Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I stand corrected. Thanks. I don't try to pay much attention to what the little jerk drives. I just knew he had an ostentatious electric car and thought it was a Tesla.
agreed. I see lots of BMWs, Mercs, Audis, etc parked in the WalMart parking lot. I also see a lot of gas guzzling old SUVs in front of Starbucks.
This discussion really spawn from a topic I spoke with my colleague about. We as managers know how much our subordinates make and yet they're always complaining they're broke. So my colleague was saying that one of his staff owns an Audi A6 and he's complaining about being broke. Well maybe that expensive Audi is one of his financial issues.
Then my colleague who also drives a Prius shared the revelation that a lot of poor people stayed poor because they make bad financial choices because they often try to emulate what people who are well off does such as buying driving gas guzzlers and eating out a lot.
I think driving SUVs is a choice, because there are many cars that are both save and provides good gas economy without costing a lot.
There's no reason a BMW X5 is your safe SUV of choice when you could drive a compact SUV like a RAV4.
These are decisions poor people make that keeps them poor.
I used to get bird brain comments from people sometimes when I went to get the tank filled up on my V12 Mercedes 500, comments like, "I bet you love that car until you have to drive it onto the filling station" to which I would reply: "If you cant afford the gas, you dont buy the car" that always shut them up.....................
I used to get bird brain comments from people sometimes when I went to get the tank filled up on my V12 Mercedes 500, comments like, "I bet you love that car until you have to drive it onto the filling station" to which I would reply: "If you cant afford the gas, you dont buy the car" that always shut them up.....................
I've said that to people, too.
Someone was by my house the other day to drop off something I'd loaned him and I was standing my white truck. He looked surprised and mentioned he'd seen me in a green one a couple days prior. I pointed to it. He was shocked, shocked I say, that I would have two (although it hasn't bothered him the times he's been the guy to say, "Hey, I have to pick up ___________ at ___________ Saturday and was wondering if I could borrow your truck.").
I drive over to Trader Joe's or get some coffee at Starbucks I see a good amount of hybrids, mini cars, and compacts.
When I drove down to Walmart or swing by McDonalds all I see is big SUVs, trucks, and more big cars.
I was looking over at a woman in an Escalade and her 3 kids sitting inside arguing with no seat belts on. Forget how her kids are behaving, I was thinking about her $80+ fuel fill-ups. I can't even imagine spending over $100/month on gas for my Prius.
Poor people don't drive, period.. they don't have cars.
You definition of Poor is a bit skewed if you ask me..
It's due to culture. Many poor in this country are politically conservative. To them a "real" vehicle is a truck or a large oversized vehicle. It has nothing to do with saving money, it's about image. Fuel efficient cars goes hand in hand with global warming and protecting the environment which they see as contrived liberal issues. To them, they refuse to be seen driving a hybrid like a Prius, or even a fuel efficient car like a Camry.
Granted many hybrid's tend to be expensive but most fuel efficient Asian vehicles are inexpensive (Hyundai, Kia, Toyota) but lack the image to satisfy red America
If one is poor it only makes sense to buy whichever vehicle is the cheapest regardless of how much fuel it uses. For example, it make sense to buy an expensive hybrid, or even a Tesla?
It's due to culture. Many poor in this country are politically conservative. To them a "real" vehicle is a truck or a large oversized vehicle. It has nothing to do with saving money, it's about image. Fuel efficient cars goes hand in hand with global warming and protecting the environment which they see as contrived liberal issues. To them, they refuse to be seen driving a hybrid like a Prius, or even a fuel efficient car like a Camry.
Granted many hybrid's tend to be expensive but most fuel efficient Asian vehicles are inexpensive (Hyundai, Kia, Toyota) but lack the image to satisfy red America
Suuure! Does it mean that inner-city residents of the most populated cities in the US don't buy big cars?
If one is poor it only makes sense to buy whichever vehicle is the cheapest regardless of how much fuel it uses. For example, it make sense to buy an expensive hybrid, or even a Tesla?
Yes. As I've mentioned before, a poorer person must buy from the used car dealer who will extend credit to someone whose credit is bad--for whatever car he has on his lot. Such cars simply are not on those kinds of lots.
Yes. As I've mentioned before, a poorer person must buy from the used car dealer who will extend credit to someone whose credit is bad--for whatever car he has on his lot. Such cars simply are not on those kinds of lots.
All depends on how poor a poor person is, and where he or she lives. For example, in NYC most people don't use cars to drive to work. They have the Subway, buses, and the rest to move around. But the people living outside the city, poor or not do drive a lot. The same for people living in Los Angeles and such. Their transit system is used by most people most of the time. Then in North Carolina most people drive back and forth and burn lots of gasoline. But we don't have transit systems like the ones in san Francisco, LA, or NYC.
Now, where people drive the most Alaska should be near the top, at least per capita. We spend a lot of cash on fuel, specially around Fairbanks where a gallon of regular unleaded costs over $4.00. And yes, our cost of living is quite high, and we are still poor considering that our wages are higher than in a lot of other places in the US.
There is no data indicating that poor people buy gas guzzlers. Look around the place you live and you won't see poor people buying any of the most popular trucks in the US, nor the most efficient hybrid cars. They can't afford buying those. It means that they have no choice but to buy the best deal available to them at the moment. That said, a poor person with a gas guzzler living in the Bronx, NY, rides the Subway or the bus to work. So in reality he hardly drives the gas guzzler to make any difference.
Last edited by RayinAK; 07-25-2014 at 10:16 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Suuure! Does it mean that inner-city residents of the most populated cities in the US don't buy big cars?
