Please, Buy our Cars
As I listened to the radio (one of those boring national public stations) on the way home (in my 2008 Ford Escape 4-cylinder engine without tinted windows or fog lights), I heard a yet another story about how car companies like GM want the government to “bail them out” – that is, give them money – because consumers aren’t buying enough cars. A statement by the car manufacturers said, in effect, “we have to find a way to get people back out buying cars.”
My observation is: Just how many cars can people use!? Gas prices and economy aside, once couples with kids have their van and/or SUV, a young couple buys their two cars, even teens who finally get (or their parents finally get) a vehicle to drive… it’s not like cars wear out in a couple of years. For those who had been used to buying a new car just to drive something new, where do you think the used cars go? CarMax and auto dealers who take trade-ins only have so much room and have to draw the line somewhere. I’m in the minority in that I keep my cars til they drop dead in about 170,000 miles; why don’t more people do that? I think they will, what with folks losing jobs and realizing they can’t make their house payments.
What do you think? Say you’re out of college and get a job (taa-daa) and decide to buy a $20,000 car. Most likely, car payments are $400 a month for four years. After that four years is up and you can SAVE $400 a month, is there something car manufacturers can do to “get you to buy a new car” ? Sure, it’s nice to have a new model car, but you know what? Most cars, once you’re driving them, don’t look all that different on the inside while you’re driving down the street. You don’t get to see the outside of that cool Mustang or Escalade. You DO get to still pay rent on your apartment, utility bills, probably college loans, and I assume you’d like to eat. Maybe that’s what GM or Ford can do: Pay your apartment rent in exchange for your buying your car. Or maybe you could save by LIVING in your car.
Filed under: Current events
