Here you see the $87,100 F-450

[rcjordan]

Reda, a salesman for Les Stanford Chevrolet Cadillac, a family-owned dealership based in Detroit, racked up total sales of 1,582 new and used vehicles over the past year, according to this report from the Detroit Free Press. If validated by Guinness, Reda would be the new world's record holder for auto sales in a year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-small-business/wp/2018/02/23/the-worlds-all-time-top-car-salesman-is-fighting-to-keep-his-title/

[rcjordan]

Waaay more that $87k, I'll bet. But worth a look.

1993 GMC 3500HD with a 7.2L Caterpillar engine swap

http://www.trucktrend.com/features/1601-this-1993-gmc-3500hd-is-a-trailer-towing-king-with-7-2l-caterpillar-engine-swap/

[rcjordan]

Insane.
Delusional.
Desperate.
All of the above.

More People Taking Out 96-Month Auto Loans

https://jalopnik.com/theres-more-people-taking-out-96-month-auto-loans-now-1825857334

[ergophobe]

A friend told me just two days ago that he spent $120,000 on his dream vehicle (4WD Sprinter van fully kitted out to sleep four) and because it has a bed, you can call it a second home and get a 15-year *mortgage* for it.

I might be happier if I thought differently, but my conservative Yankee upbringing just makes it hard for me to wrap my head around a fifteen-year mortgage on a vehicle.

He's super happy though. It's one of these
https://sportsmobile.com/mercedes-benz-4x4-sprinter/

[littleman]

Is frugality a Yankee (vs Southern) value?  Its just something I haven't thought about before.  My own personal view: nothing that depreciated should ever be financed.

[buckworks]

>> nothing that depreciated should ever be financed.

One of my sons is a financial planner and he'd say we should try to avoid owning things that are certain to depreciate, no matter how we pay for them.

In his outlook, something like that camper would be okay to rent once in a while but not to own.

>> frugality

Point to ponder: "Frugal" has the same Latin root as "fruitful".

[ergophobe]

Is frugality a Yankee (vs Southern) value?

I use the term Yankee in a way that people use it in Vermont, not the way a Southerner would use it (to mean a generic northerner) or a foreigner would use it (to mean all Americans). In Vermont, someone from New York, for example, is not a Yankee (despite the baseball team).

When people say Yankee in Vermont, they generally think of someone rural, taciturn and frugal. There are few true Yankees left, but my grandparents fit the mold. A large portion of the furniture in my mom's house was built by her father or his father. My grandfather (who had a fairly high income), repaired everything. My grandmother patched the elbows of his suit coats and darned our socks. But they were very generous with their grandkids. Frugal, but not stingy.

Moving to California was a bit of a shocker. I couldn't believe how many high-priced cars there were on the road.

The American author E. B. White came up with a funny summary of how to keep the term straight. It shows how, in the end, who is and isn't a Yankee is all about the geographic perspective:

To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/yankee/

Or, to tell it as a joke... A guy from Texas is driving down a country road in Vermont and sees a farmer and stops to talk. He asks him "How big is your spread?" The farmer points out the borders following hilltop and stone fence.

The Texan says, "On my ranch, if I start at my house and get in my pickup at dawn and drive east until sunset, I'm at the northeast corner. I get up the next morning and drive south until sunset, I'm at the southeast corner. I get up the next morning and drive west, the next morning and drive north all day and I'm back ag my house."

The farmer looks at him for a second and says, "Yup, I had a truck like that once."

And that is what I think of as a Yankee.

[littleman]

>avoid owning things that are certain to depreciate

That's an interesting idea.  I'd say it is generally good advice.  It gets a bit complicated when you look at utility/cost -- for instance in a lot of cases it will cost someone less to buy a used vehicle than to rent a new one.  I suppose you could take it to extreme in that example and just use Uber/Lyft as needed and be ahead (particularly in an urban environment).


Ergophobe, that was informative and entertaining.

[ergophobe]

>avoid owning things that are certain to depreciate

Don't most things depreciate?  It's much too cold where you live to get by without owning clothes... for example.

I get the sentiment though. It's a useful filter. I would state it simply as "avoid buying shit you don't need and know the difference between need and want."

[buckworks]

>> less to buy a used vehicle

Yes. In part because, with a used vehicle, someone else has already absorbed some of the depreciation.

>> Don't most things depreciate?

Yes, but some more than others. Understand why and keep that in mind when you make spending decisions.

>> know the difference between need and want

Yes. Sometimes the line is blurry, though. Many times I find myself wanting something that I could live without, but I'd make good practical use of it if I had one.