3 million miles in one car

It boiled down to RTM.

It begs the question why you would always need to change cars every other year or so.

I have two cars - one of them a volvo - that are in perfectly good shape after 20 years of fairly heavy use.

In some ways they are better than my much younger cars.

I asked a car salesman how much I could get for the volvo and without looking at the volvo he said $1.000. The car - a hybrid - I was looking at by the dealer cost $50.000 so getting $1.000 was not even in the range of a rebate on the new car.

I was not intending or even thinking of trading in the volvo - just curious.

I am pretty sure the carsalesman would not be selling the volvo on for $1.000 but that is another story.

I spend hardly anything on maintenance on my old cars compared to the price of petrol I need to drive them.

The next car I do buy will certainly be an electric and I bet it will lest a very long time so I do not mind it costing a bit.

Just have not seen one I want.

Looked at a Tesla and I find it a bit pricey but maybe it is ok - I am not sure so I want to have more alternatives - I am off thinking about hybrids for myself but it is no harm looking.

It is a cultural thing for Americans. That is one of the reasons that GM and other companies made cars that, they knew, would begin to look ratty after 4-5 years. And the niggling little mechanical details that began to show up after 3-4 years would also polarize the buying public to trade up to a new vehicle.

As long as there was near full employment and money was flowing, things were okay. Now, there is a knot in the rope and people are slower to buy and more demanding.

It is not a reasoning decision...has become a tradition.

Theoretically people could stop buying cars and just maintain the cars they do own.

If cars made 20 years ago are good enough and not really different from todays cars if well kept.

Actually quite a lot of the new stuff like computers make cars harder to repair sometimes.

I guess this is one of the reasons people are not rushing out buying new cars.

Not reasonable thinking people anyway.

A friend of mine bought a two year old car last week.

It looks like brand new but the price was half of what it was two years ago.

Rats trained in a maze know nothing else. Conditioned response, I believe it is called

Lots of ways to look at it. If you have the money and want to trade in every year, so be it. It's just a cost you've accepted. Some might pick every 3 years.

I always found it odd, but then I've never been loaded and never accepted the cost.

Mike Hunter takes pleasure in talking about how others get his hand-me-downs. That's a valid view for him I guess. To me he's just a sucker, but a useful one.

I never bought a new car, and I'm okay with that. It's the reason I could retire at 59 1/2. But if I was loaded I would throw away my tools and buy a new car when the ashtray was full. That wouldn't bother me at all.

What you have is far less important than being happy with what you have. Most folks make their own bed, then have to sleep in it.

--Vic

Well said.. Some people are more economically and ecologically practical than others. Right now we own two practically new cars. But years ago I was proud to have just about any kind of car to drive.

My wife and I dont trade up just to have a new car all the time, but we have friends that do this. Not all of them are wealthy. Some younger, and poorer, people have a constant car note, and seem to have to drive what they consider a "status symbol"

My son told me his wife wanted him to buy a Mercedes Benz because she came from a poor family and she wanted a status symbol. I told him he was full of it, he couldnt afford it, and he didnt have any status. (I dont believe in beating around the bush ;>)

Hehe. My wife would consider a new Chevy Cobalt a status symbol. Seriously - that's her "dream car." One reason I picked her for my wife. Her legs were another.

Speaking of Mercedes, when I put a new electric service in my house I called an electrician for an estimate. I was outside waiting for him. So this young guy rolls up to my house in a gleaming, big black Mercedes. So clean and shiny it hurt my eyes. He pulled it up right behind my rusty old Cavalier.

He gets out and says, "Vic Smith?" I just said, "What the f*ck are you doing coming here to give me an estimate driving that Mercedes?" He fell all over himself explaining it was 20 years old and he got it cheap from his girlfriend's uncle. That aside, he got the job and did good work.

--Vic

"Vic Smith" wrote

I once heard that comment about a salesmen driving a Corvette. He may drive that car because his prices are good and he sells a lot more than others.

Amazing how we judge people by the cars they drive. I know sales people that can afford a Bentley if they wanted one, but choose to drive a modest mid line Buick. It says success without being ostentatious.

There was a big survey done among men if they liked better the left leg or the right leg.

1% preferred the left leg and 2% fancied the right leg and the rest something in-between.

Well, price, personal interaction and reputation should win out. In this case he wasn't a "salesman" for a company per se. He *was* the company. I never want to pay big company salesman overhead for electrical, roofing, plumbing, tuckpointing, etc work Always find a "small" guy. Himself or running one crew. Every time I've had a salesman for a big company give an estimate it was way out of line. Gave up calling them long ago. Remind me of dealership service writers. So we're discussing different types of "salesmen" here. I've had tradesmen pull up in nice vehicles and I didn't bat an eye, but this Mercedes was something else. I think he said he got it for $5k, but it looked like one of those $100k cars to me, not knowing much about Mercedes. Anyway, my comment to him might have saved me a couple hundred on the job. Or cost me a couple hundred (-:

--Vic

There was a big survey done among men if they liked better the left leg or the right leg.

1% preferred the left leg and 2% fancied the right leg and the rest something in-between. ******* You know, of course, that a woman's legs are the longest things on Earth. They reach all the way from the ground up to heaven.

My stepson claims it is imperative that he appear to be "successful", and that means having a snazzy car, good clothes, an impressive home, etc. He works as a financial advisor for a brokerage house. And he stays broker than anyone I have every seen.

I believe I can spot a faker in a million man march. A person who is confident, knows his business, and is thoughtful about the needs of his client impress me a lot more than the "white shoed" fast talking salesman of some years ago.

When you learn about marketing then you learn that it is important to study the market, produce what is needed and afterwards find out that everything is fine.

Salesman starts with something and tries to sell it. Does not care about anything before or after.

******* True.. Especially stock brokers. They get their 3% buy or sell commissions whether you go broke or not.