If Cars Could Talk
Do you really know how much your car is worth? Sure, you know how much your car cost you when you purchased it.
The big dent it placed in your pockets won't allow you to forget.
But does a car's value change over time? If you sell the same car you bought years ago, can you sell it for the same price? Who decides what a car is worth anyway? Think of the first time you owned a car.
Like all big-ticket items, purchasing a car is a deliberate and complicated process.
It's not something one does on impulse, and it's certainly not something one does without carefully weighing all the details involved.
Did you simply stroll by the window of an automobile shop and choose the car that caught your eye, purchasing it within the next five minutes? No, because cars are expensive.
If you're going to spend that much, you better make sure you pick the right one.
So you customize.
You lay out all your options and you nitpick.
What color best suits your personality? What size are you most comfortable with? Depending on your sensibilities, what design is the most practical or the most aesthetically pleasing? It's usually a long decision process, but eventually you get there.
You pick a car, and you drive away.
Of course, that's only the beginning.
Once the car is yours, you take it everywhere you go.
Life suddenly becomes so much more convenient, and places seem so much nearer than before.
You take care of your car, most especially during those first few months.
You wash it occasionally, you make sure all the parts are working properly, and you take your car to the mechanic every now and then.
You do this because for better or for worse, through traffic jams and flooded streets, through a thousand miles and a thousand memories, your car stays with you.
You take it to your first date.
You take it to your first job interview.
You take it when you teach your son how to drive for the first time in his life.
Eventually, time passes, and you think to yourself, "It's time to sell this car.
" You have a feeling that it's probably worth a lot less than what you bought it for.
You've heard people say that a car, once driven, loses so much in value due to depreciation.
You know this instinctively as well, because you know how many times you've driven it through potholes, and you know how many close (or actual) encounters you've had with stationary or moving objects.
But you also know how much you've cared for it, and what it means to you.
Who can tell, really, what a car is worth? The monetary value can be estimated, sure.
Whether or not this matches how much the car means to you, whether or not you earn a profit from selling it, remember this: Your car is a part of you.
And if only your car could talk, it will tell you what a full life you've led these past couple of years.
If only your car could talk, it will tell you that whatever it's worth now, it has certainly served its purpose, and it has certainly served you well.
The big dent it placed in your pockets won't allow you to forget.
But does a car's value change over time? If you sell the same car you bought years ago, can you sell it for the same price? Who decides what a car is worth anyway? Think of the first time you owned a car.
Like all big-ticket items, purchasing a car is a deliberate and complicated process.
It's not something one does on impulse, and it's certainly not something one does without carefully weighing all the details involved.
Did you simply stroll by the window of an automobile shop and choose the car that caught your eye, purchasing it within the next five minutes? No, because cars are expensive.
If you're going to spend that much, you better make sure you pick the right one.
So you customize.
You lay out all your options and you nitpick.
What color best suits your personality? What size are you most comfortable with? Depending on your sensibilities, what design is the most practical or the most aesthetically pleasing? It's usually a long decision process, but eventually you get there.
You pick a car, and you drive away.
Of course, that's only the beginning.
Once the car is yours, you take it everywhere you go.
Life suddenly becomes so much more convenient, and places seem so much nearer than before.
You take care of your car, most especially during those first few months.
You wash it occasionally, you make sure all the parts are working properly, and you take your car to the mechanic every now and then.
You do this because for better or for worse, through traffic jams and flooded streets, through a thousand miles and a thousand memories, your car stays with you.
You take it to your first date.
You take it to your first job interview.
You take it when you teach your son how to drive for the first time in his life.
Eventually, time passes, and you think to yourself, "It's time to sell this car.
" You have a feeling that it's probably worth a lot less than what you bought it for.
You've heard people say that a car, once driven, loses so much in value due to depreciation.
You know this instinctively as well, because you know how many times you've driven it through potholes, and you know how many close (or actual) encounters you've had with stationary or moving objects.
But you also know how much you've cared for it, and what it means to you.
Who can tell, really, what a car is worth? The monetary value can be estimated, sure.
Whether or not this matches how much the car means to you, whether or not you earn a profit from selling it, remember this: Your car is a part of you.
And if only your car could talk, it will tell you what a full life you've led these past couple of years.
If only your car could talk, it will tell you that whatever it's worth now, it has certainly served its purpose, and it has certainly served you well.
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