Why do most people try to sell their cars when they have a baby?, Is that really a good business decision? Options

[yarik83]

We have all heard about them or seen them or have them as members of our families and in some cases you are the kind of person that decided to sell his or her car when your baby (and or theirs) was born.

The question is why?

Overwhelming majority of people that I know that had a newborn decided to sell their perfectly fine 4 door trucks or 4 door sedans that they purchased in past 3 years for something "cheaper". I think I need help understanding this because its too mind boggling for me.

Lets say a 2010 toyota tacoma truck costs 27500 out the door. Ok.. family buys it and come 9 months later they are looking to sell their car because baby is born and they need something cheaper. At best that truck could be sold for 25000 but family that wants to sell that truck would be upside down on a car loan... therefore selling the car (at least according to my math) would leave them with 2500 left to pay for car they no longer own. On top of that... same family makes a decision to purchase something cheaper... at which point they are taking out another loan to pay for an older less reliable, less safe, less advanced car. Even if they spend 6000.. thats still 6000 to pay for + remaining balance from old car... which will put them into a monthly payment of about 400 which is more than what it would cost to keep paying off their loan on their now sold 2010 toyota tacoma.

It does not have to be a tacoma but that exact topic has come up on my tacoma forums where one guy sold his perfectly fine 2007 double cab (thats 5 seats) with a lockable tonneau cover so that he could purchase a 2001 dodge dacota for 6000.

I see similar scenario play out across all kinds of cars and across all kinds of circumstances such as selling a car so they could afford monthly payments on their mortgage.

Either I am not understanding it or I am really not understanding it....

To me it seems like people are trading perfectly fine newer reliable cars onto something more "family oriented" but rarely a minivan and in either case old, high miles and with all kinds of gremlins that they have to fix.

I figure.. if you are in a position of wanting to bring a child into this world and you are planning to buy a house and the RIGHT kind of car... should not you do all of those things BEFORE having a child? How easy would it be to just buy a minivan, sell irrelevant cars, buy 1-2 commuter cars for both parents, buy a house and THEN have a child with all of those issues squared away...

I just dont get people these days...

This post has been edited by yarik83: Aug 11, 2010 - 11:34 PM

[yarik83]

Well without a doubt having a child is a life changing event... but what exactly makes a car a family car? Most people already drive 4 door cars that have adequate trunk space and a back row of seats to put a car seat into.

Here is a good example.
I have 2 co-workers that are married to each other... I know them both for the past 3 years. One used to own a 4 door nissan altima and another owned a 4 door toyota corolla. So they sold both cars and bought a 4 door nissan frontier or whatever its called truck and a nissan maxima. Both replacement cars were older and came with a boat load of issues so they keep driving each other to work while their cars are in and out of mechanic's. Maybe I am just not seeing something...

What exactly makes a car a "family car"? In other words... what qualities does a car need to posess that 2 adult human beings tell themselves... "we need to acquire THAT car through self sacrifice"?