I heard this story on NPR yesterday about how high gas prices are forcing people to trade in their SUV's at dirt cheap prices. One guy bought his SUV not too long ago for $30,000. The used car dealership is offering him $11,000 for it. Then there's the guy who bought a Cadillac Escalade last year for $70,000. The dealership is offering him $31,000 for it now.
My first instinct was to laugh. Stupid people paying the consequences for stupid choices -- what better form of justice is there? Who buys a $70,000 car that gets 13 miles to the gallon anyway?
But then Brian made me feel guilty by saying it wasn't right to act superior. There was also another news story on immediately after saying we humans aren't designed to make good financial decisions anyway. I don't know. Sounds like a whole lot of rationalization to me.
Why can't I gloat about my old, paid off, economical Honda? They've been gloating about their ridiculously huge, over-priced, gas-guzzling, 2-parking-space-hogging, blind-spot-ridden, top-heavy SUV's for years. Not that I'm bitter. Whatever. I'm okay paying an extra $20 a month on gas so that I don't have to deal with as many of these monster trucks on the road.
One good point of the article was that these people might be taking a $40,000 hit, when, if they sat down and calculated it, the gas hit might only be like $1,000 a year. There they go again, making dumb-dumb decisions.
New Roof - Summer 2019
3 years ago
5 comments:
I never understood why people make such a big deal about finding a gas station where the gas is .10 cheaper - for me that's $1.20 every 2 weeks.
Dude, Brian is right. Stand down. Wait til you have to try to cram you, Brian, 2 car seats and a double stroller in your Honda. Heaven forbid you have to go to costco AND the grocery store, too.
I loved my little SUV for camping and exploring in the Mojave, etc., but now it is too small. And if we had a third kid that needed a carseat, there's NO SPACE for it. I thought those big SUVs were stupid and I laughed at my friends that drove Suburbans, but there are so many times when we can't do what we want because we can't fit everything in the little SUV that we secretly wish we had one.
Just you wait.
I don't believe it. I've fit three nephews in my Honda for the past 3 years, with plenty of trunk space left for a stroller.
What does a toddler weigh, like 30 pounds? You're talking to someone who's 6'5", mind you. If I don't need that big of a passenger compartment, I don't think my 2-year-old does either.
I especially don't believe having kids justifies buying a $70,000 raised Cadillac Escalade with gold trim. Or a military vehicle. Especially when the purchaser is only making like $30,000 a year. I'm sorry, but I just don't have much sympathy for that kind of terrible decision-making.
The kid thing actually raises another good point. People are backing over their toddlers in their SUVs all the time. The people most likely to have the cars - those with toddlers - are the ones most affected by its huge design defect - that you can't see anything under 4 feet tall when you're backing up. They really should making loud beeping horns for them the way they do for box trucks.
My point wasn't to dog people who drive SUVs though. Primarily, it was to spotlight the consequences of poor financial choices, including the needless act of trading in a car in a panic, without even bothering to do the math on the deal.
Claudia, if I ever need a lawyer or someone to argue a point for me, I'm hiring you.
Thanks for the love Chrissy, but i think your money would be better spent on the Sweet Coalminer. She is a kickass lawyer. :-)
She is?? OOH, I want to hear a rebuttal!!
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