the grill

[Ti Kan]

Chris Thorp writes:
> ... 
> I guess my main beef is that the rep's approach essentially was  
> saying that "a new car will cost less than maintenance on your old  
> one", which any shade tree mechanic on Audifans knows to be  
> offensively false.  Quick scenario: New Audi is $45k. Used 5-year old  
> Audi is $15k.  Assuming that the new audi needs no repairs over the  
> course of 5 years, you could buy three complete used Audis and swap  
> parts between the three before you would have spent $45k.  Now if you  
> were replacing only parts, it would stretch even farther.

Well, that's true for those of us who work on our own cars.  However,
I think we're in the minority.  Most people walking into a showroom
shopping for a new car want something that would not require repairs,
and if a failure does occur, gets covered by the manufacturer's
warranty.  The idea of having to swap parts between cars to keep
one going is not going to fly with these people, and therefore
the rep is not wrong in that regard, even though in the end one does
pay more considering new car depreciation.  This is not to mention
some of the more touchy-feely goodness that a new car has, such as
perfect, gleaming paintwork, a drum-tight, rattle-free ride, and the
latest techno gizmo, etc.  It's hard to put a value on these things,
but they are worth something to a lot of people.

-Ti