Why, Even After 70 Years, Do We Still Have to Learn Things the Hard Way?
You’d think I’d make better decisions by now.
During Covid, my twenty-something year old grandson bought a truck he just had to have. It was very expensive, but he wanted it, so he bought it.
It turned out to be way more expensive to operate than he expected, and he really didn’t like it, so he tried to trade it in on a less expensive model. The trade-in amount was ridiculously low, and he learned that when you buy a car, you have to pay for the car, and if you trade it in for a lot less than you paid, you still have to pay for what's left over plus the cost of the car you buy to replace it. It is expensive. And the expense lasts for years.
I heard the whole story. Did I learn from it? I guess not.
I bought a BMW i3 extended range in December, thinking I’d gotten a good deal, since I got a lot more for my trade-in than I had expected.
By mid-February, I knew I’d made a mistake. I love the car, but it is a little too big for me (like I can just barely reach to close the hatchback.) It has too many bells and whistles, and I will never figure out what all the buttons do. I thought, since it is a hybrid, that the gas engine charges the electric engine. I was wrong. At least it doesn’t seem to work on this particular model.
So I went back to Carvana to trade in this car for the little gas Fiat I had wanted in the first place but forgot about when I saw the BMW. Funny thing: less than two months ago, the car cost $14,000. I asked what I could trade it in for, and the car’s value dropped to $6,000. We hadn’t put even 200 miles on it. When I found a little Fiat on the site, Carvana wanted another $2,000 on delivery. I searched the couch cushions — no $2,000.
So I went to Carmax. They also offered $6,000 for the trade in, but they didn’t ask for any money at delivery. However, my car payments will go from $230/month to $500/month. For the next 7 years.
Provided Agent Orange and the Walking Wallet don’t mess with my Social Security, I can swing it, but it will be less than pleasant. I had just paid off my last car loan and a credit repayment plan from the last big mistake I made. We were finally going to have a little more money for fun things. Now the fun thing will be driving around in a little Fiat that’s 9 years old and has just over 100,000 miles on it already. Most of the car payment will be to repay the $11,000 I still owe on a car I won’t have anymore.
It’s sad to think I haven’t learned much in all my years on this earth. It’s sad to think that when you make a mistake, sometimes it costs you.
It’s too bad I didn’t learn from my grandson’s mistake.
We all make mistakes. Some of us have to take responsibility for them. I guess only the wealthy don’t.
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