger…
I’ve bought all three of my cars myself but my current car is the only one I’ve purchased brand new.
My dad is the guy who parks his truck as far away from the store as possible… and whenever we get back out to his truck, there is ALWAYS someone parked next to him despite tons of other, closer spots being available. haha
i go back and forth. this is the first car I’ve bought myself as well…but my issue is that i’m IN my car so much, it’s like a second home. i have workout gear, fishing gear, and everything else you can think of that i need in that car to get me from place to place. it’s a bit ridiculous….but in terms of the actual exterior care of the car, i’m the same way…i literally might cry if i got a ding in it.
With my old car, I never did anything like vacuum it out or wash it. But now with my new car, I want to keep it clean so I now baby my car a bit more!
Steve does enough babying for the both of us. His idea of a good time is washing and waxing the car. He is always checking the car for scratches and dings. This is on his christmas list:http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=bumper+buddy&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=4385005245&ref=pd_sl_14y0k7naxn_e
Ha! Love Steve! Do people really use those in NYC?
I totally baby my cars! When I was single I was maniacal about it, now pretty crazy still but less so. I keep them pristine inside and out, cannot stand when people park too close, and of course they’ve all had names.
Blue Angel, White Lightning, Silver Star…ok I’ll spare you the rest.
Ha! I want to see a list of all the names!
I always use the license plate “Kimbot” so the car is always called that 😉
Oh I take care of my car, maybe not baby it because I life and park in the city so it is pretty hard to prevent it from being bumped or scratched especially by people who do not know how to parallel park!
I do get the oil changed ever 3-4 months, get the tires rotated and my husband takes it to get washed every other month.
It is a big investment and I use it every day, to me it is not disposable it is a necessity so I need to take care of it!
If I wasn’t married to a car nut I’m pretty sure I’d be one of those people who forgets to get their oil changes or drove around with cracked tail lights. Okay, maybe not that bad but I totally view my car as a means to an end. Perhaps that’s because it’s paid for?
Jason used to baby his cars until he got into racing. Now he doesn’t care as much since his is all banged up from running over the traffic cones 🙂
While I wouldn’t say I babied my car, I did take care of it…I bought it brand new and it was the most expensive thing I’ve ever bought! (Okay, except for my nursing school diploma…that was a $30,000 piece of paper! Go education. Anyway, tangent.) I was really sad when someone rode their bike into my car and left a scratch on it after I’d only had it for about two months. How dare they taint my car!! I got over it quickly because….it’s not going to look new forever. However, I didn’t want it to get all beat up or anything, so I did wash it and wax it like my dad always taught me to. 🙂
In other news, know anyone who wants a silver 2009 Honda Civic EX? It’s sitting in my parents’ driveway in Chicago until someone buys it! 18,000 miles…it’s in great shape! 😉
I did think of you a few months ago when someone told me they were looking for a car to buy… but I think that person has a very limited budget 😉
i definitely babied my car…. for the first few years. now that it’s 9 years old with nearly 150k miles on it, i’m pretty blase about it 🙂
When I have a new car or a car that is in a super condition that I paid good money for, I baby it. I clean it often, keep it waxed and take extra measures to make sure it doesn’t get door dings.
My next car – a Nissan LEAF – will get babied.
My current car, a 2001 Nissan Sentra, gets treated fairly. I don’t run into curbs or stuff like that, but I drive it like it’s got 108,000 miles on it. It’s got door dings, a new dent I got a week or so ago (someone obviously turning too tight with a plastic bumper – I didn’t see it happen, just my best guesstimate) and the clear coat on the paint is coming off all over the place. So I call it my beater. It runs great on the highway, but has some stop light stalling issues in town. I once waxed it and vacuumed it often. Now it’s washed once a week and gets driven a lot.
My BiL drives a Nissan Sentra too… I think he got it in ’03 or ’04 – it’s paid off and he is going to drive it until it dies. He has the weird stalling issue too, or something similar.
Can’t wait until you get the LEAF. It seems so much more well thought out than the Volt. Ugh. I won’t even go there.
I refuse to even consider the Chevy Volt. It’s an odd sort of hybrid, plus I’m still soured on GM for abandoning the electric car when they could have been a pioneer and made huge inroads.
Yes, very excited to get the LEAF. Since I don’t live in one of the first markets, I’m working on trying to get it sooner than Sept 2011.
I love my car, and she has a name, “Baby Bumble” (her big brother is THE Bumblebee from TRANSFORMERS), and I take good care of her…but I park where I can at work, but she lives in the carport, whereas Mr. P ‘s trucks have to live on the street!
Ha! I love that you say your car has a big brother! We say something similar (little brother) about the smaller version of my car 🙂
Brian and I are both “it’s just a car” people. We always buy used and tend to buy vehicles that are great on gas mileage (his gets about 34 miles to the gallon). The exception to that is the Ford Explorer we have — we inherited it when his dad passed away and use it to trail the boat and snowmobiles (which are also old, inherited and very well-used :)).
I love love loove the tip abou parking with the curb to the right. I totally utilize that now after you commented on my post re: my new vehicle 🙂
My last car was a gift from my Dad and as an adult, I really regret how poorly I treated it.
HOWEVER, living in the city, when I did have a car, I knew it was utterly unrealistic to expect it to stay pristine which is why I’m glad it wasn’t a fancy car!
I think if I ever got a car again I’d be like, eh, what’s fairly inexpensive yet reliable with good gas mileage?
I always wonder what we would do if we lived in the city – if we would get rid of our cars or try to find a neighborhood with a garage. I wouldn’t need to drive as much, but I know people dinging up my car (on the street) would drive me batty, at least at first!
It’s just a car. Point A to point B.
Noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!
😛
I probably should baby my car more. I will baby my next one though!