“GOD DID🎓
FINALLY BOUGHT MY FIRST BRAND NEW CAR AT THE AGE OF 26 🙏
WOMAN IN MINING 👩🔧
ELECTRO MACHANIC ARTISAN 🙏🎓🙌🏾
After avoiding buying a car for decades for sustainability and other reasons, I finally gave in to the allure of the North American lifestyle and necessitiesThe day I had been avoiding almost most of my adult life finally arrived and I bought my first car on the auspicious day of 14th February ( 🙂 ), with feelings mixed with guilt, nihilism (and dread), and optimism. I know that is a complicated and conflicting mixture of feelings, but it is true.
History of my decision
I never wanted to buy a car for environmental reasons and I also felt that owning one was a waste of time and money. I always believed that one should be able to walk/cycle, use public transportation, or use cab services. However, North American cities, except for a few big cities, aren’t designed for that. In fact, almost no major Indian city is safe for walking/biking, and except for a few big Indian cities, most lack efficient public transport altogether. So many times in metro cities in India, I almost ran over by cars while crossing the streets. In fact, in Indian cities, cows and street dogs get more respect from all drivers than humans wanting to cross the street.
Although after moving to London (the one in Canada), I felt much safer while walking around the city and I still do. I walked almost everywhere, sometimes as much as 8 km in one direction. However, one could only walk so much carrying grocery bags. Most of the time, my radius was restricted to 4–5 km because I didn’t want to walk farther in one direction. Highly inefficient and unreliable bus services didn’t help either. For hiking, some people carpooled but it was inconvenient too because I had to walk to their homes or to a common meeting point, which often was 3–4 km away. Since I lived 5 min walk from work, I managed to live without a car for over a year.
But since I was planning to move elsewhere, I realized that without a car, things wouldn’t work anymore. Also, these problems are not limited to commuting within a city. I always felt severely constrained. I couldn’t go even to parks or some hiking trails just outside the city. I managed to go to a few cities connected by Via Rail, whose London station was again 4 km away and had schedules that I found infrequent. I love being outdoors in the woods and nature. Most natural destinations in Canada are away from dense urban areas and practically unreachable without a car.
Given so many factors, I took my driving lessons and finally bought a car. While many young people are attempting to change the trend towards making cities pedestrian friendly and/or car unfriendly, I don’t know how far it will go before many of them also give up and buy a car.
Experience of buying and using a car
Many people suggested that I go with Toyota, Honda, or some other Japanese brands as they were considered the most reliable car brands. Since it was my first car, I wanted to buy a used one before to get some experience. But the used Toyotas were too damn expensive. Post-covid, the prices of used cars increased like crazy (almost 60–70%), which to me seemed more than the new cars. In fact, I noticed for many Japanese brands, used models were costlier than the new ones because everyone was willing to pay more for a used one than to wait months for a new one.
Eventually, with the help of my colleague and a good friend, I found the car I was looking for. He was a tremendous help in finding a suitable car for me and was with me through the whole process. Without his support, I would still be looking for a car or probably would have bought a bad one.
I am still learning and driving cautiously (often driving below the speed limit), which I believe frustrates many other drivers on the road. Anyway, I will worry about my safety first but I will stay in the right-most lane to let everyone else pass me. Three quick lessons:
If driving slowly, stay in the right-most lane
Don’t feel pressured by trailing drivers; focus on your own driving and safety
Don’t rush and change lanes carelessly
One interesting thing about my car is its color. It is a surprise that I still don’t know what color my car is. In the online advert online, it looked black and when I saw it in person, it seemed black/darkish grey to me and my friend. Frankly, neither of us cared. Then, one day we noticed in bright sunlight that it seemed dark green, so I began asking many people in my group what color they saw. Almost all women told it was blue, but all men told it was blackish/grey. Some of them looked at the car in person and others in photos. So, please go ahead and tell me what color you notice in the picture above.