A little personal update: My sister recently invested in a new car, but, after talking it over with me, has decided to keep her old one as well, and let me use it as my major means of transportation. The car will remain in her name, and she will continue to pay the insurance on it--what more could I ask for?
Even though I have tended to be critical of households in which every member has their own car (as I tend to see that as symptomatic of the materialism and heedless consumerism bedeviling so much of American society today), I can't deny the sheer comfort and pleasure afforded by having one's own personal access to transportation, without having to be dependent on anyone else (whether they be a cab driver, bus driver, or family member), and so will succumb (if only for a while) to the temptation. The car's catalytic converter needs replacement, and is now in the shop for that purpose. But upon completion and payment (which I will make), I can start using the vehicle as regularly as I wish.
The car is a 1996 Chevrolet Cavalier, red, two-door. And it is now, in everything but name, mine.