Cable TV Weekend

We recently rented a house for the weekend, and like most rentals, it came with basic cable. People actually pay money for this?

The only really interesting thing on there were the movies, but they were repeated several times during the weekend, interrupted by many, many commercials, edited for content and time, and they even put advertisements (mostly for other TV shows) right on top of the movie in the form of "overlays" at the bottom of the screen. How annoying.

The ads themselves were interesting. You can see who they are marketing to, based on the ad content. While watching a re-run of the "Golden Girls" on "WE" network (was TV really that bad? Yes, it was) the ads were for skin cream (many, many times), for diet crackers (with real caramel!) and for weight-loss gimmicks. The profile viewer is clearly an overweight woman who wants to eat a lot of candy and lose weight, but is concerned about her skin.

For men, there were a dozen sports channels. Their advertisements were mostly for beer, pizza, and cars, as well as erectile dysfunction medication. So the target audience is sedentary overweight beer-guzzlers with car payments and soft dicks.

There were also several home channels - from the local real estate listings channel, to home improvement channels and home buying channels. The over-emphasis on home ownership (touted on TeeVee as something everyone desperately needs to do) is probably one reason we are in the trouble we are in today.

The documentary channels, like Science and Discovery have devolved into carnival-like entertainment. The Science channel now has a show about throwing pumpkins. Not an episode, but a whole show. Discovery touts "Ghost Hunting" and the "Paranormal" as some sort of science. The level of discourse is something a Junior Highschooler would find beneath them.

So the intended demographic, in addition to being overweight, self-loathing, sedentary people, is also really, really stupid people as well.

The TV shows and ads all feature very fast graphics, jumping around the screen. Shots last maybe a second or two before they jump to a different angle. Or jiggly hand-held cameras are used. News shows have scrolling text, captions, and spinning logos, along with whooshing sound effects, to make everything seem more important and compelling that it is. It is short attention span theater - for idiots.

And the ads reflect this level of stupidity. Every advertisement on television was for some sort of raw deal - whether it was leasing a new car, or buying "art" at the hotel/motel art fair. Or a diet plan or exercise device, some sort of bad food at a chain restaurant ("where you are always family to us"). And of course, the simpering ads for Title Pawn loans, payday loans, and rent-to-own furniture abounded as well.

And cell phone ads - tons and tons of them. Apparently there is some sort of new gadget I simply cannot live without - for $79 a month.

It reconfirmed to me why I stopped watching television. There was nothing on that was of any interest to me at all. And the target audience was for someone else - not me. I am not taking out payday loans, buying a diet plan, leasing a new car, or going to dinner at Chi-Chi's. I rarely carry a cell phone, and no, I don't text or twittter.

Everything, and I mean everything, on the television was aimed at some group of people who are as alien from me as the man-from-mars. Who are these people? I really don't want to know, frankly.

You see, I have no rabid burning desire to spend half my income on some horrible house in the suburbs and a lease on a new silver SUV. I don't want to get fat as a house watching television all night long while dialing out (on my new 3G wireless) for a delivery salt-lick pizza.

And I really don't even want to know these people. The great masses of ignorati hold no appeal to me. Dingbats on loud motorcycles or insecure males who need a new Camaro. Child-like adults who think the latest explosion movie is great entertainment. What would I even say to such people? We would have nothing in common.

Elitist? Perhaps. Or perhaps I think that there is more to life than to live as a consumer. And perhaps there should be more to our culture as well.

Literally millions upon millions of people live this way, knowing no better, and most of them are terribly unhappy. They wake to television, commute to work, spend their day at the office in intrigues with fellow workers (because "reality" TeeVee says that is how you behave), they commute back, flop in front of the TeeVee and eat badly until they go to bed.

Is this living? Is it even a life? I think not.

Living the TeeVee life is expensive in so many ways. Cable TV costs money. You spend money to be advertised to. The "deals" marketed on TeeVee are all bad - whether it is for a cell phone or a new car, or the latest 1200-calorie entree at the "casual dining" corporate chain restaurant.

