#rav4

Super clean and retro RAV4 - RADwood San Jose, CA 2025

My nice little car, the 2005 RAV4, has gone the way of all good things.

It never stopped running, but came back from a recent oil change with a bill of health that called for repairs worth more than double its trade-in value. So alas, that was that.

Speaking of trade-in value, I was offended on the RAV's behalf that the official number was $700. That was mostly down to high mileage - more than 217,000 - but it didn't help that the car had survived a bad encounter with a deer back in 2015. The deer was not so lucky.

In any case, I loved my little car for all 200,000 miles we rode around together, and spent its last few days taking photos of all of its funny little details, like the AC button with the paint completely worn off, and the strange odds and ends that have accumulated in nooks and crannies over the last 16 years.

The man who hauled the RAV away said that, as a high-mileage trade-in, it is headed for a wholesale auction and will probably end up at a dealership of the "Steve Says Yes!" persuasion. I like to think it will have a whole other life as somebody else's solid little car... but I was still sad to see it loaded on a truck.