One of my favorite YouTube channels is Scotty Kilmer’s car channel. He’s this crazy (like a fox) mechanic who gives advice and answers viewer questions about buying and repairing vehicles.
Guy is also ridiculously entertaining (or ridiculously annoying, if you’re my wife) and keeps a “live free or die” sign above his garage door if you’re into that sort of thing.
Anywho, in one of his videos, he gives some mighty fine advice about buying a car.
Basically, getting a good deal on a used car is as simple as buying a vehicle with a dent or some other cosmetic flaw.
As long as the problem isn’t mechanical, and you don’t care about the dent, you can get an excellent deal because body work is very very expensive but usually doesn’t impact how the vehicle actually runs.
Dealerships don’t like selling ‘em because dents, dings, and paint chips are perceived as being a major big deal and devalue the vehicle… a lot.
But really, cosmetic flaws aren’t that important.
Cars always end up with a bunch of stone chips from highway debris, dings where old ladies slam their door into yours in the parking lot, and chips in your windshield from punk kids going bonkers with a BB gun.
So might as well buy one that comes with the dings.
It’s a great way to save money.
On that note, another great way to save money is… to save money. Lots of people tend to assume investing and saving money are the same thing. They’re not. Saving money is the process of actually setting money aside for your future. Investing is when you hope to make gains on that money. Investing always entails risk. There’s no real risk in saving money, except maybe opportunity cost.
This is one (of many) reasons why people choose to save money inside a whole life insurance policy. It minimizes the financial risk of opportunity cost, eliminates investing risk, and allows you to save a substantial amount of money for your future.
