Monday, August 1, 2011

My Nephew is an Idiot!

Actually my nephew is usually pretty awesome but when I went to visit him and my sister and her other kids yesterday, he was gone.  My sister said he was out looking for a new truck.  As soon as she said that, I had a sinking feeling.  Mind you he has a new wife, a new baby, has switched jobs quite a few times in the past few years and doesn't make all that much money.  He does, however, have pretty good credit according to my sister.
So off we went to see him at the dealership.  The sales people were circling around him like sharks and he already had a big, new, shiny, 8-cylinder pick up truck picked out, ready to drive off the lot.  When we got there he was waiting for the paperwork to be printed up to sign and I literally went into the office and told him not to sign it!  At that, the finance manager got an odd expression on his face.
Unfortunately, my nephew is the determined sort and he really wanted the truck.  I had this same sort of  "I'm going to get this brand new car and I don't care how much logic and reasoning you throw at me" determination and repeatedly bought cars I couldn't afford simply because I wanted it and the car dealers/lenders didn't seem to care that I was spending 50% of my income on a car that would depreciate like a rock as soon as I drove it off the lot.  So now I am a reformed idiot hoping to use my hard won lessons to teach others.  Unfortunately my nephew was as deaf to my reasoning as I was to anyone who tried to dissuade me from stupid purchases years ago.
Now my nephew is the owner of a brand new truck (which gets like 10 miles to the gallon!) and seven YEARS of $600 car payments. Ugh.  I am so disappointed!

8 comments:

  1. OMG! As I was reading along, the image of you in a superhero costume with cape fluttering around you popped into my head. lol. "Here I come to save the day!" $600 for seven years?
    Holy crap Batman! Isn't that more than you're going to pay for your condo each month?

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  2. Just...wow. I'll never understand this mentality. I'm still driving my first ever car and it just hit the 10year mark.

    I want another car and I'm currently saving. But, until I have a stable job, enough money saved for car emergencies in addition to my emergency fund, have a VERY sizable down payment, and can pay the car off either in full or no more than 3 years, then I will continue to WANT but not HAVE a new to me car.

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  3. Correct me if I am wrong... but that's over $50k for a truck!

    *sigh*

    The things people do to themselves. Oh well, people need to learn from their own mistakes.

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  4. Yep, the truck was $39,000 plus they added $5,000 that he still owes on his (not so old) older car. And I did actually say "Holy crap that's expensive" (repeatedly) but I guess people will learn the lesson when they are ready (unfortunately by then they my be nearly bankrupt).

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  5. Sigh..is it to late to smack him and take it back


    Judy

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  6. I think no one idiot in the world....or everybody idiot here...

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  7. I have a friend who has bought a new car every four years, before her 5-year-loan is paid off. So her old loan is rolled into the new one. Because THAT's smart, it beats paying a $1,000 car repair bill.

    FACEPALM.

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  8. Yep, it's hard being a "born again" frugalista. I see people making the same mistakes that I made and I want to preach to them so that they don't have to learn the hard way like I did but with money, especially, people can get pretty set in their ways and it is hard to talk them out of what they want to do so you just have to sit by and watch...like watching a train wreck. Eekkk

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