by Bill B. Moore
I can’t wait to start making payments on my brand new car! Yes I only buy new—always worth the cost. I HAVE to buy new.
But I’m also the kind of person that won’t want another car for the next eight years. While being aware of the mega advancements as cars transform into being smarter, software-driven, and wildly more fuel efficient, I just really, really know that this is the one car I want to be making payments on well into 2026.
No new cars will appeal to me until at least the 2027 model year.
You see, I analyze costs strictly on a monthly basis. That’s my bottom line. Naturally, I’m aware that I’ll always owe way more than my car is worth, from the moment I take the keys, spanning far into the next decade. In fact I embrace that. I just love that feeling of locking myself into payments on something that will always be worth less that what I owe—meanwhile committing to paying thousands in mandated collision insurance (even as the value whittles down to near nothing). Just thinking about it gives me warm fuzzies.
No, silly… I don’t have terminal cancer or reason to believe I’ll be dead in the very near future.
Of course I can afford to pay it off before the eight years—but I’m not comfortable with, let’s say, a six year car loan. That would cost one hundred more a month! Better to just pay the four grand in additional interest and avoid that fuss.
Yes I’m well aware that ride sharing and autonomous vehicles could soon make the concept of car ownership itself feel antiquated.
Self driving? 100 mpg? Yes I’m aware that, during this very long time span, all the big automakers—plus Tesla, Apple, and Dyson—will be pumping out technological marvels to render my car a joke, but that’s the appeal: borrowing heavily against something that others won’t want. It’s special, and it’s mine.
Yes I need to buy new now… but why would anyone want to buy new in the next eight years? Not me. I only want it right now (and, of course, again in the year 2026).
And the dealer actually gave me cash back, can you believe that!?
Which is nice, ‘cause I can really use the money.
