The Melancholy of selling your decade-old daily driver

I just sold my daily driver, a Subaru that i've owned since new for 10 years ever since I had to buy it with little preparation for one of the world's worst on-call positions. It's a really weird feeling I'm not sure if any of you have before- I've never loved the car, and it's CVT always limited practicality... but it never failed me. I keep feeling like I should feel -more-, as if I'm trying to tell myself I sold more than just an appliance... but even last night before sleep I barely felt freaked or questioning the risk I'm taking right now. This entire process have been myself just marching through the process of bills of sale and certified bank checks.

Have any of ya'll ever felt this too?

I'm of the opposite camp, I am usually sick and tired of a car when I get rid of it so it is typically "good riddance!". I did have one car I sold to a friend of a friend, a '76 Triumph Spitfire that I did miss a little but got updates on it over the years. It was fun to hear that they kept it and used it for a long time.

I've never felt an ounce of regret selling a daily driver.  Motorcycles, bicycles, extra cars, etc. can bug me a bit, but the appliances can go at any time with zero emotion.

I put 120,000 miles on my Camry.  It never needed anything besides oil changes and brakes, but I wanted to be rid of it every day.

May it be that the melancholy is from what the car represents? You’ve had the car for 10 years and you are symbolically disposing of those 10 years and the action has become a metaphor for aging?

I can somewhat relate, as my previous car was totaled long before I had any plans of replacing it.

There's something about having a car suddenly removed from your life forever that stings–like there are memories yet to be made, but now you don't get to make them.

I always suffer a feeling of "loss" even when I am glad to be rid of a vehicle.  I pour so much of my heart and creativity into them, that it's like ripping out part of my heart and throwing it away.

Having said that, selling a car is like breaking up with a girlfriend - I don't want to ever hear from her again, I don't want to know what she's up to. I want to move on.

With most of my vehicles, I try not to look at pictures of my cars once they are sold.  I was so not in love with my V8 Firefly, and was glad to move it along, but I almost cried when it left on the trailer to Michigan, and looking at pictures of it makes me feel like this was the girlfriend where I wish it had worked out.

Having said that, I always pour my heart into my vehicles; I have never owned a vehicle I haven't molested - vehicles are my creative canvas.

In essence: I hear you. Got a beer waiting for you here.

Yes.  It's one reason why I still have my 2003 VW Jetta TDI wagon, despite the fact I don't really have a use or need for it.  And why I've procrastinated for longer than I care to admit on fixing it. Granted, getting it running and usable again would be the first step towards simplifying my rather unwieldy fleet of cars I currently (fail to) keep running... 

I felt the same way about my 11-years-owned Saturn Astra. I traded it for my Fiat 124 which turned out to be a huge lemon. Big regret. But at the same time, I wouldn't buy the same car today. It was an appliance and that's hard to separate from that many years of memories. It will be okay.

I'm planning to list my Mercedes 300SDL for sale soon, I still somewhat like it but I'm too tall to drive it comfortably and to make it any better than it is now would take a lot of time that I'd really rather spend doing something else.  I have likely significantly extended it's lifespan with the work I have done while I have owned it, so I don't really feel bad about selling it to someone who will use it.  

I also have a 1996 Subaru outback that something has started to fail in the front suspension, but I can't find what it is.  I would like to keep driving it, but I have exhausted all the skill I have or ever will have and can't find the problem, so I have to make a decision whether to shotgun parts at it and hope I replace the right thing by accident or give up.

I also have a Porsche Boxster that I didn't really think about whether I really wanted it hard enough before buying it, which I won't miss when it's time for that one to go.

When the xB went the way of being sold to the insurance company I felt it. It was comfortable, reliable and fun to 40mph, which means that there was no getting into trouble with it. And it had the spacial utility to haul all of the things. An engine? Sure. A full rack of stereo components? No problem. A dresser? Let's take a quick look, but more than likely. 

I miss it's usefulness. 

I can't see spending money on a boring car in the first place.  I mean, I get why there are benefits to that, but it's a big hurdle to jump.

Colin Wood said:

I can somewhat relate, as my previous car was totaled long before I had any plans of replacing it.

There's something about having a car suddenly removed from your life forever that stings–like there are memories yet to be made, but now you don't get to make them.

I still miss an unfinished project that was totaled in 2005! Was just pining about it yesterday.

What happens with me is that the immediate reaction is relief and good riddance, but then with some of them I later start remembering all the good things about them and regret selling it, especially if whatever I got next doesn't meet expectations.

My mom bought a 2004 Forester, XS, 5speed. She put 100k on it until 2010 and I took over driving it because my 62 Mercury was too unreliable for college. I drove it 3 years and 50k. Unremarkable but just a good daily. It had been such a good car for us. But then I found my unicorn and sold the car for my parents. I hope it's still being driven.

I very seldom sell a car. I cut them up and throw them away when I am done, because I use them up completely.

Yes.

I thought I needed a pickup truck (many years ago) and traded in my '80 Fiesta in on a slightly used GMC S-15.  Remorse set in before I got the truck home and continues to this day.

I miss every single vehicle I've ever owned.

Ya, I have a really hard time letting a vehicle go.  I'm presently in the position where i should get rid of my Mom's 98 Legacy and my 95 Colt.  My brain just doesn't want to give them up.

I think I have a problem.

I can honestly say I've never sold a decade-old car.  I usually don't even buy them until they're a fair bit past that ;)

Worst is trading in a car.  We had an '03 Chevrolet Trailblazer 4x2 from new we kept for 15 years and the bottom was pretty rusty and it was high mileage.

The dealer gave us $1500 and I'm convinced I could've sold for more or fixed it up hot rod style but in the end it instantly went away.  First and only time in 40 years of driving I've ever traded in a car.   Felt odd.  

I purchase crappy older cars. And two to four years later when I sell them they're often crappier. The feeling I get is relief that the car made it on its own power out of sight. And then I avoid the phone for a couple days. 
 

haha okay that reminds me -- this one kid calls me up because I sold him a 94 Corolla of unknown history for like $800 and tell him he'll get a timing job if he knows what's good for him. He calls me mad a couple days later "I got the timing done and now it's clunking" 

After I politely but firmly remind him that it's 2,800 lbs of not-my-problem, I come take a look and discover that the Toyota dealership didn't put his motor mount back on. 
 

--back to the subject: i get attached to stuff but with all of the difficulty inherent in an aging DD I don't see that I'd be sad about leaving one. Z4 is exception but is not appliance kinda car

I tend to waffle a lot on whether or not I want to sell the car and often wait longer than I should, but once I decide it's time I'm surprisingly good at snapping into the mindset of wanting to be done with it. Even the non-boring cars that I genuinely enjoyed owning I have yet to lose any sleep over or really regret at all. I do miss my 986 a little bit, but I think what I miss is the having a disposable car that's fun to play around with in the snow, not the actual car itself. Luckily the limited garage and driveway space has been enough to keep me from buying something awful to perform that function.

Just for fun, re-read all the responses here pretending that they're about ex-wives and girl friends.