Mile of Cars

Urg, we actually went to this place last week while we were looking for a car to replace our Subaru, totaled in an accident almost two weeks ago now. As much as I would just like to completely forget the experience now that we have a new car and everything is settled, I figure a post about it will help purge it from my consciousness.

A few years ago, I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about the place, but after a couple years of being into the livable cities movement, bicycling advocacy, and the like, it was hard not to see the “Mile of Cars” as deeply pathological.

First, the “mile” is not really a mile, but an entire section of the city of National City, just south of San Diego. There are reputable dealerships (if there is such a thing), semi-shady used car lots, totally shady used car lots, auto body shops, detailing shops, car washes, upholsterers, tire shops, car stereo shops, everything you would ever need, and much that you don’t, for your car. Everywhere there are legions of slick, cologne-dipped young men loitering about, ready to pounce and sell you a car. They stand about in clique-ish groups, telling off-color jokes, jabbing each other on the shoulder, and smirking hungrily at folks like us, sheep who have obviously wandered heedlessly into a den of wolves. Sometimes stereotypes are founded in reality.

I can’t help but wonder what will become of “the mile” as gas prices soar, and more people stop driving, let along buying new cars. For National City, it’s going to mean a major downturn in the local economy, as dealerships close, putting hundreds out of work. Already, smaller dealers are closing on the mile, and every salesman we talked to just shook his head when asked how business was. And then all of the ancillary shops will close too, which employ dozens, if not hundreds, more people. For places like this, which have built an entire local economy on autos, the coming revolution away from cars is going to spell absolute disaster. As sad as this may be for the innocent victims of this crash, after visiting such a place, I am even prouder to practice and advocate a low-car or car-free lifestyle. I’m more convinced than ever that automobile addiction is a ruinous feature of modern life. That said, yes, we bought a car, but not on the “the mile.” And no, we don’t use it more than we need to; and yes, it gets good gas milage.

Phoo…

Despite all the drama, we now have everything settled: a check from insurance, a new car, and a loan from my father. What would we do without family? It’s not a big family, but it’s a good one. We can finally take a deep breath, get back to life and work, and stop getting all worked-up about everything. I’ve got some fine tuning to finish on my recently-finished bicycle project, then I’m looking forward to a big excursion around the city with it, hopefully tomorrow. Yesterday involved just tying up a few loose ends with the car dealer, insurance, etc., and then I indulged myself and took a bike ride around the neighborhood, cut some shelves for our garden stand out of some scrap wood I found in the alley, then made some lemon orzo soup. It felt good to do good things, rather than deal with insurance people and car salesmen (two bad things; sorry folks, I’m sure your families love you, but I don’t care for your functions).

I’m also ready to get back to work in a big way. I probably would have gotten started last week, had it not been for all of this non-sense with the car, so I’ve got a whole extra week of enthusiasm and energy stored up and waiting for me to unleash it on Monday. In the meantime, I’m going to take this weekend and just relax.

Unprepared

It’s been a week and two days since my wife’s accident, in which our car was totaled. She’s still suffering some muscle pain in her neck and shoulders, but otherwise she’s fine, physically at least. It’s been an incredibly stressful week, dealing with insurance and trying to find a new car. The insurance company seems to be moving extremely slow, and I’ve had to call them repeatedly to get information they said they would call me with.

We just started looking for a new car yesterday, and have been dismayed to find that our insurance settlement is woefully inadequate. We have the rental car only until the 15th (at least that insurance will pay for), so we have to find a car before then. We’re going to have to go into some debt to buy a new car, since we weren’t planning or saving to buy a car before the accident, all because of some random woman’s mistake. Since this is our first time dealing with any of this, we feel, in a word: unprepared. Thank goodness I don’t have a 9-5 job that I have to take time from, but my wife does, and I’m not sure how we would do this if I wasn’t available at home to deal with insurance, research, and calls to/from auto dealers. How do people do this? Is anyone ever ready for shit like this to happen?

I know we’ll muddle through, but we distinctly feel like this situation is beyond our control in so many ways, and that we just don’t know how to do it. It’s a hateful feeling, and one that can’t be endured much longer.