Car Culture Shock

So my search narrowed, but simultaneously extended. Or the timeline for my search. Remember that list of “-ings” that had drawn me back to my North Country home? Well, I got so swept up in swimming, sailing, waterskiing, fly-fishing, hiking, gardening, tennis-ing, jogging, theater-ing, and the like that I slipped right past the date of my Defensive Driving Course without referencing my Day-Timer or my Outlook Calendar. The course was scheduled to take place at a community college almost an hour from my home. Two days after the correct date, I waltzed into the appointed classroom to discover that I had missed the course by forty eight hours! Aaargh. Embarrassed, I returned to the parking lot, sat in my borrowed car and proceeded to place call after call until I had managed to enroll in another course a couple of weeks later.

Borrowing cars had become an art and a vice, but I recognized that I would soon overextend my welcome (or perhaps I already had.) This had to end. I had to buy a car. But I loathed the notion of buying, registering and insuring a car while all of those menacing points still plagued me. So I prolonged my research and awaited the class. The veterinarian’s shadow story paralleled my own with an uncanny verisimilitude. All except for the Defensive Driving course and the dread points…

We had both returned to an SUV crazed homeland. We had both initially sought hearty 4x4 vehicles that were gentle on the environment. We were both interested in “recycling” a car rather than buying new. We had both familiarized ourselves with our buying options and recoiled from the consumptive vehicles that filled the roads and used car lots. We had both been courted by a “green in common”, a mutual friend who devotes most of his intellectual, emotional, social and financial capital to a passionate quest to restrain development and preserve natural habitats in the Adirondacks, urged and encouraged to consider buying a hybrid like his Toyota Prius. But we had both eventually settled on Subaru Outbacks. In fact, we had both decided that the Outback Sport, was what we needed. But as my second attempt to take the Defensive Driving course neared, I couldn’t consult the veterinarian despite the similarity of our paths since we had not even met yet. Instead, I used the Internet for my research. Little by little I came to know my future car, its value, quirks, going rates, and so forth.

On the day of my Defensive Driving course, I headed off to a conference room in a Holiday Inn in Plattsburgh, New York only to discover that the instructor had cancelled the course but failed to notify about half of the attendees. We commiserated and left. Twice I had enrolled, and twice I had failed to attend. (Confidentially, I’m exercising my creative license to omit another class, a third that I missed in August…) Was there a message here? I enrolled once more, this time in a class that would take place over an hour away and would be spread over a two night period. Less than ideal. Especially considering my family and friends were about ready to disown me for continually borrowing their cars. And, to be honest, I was chafing to buy a car. After deciding on what to buy, I had been tackling the question of how to buy an Outback Sport.

Friends, recently relocated to Winter Park, Florida from Rome, Italy advised me to try CarMax. He painted a picture of the “Walmart of automobile dealerships”. I was daunted by his description despite his assurance that they had bought a super car easily and efficiently. And I was relieved to discover that my northern location preempted further consideration since they are not (yet) present in the northeast. I met with dealers and walked through their lots. I responded to classifieds and discovered that Subaru owners are a special breed. They are fond of their cars and even fonder of recounting anecdotal moments that capture the wonders of their Subarus. Mostly they were selling their cars with the intention of buying another Subaru. In fact only once did a seller deviate from this formula.

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