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I spent 10 years selling furniture when I got out of the navy in 1954. I always worked for quality stores, and averaged $125,000 in today's dollars as an income.
When we had a couple come into the store dressed to the nine's and driving one of those stand out luxury cars, we would all try to hide out and not have to take care of that customer. Reason for this, is we learned that that kind of potential customer would pick out the best in the store, take a couple hours of your time, and when their credit was checked there is no way they could get it financed as their credit was so bad. By being stuck with that customer you would lose 2 or 3 good customers that would all be able to be financed or would pay cash. You would some days lose an income that day, as we were always on commission getting paid for what we sold.
I had two favorite customers, that looked like women that had been working in their flower garden, and had decided to go shopping.
One ordered in today's dollars about $250,000 worth of furniture to furnish vacation beach cabin as she called it, that they had just bought. That beach cabin was about the largest home in a 5 star resort with great ocean frontage for her cabin. The most profitable day I ever spent in the furniture business. Today that would be a $15,000 plus commission.
The other one came in when we were having our semi annual warehouse sale (for 4 major department stores). She came in with her daughter and 2 grandsons, and said she was there to buy them their annual new mattresses as the old ones had worn out. I told her they were wearing out was because she was buying the junk level bedding. I showed her the difference and explained why the best ones were so superior. She bought 2 sets, and when she handed me her charge card I joked that name looked familiar (I thought it was just a coincidence that it was the same name as the president of the whole chain and a major stock holder, her husband). We had joked around and treated her same as all customers. The mattress buyer got me aside and asked if I had waited on her and I said yes. He had just got a call from her husband, who was the president of the chain, and she also owned from her first marriage a big chain of high end colonial style furniture stores. I thought I was in trouble, but not so. Her husband had told the mattress buyer, to thank me for treating his wife so well, and was so friendly with her. He ordered the king size most expensive mattress there was, for him and her and wanted me to get the credit (commission plus manufacture's $20 cash bonus). She could have bought the whole store, but was a bargain shopper. She came to every warehouse sale, and always had me wait on her.
What the OP does not realize, that the people with real money, are not the ones looking like they are rich. They play it down for safety from kidnappers wanting a big ransom etc. It is the wanna bees like the OP that think a flashy car is the way to impress people. He does not realize, that people laugh at the ones without money trying to impress people that do. It does not work, they know the score, and shake their heads and laugh at you.
If you have a street rod or a street strip car, or other hot rod or old restored car or a drag race car or other race car to me it definitely affects your image. It tells me you like cars, you like performance cars, you like cars that the majority don't have. You are knowledgeable about cars and work on them.
true, however there are more who for whatever reason choose not to own anything.
At the moment, I don't own any project car. No money or space but I would like to find an old chevy pickup and drop a corvette engine in it and see where the project goes afterward.
Some of my best sales working auto part were from guys that looked like they just crawled out from under a car... sold two engines to one with radiators, fluids, etc... never would have known he owned a big trucking company and was building up two street rods... one for him and one for his kid.
I got myself into a little trouble the other day... took mom out to my brother's ranch.
Brother was out tending stock and finally I drove out and said you know Mom is here and she is wondering if she is going to see you... he was negotiating a land deal with one of the largest landholders in the valley... how was I to know... an old pickup with dusty jeans and I guy in his late 30's... the business manager for the family holdings.
Yes.
If you want to take the two extremes: Benz vs Beater.
But most regular, down-to-earth people aren't going to really think one way or another if you show up in a regular car vs middle of the road luxury brand.
Then add on the fact that TONS of people don't know anything about cars at all and wouldn't know one way or another.
That's me. I was in a busy shopping district yesterday and spied someone getting ready to pull out of a spot. As I waited I idly looked at the car, thought it was a nice color...and then I noticed the BMW thing. That's the only way I knew what it was.
I prefer to have a newer vehicle because they are more reliable and more pleasant to drive. I've had a lot of beaters in my life, and once I got my income to a point where I can now afford decent newer cars, that is all I plan on buying from now on.
