Hicktard Update - with opinion

From our very own lawnmowerman (because I am currently in the Windy City - and yes, it is windy. All these skyscrapers make for a lot of wind tunnels):

HickTard replaces a car; but not the crappy Metro that left him stranded at the office, oh, no; rather, his wife's clapped-out Escort.

HickTard buys a Tercel from a fellow church member.

HickTard's emergency fund is, yet again, depleted to zero.

It seems to me that HickTard has a car-related "emergency" every two months or so. Maybe I'm using an overly-strict definition, but I would say an emergency that happens that frequently isn't actually an emergency; it's an expense which can and should be anticipated. And yes, look: missing from HickTard's zero based budget is a line for "car maintenance/repairs". Maybe this is because his budgets all seem to be month-by-month affairs. He's focused on the now and has no visibility of the bigger picture; expenses which happen only sporadically are a perpetual surprise and source of his beloved drama.

What to do when your car refuses to start

Aren't you snarky haterz lucky? You get TWO POSTS IN ONE DAY.

So this is the situation: you leave work in deathly cold weather, and your car will not start. Your car service company (e.g. - AAA), can't get it started either. So you call your wife to see if she can pick you up; and she tells you to call a relative or take a cab. And this is the logic that follows:

She asked me, "... why don't you just call your sister, cousin or just call a taxi?" After spending years defending driving used economic cars to most of my family members this was not an option and a taxi would easily cost me over sixty dollars for the distance I needed to go.

So, what do you do? Answer in the poll over there on the right.