A Moment of Silence

It all started in 1996 when my parents bought a brand new Toyota Corolla, their first foreign-made car. It was quite a purchase considering the GMC conversion van and Pontiac stationwagon already sitting in our driveway. My parents had heard good things about Toyotas and decided to take the chance on a type of car we'd never had before.

We only had it a short time before my mom was hit by a public transit bus while making a left-hand turn onto the highway. The bus ran a red light and slammed into the Corolla on the left side, totalling the car. My mom, miraculously, walked away with a broken pinky finger. My dad, loyally, said he would always buy Toyotas because he was so impressed with how the Corolla took the impact of the bus and protected my mom. True to his word, they bought a 1997 Corolla to replace the totalled one and have since purchased two additional Toyotas.

About a year before I got married, my parents officially sold me the Corolla. I think it had about 80,000 miles on it. I buzzed around in that little car EVERYWHERE. P and I got married, and pretty soon the car had about 150,000 miles on it. But since it ran so great and we had it paid off, it didn't make sense to trade it in or buy a new car. We decided to keep it until it just quit running or needed a repair that was so expensive it wouldn't make sense to fix. So it ran and ran and ran. We were able to buy the boat because we had the Corolla.

About a month ago, at 248,000 miles, it was having brake problems and we thought "Ok, this is it. This is the end of the Corolla." But after inspection, all it needed was new front brakes and rotors. Which we could do for about $300 with P's uncle helping him. Since it was still running great and never gave us any major problems, it was an easy decision to repair it. 300,000 miles was in sight.

But Friday afternoon, the old Corolla was introduced to a Dodge Ram van from the backside. And as most meetings from the backside usually go, it was not a pleasant one. P was in the car when the van slammed into him and forced the Corolla into an SUV in front of him. He was monkey in the middle and the car took it bad. But P, like my mom, walked away with minor injuries. (Although I don't remember my mom finagling a sympathy trip to BW3 for wings.) Once again, the Toyota did a great job of protecting its passenger. And for that, I'm super thankful. Although I'm quite sure the Corolla is sitting in the body shop missing us like crazy.

So we've been sitting here tonight shopping online for cars. Our options? Another Corolla or an upgrade to the Camry. We've been tempted by Ford's recent Swap My Ride commercials, and Mazda's never ending Zoom-Zoom media blitz. But for us, it's come down to this: two totalled cars, two protected passengers. Now that's great marketing.