car shopping

[Mike Arman]

If you're going to be a driving salesman, what you really want to think 
about is leasing something rather than beating your OWN car to death to do 
this.

A leased car becomes someone else's problem when it is busted, and the 
payments are 100% deductible. If you use your OWN car for this, then you 
have all kinds of accounting problems to fuss with to keep the IRS happy. 
Do you feel like changing a V8 timing belt on the side of the road one 
night, or would you prefer to call AAA and just say "come get this pile of 
****!"

Lease a mommy-van, get AC, ABS and a good stereo, you can put anything you 
want into it, you can drive it like you hate it, and you can give it back 
when it pukes.

It will also give you a chance to finish up any restoration you might need 
to do on the cars you love.

Don't mix business with pleasure - if you are driving a car you love for 
business, you'll be upset every time anything happens to it - stone chip, 
scratch, spilled milkshake or coffee, big mac crumbs, trash and litter, 
parking lot dings, whatever. If you are driving a business tool, you won't 
be attached to it and it won't matter, and you can concentrate on making 
money, which is why you are doing this in the first place.

I LOVE driving my V8, but if I'm going out on business, I'll either rent 
something or fly.

Best Regards,
Mike Arman