We Need a New Car!

Paul, hurrying to get to his Aikido teaching last Sunday, had a fender bender for the first time in his life. No one was hurt and no air bags deployed, but his hood got crunched, grill destroyed and headlights shattered. Although the hood now wouldn't open, he was able to drive home. Fortunately, he still has collision coverage. He made an appointment for Monday morning with State Farm's authorized repair facility, which happens to be in walking distance and on the way to work. The estimated repair cost--$2200--sure isn't pretty, but we both agreed, you can't buy a replacement car as dependable as his for that.

Then came the bad news on Wednesday. State Farm declared his car a total loss since it's only worth about 3 grand. So now he has two choices: 1) surrender the title to State Farm and they will take possession of the car in exchange for a check of about $2700 or 2) keep the car, whose title is now officially invalid and follow whatever legal procedures necessary to get it reapproved by the state of Ohio. Basically, it was a choice between taking the money to put toward a new car or jumping through hoops, with no guarantee of success, for an 11-year-old car with 155,000 miles on it. Hmmmm.

It wasn't too difficult to decide that I would spend my (now copious) free time yesterday researching what is out there as far as economical choices for new or gently used cars. I haven't car shopped for 8 years. Prices certainly have gone up. If you want something that will be dependable for 10 years, $10K isn't enough anymore. I am happy with my 10-year-old Civic, though I do miss the hatchback for ease of transporting the occasional 3-dimensional large object (like a bike or a full-sized keyboard). Paul and I both want the same things in a new car, which made it really easy to narrow it down.

Requirements:

• Average fuel economy not below 30mpg. Even when gas was $1.00/gal, this was a non-negotiable for both of us. We've both driven subcompact gas-sippers for our entire adult lives, whether it was trendy or not.
• Long-term reliability for the lowest price possible. Minimum 10 years. We like not having a car payment. I haven't had one for 8 years and he hasn't had one for 7. You do have to spend some money to get a car that will last, but we'd like to keep it down. I love the idea of a hybrid, but it's just too expensive, and then you have to think about battery disposal and replacement costs someday, and I bet it's thousands. If you don't drive that many miles, it's just not worth it.
  
• A hatchback with space to carry bulky items would be my dream. But still a subcompact with high MPG.

Fortunately (in a way), there are only a few models out there that meet all of my criteria. I plowed through a lot of ads, specs, reviews and message board discussions and came up with a winner--the Honda Fit. After talking with Paul and sleeping on it, I feel even more confident today that this is what we want. We've scheduled our first dealership visit for late this afternoon. I have another one in the works, through AAA, early next week.

I hate the thought of having to spend $15-16K at a time we didn't choose to replace Paul's car, but quality up front saves money and headaches later. At least we can survive as a one-car household for weeks if we need to, since I am underemployed for the summer and he only needs the car when I don't.