A few weeks ago, my brother in law sent me a text. He and his wife were getting rid of their commuter car because he was getting a work truck. They offered it for free to our 16 year old. But before they stuck us with this car, they wanted to make sure we knew all of the things that were wrong with it. This was what he sent:
Him: Did you guys want my old Honda? Things wrong with it are quite extensive, but I’ve been driving it to work.
Battery dies if you don’t start it for over a week or so
Some type of oil leak, not bad
The gas can cap brokeon the inside so you have to like pinch it to open it
The driver side window doesn’t go down
The driver side passenger window doesn’t go back up
The driver’s side handle is gone so you have to pinch it to open it
I spilled some marinara sauce in the cup holders once so it’s kinda of crusted in there
Back right tail light got popped out cuz I was putting some wood in there so it’s just duct taped on
Grandpa Allen backed into it once and broke off my mirror so I just construction adhesived it back on driver side
Trunk needs a new board in it to separate the spare tire from the trunk section
Accidentally got a bunch of bondo on the back seat once. Tried to clean it off but it’s still kind of there
Air conditioner does not really work
It does have a new radiator, Nick and I replaced it a year ago
Stereo definitely does not work
Cruise control works
I don’t think there’s anything else crazy.
A few days later…
LOl. I forgot, also you can’t lock it from the driver’s side. You have to lock it by climbing into it and locking it through the passenger side and then climbing out… And then unlocking it from the passenger side on the outside…
And sometimes when it doesn’t work to unlock from the outside, you can climb in through the trunk and unlock it that way.
me: haha you just made that up
Him: No sorry, that one is for real, it just depends on which key you use, one works better than the other for opening the doors but they both work for the trunk. LOL
We did not end up taking the car… However, this description of everything that was wrong with this car hit home for us in a very real way. We have our own list of everything that had been wrong with our lives at the time, and some of it still is.
This is what our last year has looked like:
In May of 2025 my little sister died of liver failure, but that’s a whole other story.
I spent the summer planning her memorial, which was emotionally exhausting.
The school year was incredibly busy, we were constantly running late for everything because we had too many things to get to.
I have been looking for the right job and not found what we are looking for.
Our guest bathroom has no sink… that’s a long story.
Our son was on an accelerated baseball team that costs us $100 a month on a team I don’t feel like we are a great fit with.
More recently, the dryer hasn’t been working and the door fell off so we had to jimmy rig it to get our clothes dry.
The faucet broke on our kitchen sink.
My husband lost his job, not for anything he had done, but because of poor management in the school he was working for.
My husband’s eye has had problems for years now and needed a surgery before our insurance ran out.
Soon after the job loss, our van broke down because it had a coolant leak and we were worried it couldn’t be fixed.
Sometimes I think we go through phases where we feel like this car. The thing to remember is how it has continued to keep going and getting from one destination to another. Occasionally needing a little help to get through, but doing it’s best. I feel like this year has me worn out like that sad little messy car. One thing keeps piling up on top of another, but we keep plugging along and doing what we have to in order to keep going. So I want to send support to all the little beat up cars just trying to make it where they need to go.
