Ice Breaker – Buyer’s Remorse
Image by VerseVend (via Flickr – Creative Commons)
Each week on The Stretched Blog, I ask an ice breaker question. The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community. I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments. While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.
Here’s the question for this week!
Question: Tell us about a purchase that you made sometime in your life that you regret.
My Answer: I actually have one bad lease that led to a bad purchase. I regret both of these decisions. My first car was a 1974 Chevy Nova. When I started working after college, it soon became obvious that I needed a more dependable car to take me from South Jersey to North Jersey and New York City. (I also needed a dependable vehicle to take me to western Pennsylvania to visit my girlfriend – Leanne.)
In the rush to make a decision and with the desire to have an SUV, I leased a 1994 Ford Explorer Limited Edition. What was I thinking? I liked the vehicle, but the payments were truly out of my league, and I put so many miles on the vehicle that led to a lot of anxiety about end of lease payment. Before the lease was over, I had the opportunity to go back to the dealer and plead my case.
Of course, they offered to “help” me out by putting me into a more affordable car. They took me to a 1996 mint green Ford Taurus. The color alone was enough to make anyone puke, but the mileage was right (only 4,800 miles), and it was the “easiest” way for me to get out of the ridiculous lease and payments of the Explorer. A few months after purchasing the Taurus, I was involved in a pretty serious accident. I thought for sure they would total the vehicle, but they didn’t. And I was left with a car that never quite worked the same ever again.
And I regret the lease (or fleece as Dave Ramsey calls it) and the purchase.
Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep STRETCHING!