When FB friends talk about buying cars

[JAYSLOL]

I keep seeing ads on FaceBook from some "Bad-Credit/No-Credit" type lender, they have a picture of a woman who apparently used their lending to get a $13k loan for a Dodge Journey (she's standing in front of it with the caption something like "Wow! I'm approved!").  Anyway, the comments were a surprising gold-mine and some of them went like this "Wow! I made a terrible financial decision!", and "Guess how long until it's repossessed?", and "You spelled "FINANCIAL MISTAKE" wrong", and my personal favourite "Bad Credit and no money?  Your car should be a grand tops".  Well done random Facebook people, well done. 

[nouveauRiche]

IRL, not FB:

A friend showed up with a brand new car yesterday & I commented on it.  She said the previous car started needing a lot of maintenance and it was 7 years old so "it was time". 

Our cars are 9 and 19 years old (both purchased used).  I think of the 9 year old car as our "new/nice" car.

I have no idea what their finances are so no judgement.  I just thought it was a funny difference in the definition of a car being "too old".

-------

Just thought of another from many years ago:  I knew someone who used to buy a new car every 5 years because her parent had told her that was the way to avoid maintenance problems.  The car she was about to replace was a Honda Accord in well-maintained condition.  I should have bought it from her!

[moof]

Offer advice when it is asked for, bite your tongue otherwise.

In the semi-facepunch category of disclosure we just dropped $16k on a new-to-us Prius V to replace our rather battle weary 15 year old Ford Focus that has gotten too unreliable to take on long family trips, which is all it is around for in the first place.  It was a company car for someone who got laid off, with only 30k miles.  They got a Carmax turn-in price (whatever the right term is) and sold it for that.  It was a model on my short list for replacement cars, so we went for it.  It is the first car I have ever just bought outright, which is sort of weird and kind of anti-climactic (sent check, next day got the title from HQ in a fedex envelope).

[Linea_Norway]

Just thought of another from many years ago:  I knew someone who used to buy a new car every 5 years because her parent had told her that was the way to avoid maintenance problems.  The car she was about to replace was a Honda Accord in well-maintained condition.  I should have bought it from her!

It might be true that most cars start having their first technical issues after 5 years. So if you don't ever want the hassle, it might be smart to switch to a new one. Although the more economic thing is to do the repairs and keep driving the car.
Our cars had a phase with several repairs in a year. Luckily is has now been running very well for a few years in a row.

[clarkfan1979]

In 2014, I posted my car purchase on FB.

It was a 2003 Pontiac Vibe with 165K miles for $2,500. Most of the comments were negative. My favorite was, "Why the hell would you buy a Pontiac Vibe?" I saw that person at a wedding last year and they pretty much complained of money problems the whole time. However, according to him it's his ex-wife's fault, not his fault.

For those of you who don't know much about the Vibe, it's the same car as the Toyota Matrix. It was a joint venture between Pontiac and Toyota. It has a Toyota engine. I drove it for 5 years and 57K miles before it died. Very minimal maintenance.

I don't like to shit on people's parade. Let them enjoy their life. Once they start complaining about their life and ask for advice, then you can contribute. If someone is in relatively good shape and posts on facebook about eating chocolate lava cake for dessert, don't comment about how that food is bad for you. However, if that person comes to you, 100 pounds overweight and asks for advice, then give it.

[nouveauRiche]

Just thought of another from many years ago:  I knew someone who used to buy a new car every 5 years because her parent had told her that was the way to avoid maintenance problems.  The car she was about to replace was a Honda Accord in well-maintained condition.  I should have bought it from her!

It might be true that most cars start having their first technical issues after 5 years. So if you don't ever want the hassle, it might be smart to switch to a new one. Although the more economic thing is to do the repairs and keep driving the car.
Our cars had a phase with several repairs in a year. Luckily is has now been running very well for a few years in a row.

Honda Accords are famously reliable cars.  The maintenance is certain to be a fraction of the cost of buying a new car.  I think you are right that people want to avoid hassle - they're apparently willing to pay a lot to do so.

It's too bad people don't do the math to figure out what it's really costing them.

[FLOW]

None of you should be on FB -- it's a waste of time, people are fake as hell, and it's breaking our democracy.  (Do you like my unsolicited advice? :)

For reals though: giving unsolicited advice is shitty, and not everyone wants to or even tries to optimize their purchases.  In fact there are people out there -- I know some -- who feel pretty badass precisely because they don't optimize their purchases.  They think it means they are powerful or something.  (I'm not even making this up; some guy was telling me about how it means he has a big "D" score on this personality test.  "D" standing for decision, like it's easy for them to make decisions, and that's why they're now an executive or whatever. Because of his big "D".) 



 

[JAYSLOL]

In 2014, I posted my car purchase on FB.

It was a 2003 Pontiac Vibe with 165K miles for $2,500. Most of the comments were negative. My favorite was, "Why the hell would you buy a Pontiac Vibe?" I saw that person at a wedding last year and they pretty much complained of money problems the whole time. However, according to him it's his ex-wife's fault, not his fault.

For those of you who don't know much about the Vibe, it's the same car as the Toyota Matrix. It was a joint venture between Pontiac and Toyota. It has a Toyota engine. I drove it for 5 years and 57K miles before it died. Very minimal maintenance.

I don't like to shit on people's parade. Let them enjoy their life. Once they start complaining about their life and ask for advice, then you can contribute. If someone is in relatively good shape and posts on facebook about eating chocolate lava cake for dessert, don't comment about how that food is bad for you. However, if that person comes to you, 100 pounds overweight and asks for advice, then give it.

I have a 24 year old Tercel, paid $5k 17 freaking years ago, @330k and it still hasn't died yet (or more miraculously, even rusted out!).  Toyota makes a damn good car. 

[ChpBstrd]

None of you should be on FB -- it's a waste of time, people are fake as hell, and it's breaking our democracy.  (Do you like my unsolicited advice? :)
 

I like your unsolicited advice. Quitting the FB habit has improved my sleep, made me more optimistic, made me more productive, and made me more present in my real life relationships.

FB is a propaganda machine that will rent your mind to the highest bidder, like some sort of ideological pimp.

[Metalcat]

None of you should be on FB -- it's a waste of time, people are fake as hell, and it's breaking our democracy.  (Do you like my unsolicited advice? :)
 

I like your unsolicited advice. Quitting the FB habit has improved my sleep, made me more optimistic, made me more productive, and made me more present in my real life relationships.

FB is a propaganda machine that will rent your mind to the highest bidder, like some sort of ideological pimp.

Man...what kind of friends did you have on FB??

[ChpBstrd]

None of you should be on FB -- it's a waste of time, people are fake as hell, and it's breaking our democracy.  (Do you like my unsolicited advice? :)
 

I like your unsolicited advice. Quitting the FB habit has improved my sleep, made me more optimistic, made me more productive, and made me more present in my real life relationships.

FB is a propaganda machine that will rent your mind to the highest bidder, like some sort of ideological pimp.

Man...what kind of friends did you have on FB??

It’s not so much the friends (despite their futile political rants) it’s the ads and the feed.