Glamorous Life of a Doctor's Wife

[Chrisada]

I drive a 2001 Acura TL that I bought with the intent of getting us through med. school and residency. So it needs to last 4 1/2 more years. DH has a 98 BMW 5-series. It needs $5,000 worth of work, but it still drives baby. No car notes on either so we will drive them until the wheels fall off. But DH and I are both big car people and I do look forward to getting a nice new German car once he is an attending.

Glad you weren't hurt. And speaking of smoking docs. My father smoked until his death.

[NYCHoosier]

Hahaha -

We've all been there! (Really!) You mentioned painting it to prevent rust. At one point, we sanded down the damaged parts and I applied multiple coats of fingernail polish that *pretty much* matched. Worked like a charm. Poor mans trick - totally. DH was pretty relieved that we didn't have to pay for a paint job on a car with 200,000+ miles (Honda Accord).

omg, haha. So far I'd just been lurking in this post b/c we don't have a car, but this totally reminded me of something that happened in high school.
My friend (who is actually the daughter of a doctor and a current MS4) had her dark green Ford Explorer back from the shop from her most recent accident. She made a turn too close and ended up brushing up against one of those 3' tall yellow concrete posts and the yellow got all over the side of her car. Believe it or not, we were actually able to spit-shine it clean!

Glad you guys made it to your destination with only the car banged up!

[Phoebe]

In fellowship, DH drove a 1989 Honda Accord with 150K miles on it. He kept having to reattach the side trim with screws because it kept falling off. We donated when we moved out-of-state because it wouldn't have made the trip. He bought a Jetta, which lasted 5 years and then basically fell apart a year ago and it wouldn't fit our three kids car seats. I had to get a babysitter once to take our kids to the dentist because my car was in the shop.

He did buy a new car last year and decided on a mini-van. He loves it!

[HouseofWool]

This week E traded in his 1990 Accord for a new Kia. (Do we win the award for oldest car?)

I am driving a 2007 Kia Rio that got dinged last winter. Part of one hubcap is missing and the trim on the other side is damaged. I am way to cheap to pay for the new parts and labor to install the new trim since they will have to remove the entire interior of the door to do it.

[SoonerTexan]

I'm very happy with my car (2000 Ford Taurus) in great shape, and I refuse to let DF drive it on a regular basis. I'm pretty sure my car shivers in fear when he gets close.

His car is a 2004 Honda Civic that looks like it's 15 years old because of the horrible way he treats it. I've stopped expecting the passenger seat to be clean when I get in--I just sit on top of whatever crap is there. The paint on the top of the car is already fading off.

Now when it comes to his bike...heaven forbid I even bump it, and the world is over if it gets a paint chip.

We plan to keep both cars until they die, or we have more children than mine will fit. I bet mine will still look 10 years newer than his by then too.

This week E traded in his 1990 Accord for a new Kia. (Do we win the award for oldest car?)

I am driving a 2007 Kia Rio that got dinged last winter. Part of one hubcap is missing and the trim on the other side is damaged. I am way to cheap to pay for the new parts and labor to install the new trim since they will have to remove the entire interior of the door to do it.

No - I think Davita's husband drives an 88 or 89 Accord. I only remember this b/c it's the same model I bought (used) when I was 20 (and I'm 37).

[Pollyanna]

When dd starts driving she will take over dh's 12 year old Suburban with duct taped drivers side mirror and he will inherit an 18 year old Suburban from my my folks (and we are THRILLED to get it!). I actually have a pretty nice car (a 2004 Toyota Sienna) but we are pretty sure it was built on a Friday of a holiday weekend because it is just a huge ole' piece of crap. We've put more money into fixing it than in both Suburbans combined.

[Vanquisher]

DH did drive a 1997 Chevy Cavalier with no air conditioning in South Carolina for the first 3.5 years of residency. It would have cost over a thousand dollars to fix it, more than the worth of the car. Its name was Oscar because it was green and a trash can, basically. Then, we bought a !995 Oldsmobile Achieva off of eBay, and then he crashed it and totalled it. I drove a 1998 Chevy Blazer until it started having serious mechanical problems. Then I drove a Chevy Venture that I bought off eBay until someone hit me from behind and totalled "butter van." Butter Van got it's name because on a hot July day 4 pounds of butter were left in the back of the van from Costco mistakenly. The smell and grease never did come all the way out. Very unpleasant. But, the insurance payment we got helped pay for my new van, and it was more than we paid for the Butter Van the year prior. All in all, we came out WAY ahead on that deal.

Now, I am actually pretty happy with our cars. DH drives a 2004 Hyundai 350XL. I drive a 2005 Chrysler Town and Country. Both cars bought and paid for via eBay. My van though is making a funny noise, and the check engine light comes on and goes off sporadically. Also, the sliding door on the drivers side is broken. Other than that, totally happy. There is a reason we have AAA though.

[JaneDoe]

When we finally had money to purchase a new vehicle, we went all out and bought a . . . . minivan! I know, we're flashy like that. Dh and I always drove hand-me-downs: a 92 Chevy Cavalier, 97 Ford Explorer and a 97 Honda Civic. We chuckle that the first car that we actually got to choose for ourselves was a minivan. I love that car, though. Our next car purchase was a Toyota Prius. Dh drives that car.

We are so over having debt, that one of our biggest factors in deciding on a car was that we could pay for it in cash. But, we're not really car people either.

[diggitydot]

DH and I have shared one car since his first year of medical school. Just before graduation, we traded in a POS '99 Ford Explorer for an '07 Kia Rondo. Totally love this car.

[L.Jane]

My family drives cars until they DIE. We had a camry that lasted 20 years and now I have a 2003 camry that I hope will last me that long again. I am thrilled mine isn't on the recall list. J drives a 2004 Taurus that he treats like crap. The inside is everything he has just thrown in to and from work. It needs to be cleaned out so badly. He will have that car until it dies too.

[weeniegeniewife]

Re: Glamorous Life of a Doctor's Wife

I drove a Prius for two years while driving our kids to three different schools (our kids are so spread apart; one is in elementary, one is in middle, and one in HS). I was so sick of that fricking Prius at the end of the school year last year. So I traded it in and treated myself to a 2006 BMW 335i. I LOVE my Bimmer!!!!!

[SuzySunshine]

New cars was DH & I's gift to ourselves when he started residency, I had a good job and we moved back to the reasonably priced midwest from the RIDICULOUS expense of CA. He was driving a '92 Grand Am that he got new when he was 16, it was very close to dead yet we still got 4 figures for it when we sold it.

[Cumberland]

Dh has a 1992 jeep wrangler soft top ( in the frozen tundra of the north) with 190,000 miles on it, a brand new $3000 transmission, no power steering or power brakes and racing seatbelts that lock you in place so you cant move. It is fun to drive in in the summer, but a pain in the butt to drive in the winter. The heat kicks in 20 minutes into the drive.

[Thirteen]

DH is driving his brother's '96 Camaro Z28 w/ T-tops... because said brother is in school up in MA. It is by far THE MOST impractical car - zero head or leg room, terrible gas mileage, really only a two-seater. The commute on that car is killing us, $-wise, to support. All the while, I drive my '07 Civic (traded in my family's old Explorer for that one) which gets amazing gas mileage, seats 5, and has 4 doors.

Realistically, match will happen for DH's brother soon, and he'll graduate/want the car back. We are looking at having to purchase a car for him probably next summer (right around when residency ends), and are looking at a more practical car for us/the dogs/possibly our first child. We fell in love with the Subaru Outback a while ago, but will need to buy it used, as the new ones are pretty $$.