"I drive a Dodge Stratus!"
Side note: my fiancee and I will be selling her car once we get married. I drive a 2006 Scion xB with 70K/miles on it.
I had a funny conversation with my brother today. My younger brother doesn’t have a car, he rides his bike and the bus to his work.
But lately he’s been rolling in a Lexus SUV.
Quite the change.
The car is my father’s and my brother has had a bunch of interviews around town and so my Dad is letting him borrow the car.
He said, “I feel very self-conscious in the Lexus”
I probably would too….but I bet you get used to it.
Cars are a funny thing. They are one of the most visible ways we judge each other’s financial situation right? I mean, I know I do. My office is in a nice part of town, and the number of Land Rover’s and BMW’s makes them the norm. My apartment however is in a more, umm…Volvo part of town.
Which gets to my point….
You can tell absolutely NOTHING about a person’s overall financial situation from what kind of car they drive.
You can however tell what they value.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with driving a nicer car if you can afford it. But if you’re rolling around in a $600/month leased BMW….and you’re in debt up to your eyeballs….not a good idea.
The funny thing is…let’s say the BMW leaser is a young professional. Most people would see the car, see the job, and conclude….”Success!”
Ugggghhh.
I for one am resolving to quit making snap judgements about anyone based on the car that they drive. It’s just one of those things that’s so easy to fake.
All hat, no cattle.
So, you’re not what you drive, right?
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
I am a 26 year old woman who drives a Ford Freestyle. One day I drove our Mustang to work and the the Chinese woman asked “Where’s your van??” I about died.
It’s funny how when watching 80’s movies it seems that cars were a huge way to get girls. I am not a car guy and really could care less about cars. When my car recently died I bought a new Honda since it’s reliable and a good fair price. You really can’t tell anything about someone based off of what they drive.
You CAN tell a lot by what someone drives. Someone roaming around in a Lexus SUV is either very rich or deep in debt. I don’t know too many people in the middle.
When I was in the military, I clearly remember an incident right after deploying back to the states. I roll into the parking lot in my Honda, purchased right when I joined the military. And this motorcycle comes speeding past me – this soldier who has a wife, kids, and a mustang! I know exactly what he makes, his whole money situation (you learn everything about everyone on a deployment!) and that his wife didn’t work. I exclaimed to a friend – how in the hell does he drive that and I drive this? And my friend replied – well everyone can get credit. Let’s just he had to sell the motorcycle.
So yes, a car is the easiest status symbol to acquire. And looks are deceiving – doesn’t Warren Buffet drive a very beatup old pickup?
Whenever I pass an old rusty car, I always wonder. Is it sad because the person can’t afford a new car, or is it awesome because they’re stubbornly deteremined to drive the car until it truly dies? (I live in the Midwest, so salt on the road during winter causes most cars to rust out after a while.)
My dad worked at a tech company in the height of the dot-com. A couple of the guys there really took pride in their vehicles–they were old and rusty, and still running. It was so much more fun at company picnics listening to guys bragging about their cars breaking down–and fixing them–than to hear about them being pretty.
(Oh, I like pretty, fancy cars as much as the next person. I’d love a new car with fancy features. But I more love not paying a bank every month for the privilege to drive.)
As someone who has worked with hundreds of people and their finances over the years, I learned that at least around here you can basically assume the opposite of what most people think based on the car someone drives.
When people would come to me with questions about why they can’t stop living paycheck to paycheck one of my first questions when breaking down their expenses was to learn more about their car expenses. Monthly payments, insurance, etc. I can say that almost every single time people listed an expensive car (or two) they were the ones in the worst financial situation. Sure, maybe they made more money than the average person, but they were also the ones blowing $2,000/month on car expenses and wondered why they can’t find any extra money to put in their retirement account.
Then you had those who had paid off cars or a very small car payment. Sure, they might not be making six-figures a year, but surprisingly they were the ones who actually had a positive net worth and were accumulating wealth instead of blowing it.
This observation would hold true day in and day out almost without fail. 9 out of 10 people I saw with $100,000+ worth of steel sitting in their garages sure looked impressive for the neighbors, but under the surface they were just as bad off or about the same financially as those who make half the income and drove inexpensive cars.
To each their own I guess. If someone values what others think of them more than financial security that’s fine. Or if they are rolling around in so much money that they are still maxing out their 401(k) and is driving an $80k BMW, congratulations. You’re doing great. Unfortunately, most people don’t have that kind of money and instead just try to make it appear as if they do.
Oh well. If everyone managed their money properly there would be no use for PF blogs. I think of it as job security
For the record, we own two vehicles. A 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 110,000 miles and completely paid off, and a 2005 Pontiac Grand Am that will be paid off later this year and it has almost 120,000 miles. Oh, and the front end is all busted up from hitting a deer, one of the doors has a dent in it from a parking lot accident, and the windshield is cracked.