I will say that I think your car does have an effect on your image. If your car is not well-maintained, is super-dirty, "ticks" or has squealing belts, is a mess inside, etc., I do think it can affect your image. If the vehicle is obviously very old and in bad shape, it can affect your image. If the car is well-maintained and relatively modern, though, I don't see how there's a problem, and I probably wouldn't care about anyone's opinion about it.
Maybe when I was younger and still developing into an adult cars, muscles, clothes, the walk, were part of my image to attract women and dominate other males. Now well, it means nothing.
Reminds me of a story. My wife,who I met at University, is very good looking and was hit on by guys who mentioned they drove BMW, Mercedes,Vettes, etc. Me? I drove a company mini-van to university and that is what she saw in the parking lot. She liked me for it because I was not the self-absorbed ego types who had to flash their car to her for attention.
Only on our first date did she see my sports car but fortunately she was smitten by then or I might have got the chop.
I understand what you are saying mazda I really do but the truth is that those who are interested in you because of your fancy vehicle usually do not turn out to be very nice friends. I learned that the hard way. What I am saying is that showing off with a fancy car can attract the wrong kind of people into your life.
Here's the thing: I don't care what strangers on a road or in a parking lot think. <clip> What a stranger the road thinks of me doesn't matter, at all.
I agree with this in the sense that I don't buy a vehicle with the mindset of "what will my fellow drivers think of me".
Having said that, I've heard at least a couple people express the sentiment that when driving, they are more mindful around people driving beater cars because they assume those people don't care what happens to their vehicle, so they aren't as likely to make as much effort preventing an accident. Whether or not that particular example is true, I do wonder - eh, who am I kidding, I am inclined to believe - that other drivers do treat you according to what you drive. i.e. they feel entitled to tailgate/buzz/etc. someone driving a practical sedan, but not so much around someone driving an expensive sports car or a large SUV.
I'm not talking about your looks or physique, but rather, the biggest material aspect that defines your image. You may think that your house is the most important aspect, but you cannot carry your expensive house with you. You cannot flash or flaunt the house. Only your family and close friends will visit your place.
Whereas, you take your vehicle, everywhere, and since is the most expensive item in your possession, it plays a huge role in your image and reputation. This is the same reason why people spend money on expensive watches and bags, such as Rolex and Louis Vuitton. They signify success and money. Same reason, why so many fakes are sold. People want to benefit from the brand image at a fraction of the price.
Unlike, clothing and accessories, you CANNOT fake a car. You either have the real thing or you don't. This is why so many people get in debt and finance vehicles that they cannot afford.
Whether people want to admit it or not, we live in a materialistic and superficial world, where looks, money and material possessions, play a huge role in how others treat you and perceive you. It is normal human nature to want to be perceived in a positive light.
People desire a new or luxury car, not because of the driving experience, but for what it will do for their image. You may think this is a childish behavior and only young people fall for it, but many adults and middle age people buy more car than they can afford. You can be old, but as long as you are living in the modern first world, you cannot escape these desires and feelings.
You may suppress them for a while, simply, because you cannot afford what you'd like to have, so you don't have another choice, but just because you can suppress those feelings and desires, it doesn't mean you are now enlightened and have escaped the system. You are still trapped in the matrix. You still desire the nice things in life. The nice car, house, material possessions, trips, vacations, etc. You still want them and would gladly take them if they were given to you for free.
Don't fool yourself. Just because you can't afford them and choose to be frugal and believe yourself to be indifferent and unaffected to what other people desire, does not mean you have escaped those desires.
my cousin is broke, lives at home with his mom and is 30. He drives a mercedes.....
Heh, my neighbors have had one of their cars catch fire (missing muffler, shocks blown, interior rotted out, smelled like leaking gas towards the end), one got towed for dead tags in a no parking zone and I'm not entirely sure their van wasn't towed and they replaced it. And then they've got the Range Rover sitting next to it that "someone" in the house owns. Too funny watching them drive it in any kind of weather though - they got it good and buried in the snow during the blizzard this past winter -I dug the snow to below my bumper in my Jeep and off I went. Man, you want to talk about some dirty looks I got...
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