You must get the oil changed every three thousand miles.
You must rotate your tires every five.
How much extra will you pay to have your car hand washed, buffed and waxed? Tint the windows, buy new rims, get a fancy new license plate holder with a catchy phrase.
Americans love their cars. The freedom cars give them seems to fit the wandering American appetite for the unknown. The car represents ownership, status, adventure.
It’s one reason I find it hard to believe that the electric car will ever be a true seller in this country. Automobile lovers want the power of the engine. They want to feel the vibration in their steering wheel, and to sink into their seat when they accelerate.
According to an analysis by Statista, there were 222 million drivers in the United States in 2016—and almost 269 million registered vehicles.
So, yes, Americans love their cars. What else do they love? Fried food, processed sugar and high-fat meats.
According to the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention, 70.7% of American adults aged 20 and older are overweight (a Body Mass Index of 25 and above) as of 2014. 37.9% of them are obese (a BMI of 30 and above).
Our bodies are the ultimate machines. We have only this same one body for all of our lives, from birth to death. And, yet, how many people do you know who take a whole lot better care of their cars than they do their own health?
I was recently hit with two big bills on my car. A new clutch cost me $2000, and a bumper cover and undercarriage shield (don’t ask) cost me $1000. And I think I am rounding down here. But I paid it without a second’s thought. I needed that car to get to work. I didn’t like spending the money but I felt that it had to be done.
When I recently transitioned between careers, I was left without company-provided health insurance for a little over a year. In the interim, in order for me to have the minimum required health insurance per the Affordable Care Act, I needed to spend some $200-250 per month. And, boy, did I gripe and moan about that.
I spent more on my car on two separate occasions than I spent on Obama care health insurance in 14 months—but it’s the health insurance I still look back on with angst and negativity. Part of that anger was being required to carry it at the risk of a tax hit—indeed, were it not for that requirement, I might have gone without it.
So, I am no different than anyone. In fact, according to a rough BMI calculator I found online, I am at 32.9, so I am technically obese myself (gotta get on that diet, Matt).
Point is, cars come and go. You can sell the one you have now and get another, just like that. But you only have one body, one heart, one brain. And when the time is up on that one, guess what?
And that’s a message to myself even more than it is to anyone reading this. In fact, I think I am going to take off and go get a work out in right now.