Reader Question: To Buy or Not?

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Here’s the latest reader question, along with my reply!

Stuart asks: I’ve been thinking about buying a new car but am concerned that whatever I buy today may not be legal for me to drive tomorrow – or ten years from tomorrow. Or that special taxes will be applied to me ten years from now because my car isn’t a “zero emissions” electric car. Do yo think my worry is reasonable?

My reply: Two words. Hell and yes.  We have the fact that non-EVs are already restricted in many parts of Europe and the fact that the sale of non-EVs has been banned after 2035 in places like the UK. If the Orange Man should lose the Decidership this fall, it is much more likely that such restrictions – and taxes – will be applied here. And even if the Orange Man does win the Decidership, it may only be a four-year reprieve. What comes apre may just be the deluge.

In which case, your only five-year-old car (by 2025) could be in the crosshairs of the Orange Man’s successor. Maybe not – if the Orange Man succeeds in turning things around – but this strikes me as unlikely given the fact that at least half the country and probably more in numbers has been Cloverfied and wants to herded into stack-a-prole apartments and electric car ride-sharing – because it is in thrall to the new religion of the “climate” being in “crisis.”

There is no reasoning with these believers. You may as well try to teach a pig to sing.

So it is entirely possible your new car (today) could be rendered a useless car within as few as five years or so. That would certainly give me pause as five years is about a third of the useful life of a car and not nearly long enough to amortize what you paid for it.

There is another worry, too. If – two or three years from now – it seems clear that anti-IC fatwas will be hurled, it will crater the resale value  of every non-IC car since what use is a car you’re not allowed to use?

Thus, I’m with you – and reluctant. I think it’d be smarter to buy an older car for less, which will reduce the financial hit you might be facing and – in the short term – let you avoid all the new car annoyances, such as ASS, driver “assistance” and narc-you-out “connectivity.”

Got a question about cars, Libertarian politics – or anything else? Click on the “ask Eric” link and send ’em in!

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Doesn’t matter, by 4 years time, I’ll make it my goal to be off the grid, so Uncle will have to come looking for me

    Even if not, he’ll have to pry the keys from my cold, dead hands

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