TheHusbandHalf and I were in a bad car accident 10 years ago. He was driving, I was a passenger. He got a broken rib, no treatment needed, I had a closed head trauma. My lasting effects are such that if someone doesn’t know me, they know nothing of my injuries. I was in a coma for a couple of weeks, and a rehab place for a few months. I signed myself out of the rehab, before they were ready. We convinced them that in our case, we could handle it.
We attribute our fortune to the F-150 supercab we were in. It was destroyed. A local Ford dealer had a used Lincoln pick up, I think it was 5 yrs old, which we are still using. TheHusbandHalf does not put his truck, and Mustachian in the same paragraph when getting a new vehicle. I figure, he asks for so little, he works so hard, I’m glad in this one part of his life he can splurge. He’s always had a truck, never goes off road, but tows and hauls things for ‘This Old House’ I can drive it, but after the accident, never alone. I can remember all the driving rules, but may forget where I’m going. At least twice a year he attaches a rope to the truck ,then around the tree, and with his direction, I pull it over.
The Lincoln seems to be of a higher quality than the Ford. We used my van that I used before the accident, as a trade in for the truck. (I used to travel around to dog shows, it had no back seats, but a platform he built so I could carry 8 dogs)
So we have been down to one vehicle, and probably always will be. The only thing, I don’t feel comfortable driving a vehicle that’s back window isn’t the back of the truck. TheHusbandHalf is tall, most of it being his legs, so since we’ve decided when this truck dies we have to find something that both of us can drive comfortably. It seems like we keep vehicles 15 years or so, so it could be any year now.
A few months ago we went to the local ‘car show’ and really didn’t come away with any decision made. The only vehicle we liked was the Honda Pilot. My son is on his second Honda, got his first 15 years ago. It took some off the list, rather than helped make a decision.
But there’s something we have to keep in mind:
TheHusbandHalf’s employer has a program (forget its name) that we’ve been using for 20 years, where we can buy any Ford, Lincoln, and others (but not ones we’d choose) at the dealer’s cost. It does not include Honda. We’re still in the research stage but are looking at vehicles that have a higher safety rating and are just now looking at ‘crossovers’ I guess the main thing now is safety.
We live in rural NW Ohio, many times 8-10’ ditches on each side of the road. At least once in the winter, pick up owners go around pulling folks out of the ditch.