For those of you who read this on a regular basis, you'll know that I had a bit of trouble with keeping my car out of the hands of NYC's fucked up punishment system.
Quick recap:
Got a ticket on my birthday for no apparent reason, then got towed the following day (after moving my car to a location to avoid another ticket) to a location only revealed to me by a construction worker who was directing traffic and only after speaking to several NYC police precincts who could all tell me nothing except to walk around and look for my car...which I did...twice.
So, after that experience, and then waking up one morning to walk the dogs and finding a van parked on my car, we have now decided to get rid of our Yaris...just two months after paying it off.
What's that? Oh, yeah! The van!
I got up and threw on some clothes and shoes and took Abby and Red out to use the sidewalk (and a small tree that Red is bound and determined to piss to death). My car was parked directly in front of my apartment building. Now, as a general rule, people are basically allowed one tap when parallel parking. That's a tap to the bumper of the car in front of and behind you while trying to park. Most people in New York have guards on their bumpers to avoid scratches. The ones that don't have bumpers that look like scratching posts for a litter of kittens.
This particular day there was a black van actually backed completely up to where their back bumper was literally touching my front bumper over the span of a good two feet or more. Needless to say, this bothered me. Then I look inside the van to see a guy sleeping in the passenger seat. So I knocked on the window. He stirred and sluggishly pulled himself up from his reclined seat and opened the door.
"Do you think you could get someone to move the van up so your not sitting on top of my car?"
He looked confused.
So I explained further, "Your van is literally touching my car." He slowly drug himself out of the van and shuffled to the back to see what I was talking about. Without even a word, he turned to get back in the van. At this point Red, my bigger dog, jumped at him and barked...he agreed that it was fucked up for these guys to be parked this way. I pulled back on Red's leash to let the passenger get by.
Suddenly the driver sits up out of nowhere and starts up the van. I had no idea there was even a driver in there! He pulls up a foot or so and they look to me for approval. I nod my head and return my attention to my dogs, and the return to their slumber.
As for the car, there is a bit of a light scratch that spans the length of where the van was parked on it. It's enough to piss me off, but that's about it.
The fact is, there really is no need for a car in NY. There are Zip cars and rentals and an amazing public transportation system. At this point it only really serves as a target for people in black vans!
After these incidents, realizing our lack of need, and the quotes on how expensive insurance is in NY, we've decided to just let the car go.
My brother is in need of a car, so I offered it to him...but it looks like he'd rather have a car payment than take mine off my hands.
It's okay, though, because my in-laws would also like to have it to bring to their house in Florida to have when they are down there.
I do find it interesting that I'm trying to give my car away to family member in need and I have to have a back-up plan just in case...oh well! Not my loss...or is it?
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