It’s a common experience for car owners who must, for whatever reason, offload their cars: the pain of watching their “baby” being driven away on a flatbed trailer. Sometimes we have no choice but to part with a vehicle; the car no longer operates as it should, or perhaps it’s a total loss. The main thing is that whether you’re selling your car, sending it to the junkyard, or donating your car to charity, it hurts. That’s why in February of 2023, we offered a primer on how say goodbye to your car.
Our primer has clearly resonated with drivers everywhere, who continue to write in to tell us of their own experiences in taking leave of their cars. It doesn’t surprise in the least to learn that parting from a car is an emotional experience for so many car owners. We spend a lot of time in our cars. As a result, we form an attachment to them. They feel like a member of the family.
“It felt like a gut punch”
One recent “goodbye” to a well-loved car story comes to us from Gabriella Fettucine, who relates the following touching car-departure tale:
Sold my baby to Carvana. The driver disregarded 11 years of care by having us sign paperwork on the hood over a decal I had lovingly used cleaner and refreshers on twice annually. It felt like a gut punch. Tears began at this point. Watching as the car was driven and strapped down to the flatbed was even more difficult.
Seeing it loaded and driven just made the faucet of tears explode. I bawled a good hour or more. I cried once or twice in the coming days and was mad with myself for not waiting ‘til the end of the month since it was both insured and paid for. I clearly was not ready to let go and needed more time to say goodbye—a week maybe two?
But I was also mad that I couldn’t afford 2 cars like some rich people we know. The car was driving the best it ever had, being used daily since I stopped biking to work. But Carvana offered 5-6k more than Blue Book value and so I could not walk away from that price.
As suggested in your article, I wrote a note with everything: the things we did and the people it carried. I listed its attributes. I wrote how I would miss it and I left that note along with the original window sticker, inside the owners’ manual.
I am hopeful the new owner will care enough to even read it. I tried to find a tiny pebble to write a nice message on, such as those I have seen or made myself. I would have written “Hope” or “Love” or “Joy” for all the feelings I experienced in my life of ownership. I pray the new owner is every bit as kind.
Like Gabriella, We Hope for the Best
We too hope for the best for the future of Gabriella’s beloved vehicle. Clearly Gabriella made a good profit by selling her car, but it hurt her to see it treated with so little regard. She had invested so much time and care into this automobile, for so many years.
For some car owners, finding a way to offload a car for a higher purpose helps to ease the pain of saying goodbye to something that, over time, has become more than just a set of wheels. Like Gabriella, they want to see some good come out of the leave-taking—such as finding a loving new owner. Might we suggest that donation is one heck of a meaningful way to soothe the sadness at taking leave of a now-dear car. We know this for a fact: our donors often tell us they take comfort in the knowledge that by donating their old “friend,” they have done good by supporting our charity for children.
