Best Of

More than a dozen years ago my Mom asked me for car buying advice, and I suggested she get a new Honda Accord. Seemed like the entry-level LX would be enough, and so they got the all-new 2013 Accord in red. It was a great car until this year—very comfortable, good power, good mpg, great visibility, big trunk space, etc. Until this year it's only needed regular maintenance. Often I took the car in to get it serviced myself for my Mom at the Honda dealer when I visited. But this year....new starter, new alternator, new battery, as well as all sorts of other stuff. Total of all the bills from the Honda dealer add up to more than $4k in the last six months. My Mom has said a few times, "But it only has 65,000 miles," but I told her years are just as difficult for cars as miles. Plus city miles are even more wearing for a car than highway miles. Anyway, I hope now it's finally fixed for a while, but unfortunately it left her stranded twice, which she handled well, but that's not a good thing for someone in their mid-80s. Sigh. If I'd known all of these things were going to happen I might have suggested she get a new car. Maybe I still should? But after all the money that's been sunk into it probably best to let it go. She still really likes the car, when it works, and is quite familiar with all of the controls. She almost never drives on the highway now, just around town, and so only maybe 4-5k miles a year.