DEFEND YOUR RIDE: Chris At Old St. Mary's Catholic Church

Q: Hi, Chris. My first question is, how long have you owned this car?

A: This car originally belonged to my girlfriend, but after we started dating and moved in, we decided to just share it. She has been driving it for ten years and I've been driving it for about seven.

Q: How did your girlfriend get this car?

A: Her parents bought it for her when she was in high school. After we started dating though, we gradually started sharing it. Not on purpose, but at first it started off like, I would use it for emergencies. Then it turned in to using it for errands. Then one day it just turned into, we are sharing it full time.

Q: Do you guys ever have any conflicts about who gets to drive the car?

A: No. Since her parents got the car for her, it's her car. If she has something to do, and I have something to do, whatever she has to do wins out.

Q: Who generally has the car more?

A: Things have changed since we moved. Last year she definitely had the car way more than I did, but now that we've moved, I get the car more.

Q: Why is that?

A: Last year we lived on Michigan Avenue. I work on Clark and Roosevelt. I would either just get on the bus, ride my bike or walk to work. Now that we've moved to Pilsen, it's too far for me to walk. I normally take the car in the morning. During my lunch break, I'll leave work and come get her and drop her off at work downtown. After I get off work, I'll go to school for a while or run errands, and then come pick her up from work.

Q: What do you like about this car?

A: Since it's a 2001, it doesn't have a lot of cool features, but it's reliable. It also gets good gas mileage. It doesn't cost that much to fill it up either.

Q: How would you describe your driving style?

A: Let's just say it's come a long way. I failed the driver's test like three or four times, but after I passed, I thought I was pretty good at it. Until my girlfriend's parents installed this tracker thing inside of the car, which allowed the insurance company to track our driving to see if her parents could qualify for a discount off our insurance. I guess we didn't drive that well because they didn't get the discount.

Q: Wow! You failed test three or four times!? What happened?

A: I was the poster boy for failing the driving test. I don't remember what happened each time, but I know one time I definitely hit a curb coming out of the DMV. But the instructor let me continue, so I was like oh, I guess that won't hurt me. When we finished he was like, yeah, you failed because you hit that curb. Which sucked because if I had known that I would have gone home. But I swear I'm not a bad driver, I just struggled for awhile to get the hang of it.