I bought my car a little over a year ago, and I love it. It is the perfect car for me. I was stricken when it was damaged during an ice storm as I swerved to avoid a driver out of his or her lane.

The car was in the shop for a month, but my insurance came through, and it’s good as new.

When life seemed uncertain at the outset of the pandemic, my old car, an 11-year-old Toyota Battle Wagon Highlander, began to fall apart. I had to get a new one.

I wanted a smaller car and a hybrid for the mileage and the environment.

I thought it was safer to lease than to buy in case the world came to an end, either at the hands of President Trump or the pandemic, as some people thought it might in 2020. Today, I brought the car in for its regular 5,000 service; I’m nearing 15,000 miles.

I went to the Bennington, Vt., Toyota dealership where I bought it and found nice people eager to sell automobiles and happy to make a deal, mostly, if not entirely, on my terms. There was a nice vibe in the place, low key and easy.

Vermont tends to be like that.

I leased this sparkling new 2020 Rav 4 Hybrid for $300 a month for three years. I paid for 15,000 miles a year. If I surpassed that total over the three years, it would cost 10 cents a mile.

I’ve gotten to know Todd, the service manager, even though I rarely see him. He is honest, smart, and helpful.

It’s odd, but I’ve always trusted the people I meet in car dealerships; I’ve never had a bad experience with a salesman or a service person.

I find that people treat you more or less the way you treat them, and if you come in paranoid and suspicious and rude, you may not get what you want. They’re just people like you and me, trying to make a living; they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

It’s a good rule, I’ve found, not to treat anyone in any other way than you would like to be treated. I make an exception for nasty or arrogant trolls and jerks on social media. I delight in treating them poorly; I know I should get over that.

Todd always asks me how I feel about the car, and I told him I love this car more than I have loved any car; I’m not sure why. I  like that it’s a small SUV and that it’s a hybrid that gets up to 41-50 miles a gallon.  It’s just the right size, and there’s room for my head to get in without being scarred.

I can’t say why I love my car; it’s just me.

I trust Todd completely; he knows I am an idiot about cars, so he makes sure to spell things out for me. The second time I came in, he saw me coming through the door and said, “Hey, Jon,” and I was impressed that he had remembered my name.

“I remember you,” he said, “you’re one of the good ones.” What a coincidence, I thought, so was he.

“I love the car,” I told Todd this morning, and he came over to me and said, “then it might make sense to buy it. Leasing is a good thing to do for many people, but if you know you will want to keep the car, buy it. You’ll get some money back on the other end, and you don’t have to worry about nicks and mileage.”

A bell went off in my head. The pandemic is easing; the world has not come to an end. It is a good idea.

Todd took me over to a salesperson who said it was easy to switch over. I’d need to put some money down, and we sat down to go over the numbers.

He asked if I wanted to buy the car today, and I said no, not until I talked to my wife. Out of respect, I said, I would never buy something like a car without telling her. Besides, I said, she has much better instincts than I usually do, and I value her opinion.

I honestly couldn’t imagine going home and telling her that I had just bought a car without letting her know. That’s not my idea of marriage.

A white-haired Vermont-looking salesman across the room overheard us and laughed and yelled “don’t piss off his wife! That never works.”

That ended that.

I told him I was comfortable between $300 and $400 a month, pending spousal approval.

He came up with a plan – if I could put $2,000 to $3,000 down, I could buy the car for just over $400 a month and pay it off over 71 months.

I swallowed hard at the down payment. I don’t have a lot of money in the bank, but this seemed like a smart deal to me. I liked Bryan, the salesperson; he was straight and low-key and patient with me.

I went for $3,000; I could use a credit card if I wanted to split some of the down payment.

I was pleased to see that my credit rating had just about fully recovered from our very painful bankruptcy in 2014 when we couldn’t sell the first Bedlam Farm after four years of trying and were wrestling with two mortgages.

The real estate market had crashed and stayed crashed. Would that we were selling it now.

When I bought the car, the interest rate was at a record low; the pandemic had shut down sales,  the rates are still favorable to the buyer. It was, I kept reading, a good time to buy a car, especially if it was a used car you wanted to keep.

Todd also turned me on to a new and extended warranty plan that gave me full coverage beyond limited powertrain guarantees and up to 7 years and 150,ooo miles of protection.

Maria went over the numbers with me; she said she loved the idea. I went over and over it in my mind, but I couldn’t poke any holes in the plan.

I loved the car, wanted to keep it for a long time, and the warranty protected us from a huge car repair bill during the car’s life.

It was odd, I went for regular service and a trip to the supermarket, and I ended up buying my car. It really feels good. It was a good decision and a good time to make it.

And surprisingly, I love the idea of owning my car again. I don’t have to worry about nicks and scratches or going over the agreed-to mileage.

I wondered if this might be the last car I buy, it’s possible,  but then, I don’t really need to go there. Old talk is just another disease.