Today I want to tell you a story.
John lives in a suburban neighborhood where he feels his life is on display for others to see. Now, of course, the other neighbors feel the same way. But for John, this leads him to work hard to make sure that his lawn is in the best shape possible. He\’s always outside mowing his lawn, edging his bushes, and making sure that everything is in tip-top shape.
So one afternoon, as he was mowing, he saw a black truck driving down the road towards him. Now, this black truck is something he hadn\’t seen in the neighborhood before, but he noticed it pulling into his neighbor\’s driveway. John was so mesmerized that he was standing still, mowers running, staring at this beautiful black truck with big tires, seemingly just off the showroom floor.
Then all of a sudden, his neighbor jumped out of the truck and waved at him before running inside. John, still in shock, continued standing on his lawn while staring at this truck. Slowly he looked over his shoulder at his garage and saw his five-year-old truck sitting in that garage.
He must not have realized it, but John was comparing his neighbor\’s truck to his. He had bought his truck five years earlier when he was in a different place financially and hadn\’t experienced any promotions since then. At that moment, he thought for the first time, Why did I buy that truck in the first place? Was that the truck that I really wanted?
As he asked himself these questions, he thought back to wishing it had better technology, including the tow package and more towing capability. So as he was standing there, mower still running, he snapped back into place, continued mowing his lawn, and didn\’t think anything more of it.
The following day, as John was leaving his home and driving down the same street that he had seen his neighbor drive up on the night before, he kept noticing new vehicles sitting in his neighbor\’s driveways.
He got to thinking, Okay, what am I missing? Why are there so many new vehicles? Was there another drop in interest rates? Was there some incentive that was going on?
When John got to work that day, he was a little distracted. Throughout the day, all he could think about was his neighbor jumping out of that brand new truck and imagining what it would be like to have a truck right off the lot, not just any truck, but one that had that fresh new car smell, Apple CarPlace, and the ability to have a tow kit.
So at lunch that day, he sat down and began looking at the price of these new trucks. He was looking at his options and what it may look like to purchase one of these.
Now, John was non-committal because, at that point, he noticed his contentment or discontentment was apparent with his existing vehicle. As he went on with his day, he continued to get distracted and continually had to snap back into focus on what he had to be doing. He left work that day thinking about the truck and the projects he had to do over the weekend.
John\’s plan for the weekend was to build out his deck and finally complete that project. So come Saturday, he got up and headed out the door to the local box store for home improvement items.
As he drove into the parking lot, he noticed there were a lot of trucks. It almost seemed as though there was a car meetup for trucks. As he was driving through the aisles, he saw every make, model, year, condition, and an assortment of trucks. He had never noticed these things before when going to the home improvement store, but he noticed them now.
As he was going through the aisles at the home improvement store, he began thinking about how he had a lot of lumber to purchase. He needed a lot of items for his deck to build it out properly, and it got him thinking how much better it would be if he had the proper towing kit to get a trailer to deliver all of these materials in one trip rather than taking multiple. If only he had this, the project would be much less stressful!
So John made his multiple trips, and on his last trip driving home, he saw the local dealership. The dealership had every variation of the vehicle that he wanted. So he thought to himself, Well, maybe it makes sense just to see if they have the configuration I want. So he pulled right into the car dealership\’s parking lot and right into the future customer parking spot, but before he could even get a foot out the door, he was bombarded by sales reps.
One of them, in a cruise suit, introduced himself. The rep said, \”John, I\’m Sam. Nice to meet you. What has brought you in here today?\” A little surprised by the attention, John slowly responded, \”Well, I wanted to see if you may have a configuration of the truck I want.\”
So both of them began going through the process of walking the aisles of the various configurations, driving a few different versions, and narrowing down what options were available to John. However, he realized that they didn\’t have the exact configuration he wanted.
The sales rep was trying everything in his mind and power to get him into a truck that day, so Sam led John into the sales showroom. As they walked in, there it was, a brand new lifted vehicle of the assortment and configuration that he wanted. However, Sam communicated that this truck was a limited production version of what he wanted. It came with oversized tires and wheels, but it didn\’t have the tow or technology package. So John stood there looking at this truck. Sam then told him, \”Well, let me run some numbers for you and see if this could work within your budget and your monthly payment.\”
He asked John typical questions like what he wanted the car payment to be at, and John responded with not wanting it not to be too far off of his current payment. After this, Sam led John to the showroom floor, where he sat at a table by himself as Sam went back and talked to his manager. John sat at that table in the middle of the showroom, reviewing the window sticker and options that the truck had. It had almost everything he wanted. It had the off-road package, the suspension upgrade, and the wheels and tires, but it lacked the tow kit and the technology package. Those were the truck\’s main aspects that he desired. However, those things seemed not to be as important as they were since this beautiful dark gray lifted limited production truck sat right in front of him.
