I had a shocking conversation the other day while driving home from work with a couple of colleagues:
CW1: "I see Ford is having a sale, I think I might go get a new truck."
me: "Oh, is your old one pretty worn out? Were you planning to buy something soon anyways?"
CW1: "No, actually, my truck is only ... ummm... I'm not sure maybe 2 years old? I was planning to mile it out, but this is a really good sale, and my truck doesn't have as many features as the new ones. I think if they will buy me out of what's left owing on my current truck I'll take the deal today and have a new truck!"
me: "Wow. I think I'd have a really hard time making a decision so fast on such a big purchase. We got burned when we had to sell our last new vehicle quickly because we decided to move overseas, and lost quite a bit of money. I don't think I'll ever purchase another new car because of that."
Now, if the above convo wasn't bad enough... here was the part that shocked me:
CW1: "Oh, that's too bad. Yeah, I actually only had my last new truck for a couple of years too, and when I got my current truck they bought out the remainder of my existing loan. It was great! I have never lost money on a vehicle!"
I debated for a bit if I should say anything... CW1 is very intelligent. I quite like CW1 and didn't want her to lose money on another deal, so I tossed caution to the wind and mentioned, "Well, if you didn't sell it for what you paid, AND you were paying interest... unless you made capital gains on an equivalent amount of money you were investing while the bank loaned you the money for the truck... you definitely lost money on your last truck."
CW1: "No, I don't think like that. I think that if I got rid of the truck and the loan at the same time, I'm basically breaking even!"
me: "but... the math?" (this goes back and forth for a bit with us both trying to be polite)
CW1: "I guess we just think differently about these things!"
at which point CW2 begins commenting about their vehicle, joining CW1: "Oh I made sure to buy brandX because they NEVER lose value. I'm sure I'll be able to sell it for the same price as what I bought it for new no matter how long I drive it."
I just smiled and nodded for the remainder of the conversation. I know there's been a ton of car-conversation on here, but until this convo I don't know if I entirely "got" it. It astounded me.