Baby You Can Drive My Car…

On Friday they deliver my new car!  Well,  it will be new to me (it was first new to some bloke about three years ago) .

Why three years?

It seems that it takes an average of three years for a car to reach safe levels of daily VOC consumption (there’s a safe level?):

“…volatile organic chemicals in a new minivan were over 35 times the health limit the day after its delivery. In four months they had fallen under the limit but increased again in the hot summer months, taking three years to permanently remain below the limit.” Source.

What my car doesn’t have, is that new car smell that people love so much they buy in sprays.  Basically, actual new car smell is, as the LA Times so cleverly describes:

“…a cheeky cocktail of bromine, chlorine, lead, arsenic, mercury and other such wonderful chemicals and elements linked with allergies, birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity and cancer.”

Eek. I need a cocktail after reading that.

What is heartbreaking to me is to know how many couples actually buy a new car just BECAUSE a baby is on her way!  But, without checking www.HealthyCar.org, they may be buying a car that is even MORE toxic than the minivan that was mentioned above. It’s maddening. I think that all cars should have a toxicity rating right on the sticker next to gas mileage. G-d knows toxicity is a zillion times more important to me than bloody petrol. No point in saving money on gas, if I’m later spending it on child inhalers.

Here is an example of how easy to use and read the www.HealthCar.org information is.

If you need to buy a car before the baby comes, please check out HealthyCar.org first. KNOW what you are buying.

Also, it is actually a brilliant idea to buy a used car. You can buy an additional warranty (as we did), your baby is chauffeured about in a safer vehicle, you aren’t loosing the depreciation value, and you’ll save shekels! What’s not to love?!

Drive Safely.