I recently had to take my car to the shop, the third time I've had to do so since buying it a year and a half ago, and while sitting for three hours in the tiny waiting room I had one major question for myself...why did I get a car in the first place. There are certain situations in which buying a car is smart for a college student, such as if they live or work far from campus, but none of these situations apply to me. For all of my three years in college, I have lived and worked on campus. There is a grocery store with any essential item that I might need less than a block away, and my parents live less than an hour and a half away so it would be easy for them to come and get me when they want me to visit them. There are several excellent restaurants within walking distance of campus, and I don't ski, snowboard, or hike alone or frequently. All of this brings me back to my original question, if I have no good reason to have a car, why do I have one at all?
The answer to this question for me and many other college students in the same situation is, sadly, the same as the reason that many high school students that don't really need them have cars: we don't want to seem lame. Being able to say that you'll drive when you go out is important in Montana, especially for dates. Bozeman is not equipped with solutions for people who drive only occasionally, such as Zipcar, that are now available in large cities. Due to this, even those of us that only drive occasionally are willing to pay for cars, insurance, maintenance, and gas, all so that we can seem cool to friends and the opposite sex and for a little added convenience when running errands. For a group of people with such limited resources, college students sink a ridiculous amount of money into cars, and I challenge them to ask themselves if they have a legitimate reason for doing so, just as I did.
Image credit: http://www.aidanmoran.com/blog2/2008/08/batman-still-driving-same-shitty-car.html
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