You get fat, you get broke, and yet the TeeVee tantalizes you with more and more - so you feel even worse about your personal situation. Everyone on TeeVee has a brand new car, while you are stuck with a crummy old one. Your life sucks.

Did you ever notice on TeeVee (and even in the movies) how they portray working stiffs like yourself as living wildly expensive lifestyles? A clerk in a low paying job is shown driving a brand new car and living in an expensive high-rise. Yea, that could happen. Sure.

I call the TeeVee the "depression box" as it can aggravate depression or even cause it. You watch for a few hours and come away feeling slightly dizzy and nauseous, and also worn down. And you feel like your life is a miserable wreck, compared to those people on the "tube".

I one time hoped that TeeVee could be redeemed or reformed. But I don't think that will happen now. I thought that the Internet might save TeeVee, allowing us to watch programs when and where we wanted, instead of wading through hours of junk to see "what's on".

But the Internet is being shilling and scammed, and advertising dollars are moving there at a rapid clip. The era of the free and commercial-free video is fast dwindling. And as a time-waster, the Internet is trouncing TeeVee as well. You can spend hours and hours on the Internet - far more than TeeVee.

The only advantage of the Internet, is that it is interactive - you can "talk back" as I am doing here. Television is passive and receptive only. You sit, and watch. Your control is limited to changing channels, and that's it.

It was good to rent the house for the weekend. And seeing Cable TV after many years was a revelation and a confirmation that dumping TV was a good idea. But I regret spending as much time watching TV as we did there. In the future, I think if we rent such a place, we'll unplug the "tube" once we get there, and maybe stash the remotes in a closet.

The Used Car Dealer

The local used car dealer has a giant inflatable monster. Do they have good deals as well?

I was reading the local paper yesterday, and the local used car dealer - the one that advertises heavily with an inflatable "Monster" - had their prime deals in the paper.

I was somewhat appalled at the prices they offered. Or rather, the lack of prices. Everything was listed in terms of monthly payments, which is a good first step in obscuring the real price of an item.

For example, they were offering a 1999 Firebird for $199 a month for 48 months at 9.99% APR with $2000 down.  Now right off the bat, if you are astute, you might realize this is a pretty poor deal on several grounds.  First off all, using a reverse amortization program, you realize that the poor sap who buys this 11-year-old GM F-body is borrowing over $7800, which combined with the down payment, totals $9800.  Now even assuming this is a fully loaded TransAm coupe in excellent condition, this means the car is already $1000 over Kelly Blue Book retail value (which is a lot of dough for a decade-old car).

(Of the three "book values", KBB, NADAguides, and Edmunds, the Kelly Blue Book is the highest, and the dealer retail the highest of that.   A more realistic price for this car, in private party sale, would be far less than KBB retail.   So being $1000 over KBB retail is a very high price for any car).

In addition to the staggering interest rate (adding over $1700 to the price of the car) is the problem of collision insurance.  How on earth is one going to get reasonably priced collision insurance on a decade old muscle car?  I am sure the mullet-head who buys this nightmare will find a way.   But a better way is to find a car like this from a private owner, pay cash, and drive it.

(And I am sure how such cars are sold these days - on the basis that they are "collectible".   Here's a clue, the reason why they stopped making Pontiacs was because of cars like this.  And real collectors don't pay $199 a month for a collector car - they pay cash).

The other "bargains" seemed also overpriced.  A 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan for $198 a month for 36 months at 9.9% interest with $2000 down seems like a lot - for a decade-old car.  Kellly Blue Book retail (the highest number possible) lists this load at $4820.   Again, using reverse amortization, we realize that the poor sap is borrowing $6145.20 in addition to the $2000 they are putting down on this load. The total price is nearly double the book value, and the loan amount exceeds the book value. What insurance company is going to write on this?   Not for cheap, to be sure.  When all is said and done, the person buying such a car would pay over double what the car is worth.   And for what? A decade-old minivan that might barely outlive its payments.

You can go down the list and see the rest of their "deals" are pretty much the same. Their loud billboards declare that they can get a loan for "anyone".  Bad credit generates more bad credit. People get upside down on car loans and end up in real trouble, and then get repossessed and end up buying another bad deal down the road.  Repeat ad infinitum.

