I am no teenager anymore, but i still must ask myself....'how can you possibly afford NOT to have at least two vehicles?' Unless of course you have one where a loaner car is part of the warrantee...way out of my price range.

Because.. at least in California cars are really expensive.

Registration is a pain.. but the smog checks are rediculous. We just got the new dyno tests in my area. So everyone's amortizing their new spendy smog equipment. $80-$100 smog checks are the norm.

Gas is expensive. $2.30/gal is not unheard of for 87AKI gas. And unlike in many parts of Europe, most of that money goes straight to the oil companies.

Insurance is expensive. $500/yr is a lot to me. More-over most companies will profile people.. and the lower income areas tend to pay the most for car insurance (again, around here).

This angers me a bunch, because public transportation is such a mess.

I am extremely greatful to my friends and family for having a few cars that I can borrow between them. But keeping a second car around was prohibitively expensive.... andyet.. I'm still eyeing project cars. *SIGH*.

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alex