I appreciate I’m in a minority in the western world when I say that buying a car on loan is an awful idea. I’ve never done it and I’ll risk 100 used rustbuckets before I pay market price for a car.
But really? You can get a 10% LTV ratio on a car loan? For a car that can be totalled by a scooter? What an triply awful decision for both the bank and the car owner.
I am the same way. it’s wild to me that this is considered eccentric, but I do love running into my fellow freaks on the road, keeping some 15+ year old little economy car rolling from A to B, getting those groceries. no console, no frills, no payments.
car brains really internalize the marketing materials for cars. I get the weirdest pity from them over my little reliable relic. they have no idea how much pride I have in keeping this 20+ year old little gas sipper I snapped up for a song when a family member was “upgrading”. they’ve changed cars 3 times since!
every time I run some car-required errands with this little enchantress, I feel like I am the unrivaled king of the road.
I remember first seeing they were offering 60 months terms on car loans. I was like, “who would be crazy enough to do that?” after seeing how popular they were, I decided to stop trying to understand car brain.
I very much relate to this, I had a '98 Honda that died its final unrecoverable death last year. It was reliable, comfy and could carry stuff, literally all I need from a car. I paid £600 for that car (and way less on maintenance), it’s replacement this year cost £1k. Sides were rusting and a rear door wouldn’t open, but it otherwise worked perfectly well, it even had a built-in picnic table that I kept before sending it to scrap.
It’s amazing the way some people will look at you with pity and/or scorn for having an old car, when I’m just happy I paid at least 30 fold less than the average for the same functionality. Plus as I need a car, keeping the old’un chugging on tends to be better environmentally.
I relate with the last sentence. When I heard that over 90% of car purchases in this country are on some kind of finance, I literally refused to believe it.
yeah, I’ve heard that argument. and while true, even with all the new safety features, driving still murders drivers and pedestrians in the states with pretty reckless abandon. like as though the real danger is less about the individual vehicle and more about the civic infrastructure.
personally, I don’t see what is so safe about charging $4,000 for $1,000 dollars’ worth of center console toy screens for drivers to play with that comes standard in all cars now.
our roads as they exist are a charnal house no matter what. I solve this by driving extremely defensively and have made major life changes to avoid having to get behind the wheel as often as I used to.
the safety features manufacturers talk up in their pitches only seem to serve their repair shops, because now if you bump your Ford Dreadnaught XLT into the Nissan Galacticus 1A in the Kroger parking lot while watching the navigation cam feed, both vehicles deconstruct themselves and become undrivable.
I appreciate I’m in a minority in the western world when I say that buying a car on loan is an awful idea. I’ve never done it and I’ll risk 100 used rustbuckets before I pay market price for a car.
But really? You can get a 10% LTV ratio on a car loan? For a car that can be totalled by a scooter? What an triply awful decision for both the bank and the car owner.
I am the same way. it’s wild to me that this is considered eccentric, but I do love running into my fellow freaks on the road, keeping some 15+ year old little economy car rolling from A to B, getting those groceries. no console, no frills, no payments.
car brains really internalize the marketing materials for cars. I get the weirdest pity from them over my little reliable relic. they have no idea how much pride I have in keeping this 20+ year old little gas sipper I snapped up for a song when a family member was “upgrading”. they’ve changed cars 3 times since!
every time I run some car-required errands with this little enchantress, I feel like I am the unrivaled king of the road.
I remember first seeing they were offering 60 months terms on car loans. I was like, “who would be crazy enough to do that?” after seeing how popular they were, I decided to stop trying to understand car brain.
I very much relate to this, I had a '98 Honda that died its final unrecoverable death last year. It was reliable, comfy and could carry stuff, literally all I need from a car. I paid £600 for that car (and way less on maintenance), it’s replacement this year cost £1k. Sides were rusting and a rear door wouldn’t open, but it otherwise worked perfectly well, it even had a built-in picnic table that I kept before sending it to scrap.
It’s amazing the way some people will look at you with pity and/or scorn for having an old car, when I’m just happy I paid at least 30 fold less than the average for the same functionality. Plus as I need a car, keeping the old’un chugging on tends to be better environmentally.
I relate with the last sentence. When I heard that over 90% of car purchases in this country are on some kind of finance, I literally refused to believe it.
All that is true however one disadvantage of this approach to car ownership is you are quite behind on safety features.
As cars have gotten larger and heavier with the SUVification/electrification of every single vehicle you’re at an increased risk.
yeah, I’ve heard that argument. and while true, even with all the new safety features, driving still murders drivers and pedestrians in the states with pretty reckless abandon. like as though the real danger is less about the individual vehicle and more about the civic infrastructure.
personally, I don’t see what is so safe about charging $4,000 for $1,000 dollars’ worth of center console toy screens for drivers to play with that comes standard in all cars now.
our roads as they exist are a charnal house no matter what. I solve this by driving extremely defensively and have made major life changes to avoid having to get behind the wheel as often as I used to.
the safety features manufacturers talk up in their pitches only seem to serve their repair shops, because now if you bump your Ford Dreadnaught XLT into the Nissan Galacticus 1A in the Kroger parking lot while watching the navigation cam feed, both vehicles deconstruct themselves and become undrivable.