And yet, you can buy, for cash, cars not too different from these listed, for a lot less money.   So why do people go to such places and pay too much?

Television is one answer.  They advertise heavily on television, and people tend to believe these ads. The "Monster" is going to give you a good deal - because he smashes prices with his big club!  Never mind KBB.com, or NADAguides.com or Edmunds.com, there are still plenty of people out there who will drive into a place like that and buy something without doing any research or comparing similar cars to one another, or even checking basic price information.

THERE ARE IDIOTS, Look around you. Just because a lot of people make bad economic decisions does not make them good economic decisions.  Just because something is advertised on TeeVee or in the newspaper does not make it a good deal.   In fact, usually the opposite is true.

And I am not picking on Monster Motors - all used car dealers do the same thing - they try to get the highest possible price from their customers any way they can.  If that means selling cars based on monthly payment, or even weekly payment, then so be it.  It is not their fault for offering such deals - only your fault for accepting them.

And many people get sucked into such deals based on vanity.  They want a shiny car to impress their friends, so they sell their souls to a used car dealer. I can only imagine what is going through some mullet-head's brain when he buys that 11-year-old Firebird.  "It's a real MACHINE!" he'll no doubt tell his friends.  But in reality, it is just an ugly used car.

Again, the best deal in a used car is to buy a late-model reliable car from an individual owner, and to pay cash whenever possible.   If you don't have cash, finance the car through your credit union.   But used car lots are no bargains, and oftentimes, the prices they charge are within a stone's throw of a new car price, particularly when you factor in the higher interest rates on car loans.

So long as people make poor economic decisions, used car dealers will thrive.

I suspect they will be in business a long, long time.

Shipping Ripoffs

USPS Priority Mail is the best bargain in shipping - provided you go to a real Post Office!

The shipping business is in decline right now. As more and more people send documents over the Internet, the need for "overnighting" documents by FedEx, UPS, or USPS Express Mail has dropped of precipitously. And yet, the number of rip-offs in this business has increased dramatically.

I became disillusioned with FedEx early on, when I used to "overnight" documents to clients. I set up a FedEx account, because that's the way we did it at the "big firm" and I sent out many FedEx packages using those three-layer carbon slips. Those were the days.

At the end of the month, I'd get a number of bills from FedEx and I would put them all together and write a check. The next month, I'd get a notice saying I was delinquent on my account.

So I called their accounting department, and they told me that each "waybill" was separate, and if I wrote one check for over that amount, it would not be applied to other "waybills" on my account, but merely credited as an overage on my account.

So, I ended up paying double or even triple for shipping without realizing it. When I asked them when they would refund the "overpayment" on the other waybills, they replied that they would if requested in writing.

This seemed totally bizarre to me - what other company bills you by the "eaches" instead of sending you one big bill for all their services. And what other company would apply your payment to only ONE bill and not automatically apply the overage to other bills on your account?

A poorly run one, in my opinion. I said "goodbye" to FedEx and have never gone back.

I found that United States Postal Service (USPS) Priority and Express mail were as good as, if not better than, FedEx and UPS, at a lot lower cost. Priority Mail in particular is very cheap (about $5 to send an envelope of ANY weight) and usually arrives within a day or two.

And if you set up an account online at www.usps.com (Note: NOT .gov, the USPS is a separate corporation) you can track your Priority mail packages online, for free, and also get a discount on postage and print shipping labels right from your computer. Pretty sweet, pretty cheap, pretty easy, and your local Post Office will even provide free boxes.

And they don't play stupid games with the billing, either. You can set up each invoice to bill to your credit card, and track spending online.

However, in recent years, a number of "private" post offices and shipping services, usually affiliated with photocopy shops, have popped up, and offer to sell USPS, FedEx, and UPS services, often for fees that are far higher than normal.

Some even have the cheery logos and lighted signs of the shipping companies in their windows. However, these are merely private companies that offer to do packaging for you and to hold packages for shipping, and also collect money for shipping - all for an excess fee.

Sometimes, this can be a nominal amount, but oftentimes, these "convenience" centers charge 50% to 100% more than the nominal postage or shipping charges due.