I bet people think I’m pulling the night shift at McDonalds driving around in that crapmobile. Oh well, let them think that while they basically light $100 bills on fire cruising around in their luxury wealth destroying hunk of metal
It’s true that a vehicle is often used to judge status.
Personally, I don’t care. I don’t care if someone thinks I’m successful or not (I drive a Jeep Wrangler).
On the other hand, I don’t care if someone else is successful. So my neighbor has an expensive car — so what? Maybe he is successful, maybe he is not. It makes no difference to me. Will he lend me money? No. Will it benefit me in any way? No. It only makes a difference to my Ego.
The only place it does matter is sales.
Showing up to a sales meeting in a dirty, old, broken car can cost you a sale. But come to think of it, showing up in a Lamborghini wouldn’t help the sale either, unless I was selling private jets or something.
theres a lot you can tell. Need to consider the driving style of the person driving the car, very important.
I’m an attorney at a small law firm, and I drive the same car my boss drives: a Honda Civic. And my boss makes exceptionally good money. I make out fairly well, but I don’t like cars enough to spend a crapload of money on them. The only reason I bought a new Civic instead of a used one is that they hold their value so well that the cost of the used one was only $2,000 less than the new! For that, I’d rather have the pretty new one. I plan to drive her until she dies, and I’ve heard Hondas are good for not dying. My boyfriend drives a 2001 Toyota Camry only because his 1996 Corolla was stolen from the repair shop. We’re both professionals, but we’ve got much more important things to consider at this stage.
Love this subject. I agree. You can’t tell much about a person by what they drive. I totally hear your brother’s discomfort though. I was a personal assistant for a couple of years and had to drive my boss’ luxury vehicles in for service including a Bentley Continental GT, and a few different Cadillacs. Let’s just say I’m not a Cady girl, and didn’t even know Bentley made cars (I thought they made watches). I was horribly uncomfortable driving both cars (especially since one was worth more than my house!). I also got a lot of attention driving the Bentley. It’s a nondescript enough car that people try to figure out what it is–and thereby get closer than I was comfortable with on the freeway.
I used to drive through Bellevue. Bill Gates lives there. He drove a small non-descript white Honda Civic–not sure if he’s moved up to something fancier, but I was in Bellevue through the height of the boom and the cars we regularly saw were outrageous. Lambos, Ferrari and even weirder stuff. All I can tell about that person is that what they drive is important to THEM.
I try to remind myself I have no business judging them or guessing their financial health (totally not my business) but on my values system, I have much more respect for the person who shows a great degree of thrift on a consumable item like a car. I still very clearly remember the peach-colored 1972 Plymouth station wagon that my mom sold in 1989. My dad is still driving a truck that is older than I am.
I could not agree more with this post. I lived in LA for 5 years and everyone was obsessed with the cars they drove. Me, I didn’t have a car and instead spent my money on rent so I could live 2 blocks from the beach. I loved riding the bus and being able to read and relax on my way to work. I know people who would be sharing a 2 bedroom apartment with 4 people so they could drive a BMW. Why?????
I like the freedom of being able to walk out of any door, and go just about any place. If public transportation doesn’t go there, it probably isn’t worth going to. Unless, of course, there is a bike trail that goes there.
I quit buying into the brain-washing. Why make car salesmen and insurance salesmen into rich men? I am thinking about number one.
This couldn’t be more true. I drive around in a 2004 Scion xA with a collection of dents. I don’t care. Its completely paid off uses little gas only has 50k miles and never had a mechanical problem. The dents aren’t worth fixing just to make myself feel good. My dad was a cars salesmen. He practically died at the fact that I bought it new and not used and that is the only regret I have over my ride. I’ll be driving it to the day it autodestructs
I think some of you guys are massaging yourselves to make you feel good with the “reverse psychology” of thinking people with nice cars are poor or overextended. I drive a pretty nice car and one of the “luxury brands,” but in terms of $$$ it was only mid-range (a little over $40k new), and I will keep it approximately 8-12 years. One repair of a beat-up car can run $1,000 which would be annoying to my budget, or a single breakdown could cost me my job if I missed an important meeting. Thus, I feel my money was well spent.
Annualized, my car will be approximately $4,000 a year for ownership, and it has free maintenance and warranty for the first half of its lifetime. Thus, no surprises. It fits ideally into my budget. I’m not rich, and I’m not poor, but owning a nice car and keeping it for a long time can actually bring a lot of benefits in terms of time saved, reliability, etc.
Now, agreed, changing your car every 3 years is a really big waste of money, as is leasing unless you have a business reason for that…
Jacob, I think you’re right as well. Some people take pride in the fact they drive old, beat up cars and think it’s superior to those driving nicer ones, just like people take pride in their BMWs and other luxury cars and look down their nose at people driving beaters. I think the takeaway is that if you can’t pay cash for it (or at least pay it off in 12-24 months), you shouldn’t be driving it. But it seems a lot of people that can’t afford something nice like to take shots at those who can afford it.
But what do I know, I drive an old truck