Reed is fine. Her car...

Reed is fine, just shaken and stressed. Her 2007 car, lovingly named Spiff, was hit by a deer and damaged so badly it broke the front bumper, a compressor, the radiator, bent the hood, dislodged lights, and even cracked the frame. The repair cost is equal to the purchase price when it was bought used. At +170K miles, with fewer parts for repair these days, and 19 years in service, it's time to move on.

The totaled car payout is much higher than expected, two thirds of purchase price! Trump's temper tantrum tariffs have raised steel prices and all car parts across the board. People are keeping used cars longer so used car prices are up due to scarcity. Add in that new car prices are up, so demand for used is pushed higher. Repair parts are up, as are used scrap parts. All adds into a higher totaled car payout. Still though, the replacement auto prices these days are obscene!!

Having to explain the scrap process to Reed: good used tires are resold, parts shared across models and production years are resold, metal scrapped and recycled... 

She responded, "Poor Spiff. He's an organ donor now." 

"Yes, so other cars can live a little longer." 

She's still our sweet little girl.

We bought Spiff before Reed was a licensed driver. When I took her and the car on a test drive, I commented on how spiffy the engine was. It had a lot of pick up for such a small sedan. For this and her love of Calvin and Hobbes, Spiff was so named.

She is sad to part with Spiff and even sadder to part with money to buy a newer used car for the outrageous prices these days. But with used car rates starting at 7.59% and up based on year and mileage, loans are right out. Imagine getting a 5 year old car and getting a 5 year loan and hoping it will last. Consider also how quality has declined in everything. Every repair these days is twice what it was 10 years ago. Inflation, tariffs, shortages, a perfect storm of disaster pricing for the ordinary American.