Page 59 - Book6E

One out of four cars that are financed includes debt rolled over from a previous vehicle. By the end of 2006, the average amount of negative equity in these deals was more than $4,000. Rolling debt from one car to another is an extremely unwise decision. You pay higher interest rates because so much of what you owe isn’t secured by the car itself.
Why We Get into Financial Trouble with Cars
Weston offers the following reasons why people mess up so badly on such a basic purchase as an automobile:
• Viewing cars as a need rather than a want . Transportation is, indeed, a real need. We have to get to the grocery store and to work. But many of us have plenty of options, from our own feet to public transportation to car pools. Owning a car comes pretty close to a genuine need if you live in a rural area without public transport, or when your job doesn’t allow for car-pooling. But we never “need” a new car. That’s a luxury, not a need. There are plenty
of safe, reliable, gently used cars on
the market. There’s also no require-
ment that we get rid of our current
car once it reaches a certain mileage
milestone. Today’s cars are better
built and more dependable than
ever, which means that unless we’ve
been saddled with a lemon, we
could keep driving it past 200,000 or even 300,000 miles.
• Treating cars as a status symbol . It’s virtually impossible to watch television for very long without being bombarded by car commercials, and many of us have allowed ourselves to become convinced by the idea that we are what we drive. It's
Wait Until You Can Pay Cash For That Car 51
He looks the whole world in the face for he owes not any man.
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow