TO BUY, OR NOT TO BUY

Everyone is waiting desperately for the economy to stabilize, not to mention turn around. No one is more anxious for that good news than the auto manufacturers, and their dealers. While everyone waits, it raises the question, “When is it time to buy a car?”


Buying a car is a major, life event. For a consumer to take the plunge and make such an expensive purchase, needs and/or wants must outweigh the expense. In these shaky economic times, those parameters are hard to satisfy. Eventually, a thaw will occur. The “needs” of the buyer will hit first, and allow them to buy first. These needs may include:

- When a vehicle becomes unsafe, or unreliable due to aging components, or rusting parts.
- When fixing the vehicle is taking more time and energy than the driving.
- When repairs become ridiculously expensive; repeated engine work, chronic electrical problems, transmission work.
- When there is a change of life such as kids being born (or leaving an empty nest), retirement, etc.
- When transportation needs change to provide for construction hauling, commuting, car pooling, etc.
- When the vehicle is just plain cursed. A genuine lemon.
- When it starts making noises you never heard before.
- When the price of gas exceeds $4 per gallon, or plummets below $1 per gallon (dream on).


As the economy recovers and confidence begins to return, the “needs” buyer is followed by the more emotional “wants” buyer. These “wants” may include:

- When love is lost, and the owner is no longer getting back what they are putting into the relationship with the vehicle i.e. too many breakdowns.
- When they have drifted apart, and have nothing more in common.
- When the owner is just plain bored, and is ready for a dramatic change.
- When the seductive commercials convince the buyer that they deserve to be that individual.


Everyone has their own individual needs and wants, all within different time frames. Some people buy cars every three years, some every twenty years. In my case, I have tried to limit such a major purchase until there was a genuine need. My Dodge Colt rusted to the point of no longer being safe (or passing inspection). My Mazda RX7 only had two seats, and was no longer practical with children. The Thunderbird was too hard to pull out car seats, the Taurus wagon was not big enough for hockey bags, and the list will continue.


As for wants, they entice me daily. Every time I see an exotic design drive by, I want to drop my boring discipline, and volunteer to do my part to reinvigorate the economy; to make an impulse purchase. Then I wake up and continue to be boring. People will “need” to replace unsafe or costly vehicles. The emotional passion of “wants” will eventually lead to purchases. The economic thaw will come, hopefully sooner rather than later.