Goodbye Camry

March 26, 2025

We said goodbye to our 2001 Camry on Saturday. We traded it in to help our son buy a 2020 Honda Civic.

The Camry was the first car I/we bought. I had driven two different cars in high school and college that my parents owned and then we drove my wife’s car once we were married. And then my in-laws gave us an older car of theirs before we moved to Florida. We were having issues with that vehicle, which almost died on us several times when we were on our way to the hospital to induce. The mechanics we took it to were unable to diagnose the problem.

God provided an anonymous donor who allowed us to buy the Camry right after our oldest was born. It was so nice to have a vehicle we could depend on as a young family. A friend of ours was a Toyota evangelist and got us interested.

I loved the Camry. I have always enjoyed driving it and missed it when our son took it away to college with him three years ago. I got to drive it last spring while he studied in Barcelona. I took both of our oldest kids driving in the Camry as they were learning to drive and getting experience to pass their road test to get their licenses.

As much as I liked that car (and my son did as well), I felt like it was falling apart and we needed a new vehicle. In November, the air bag indicator came on. When I took it in to have it fixed, I was told that they no longer made that part. It was challenging to find a replacement. There were other things that needed attention and I had to make the decision that it was not worth investing any more money into the car.

It was sad to say goodbye to Camry. I got to drive it to the dealer where we were trading it in. My son rode with me and we talked about our good memories with the car. It served us well and I am so glad that we were able to trade it in and help our son get into a newer vehicle.

My final goodbye to the car was just before we left the dealer. They had parked it close to where the Civic was parked. As I was saying my goodbyes, I noticed that the driver’s side door handle had come off. It must have broken on the people at the dealer because it was still intact when we drove up and handed over the keys. I had broken the passenger door handle off a couple of weeks ago on the same side. I believe I had replaced the handle on the driver’s door at least twice. It is plastic and really not good engineering.

I laughed to myself when I noticed that the door handled had broken. I had been real careful that morning with the door handles because I didn’t want them to break. I believe God provided that moment as assurance that it was time to move on from the Camry. To be honest, I could not believe how much they gave us to trade it in. We had thought about selling it but for a lot lower than what they gave us. God’s provision continues.