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Looking for a used car — any used car By Michael C. Guilmette Jr. Originally published on May 21, 2009, in the Connersville News-Examiner. Last week was a costly week for me. Halfway through my daily commute to the office, my 10-year-old Ford Taurus made an unceremonious ‘clunk’ and decided it wasn’t going to drive any further.
A quick call to AAA got me and my crippled car back to my apartment, but I knew right away there was nothing I really could do for my poor vehicle. There wasn’t much point in dropping a couple thousand for a new transmission when the car was topping 220,000 miles and a variety of small problems were starting to pop up. I paid it off in 2006 and I was planning to drive it until the wheels fell off, but I was hoping to get a bit more distance out of it. Oh well. This gave me the opportunity to get a new car — well, actually, a new used car. I found a 5-year-old Ford Taurus in great shape and for a good price. Yes, I realize getting the same make and model of car may not be very imaginative, but the way I see it, a car is something to get me from point A to point B safely and efficiently. Of the five vehicles I have owned in my life, none of them were new vehicles when I bought them. Used cars or trucks had always made sense economically, but I expected one day I would buy something that had not been driven previously. These days, however, I’m beginning to believe ‘one day’ will never be. On Tuesday, President Barack Obama took the unprecedented move of nationalizing automobile efficiency standards and emission standards. Outwardly, the new standards didn’t make a big splash, since most political observers have known the president has had auto emissions and by extension the oil companies in his sights for some time. “As a result of this agreement,” Obama said Tuesday, “we will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of the vehicles sold in the next five years. And at a time of historic crisis in our auto industry, this rule provides the clear certainty that will allow these companies to plan for a future in which they are building the cars of the 21st century.” Mr. President, just because you tell the automakers to build these ‘cars of the 21st century’ does not mean the buyers will come. Raising the fleet fuel efficiency standard to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 will mean that along with the alleged savings at the gas pump, the average American consumer will need to pay an extra $1,300 per vehicle — assuming the average consumer buys a new vehicle. With the worsening Obama recession and looming inflation disaster from the president’s record spending, fewer Americans are considering a new vehicle. In a study released by R. L. Polk & Co. and published on the environmental automotive Web site autobloggreen.com, the median age for passenger cars in the United States reached a record high of 9.4 years in 2008 — right around the age of my stricken 1999 Ford Taurus. “The current economic environment, coupled with high gas prices last spring and summer, have resulted in consumers delaying purchases of vehicles because their discretionary income has fallen,” said Dave Goebel, solutions consultant for Polk’s aftermarket team. “Based on the uncertainty of what the future holds, consumers are trying to keep their current vehicles running longer, until their confidence improves.” One key point just about every driver knows is that the older a vehicle is, the less efficient it will run. And if Americans choose to hold on to their cars longer, Obama’s efforts to save oil and combat the manmade global warming myth will effectively be undercut by us selfish Americans who choose not to drop an extra $1,300 on a car we probably wouldn’t want to drive. Some in Congress, however, have somewhat of a solution for that little glitch in Obama’s plan. U.S. Representative Betty Sutton, D-Ohio, introduced H.R. 1550, the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009, also known as the CARS Act, on March 17 of this year. The bill, in part, would give vouchers of up to $5,000 to anyone who scraps their old car and buys a new, fuel-efficient vehicle. “The CARS Act will achieve many goals: consumers will finally get a break to purchase more fuel-efficient vehicles; we will all benefit from a reduction of CO2; and the auto industry will get a jumpstart to spur sales,” Rep Sutton said. “This legislation will help consumers, stimulate our economy, improve our environment, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and help our domestic auto and related industries, upon which millions of American families depend upon for employment.” The bill is currently languishing in Congressional committees, where many bills go to die. Regardless of the bill’s status, the current mood of our government is clear: Get out of your big, old, comfortable vehicle that is raising oceans levels with each mile you drive and get into a government mandated shoebox of a car that probably won’t protect you if you hit a pothole, but at least you rest assured that your sacrifice is supposedly saving the planet. I for one am choosing to buck this popular sentiment by sticking with my used car, and I’m pretty certain there are many who will do the same. If any of you are looking for a used car of your own, drop me a line. My old Taurus just needs a little love — and a new transmission. • Guilmette is managing editor of the News-Examiner. He may be contacted at mguilmette@newsexaminer.com. |
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Copyright © 2009, Michael C. Guilmette Jr. |
‘Just great,’ I thought. ‘I’m stranded, I’m not going to make it to work, and worst of all, I’m now out of a car.’ What’s more, I was particularly annoyed because I was just pulling out of a gas station after filling the tank when the transmission decided to fail. That turned out to be $20 well spent.
