Cars are usually a long-term commitment. Even if you’re leasing, you’re usually going to have the car for at least a couple of years. During that time, you will fall somewhere on the spectrum between adoring that purchase or feeling furious every time you think of the vehicle. But some ownership stints are shorter than your average high school relationship. What was the shortest time you’ve ever owned a car, and why?
I generally consider myself someone who is in it for the long haul. I’ve been with my wife for over five years and am looking forward to still being together decades from now. I still have my second-ever car, my 2012 Smart Fortwo, that I bought new. I also still have my third-ever car, a 2016 Smart Fortwo, and my fourth car, a 2005 Smart Fortwo. If I love a car it’s almost impossible to pry it away from me. I’m unlikely to ever sell these three Smarts, or my Smart diesel or my more recently acquired Smart Cabriolet.
I’ve also been finding other cars that I want to keep long-term, too, like my 2006 Volkswagen Touareg, my 2002 Nova Bus RTS-06, and my 2008 Saturn Sky Red Line. Certainly, it would be a subzero day in Death Valley before I let go of my 1976 Suzuki RE-5 or my 2005 Buell Lightning XB9SX CityX.
But I haven’t always been like this. There was a time that, aside from the Smarts, a vehicle in my possession was lucky if it stuck around for longer than a month. My shortest stint of car ownership was easily my 1991 Ford Festiva. I’ve written about this car before, so I’ll keep it short.
My Festiva, which cost me $500, was a real pile that had sat in a field for at least three years. There was a giant rust hole in one of the doors that had been covered up with a patch of metal from an old dryer that was self-tapped into place. One of the rear axle’s mounting points was almost completely rotted away. The brakes were also sold discs of rust, and it was so bad that applying the brakes did not scrub the rust off.
The worst was the fuel tank, which had giant holes at the seam, meaning that you couldn’t fill it past half. It wasn’t long before the gas tank return line broke off of the top of the tank, making that situation so much worse. My modifications made the car even worse still. I removed the doors and windows and then attacked the wheel wells with a reciprocating saw so I could fit bigger wheels on it. I then daily drove the thing for a month in a Chicago winter, probably leaking gas all over the place and ruining my winter coat. Shoot, the seatbelts were held in place with zip-ties. They would have done nothing in a crash.
The Festiva was, without a doubt, the worst car I have ever owned. I decided to put it out of its misery only a month into ownership after the car blew a brake line at an off-road park. That night, my friends gave it a sort of funeral by ramming it until it rolled over.
Yet, shockingly, there was a vehicle I owned for an even shorter amount of time. The crown for shortest stint goes to a 2005 Honda Rebel that I owned for less than a month. I thought I’d love a Rebel as a first bike, but didn’t, and got rid of it lightning quick.
How about you? What was your shortest ownership stint for a vehicle?
I keep cars for a long time, so the shortest I’ve owned a car is about 6 years. I bought an 8 year old XJ Cherokee when my first son was born so that I would have a vehicle that could fit a car seat. I’d been daily driving my ’89 240SX for 10 years at that point, and still have it, 30 years and counting. I sold that XJ about 6 years later when my 2nd son turned 2 years old and didn’t need to be in a rear-facing car seat anymore. The XJ had a rust hole open up in the rocker, and I wanted to sell it while it still had some value. I replaced it with a new 2011 RX-8 that I’ve been driving since then. My wife also drives a 2011 Mazda since new. We also own a hand-me-down ’97 Expedition that my in-laws bought new and then gave to us in 2004, I still drive it regularly. I’ve also picked up a ’67 Volvo wagon that I’ve owned for about 8 years now, though I need to put some work into it.
1985 Pontiac Firebird Formula, a little less than 3 hours till I got rear ended by a dump truck, car totaled.
Thought I’d mention my friend who “bought” a ’66 Shelby GT350 even though he didn’t have the money to pay for it. Kept it long enough to give us all rides in it (maybe 2 weeks) then gave it back. I’ve ridden in a GT350…
1971 Datsun 1200 fastback after just one week when my mechanic warned me of all it’s issues.
We typically keep vehicles for the long haul. so the shortest lived vehicle was our beloved Mazda5 which we only had for 9 months before it was totaled by a pickup running a stop sign
Jeez, I’m honestly not sure. I’ve owned over a dozen cars, and I’ve had most of them for a fair bit: the longest I’ve owned a car is 23 years, and I dailyed (sp?) it for more than 20 of those years. That was a ’00 VW Golf TDI GLS (auto), and I finally sold it (paid $16,500. for it in 2001, and sold it for about $4,500 for it a few years ago… it was in pretty good shape w/low miles) and I was just bored with it, and didn’t much like the ownership experience of a VW that was 20+ years old. Here’s a pic of it right before selling: https://imgur.com/a/xwSRgBy
Racking my brain here… I think the shortest time I owned a car was probably an early 90s Volvo 740 Turbo that I had for maybe a year. It was big, boxy, and not particularly pretty, but it was comfortable, safe feeling (for the time), and much quicker than it looked. Bought it at a small used car dealership on Ventura Blvd. My ex took it in the divorce. Such is life. I searched my PC, but couldn’t find a pic of that Volvo… it was a sort of metallic rust shade of brown and was missing one fog light in the airdam. Still, quite a decent car. Here’s a pic of a similar one: https://gomotors.net/photos/cf/89/filevolvo-740-turbo-sedan-04272011jpg_8642e.jpg?i
The shortest I have owned a vehicle was when I was 18 and bought a 80s Mercedes for $1000 because my Ford Escort decided to exit life early with engine problems. It was built and owned in Germany and brought over to the USA by someone who drove it until the electrical gremlins appeared. Speedo was in kph and the owners manual was in German.
Total time of official ownership 1 hour and 25 minutes as my dad took pity on me and purchased it from me even though I had just tagged it and registered it in my name. We never left the DMV parking lot before he gave me the money and reregistered it in his name.
He owned it for a few years but his mechanic hated every minute of it because the electronics were a nightmare apparently.