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RIP Bertha

April 16th, 2020 at 12:02 pm

She made 274,000 miles. We had to let her go this week. DH said that watching her leave was like putting a pet down! It was sentimental but not really THAT sad.


almost like a part of the family

I’d made the decision to do it in August when $1100 of work was estimated for her to pass inspection. After some consideration, DS3 offered to pay for the work if I let her be his vehicle to drive. He’s been driving (and driving and driving) her since that time. But the transmission went so it was time.

We reluctantly made the purchase of this van new, even financing, after having learned to enjoy having paid-for cars for several years. But a surprise twin pregnancy required a bigger vehicle and neither of us had mechanical skills so the risk of breaking down with small children was scary to us. At least we did pay the loan off early.

Getting us to vacation spots, serving as our home base during sports tournaments, moving big boys into and out of dorm rooms… Now we just have the Fit – Lola – since our needs are small. If we need a minivan for a few excursions, we’ll rent one.

Posted in Personal Finance | 8 Comments »

8 Responses to “RIP Bertha”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    April 16th, 2020 at 01:43 pm 1587044589
    1587044589

    I love my Honda minivan!! I will miss it when it's time, too. I know I'm over 150K with a 2007. We financed ours, it was just a year old with 4500 miles on it. What year was Bertha?

  2. Petunia in a Flower Garden Says:
    April 16th, 2020 at 01:48 pm 1587044928
    1587044928

    I had a car like Bertha. Received new as a gift, owned for over 20 years, had close to 300,000 miles. The person I received the car from had passed & the car and I had made many memories together. I knew it was time when I let it go, but I cried. Still think of that car from time to time.

  3. crazyliblady Says:
    April 16th, 2020 at 02:58 pm 1587049102
    1587049102

    I know the feeling. I had to get rid of my 1998 Mitsubishi February last year. I think it was the engine that finally died. I was both sad and happy to see it go, as it had a number of problems that made driving it daily difficult. But it was still my cat and I did feel attached to it. I don't think I was ever so grateful as when I bought my new to me 2007 Chevy Impala. It has windows that go up and down, A/C, heat, and the engine works. ;P

  4. crazyliblady Says:
    April 16th, 2020 at 03:00 pm 1587049248
    1587049248

    I forgot to mention my Mitsubishi had 199,000 miles when it died and naturally, no one wanted to buy it. Because there is no salvage yard where I live, I had to call one in another town. Due to their expenses in taking it away, we basically had to give it to them. That was a little depressing.

  5. LifeBalance Says:
    April 16th, 2020 at 03:16 pm 1587050170
    1587050170

    CCF, Bertha was a 2003.

    CLL, the salvage yard that bought her is also in another town but they didn't charge anything but maybe it's baked into their price. They paid $200 for her. It was a quick transaction and I realized after he left that he didn't give me any receipt. I handed over the signed title and he handed me two hundred dollar bills and the license plate.

    I gave the $200 to DS3 since the van was considered his though the title was in my name. He used it to pay his brother to repair damage caused by his truck - another story, another blog entry to come... we just don't have dull days around here.

  6. GoodLiving Says:
    April 16th, 2020 at 08:22 pm 1587068532
    1587068532

    Hondas and Toyotas are my favorites for long lasting. Mostly what my family drives.

  7. Amber Says:
    April 17th, 2020 at 12:52 am 1587084728
    1587084728

    Wow, 274k miles, that’s awesome.
    Wait I’m confused, are you expecting?

  8. LifeBalance Says:
    April 17th, 2020 at 02:17 am 1587089833
    1587089833

    Oh, heavens no Amber! I'm in my mid-fifties now. DS4 and DS5 are identical twins. I was 7 months pregnant with them when we bought Bertha new. It was in 2003 when the 2004 models were making their way to the dealership so we got a (very) small break in the price. We had no car notes at that time. We had not planned the pregnancy so we had no vehicle that would seat 7 with 3 car seats. We sold our car ultimately for much less than it was worth to us and bought the van so we could fit the entire family in one vehicle.

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