And I hate to say it, but on more than one occasion, I have been snookered into using these places, thinking they were "official" FedEx or UPS shipping drop points.

If you must use UPS or FedEx, go directly to the SHIPPING HUB if you want to pay for a package. That is the only way to get the lowest price on shipping. You can locate the hub online. You may have to drive to near the airport to find the local hub.

The United States Postal Service (USPS), on the other hand, charges the same amount at all of its official Post Offices (note: Private post offices and postal boxes do not count!). So it is far more convenient to use than the FedEx or UPS hub.

So, why, pray tell, do people use FedEx or UPS at all? If the USPS has far more outlets, charges consistent prices, and offers shipping charges that are sometimes half their competitors, why would anyone use FedEx or UPS at all?

And why, pray tell, would anyone use one of these "private" Post Box places or fake FedEx/photocopy shops to ship goods and pay nearly double for shipping charges? It simply makes no sense at all.

But then again, people bought Edsels, too. As one famous economist put it, "There are Idiots, look around you". The so-called "invisible hand" of the marketplace is imperfect, and while most people will seek out bargains and good deals, many people will simply make bad choices or are too lazy or ignorant to think about their economic decisions.

So, off they go, to "FedEx/Kinkos" and they overpay for shipping. Why? Because they know no better. And they don't like the "line at the Post Office" or they mistakenly believe that the Post Office is "unreliable". Or they just are not careful with money and value convenience over thrift.

I suspect you will see these types of businesses falter in the coming months and years. Like DVD rental stores, they will go the way of the dinosaurs, as people realize that overpaying for a basic service makes no sense, and as their business model becomes obsolete (photocopying? How quaint!).

In the meantime, don't overpay for shipping services. You can send a USPS Priority Mail medium flat-rate box anywhere in the USA for $10. Why pay $25 to send a mere envelope by FedEx or UPS?

It makes no sense.

Teenagers and Cars (Learning Consumerism)

When you were her age, getting that first car was everything.

When you were a kid, chances are, life was pretty sweet, from an economic standpoint. Your room and board were paid for. Your clothes were paid for. You had no rent to pay, no mortgage, no credit card bills. If you wanted to go somewhere, the school bus took you, or your parents drove you, or you went by Schwinn or Hush Puppy.

And yet, as soon as most of us turned 16, the only thing we could think of was to get a car - anyway we could. The car represented freedom, maturity, and status with our peers. It also represented an opportunity for adolescent sexual adventures, which at the time seemed so pressing and mysterious. To many a 16-year-old, a car is everything.

Some kids are given cars by their parents, sometimes rather nice ones. Sometimes this turns tragic, as it did in Fairfax County several times, when well-meaning but stupid "Weekend Dads" try to curry favor with their estranged teens by buying them brand new Mustang Cobras or BMW M3's with predictable, deadly results. A wheel goes off the pavement, they over-correct and swerve into oncoming traffic.  Usually there are six teens in the car, none wearing seatbelts.

But even for the teens who survive such "gifts" the normative cues given are awry. Most working people have to struggle for years to afford such vehicles. And in fact, the same teen, when a 20-something, will likely have to struggle with years of car payments to afford such a vehicle. And yet, they are handed one at age 16, with predictable consequences - the car won't last until college, most likely.

Other teens, whose parents are not so well off, or whose parents are not so wracked with guilt over divorce and neglect, will go out and get a job at the local mall so they can afford a car. That is what this blog entry is about. When you ask the teen why they need an after-school job, which often interferes with their schoolwork, they will reply "So I can afford a car".

When you ask them why they need a car, they will reply, "So I can get to my after-school job." The circular reasoning is apparently lost on them.

But lest we take too much of a dig at teens, how many adults, including ourselves, fall into the same trap? We work at a job so we can afford a house, cars, clothes, etc. We buy a house in a pricey suburb near a city so we can be near the job. We buy a new "reliable" car that we say we need to "get to work". And we buy clothes that have no other purpose than to wear to the office.

