Head Tale

So, this is a bit of a different take on “Throwback Thursday” but since my car is in the shop right now after being rear-ended about a month and a half ago (and since I’m driving around a brand new rental with all the newest features – backup camera!  Bluetooth connectivity!  Heated seats that actually work!) ;-), I thought I’d try to summarize why I’m okay driving an older car instead of something newer and shinier…

1. I grew up around many people who are really into cars. But for me (who has absolutely zero opinion on the Ford vs. Chevy debate!), ultimately, the purpose of a car is to get you from point A to point B and a 2006 will do that (for the most part) as well as a 2016.
2. On that note, my car is basically our second vehicle (we use our mini-van for most family activities/trip/shopping, etc.) so I really only do use it to go from home to work and back again.
3. As long as you don’t get a lemon (and we did have one used car that we did put a lot of money into), there’s a huge cost savings to buy an older vehicle.  I paid $7000 cash for the car I’m currently driving whereas a 2017 model is going to set a person back around $25,000.  (I can think of a zillion things to do with the money saved by not buying a new vehicle – for example, splash out for a second week at an all-inclusive instead of our usual one week.)  (You might save in other ways – plates and insurance are likely cheaper than a newer vehicle.)
4. On that note, most people can’t afford to pay cash for a brand new vehicle so end up using credit which, depending on your terms, will make the vehicle even more expensive in the end.  Paying cash means you own it outright.
5. Most new “features” can be reproduced in an older vehicle – sure, I can’t use Bluetooth to play music from my phone in my old car but I can get an FM transmitter for $50 that does the same thing.  I don’t have a backup camera but people have been turning their heads in vehicles for about a 100 years and managing to avoid accidents (in fact, I even find backup cameras distracting sometimes as it’s one more thing to look at while backing up!)  And yes, my car doesn’t have keyless start but those extra seven seconds to reach in my pocket, grab my keys and insert them in the ignition aren’t the end of the world.  Plus that actually helps me keep track of my keys better as I’ve already misplaced the keyless entry fob once in the two days I’ve had my rental!
6. I’m less worried about nicks and other damage.  When I got rear-ended, I was a lot less mad than if I’d had my brand-new vehicle bashed.  (The flip side is I think SGI tends to want to get older vehicles off the road so they’re more likely to not approve repairs and instead, are more likely to write off older vehicles.)
7. I’m also less worried about interior damage – if the kids spill a drink or Sasha writes on the seat with a marker, it’s not the end of the world. (It’s not in a new vehicle either but some people think it is.)
8. I’m less worried about the security of the vehicle as I think its a less tempting target for a break-in when it’s an older vehicle.  (That may be balanced by newer vehicles having better security systems built in – no idea if that’s the case but would imagine that’s true.)
9. It’s getting worse all the time but older vehicles are still easier to do your own maintenance on than newer vehicles which practically need to go into a garage for everything from adding oil to changing a signal light bulb!
10. Your old vehicle can still be like new.  The vehicle I ended up buying – from an elderly person who hadn’t driven it very much (it only had ~50,000 KM when I bought it and it was nearly a decade old!)  It was in really good shape and it’s still loaded too – just ten years too late.  But it happens to have been a top-of-the-line vehicle when it was new with heated seats (as I alluded to earlier, only one works but luckily its the driver side!), various diagnostics available from the dash and more.

Sure, I wish I was driving a brand-new 2017 Ford Fusion.  But I look forward to the day that I do – in 2027! 😉