For folks new to the used expensive car game, it’s important to recognize that the human brain is an imperfect instrument.
It’s totally normal to be 100% excited when you find a car, and then…
have that excitement diminish or even disappear altogether after the purchase.
To minimize this, you must suppress your Kirk tendencies and pull out your Spock persona before you finalize any deal.
Remember, it’s just a car. Really.
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From Wikipedia:
Buyer's remorse is an emotional condition whereby a person feels remorse or regret after a purchase. It is frequently associated with the purchase of higher value items therefore be considered "bad" although it may also stem from a sense of not wishing to be "wrong". In an extreme situation, an individual who struggles with or cannot accept the possibility that they may have made a mistake, may be suffering from a more serious and severe condition that has truly little to do with "buyer's remorse".
The anxiety may be rooted by various factors: the person's concern that they purchased the wrong product, purchased for a bad price, purchased instead of waiting for a newer model, or that the purchase will be acceptable to others.
Psychologically, in the phase before purchasing, the prospective buyer feels the positive emotions associated with the purchase (desire, a sense of heightened possibilities, and an intimation of the enjoyment that will accompany using the product, for example): afterwards, having made the purchase, he or she is more fully able to experience the negative aspects: all the opportunity costs of the purchase; and the reduced purchasing power remaining.
Before the act, one has the full array of options, including not purchasing; afterwards, one's options have been reduced to two: a) continuing with the purchase, surrendering all alternatives, or b) renouncing it. So that before purchasing, one experiences oneself as acting in a virile way, creating a situation; while afterwards the time of acting has passed: one is deflated and experiences oneself as having been acted on by the former virile self; one feels bound by one's remaining limited choices.
Buyer's remorse can be caused or increased by the knowledge that other people will later question the purchase or claim to know better alternatives.
A purchase, unlike many decisions in life, is invariably either reversible or at least recoverable and should not be a source of enormous anxiety.
Buyer's remorse, when evidence exists that it is justified, is a classical example of cognitive dissonance. One will either seek to discount the new evidence, or truly regret and try to renounce the purchase.
It’s totally normal to be 100% excited when you find a car, and then…
have that excitement diminish or even disappear altogether after the purchase.
To minimize this, you must suppress your Kirk tendencies and pull out your Spock persona before you finalize any deal.
- Are you sure you want this car? Remember that there will be similar cars available in the future, and you do not have to buy this one.
- Have you inspected the car thoroughly, or had a trained professional do that?
- Can you afford the car, the sales tax, the shipping, the insurance, and the maintenance?
- (Many NSX cars, even with low miles, will need $10K in service, tires, etc., to get current.)
Remember, it’s just a car. Really.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
From Wikipedia:
Buyer's remorse is an emotional condition whereby a person feels remorse or regret after a purchase. It is frequently associated with the purchase of higher value items therefore be considered "bad" although it may also stem from a sense of not wishing to be "wrong". In an extreme situation, an individual who struggles with or cannot accept the possibility that they may have made a mistake, may be suffering from a more serious and severe condition that has truly little to do with "buyer's remorse".
The anxiety may be rooted by various factors: the person's concern that they purchased the wrong product, purchased for a bad price, purchased instead of waiting for a newer model, or that the purchase will be acceptable to others.
Psychologically, in the phase before purchasing, the prospective buyer feels the positive emotions associated with the purchase (desire, a sense of heightened possibilities, and an intimation of the enjoyment that will accompany using the product, for example): afterwards, having made the purchase, he or she is more fully able to experience the negative aspects: all the opportunity costs of the purchase; and the reduced purchasing power remaining.
Before the act, one has the full array of options, including not purchasing; afterwards, one's options have been reduced to two: a) continuing with the purchase, surrendering all alternatives, or b) renouncing it. So that before purchasing, one experiences oneself as acting in a virile way, creating a situation; while afterwards the time of acting has passed: one is deflated and experiences oneself as having been acted on by the former virile self; one feels bound by one's remaining limited choices.
Buyer's remorse can be caused or increased by the knowledge that other people will later question the purchase or claim to know better alternatives.
A purchase, unlike many decisions in life, is invariably either reversible or at least recoverable and should not be a source of enormous anxiety.
Buyer's remorse, when evidence exists that it is justified, is a classical example of cognitive dissonance. One will either seek to discount the new evidence, or truly regret and try to renounce the purchase.