"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes." - Henry David Thoreau

Many people attribute that quote to Mark Twain, by the way. I know I did. And until now, I am not sure I knew what that quote meant. But thinking about what we just talked about, it is becoming increasingly clear. If you have to take on a job that requires new clothes, you have to work to pay for the clothes - so you have the clothes to go to work to pay for the clothes, so you can go to work to pay for the clothes, and so on.

UPDATE:  I have read online that Thoreau was just stingy and wore the same old clothes until they were almost rags. Shabby Thoreau - puts a different spin on that quote!

The need to have money seems to be part of our psyche. As I noted in my "Greatest Invention" posting, money is an interesting creation of mankind, and yet many folks look at it as if it were a force of nature. Money equates to power, both on a large and small scale. If you have a few dollars in your pocket, you can go to a restaurant and command people to make food for you, bring it to your table and call you "sir." You can be the Lord of the Manor, if only for an hour or so.

And similarly, if you need money, you might end up working at that same restaurant, bowing and scraping to the customers and your boss, in exchange for a few dollars so that somewhere else, you can call the shots at someone else's expense.

Having money means being able to do what you want, when you want. Many poor people dream of winning the lottery because it means just that - not having to work, and being able to have things and command people.

For me, having money was something that I wanted at an early age. As a kid, you have no power whatsoever. You are told where to go, what to do, and when to do it, and if you talked back, you felt the back of a hand.

My parents, for some reason, decided that my older brother and sister should have an "allowance" to learn about the value of money. I am not sure that went well. My Sister regaled me of times when Dad would insist on an accurate accounting of all the money, and when my Sister could not account for every penny of what she had spent, he would browbeat her as a "spendthrift". The idea of lying about where the balance went never occurred to her, she said. She would have made a lousy accountant.

By the time I was that age, my parents decided that an allowance was not a good idea. So as kids, we were always broke. We would beg for money for ice creams and candy, or just "borrow" it from Mother's change purse. Larceny is in the heart of every child, particularly when there is candy involved.

When I got older, I got a paper route. I liked the idea of working and having my own money, although I was unable to save even a penny toward a car or anything of value. One reason was that I spent money as fast as I made it. I liked being able to go to a store and just buy things I wanted (or thought I wanted). So the money never accumulated.

Also, I later found out, my Brother was stealing my paper route money when I wasn't looking. Larceny is in the heart of all teens, particularly when there are drugs involved. I am not sure I can ever fully forgive him for that, by the way. At my first paper route job, where we were required to collect money and then pay the distributor, some weeks I would work very hard and end up making no money whatsoever. It was dispiriting and I could not figure out where the money went. All along, it was my Brother's deft fingers snatching a $20 bill here and there from my money pouch. That, and my prolific spending.

Yes, I spent a lot of money, on junk, on toys, on candy and chips and soda pop. Things I certainly did not need (particularly the junk food). But the process of spending was fun - it was like being a miniature adult. It was nice to just be able to say "I want that" and have it.

And that is a habit that takes many years to break. By the time you are 40 years old or so, the process of buying things loses its allure. Spending money is no longer "fun" as you are now more critically aware that a dollar spent here is a dollar not saved or a dollar not spend somewhere else. Or worse yet, represents a dollar borrowed or a dollar you have to work to get back. Spending is not only no longer fun, it is outright depressing.

Working hard so you can have "things" no longer seems like such a big deal anymore, once you have had a lot of "things". And marketers know this. The prime demographic for advertisers is the 16-35 year old, usually male demographic. You can sell anything to such folks. Useless junk like Jet Skis and loud motorcycles. And you can convince them then buying and owning is part of a "rebel lifestyle" or some such nonsense. And they will buy into it.

But as we get older, we realize that the best things in life are really free, or nearly so. I spend about an hour a day on the beach here on our island. It is a beautiful spot, and I get exercise walking, playing with the dog, or just lay in the sun or read a book in the shade. The cost of this extravagance (and it is an extravagance - how many people's "dream vacation getaway" amounts to what I do every day?) is nearly zero. I mean, I may pay for a small snack or lunch, but that is an overhead cost I am carrying, anyway.

