I had to explain this to a co-worker who was taking his 7+ year old Merc to the shop about once a month. Nevermind the overall cost on those repairs was higher than a car payment.
Basically these luxury brands and purchases are a flex. They’re supposed to be a dubious and conspicuous fiscal move. The engineering is absolutely not intended to outlast the loan period, and will actively punish you for every breakdown. You’re also supposed to basically throw it away for another one at the 3-5 year mark. As a bonus, this insanity ensures that there are few old, scratched, dented, beaters on the roads, which adds to the overall optics of the situation. It’s all intended to be expensive, exclusive, and therefore highly desirable*.
The expense is also not just parts, but labor. Back on r/justrolledintotheshop, BMW “front end removal” was practically a meme because it’s the first step in a good number of maintenance procedures. These perfectly working luxury cars basically generate dealership labor hours, like clockwork.
/rant
(* Unless you don’t practice conspicuous consumption and aren’t taken in by advertising. Then this this all looks like pants-on-head crazy talk.)
I had to explain this to a co-worker who was taking his 7+ year old Merc to the shop about once a month. Nevermind the overall cost on those repairs was higher than a car payment.
Basically these luxury brands and purchases are a flex. They’re supposed to be a dubious and conspicuous fiscal move. The engineering is absolutely not intended to outlast the loan period, and will actively punish you for every breakdown. You’re also supposed to basically throw it away for another one at the 3-5 year mark. As a bonus, this insanity ensures that there are few old, scratched, dented, beaters on the roads, which adds to the overall optics of the situation. It’s all intended to be expensive, exclusive, and therefore highly desirable*.
The expense is also not just parts, but labor. Back on r/justrolledintotheshop, BMW “front end removal” was practically a meme because it’s the first step in a good number of maintenance procedures. These perfectly working luxury cars basically generate dealership labor hours, like clockwork.
/rant
(* Unless you don’t practice conspicuous consumption and aren’t taken in by advertising. Then this this all looks like pants-on-head crazy talk.)