We now have just one car, the newly-acquired Honda Fit. I sold the 2005 Mini today.

A few days ago I happened to wake up at 5:00 AM as the sprinklers were going off, and I heard a loud gurgle/burble instead of the spray one is supposed to hear. So I emailed the guy who fixes our sprinklers and he called me to say he’d be here Saturday. He came and he found four (!) sprinkler heads which needed to be replaced ($95. Not bad for parts and labor.)

As he was leaving he saw the Mini and said his wife has always wanted one. I told him it was for sale, told him what the blue book for an ’05 in fair condition was ($1,900), told him that I’d let it go for less than that in part because the clear coat was failing on the hood and on the passenger door (like this),

and he thought for a minute and said he’d go home and talk to his wife.

Yesterday evening he called and said he and she would like to come by to look and drive it this morning. I said sure, and they did.

(Funnily enough, yesterday the yard guys came by and one of them expressed an interest in it too. He said he’d go home and talk to his wife.)

Anyway, he and his wife arrived, I handed them the keys and they drove around the block a couple of times. When they got back they asked more questions (she loved the sun/moonroof), I explained that the car had been an “insurance salvaged” vehicle when I bought it (it was already six or seven years old when it was in an accident and USAA totaled it rather than pay for repairs) but I’d had no structural problems with it.

They made me an offer of a couple of hundred less than I’d hoped, but I accepted and now I no longer have to insure it, which reduces that bill from $961 biannually to $533 biannually. So I’m done with the Mini. It served me well for five years, but I needed a newer car with more cargo space.