Frugality And The 400,000-Mile Honda Odyssey

Friends…

I’d like to tell you about Mark.

However, before we get to that, let’s talk about frugality. Most of us make some kind of frugal decision every day. We skip the coffee shop and grab a cup at home. We buy the cheaper option of something in the grocery store. We only pay for the subscriptions we feel like we truly need.

Others have no idea where all their money goes and live in a constant state of financial catastrophe. Such is the American way.

Being frugal is often mentioned as a pathway to financial freedom. Self-help gurus tell us all about how to maximize our dollars. Entire subreddits exist to celebrate the penny pinching tips put forth by their members, or mercilessly shame those who opt to buy some fast food instead of cooking from home.

You can pry this Culver’s double bacon cheeseburger from my cold dead hands, you lunatics…

But few people will get the chance in their life to meet someone like Mark.

For those who don’t know, my day job is being an automotive service advisor at a reputable, family-owned shop. I translate the information around what a car needs for repairs and maintenance to my customers in a friendly and accessible manner. Part of my job is acting as a buffer of sorts between regular customers and the greasy vulgarity of the technicians in the back.

Experts in their field; but often embarrassing in public.

Enter Mark. A regular customer at the shop for over a decade, but with a few quirks. Most importantly, Mark takes the idea of frugality to the extreme. His previous vehicle, a 92 Mitsubishi Mirage, made it well past 300k miles. If not for the vehicle literally rusting away and exposing his feet to the pavement all Flintstones style, he’d definitely still be driving it around today.

Everything we recommend to Mark is carefully analyzed and price checked. His automotive repair diligence is on par with high level Wall Street risk assessments of credit default swaps in developing markets.

Where his dollars are concerned, Mark does not fuck around.

Which brings us to the story of Mark’s 400,000-mile Honda Odyssey.

Despite the engineering prowess of the wonderful folks at Honda, every vehicle eventually wears down. Gaskets wear out and fluids leak, parts degrade over time, and components simply give up. There’s only so much heat, vibration, and usage that a vehicle can sustain before repairs must be made.

Although Mark had spent considerable sums of money over the years repairing and maintaining his fine specimen of an automobile, there came a day where the engine had finally had enough. Consuming oil at the rate of a large scale Middle Eastern conflict and rattling like a homeless guy’s shopping cart, I presented Mark with the uncomfortable reality.

She was done. All used up. Straight up tuckered out.

I did some quick math. Mark’s minivan had driven around the Earth a little bit more than 16 times. He could have driven the distance to the Moon, turned around, and almost made it back home.

Incredible.

Now, typically in a situation like this I like to inform my customers of their options. Where they can scrap the vehicle for the best price. How long they might have before catastrophic failure. Immediate safety issues, that sort of thing. Their response is usually a mixture of sadness and resignation. Most rational people see it coming.

Mark decided it was time for a new engine.

I don’t presume to know the inner workings of my customers’ minds. I just do my best to guide people through the process of keeping their vehicles on the road. But in this instance, my thoughts went to what sort of incredible discoveries might be found by dissecting this guy’s brain. What madness could compel this man to dump thousands of dollars into a vehicle with the value of an Xbox?

Turns out, Mark had done his own math. Detailed receipts of all the maintenance and repairs performed on the vehicle over the last decade. He knew every single component and when they had been replaced, down to the exact day of the month.

Part numbers. Manufacturer information. Applicable warranties. Expected life remaining before next service.

His folder of information looked like a detective's corkboard from a serial killer movie, strings connecting the dots and everything. In his mind, Mark was about to be ten thousand dollars out of pocket, but twenty thousand dollars ahead of the sucker who goes out to buy a new car.

What’s most impressive to me is that Mark isn’t guessing. He couldn’t care less if the whole shop is laughing at him. Several of my techs definitely were. He knows what he’s got. He knows what’s expected. Mark simply doesn’t give a shit. That level of confidence and determination is fascinating. The balls to approach a situation like this and say:

“Fuck it, put the engine in.”

Now, whether or not Mark’s behavior is wise financial planning or some level of frugality the rest of us can scarcely comprehend is beside the point. The real question that keeps me confounded is how this is going to work out for him in the end. Will he get this lumbering monstrosity of patchwork repairs and questionable integrity up to a million miles? Will Honda send him a plaque and congratulate him on being customer of the decade? Will the transmission grenade next week?

Sorry friends, I don’t have the answers. But I’m rooting for the guy. I’ll let you know if he breaks a record.

Thanks for reading.

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See you in the next one.

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