I've had a lot of terrible luck with cars. One time, I called it bad car-ma. It feels that unrelenting.
It all started out when I foolishly decided to get rid of my trusty old Camry after law school. The car had been good to me, and I had over 300,000 miles on it with minimal problems. It was old, and I figured I deserved a newer car.
I sold the Camry to my neighbor and bought a 2000 VW Jetta. That thing was a money pit. It was a lot of fun to drive when it worked, but it rarely worked, and it was very expensive to maintain. The car lasted a year and a half before I gave up and sold it to a junkyard. I replaced it with a 2005 Honda Civic, since they're known to be reliable. That one lasted six months before the engine and transmission died. I was working in San Francisco at the time, so I didn't replace the car. I just took the bus. My neighbor was still driving the Camry I sold her.
Then I moved to Phoenix.