Doing things rather than owning things. Teenagers and young men like to think that owning something is an end in an of itself. They buy an old Honda and bolt on a bunch of ugly accessories and think it is an "accomplishment" when in fact it is little more than buying things and going into debt. Learning how to play the piano is an accomplishment. Buying one on credit merely requires a W2.

America is hooked on a car culture, and until recently, it seemed we were stuck with a car economy. Many people, not just teenagers, are obsessed with cars, their purchase, their maintenance, and their operation. Most Americans spend at least two hours a day driving a car. It is a major part of American life, along with acquiring and owning "things" in general.

And that is an interesting aspect of American life. When we worry about money in America, for 99% of the population, it is not to worry about starving to death or not having a place to live or being homeless. No, it is worrying about keeping our "things" like cars and stuff and overwrought houses with granite counter-tops. The orgy of excess of the last decade was all about having things, and today, people are upset about losing "things" as if it were a kind of death.

For example, I have a friend who is scraping by on Social Security. They tell me they worry about money a lot. But they live in a resort community, pay over $100 a month for cable and internet access, and have a car. They eat out in restaurants regularly - expensive restaurants at that. They complain about the bills and expenses, but many of those expenses are for luxury items or are things that are maintained for status alone. They worry and they fret, and it probably is not helping their health. And yet the idea of cutting back on luxuries, finding a cheaper place to live - it just isn't in the cards.

It is easy to obsess and worry about money, to worry about having things, owning things and keeping things. And such worries can kill you, over time, if you let them. Humans are status-seeking animals.

And in that regard, perhaps it never is possible to stop worrying about things like money, even if you won the lottery. As humans, we expand our needs to accommodate the available income, like gas filling an empty chamber. So long as we CAN have some luxury or status item, we will be inclined to have it.

And perhaps that it is the key to happy living. Just as losing and maintaining weight requires that you watch what you eat, so that you can be happy and healthy, being fiscally healthy requires that you not over-consume in terms of goods and "things" that you really don't need in life.

To consume slightly less food that we can or need results in weight loss and happiness. To consume slightly less money that we can or need results in accumulation of wealth. Both are hard lessons to learn - from the teenage years onward, we jump on the consumer bandwagon, convinced that having more is the secret to happiness.

Consume less, save more. I only wished I could have figured that out at age 16. But perhaps our minds are destined to work that way.

Old Car Smell

An old car like this may run fine, but minor nuisance problems
may make it less worthwhile to own.

One problem with keeping a much older car (10 years or more) is not just the prospect of repairs and the sagging resale value, but the numerous small problems that cumulatively make the car less and less appealing to own and drive.

After a decade or so, most cars have little in the way of resale value. Most cars, even BMWs and Mercedes, at the decade mark, are worth maybe a few thousand dollars in private party sale (what we would get for them, not a dealer).

The reasons are not hard to fathom. At that age, some major components, like the transmission, could break, resulting a repair bill in the thousands of dollars. It is a real risk, and one not covered by warranty. So people shy away from such vehicles, as most people are not risk-takers.

In addition, a car at that age might not be considered stylish and modern, and many people buy cars based on how they want to be perceived by others, and an old car doesn't carry any panache of style and wealth (however phony that is).

So old cars are not worth much. And they can need a lot of repairs. But on top of that, they can get annoyingly worn, to the point where you really should think hard about investing more into them.

Interior parts eventually wear out. At this age, upholstery, particularly on the driver's seat, may be worn. The steering wheel may be dirty and cracked. The door panels may be delaminating. And small plastic trim bits, almost impossible to find at a reasonable price, may start to crack, delaminate, fall off, or are missing.

Then there is the old car smell. Yes, old cars can start to stink after a while, particularly if you don't take care of them. A/C systems can be havens for mold and bacteria. Carpet, if it gets wet, smells like a wet dog. If the car develops any leaks, which is common, and is parked outdoors, water may get in and start a mushroom farm in your floorboards.

And increasingly, it is harder and harder to fix this problem. In the old days, you could buy a molded carpet set for your car for $100 from JC Whitney. It would fit like new and give the car a new car smell and appearance for not a lot of money. But cars today have elaborate carpeting that is backed with molded foam and even Styrofoam that is molded into the floor of the car. Finding such carpet in the aftermarket is nearly impossible, or very, very expensive.

