Pick a color, please
Everybody knows ugly and practical cars in shitty colors are easier to sell, because more people like them. At least, that is what you tell yourself.
Did you ever go shopping for a new jacket and when you found one you liked, you did not buy it, but picked out a different one. One that's ever so slightly uglier, a bit more practical and definitely not in a nice color you like. Why? Well dummy, because you need to think about the resale value of the jacket. You need to get some cash back after you've used it for a couple of years, and everybody knows ugly and practical jackets in shitty colors are easier to sell, because more people like them. At least, that is what you tell yourself.
Im guessing you not quite able to find yourself in the previous words. Makes sense. Nobody buys stuff they don't really like, right? Wrong. Car buyers do exactly that, and I can't get my head around it. I never could. I'm all for compromises because budgets don't line up with dreams. But buying a car in a specification you don't like because you think it'll be easier to sell years down the line is robbing yourself of a bit of joy of life.
And the thing is, it's wrong. Fundamentally wrong. Go on your local second hand car sales website thingy. Search for the bland, silver colored 1.2 litre shitbox with a black interior. You'll probably find quite a few for cheap. Now find the same shitbox with a slightly bigger engine, some cool wheels a nice color and a beautiful interior. My guess that one will be a bit more expensive. Granted, it was also more expensive at the time it was bought, but over the time the colorful car will be holding on to more of it's value than the bland one that everyone opted for "because it will sell easier".
To me it's extra weird, because it's kind of a privilege to be able to buy a brand new car and be picking out options. You have to have the significant cashflow to do so, which I don't, but that's a story for another time. To me it's very strange that when a car buyer gets to exercise that privilege, he's actually not choosing for himself, but thinking about what the next owner will like and opt for that. WHY THE F#CK WOULD YOU DO THAT? Who gives a shit about the person who's next in line.
It could even be worse: maybe there won't be a next owner, because the car gets crashed (not by your own doing, off course). Maybe it will end up on the scrap heap for another reason, or maybe you'll die before you can sell it. In that case you've been driving around in a car that you didn't really like only to die in it. A horrible way to go, right? Kinda dark, I know, but I'm trying to make a point here.
Only people who buy cars will buy one not for themselves, but for the next owner. Somehow it's the only product that makes our brains say: "go on, it's okay to spend an amazing amount of cash on something you'd rather have look and feel different." For Gods sake, I mean, even when we buy a house we talk to builders and stylists to get it exactly the way we want it, because it's expensive and you have to live with it for quite a while. Even a red kitchen (who does that?) is okay. Nobody, and I do mean nobody likes a red kitchen. But in a home, it's fine. The next owner will just have to put a new one in.
Why's that train of thought not a thing with cars. Why not think: "I like a blue car, I'm getting a blue car. Let the next owner paint it black if he want's. Not my problem". In this case that next owner, who could possibly be me, will actually thank you for it. Turns out the next owner also likes blue metallic paint, brown leather and cloth interior and that little bit extra horsepower too. Who would've guessed...
And that, dear reader, is why our streets are filled with dreary, colorless cars that everybody complains about. Or it could only be me that complains about it. Dammit, it's me, isn't it...
In other news:
As the BBC once famously declared in the evening news in the 1930's "There is no news today". I mean it. There is no other news. I should know, because I've tried searching for it all day. It's kind of my job. It's all sales numbers or Trump saying some weird stuff again. Nothing noteworthy, so I won't be wasting your time with it. See you next time.
