Confronting Mechanical Mortality

The FredMobile, my 2001 Nissan Altima, isn't long for this world. There, I said it. No matter how hard it is to admit, I'm going through the stages of grief dealing with my upcoming loss. I think I'm at the "That's not my oil leaking, that must be another car that parked there" stage.

I wandered around a local Nissan used car lot and the fellow helping me confirmed my fears when he showed me their boneyard of trade-ins fated for auction. 12+ year old cars that have more than 175,000 miles and have been left outside all their lives are worth almost nothing and all need thousands of dollars worth of work to keep them on the road. They were uniformly beaten up and looked a lot like the FredMobile.

I'm hoping I can squeeze another 25,000 miles out of it without putting any money into it. I think it's time to make sure I've got AAA roadside assistance.