AUTO SENIOR CITIZENS AND THEIR CARS By Mitch Clousner of Mitch’s Econo Lube
W
e have a customer, call her Mrs. S. She’s in her mid-seventies and she has a 2000 Nissan Sentra. The car has a blown head gasket because she overheated it and kept driving it around, not noticing the temperature gauge. She only took action when smoke was pouring out from underneath the hood of her car. Overheating a car engine is one of the worst things you can do to an engine. She lives modestly on Social Security but is still spry enough to take care of herself and drive around keeping herself indepen-
dent of others. Now she finds herself in a position of having to do a repair that would easily exceed the value of the vehicle. What should she do? At her age I would rather not see her take on car payments for the next five or six years but she still needs a car.
This got me thinking about something. We all hear about financial planning, planning for retirement, even planning for health care but we never hear about vehicle planning. Why is that? Why does no one sit down with seniors and discuss their plan for their mobility for the duration of their lives? It’s not difficult but is totally ignored. Ideally you would want to see your senior loved ones in cars that
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have a high degree of reliability with low mileage. That would be the situation which would produce the least amount of stress, both financially and emotionally. Now she has to choose between fixing this car or getting into another car that she can afford. Unfortunately, the only thing she can afford are cars that are also nearing the end of their lives. She is confused as to what to do. She asked me if a 2010 VW would be a good car because some dealer said he could get her into that at a very low cost. I told her the reliability of European cars in the second half of their lives is low and the expenses for maintenance and repair could be higher that she would like. She didn’t like that answer. Oh well, better to be honest with them now than to just give them the answer they want to hear. If someone had sat Mrs. S down when she was in her late fifties or early sixties and discussed her vehicle plans for the next twenty
years she probably wouldn’t be in the situation she is now. Seniors have enough challenges with medical and financial issues. It is best to think about mobility in advance and plan for it. For example, seniors should think about ease of entry and exit. It’s much easier to get in and out of a small crossover SUV like the Honda CRV or Toyota Rav4 than any low to the ground sedan. It will be easier on their knees. It sounds simple but nobody really plans that way. It’s a shame. Uber is an alternative, but like most, seniors link their independence to their vehicles. Extended warranties are not really the answer since that’s just another form of insurance and we all know insurance companies look for any excuse not to pay a claim. Besides, who would want to pay for extended warranty coverage for an 18 year old car? The premiums would also exceed the value of the vehicle. There does not seem to be an easy answer except for planning. northtatumtimes.com
