{Photograph} by Sarah Miller.
In 2007, I purchased a brand-new purple two-door Toyota Yaris off loads at a Toyota dealership within the Inland Empire. I feel it was about $13,000. I attempted each the automated and the handbook transmission. The automated had no energy and since I used to be typically getting on to the 110 freeway, whose on-ramps had been about so long as the typical hallway in a one-bedroom residence, I believed the handbook could be “safer.” I exploit quotes right here as a result of this automotive was tiny. If something ever hit me whereas I used to be in that factor I might not be alive to write down this. Fortunately, nothing ever did.
I do not forget that as I headed into the dealership to signal the papers, I requested the salesperson if I ought to possibly simply attempt the Toyota Scion, what the heck, and he received very indignant and began yelling at me that these automobiles had been fucking rubbish and that I ought to simply purchase the Yaris I mentioned I had come to purchase in order that he may end promoting me this automotive and go promote one other one, as God supposed, kind of. “Why would you come right here to purchase a Yaris and stroll out of right here with one other automotive, a silly automotive, a automotive for A CHILD?” he shouted. I discovered all this charming, for some cause. I purchased the automotive. I attempted haggling. He made enjoyable of me. “You’re horrible at this, why attempt, go residence and work and make 5 hundred {dollars}, don’t attempt to make it from me, you’ll by no means win. Additionally this automotive will make you cash as a result of you’ll by no means give it some thought.” And so I received a Yaris and the person was proper. That automotive did what it was imagined to do, which was that it received me round and I by no means considered it.
Once I purchased it, in my mid-thirties, it was one of many solely good choices I’d ever made. My boyfriends had been largely no good or not proper. I used to be so unhealthy with cash it was a joke. Once I hadn’t made a multitude of my profession, the financial system stepped in to assist. I did have good pals, after which in a while I had a superb canine, and this automotive made these issues higher. That may sound bizarre. Nevertheless it by no means failed at getting me from one pal to a different, or at getting me and that good canine round to numerous adventures. In that approach, the uncommon sound judgment I had utilized in buying this automotive was compounded by the methods it was in a position to make the higher elements of my life simpler. The automotive took care of me and after some time I noticed that I wasn’t as unhealthy at taking good care of myself as I believed I used to be.
I appreciated the way it was so small from distant that you simply felt like you would simply decide it up and kick it and it will undoubtedly rating you a area aim. There was by no means something unsuitable with it. The air conditioner kicked ass. I might fill the factor up with fuel after which simply overlook about it for a very long time, particularly since dwelling in Los Angeles I didn’t commute and all I did was drive backwards and forwards from Highland Park to Silver Lake. Someday it began to behave bizarre and I took it into the store. I came upon that this automotive had one thing unsuitable with its transmission, and so 5 or 6 years into proudly owning it I received a brand-new transmission after which it was like a brand-new automotive yet again.
A pal of mine and I did need to push this automotive down a hill whereas we had been attempting to jump-start it, and it did certainly additionally need to have its whole passenger facet changed, which price about $4,000 at a time once I assume the automotive might have been value $4,500. However the insurance coverage firm let me do it and I had the automotive for seven extra years, into my early fifties. I might’ve had it longer besides I took it to the Toyota seller in Hollywood to repair my air conditioner and he mentioned that was all that was unsuitable with it, however truly there was one thing else enormous unsuitable with it, which actually I couldn’t even let you know. If I had understood something, then it wouldn’t have occurred, though I’m not going responsible myself for not understanding something about my very own automotive, as a result of I’m not a mechanic, I’m simply somebody who needed to drive a automotive round and never give it some thought. At any price, because of Hollywood Toyota, my automotive died in the summertime of 2021 in Roseville, California, in the midst of an industrial park. It was towed to the Toyota dealership in Roseville and so they mentioned that it was fully fucked. I don’t know why and I don’t need to know. I solely know that that automotive was good and it was taken from me too early.
I’ve a Chevy Bolt now. It’s a silly automotive. It’s an computerized. Automatics are so uncool. I don’t give this automotive a whole lot of thought, and that’s good. Whenever you have a look at it, you assume, “Oh, you’re small,” however not “You’re so tiny it’s superb you could transfer however you do anyway.” It doesn’t care about me in any respect. Once I received into my Yaris, I felt that it was greeting me. The Bolt is silent. That’s wonderful, and it’s good at doing its job, however we’re not pals.
Sarah Miller is a author who lives in California. She writes a Substack.
