Why do people spend so much time and money on cars?

[Cubswin]

I am so against the idea of putting money into a depreciating asset, I dont even own a car at the moment nor do I see a need to own one. I have an 8 minute walk to the metro and it gets me to most everywhere I need to go. If the metro doesnt got there, I can always take cabs. If I need to get out of town I will most always do so on the weekends and rental cars at the place 3 minutes from my house are $19 a day on weekends... plus I can rack up the miles by renting the cars. The price of taking the metro/bus, cabbing it, and renting a car when needed is a fraction of what I would pay for payments, insurance and maintenance. A guy I work with, who is making well over 100k a year and single, does the same thing. Its not that we cant afford the card, its just that we see that they arnt very wise investments.

[zephed]

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I know ppl who spend basically all of their money on cars. They are a joke. Some ppl need nice rides to feel cool, thats 95% of it. Muscle cars and hot rods are totally different and not related to this thread.
I have leather seats, A/C, Bose and all that BS for well under 10k. If you dont live in the ghetto, then your car should not cost more then your living expenses. Alot of ppl also dont realize what tight rides you can get for the cost of new cars. Spend 30k on new car or spend 10k on older model and the other 20k on making it waaaaay better then the new one.
As you can see from the pic, I car little about the way my car looks...


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BIGGER IS BETTER!

[ckmo]

It makes some people feel good, its their money. Tomm. I'll have a new Acura. I was going to get a more expensive car but decided against it. I don't see much of a point in working for a living if you're not going to spend the money on something you want. I make enough money to live a comfortable life and still save more than most for the future.

If you chose to drive an older car so be it. I'm sure there is something in your life that you've bought or done that isn't completely necessary but you do it anyway.

[geormiet]

Kurosh, you are right.

The answer is that advertising/media has brainwashed (or attempted to brainwash) us young people that we need to spend a large fraction of our net worth on a nice car. You can apply this to lots of other stuff too...diamond ring for your wife (TWO MONTHS SALARY??!), lots of presents on xmas, etc...

All a bunch of bs, all "traditions" created by advertising trying to make people believe that they are supposed to be spending spending spending. The car company, diamond company, and the CREDIT CARD company all benefit.

[sushijerk]

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But a ton of kids I grew up with work crappy jobs making 300 bucks a week, live with their parents and still dump thousands of dollars into making their civics look much, much, gayer than any factory car. I never understood it.

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FYP

[ElaineMonster]

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Is sadder a word? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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No.

[ElaineMonster]

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Nothing else that you spend that amount of money on in your life depreciates like a car does.

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While this statement is generally true, it is not true of used hybrids. A used hybrid retains it's value fairly well. (Right now :/ )

[Allinlife]

why do people play poker underolled?

[Soh]

I think so.

[El Ishmael]

"Men don't have nice cars because they like nice cars, they have them because they know women like nice cars."