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What your car says about you...
- Thread starter rszappa1
- Start date
I have a Raptor and a Corvette. I must have a small wiener and/or be an old man.
Since IQ is very highly correlated with success in life, the Raptor and Corvette simply say you possess an above average IQ. With a secondary issue of indicating how to enjoy the fun "things" life has to offer.
The Book, “The Millionaire Next Door” would argue precisely the opposite. Millionaires generally don’t buy expensive cars. They buy boring American sedans and SUVs.
Then one night it becomes too much for them and they pull into the garage, close the door, and leave the motor running.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
As with anything, I think there's a bit of relativity there. My father doesn't drive anything exotic (old Town Car and SUV) and fits the bill. A local real estate mogul has a similar taste in vehicles as Dr. Haas, so drives a Bentley, Lamborghini, Hummer H1...etc. He's very "showy" with his money. Another with a higher net worth has one exotic but typically rolls around in a RAM 1500.
The wealthiest person I know personally doesn't spend any money on fancy cars, they prefer yachts. One of their relatives, also exceedingly wealthy, does like fancy cars and will typically tool around in a Porsche.
Or maybe he's a New Balance enthusiast trying to hold onto his youth
In the pre-internet when I drove an E24 M6 the enthusiast owners of the M6 and the E28/E34 M5 all belonged to a group known as the M Register. I was the east Coast technical advisor so I talked with a number of other members. A significant percentage of owners also had Shelbys, Ferraris, and Lamborghinis in their garage and used their M car as their daily driver.
In contrast, my exotic was the M6- and I had a 1984 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe(with three pedals) as my DD.
Presenting anecdotal evidence to the book’s thousands of data points is interesting but not compelling.
The book is well worth a read.
On a car forum, perhaps, you’re more likely to find that narrow intersection between truly wealthy and car enthusiasts.
But be very careful of equating high income with high net worth. High net worth is a very different thing.
There are plenty of folks spending a lot of money on cars, but very few of them have actual wealth.
An anecdote from many years ago. I was driving a 1985 Volvo wagon, 16 years old at the time, and many of our neighbors had just purchased new SUVs and convertibles. As we watched the shiny new cars drive by during the morning, while waiting for the school bus to pick up the kids, my (now ex) wife said, “I can’t believe that all these people make more money than us.” And I replied,
“They don’t. They spend more money on cars than us.”
What your car actually says about you requires the context of your entire financial picture. Otherwise, it’s like trying to determine volume when all you know is the length of an object. It’s impossible to know without the rest of the dimensions.
Fantastic post, I especially liked "They don't. They spend more money on cars than us". So true! Although there were decades my wife and I did drive $5,000 used cars because that really was all we could afford. Now I drive a really nice VW while I could have afforded an Audi, the value just wasn't there for me despite the Audi being an incredibly nice car.
Since we are sharing stories, I work for a large corporation where many of the top executives are multi millionaires, and the company founders billionaires. Euro cars are the norm, mostly German, Benz, BMW and Audi in that order of popularity loaded big ticket F-150s also make appearances. You won't see Japanese except Lexus and those are rare. No Acura, Infiniti domestic makes etc. However based on income, I realize the ratio of what I spent on my VW is far higher than what these millionaires spent on their cars.
This is what I find most interesting though, the founders (billionaires) daily drive a Lincoln Navigator with a dinged up right front fender he never bothered to have fixed, and a Cadillac. These are guys who started with nothing. Founder's son however show's up in a Bentley, he's never known not having money, totally different perspective.
Yes the billionaires have very expensive weekend cars in the garage as toys, but what they daily drive is very modest.
In my case, cars are my hobby; I don’t golf, I don’t have a boat, and I’d rather hammer a rusty railroad spike in my with a ten pound sledgehammer than own an RV. That said, I certainly don’t consider the amount I spend on cars to be extravagant- but I simply refuse to own any vehicle that isn’t entertaining to drive.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
That's why I said there's a bit of relativity, and provided examples of both scenarios.
My point is simply be careful with stereotypes as there are clearly myriad exceptions, so while it is nice to toss out statements like "Millionaires generally don’t buy expensive cars. They buy boring American sedans and SUVs." as absolutisms, it is never that cut and dry. I am sure we can all think of people who that clearly doesn't apply to. (And yes, I appreciate that "generally" is doing a not insignificant job in that statement.)
There's no confusion on my part as to conflating high income with net worth. The person with the yacht hobby has a net worth of more than 9 billion and does not drive fancy cars. The other, similar to what @KCJeep touched-on, is also a billionaire, but enjoys them, so he partakes. Different strokes.
I'm just not a fan of stereotyping demographics, even if there's typically a large nugget of truth associated with them (which is often the case, as that's how they came to be), because one can fall into a trap of pigeonholing people based on perception.
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Overkill - I think we're in strong agreement and I appreciate what you're saying.
My comments weren't directed to change your understanding, and I apologize if it came across as lecturing you.
That wasn't my intent, it was more as a general observation, for everyone reading this thread, on how people of wealth tend to view cars, and how car selection can be misinterpreted.
I do actually recommend that book. I have since the day I read it a long time ago.
My comments weren't directed to change your understanding, and I apologize if it came across as lecturing you.
That wasn't my intent, it was more as a general observation, for everyone reading this thread, on how people of wealth tend to view cars, and how car selection can be misinterpreted.
I do actually recommend that book. I have since the day I read it a long time ago.
And that tendency to pigeonhole is often on full display on BITOG.
“I could afford a [fill in the blank with any expensive vehicle] but I choose to invest my money in more responsible assets.”
“I saw a young guy driving a [fill in the blank with any expensive vehicle]; I’m sure he lives in his parents’ basement.”
And the beat goes on...
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Indeed, hence my feeling it necessary to bring-up. Some folks are downright pretentious and it's unfortunate because that certainly doesn't encourage others, most notably younger folks who tend to be the most harshly judged, reading the exchange to be more open and engaging.
It's on full display everywhere.
People often judge others, and mind others business.
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