Even fixing leaks is hard to do, as door gaskets have become complex moldings, sold only at dealers. In the old days, you could buy these gaskets by the yard and replace them yourself.

So "old car smell" is hard to dodge and hard to get rid of, in cars made since the 1980's.

(There was a trick, I recall reading many years ago, of cutting up some vinyl upholstery scraps, placing them in a tin with a teaspoon or two of toluene and putting it under the seat. The outgassing chemicals would smell like "new car smell" and help you sell an old junker).

Taken collectively, you may end up with a car that runs well, and is even reliable, but is not very fun to ride around in. Or, as in the case of one friend, a car the wife refuses to ride in.

Restoring interior pieces to their former glory can be costly these days. Back in the old days, upholstery shops could recover seats and door panels, replace headliners, and generally clean up a car. But today, composite headliners are generally not repairable, and the cost of labor has driven the re-upholstery business out of business. Getting your car "re-upholstered" just isn't done anymore. The upholstery shops have gone the way of the lamp shade shop and the haberdasher.

So what does this mean for you, the consumer? Well, it means that from an economically practical point of view, repairing many older cars is simply not worth it. Unless the car is collectible (and they generally aren't, until they are over twenty years old) putting the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars into a car to "restore" it to perfect condition is not worthwhile.

Sometimes, you have to call it quits and fish further upstream.

For example, a friend has a 13-year-old car worth maybe $2500 on a good day. It needs a lot of work, on the engine, the suspension, and the interior. All told, even doing the work himself, he may be looking at $3000 in parts, perhaps more, if he hires someone to do the work.

As a general rule of thumb, it is best to sell a car when the repair cost exceeds the resale value.

But, he argues that for $3000, he will get a "reliable" car for another 50,000 miles and thus the repairs are "worth it".

On the other hand, if he sells the car for $2500 to some other idiot who wants to "fix it up" and takes the $3000 he would have squandered in repairs, he could go out and buy a $5500 car, which would be "reliable for 50,000 miles" and have a car with more resale value as well.

You see, the problem with putting $3,000 into a $2500 car is that if it needs another $1000 in unexpected repairs down the road, you will think, "Well, I have $3000 into it, might as well spend another $1000" and so it goes, until suddenly you have $5000 to $10,000 invested in a $2500 car, and you wonder how you got there.

For example, one fellow put 160,000 miles on his 15-year-old BMW. The wife let the car overheat and it needed $5000 in work. He spent the money, only to later have transmission troubles. He realized that the resale value on the car was only a couple of grand, and much of the interior toys were broken. He should have junked the car after the overheating episode. As it was, it was five grand down the toilet.

And that is the problem with the " end game" - many of us don't know when to call it quits, and often we spend more money fixing an older car than it is worth, only to be confronted with more repair bills down the road. We spend more, repair more, and then finally get frustrated with the car and sell it. Cut to the chase and quit when the first big bill appears - at least in most cases.

At high age and high miles, cars wear out fast. A 10-year-old car with 150,000 miles on the clock realistically has its best years behind it. Yes, some cars go 200,000 miles or even 300,000 miles, but often those are either all-highway-miles cars or are cars that were meticulously maintained at a very high cost.

This is not to say that in every circumstance you should throw away an older car. For example, a friend of mine has a battered Subaru with 200,000 miles on it. It is worth maybe $1000 in resale, and that's being generous. But she drives it only 3,000 miles a year, locally. You can drive a car like that "into the ground" and then discard it. But I would not put $2500 into repairs into it. No way. Not worth it. When it dies, just take the tags off it and walk way. Sell the hulk to a scrap dealer - they'll come pick it up for you!

Fish Further Upstream. For most consumers, owning a decade-old car is simply not workable, as they need reliable transportation to get to work and back. Figure out when the "end game" is going to happen for your car, and be prepared to walk away from the car when that occurs.

Throwing more and more money at older cars makes little or no sense for the average consumer.