So it got him thinking, Well, why not just run the numbers? Why not just see how much this thing would cost to have it in my driveway.
Sam then walked back out and asked John to get the keys to his five-year-old truck. As John handed the keys to Sam, he started telling him what was going on with the truck. He also mentioned aspects that may need fixing, the components he didn\’t like, and why he was looking for a different vehicle. Sam responded, \”Well, why don\’t we just go ahead and get it appraised, so you have an idea of how much of a difference you\’re looking at between the vehicle you\’re driving now and this brand new one on the showroom floor.\”
So as Sam walked the keys back to his service department to get it appraised and checked out, the manager stepped out of his office, gave John a warm greeting and firm handshake, and introduced himself to him. He let John know that Sam was going to take care of him and that they were going to get him into the right truck today.
So John sat back down and reviewed the information while waiting for Sam to return with the figures. After returning from talking to his manager, Sam exclaimed, \”Okay, well, our manager must be in a great mood today. He is willing to make a deal for you and is willing to buy your truck for only $3,000 less than what you owe on it. What we\’ll do today is add that $3,000 to that new vehicle so that you won\’t have out-of-pocket expenses.\”
John sat there thinking, Okay, well, at least I won\’t have to expend anymore. As Sam explained, on the blank sheet of paper how the deal would work out, John was getting a little more warmed up to the idea, but his biggest concern was his payment. He figured as long as he could keep the truck payment around where it was at, then at least it wouldn\’t be more taxing than what it was.
So Sam communicated that they could extend out the number of months that they amortize that loan over and apply a lower percentage rate than he previously had on his five-year-old truck, as interest rates had improved. As Sam tried to convince John that this was the right deal, John realized he had some other reservations. He really wanted that tow kit and wanted tinted windows, but his biggest concern was having to pay anything out of pocket, so they negotiated a little bit on how much the dealership would cover.
Before he knew it, John had keys to his brand new truck and was driving that brand new truck off the dealer lot.
As he was driving that truck back to his home, he was just excited to be able to join in on having a brand new vehicle in his driveway, much like neighbors had.
As time went on and he had seen this vehicle around town in various configurations, he felt like he got the configuration that best fit his needs. However, he didn\’t get the tow kit, and he didn\’t get the upgraded technology package, but he felt like he could add the tow kit, and it would work out for the best.
John didn\’t realize that with a lifted truck came bigger tires and wheels, which meant higher gas bills. Another aspect he didn\’t expect was that his insurance bill would increase too. So as he looked at his slightly higher car payment, his larger insurance bill, gas bill, and other add ons like the towing kit and bass boat, he began feeling buyer\’s remorse. He had just bought a new vehicle, a brand new truck and according to Kelly Blue Book, these new full-size trucks, on average, cost about $52,000. Based on him taking that new loan at 100% financing, including his tax town license and his negative equity on his truck, he began thinking through his new $803 car payment and how he was going to have to pay for it for the next seven years.
Many of us have had this experience where we have got locked onto a specific vehicle and see other people driving a particular vehicle that we have justified in our minds. We start checking the numbers, calculating what it could look like, and before we know it, we make that purchase from which we can\’t turn back.
I believe that many of us have been in this case before and may have gone into buying one thing hoping to have specific aspects in it and left with an entirely different configuration. Doing this can be easy because of the new car smell, the excitement of sharing about it, or even peer pressure after seeing family, friends, and neighbors with their new purchases. Many times when we see other people purchase certain things, we also think we deserve to have and experience the same things as well. We may not realize that making more emotionally based decisions can lead us down a path where we are consistently in debt and trying to keep up with the proverbial Joneses.
Take a moment now to think through your experience with a car dealership. Maybe you\’ve had great experiences. However, figure out if you had an experience where you stepped in the door wanting to buy something in particular and left with something entirely different. Determine what safeguards you need to put in place when you buy a vehicle to keep yourself from purchasing those additional warranties and accessories that aren\’t necessary or purchasing something you can\’t afford.
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