how to spend that $1200

One option to consider is to buy an inexpensive bike and outfit it with an electric assist to help you with those molehills!

Cooperative Auto Network - a great option

Scrap program is a thing of beauty. Took in my old timer. 340,000 km. Been insured for more than 1 year continuous coverage, and currently insured. Running condition. Needed a new clutch, and a heater core. Easy $1000 repair. Want to fix this? Not so much. Thanks for the memories.

Filled out the online information. Sent it required insurance documents. Got an email back in 1 hour confirming it was fully approved and given the web address and confirmation numbers to take to he scrap yard. Scrapped the car same day I applied.

Took my credit to the cooperative auto network
(CAN) . Inexpensive to become a member. Applied $1250 dollars credit from Scrap it. Friendly staff. Approx 250 cars to choose from, all across the City. Some of the car choices: Mini's, VW beetles, Smart Cars, Prius, vans, trucks, some vehicles with bike racks, etc. Can book a vehicle (online or by phone) by the hour, or longer than, usually a day is the most one needs, or however long you need (up to 3 days max).

As a benefit, CAN. members get a discount if booking cars for longer periods via car rental agencies.

And you know those places that say the generic “Permit parking only?”
Don’t frown. Park. CAN cars have a city wide permit. (note: not included are the signs that say neighbourhood resident of such and such block)

What do you have to do when you book a vehicle? Get it back on time (very important). Have the tank half full on return. Flexible member packages. No insurance premiums. No mechanics.

Oh. Did I mention the gas you buy comes off your bill? Hourly fee plus mileage is all you pay, basically, per individual vehicle booking.

Scrapit

I used the programme and enjoyed $840 in transit for so doing. Craig should have added that the vehicle has to have failed Aircare. By now most know that the product "Guaranteed to Pass," works very well. In fact, if you use it frequently, your emissions are well within standards. If you need to fail, all you have to do is: park your car overnight very close to the test facility, and drive it cold into same. Old cars fail most of the time when they go in cold.

I don't recall an emotional scene at the wrecking yard, but I know that they save all glass, decent tires, engines and parts, seats, and much more. They only wreck the chassis. I had the car for 8 years - most in Ontario - and, in spite of personally undercoating same with rubber rust protection, rust-metal fatique made it dangerous. Please support the programme; they had processed 5000 cars by 2007. I would call that a success.

Tips

If you are keeping an older car, there are a couple of things you need to know. First, most intake people at repair shops receive profit sharing, thus they try to get big work orders. Some schools - I used Riverside HS (PoCo) - will do repair work at wholesale parts cost only, but your needs have to meet their training curriculum. Head Gaskets always go eventually, but there is a fix. For over 2 years I always carried Cooling System Leak Seal tablets ($5) in crushed form. These - made from crushed walnuts - seal any water leak in seconds (if the HG leaks on the oil side, it must be replaced, and that will cost $300 plus); it is best to put a couple of crushed tablets directly into your lower water hose, although they will work if you put same in your water reservoir. If you use those who have to constantly monitor your system because they need to be re-added every 3 months or so (I only spent $20 on tablets). Total water loss will seize your system. And you must carry ample water with you (not a bad idea in any case). That is an alternative to replacing a radiator or Head Gasket. There are quick fixes for oil leaks as well; don't buy the cheap ones.

Hole in an exhaust line or muffler? Muffler tape is cheap and easy to apply. I wouldn't replace a line because a rock put a hole in same. I once cut a piece of metal off an aluminium pop can and used screw clamps to close the hole. Time and costs were minimal.

Auto repair procedures are available at libraries that link to the AARP site (library must be a customer). Windshield repairs are too difficult but side windows are fairly easy to replace (glass costs about $70 at wreckers) but many attachments are riveted and you have to drill through them to get them off, and then replace the rivets with nuts and bolts. Power windows add complications. Home depot rents electric tools.

If your drive system crashes while your on the road, and you hear flapping near your feet, it is likely that your Timing Belt is shot; if you don't have $600 plus towing, that is one repair that is unwise on an older vehicle.

Air care

My vehicle had valid air-care. I saw no mention of vehicles requring a non-pass on air-care on the scrap-it program website.

Scrap-it policies and Air Care - hyperlink

Air Care. Scrap it policies

scrapit

It causes less environmental impact to just keep the old vehicles running than building a new Prius or Smart-the old ones have already done their carbon foot-print, and replacing parts,even new ones takes less from the planet. This is especially true ( and this from a person that's becoming quit anti-american, but they do do some things right..) of any brand of full sized american pick-up trucks.Cuba's a good example of how this can work to one's advantage. It does help if you are a bit of a mechanic-or a real one.

Hey Craig!

Great article. Nice to see you here.

Air care / cold engine

Most cars new and old emit more polution when cold for 2 reasons. The catalytic converter needs to warm up to burn the noxious gases, and the ECU (fuel injection computer) uses a default rich mixture map for a few minutes while the sensors warm up before it can go to a closed-loop mode and adjust the mixture in real time.

I wonder if warming the engine at idle even in the summer would cause less polution than driving off with a cold engine whose Environmental programs aren't engaged. (The ECU programs are primarily designed to reduce emissions. Some can be reprogrammed for more horsepower.)

In fact, the environmental components (ECU, Exhaust system & Catalytic converter are the highest quality, most robust parts of a car. As I recall they are mandated by US EPA to have a 10-year warranty.

All cars made after 1996 are required to have a generic OBD-II ECU which can monitor and diagnose environmental control problems and be interfaced with universal tools (code readers).

The CHECK ENGINE light means there is a problem with the engines' emissions.

That slug analogy is

That slug analogy is beautiful!

Crushing rabbits

I sent my Volkswagen Rabbit to the crusher through the Scrap-It program and got a new bike out of the deal. That was in the mid-90s. Good to know the program is still around!

However...

Crushing a car after only 10 year's use? Really? Given that the size of the environmental footprint related to the production of that car far exceeds the footprint of any car usage, seems not right to ditch it after 10 years. I don't blame the writer of the story. I blame the car producers and their belief in planned obsolescence.