My Little Adventure with Kevin O’Leary’s Car Ideas
So, I got myself wondering about Kevin O’Leary and his cars. You know, Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank, always going on about not wasting money. I thought, “What’s a super-rich guy like that actually rollin’ in? Is he all about pinching pennies on his rides, or is there more to it?”
I started digging around a bit. Watched some clips, read some stuff. His main line is always the same: don’t buy new cars. He hammers on about how they’re just money pits, losing value the second you drive ’em off the lot. He usually says to lease, or buy something that’s already a few years old. Sounds pretty smart, right? Very much his style.
This got me thinking. My old ride was about to give up the ghost, and I figured, “Why not try the Mr. Wonderful method?” So, that was my plan. I was going to follow his advice, really give it a go. No new car smell for me, no sir. I was on a mission.
The “Wonderful” Car Search Experience
First up, I checked out leasing. Wow, that was a trip. Seemed easy at first, but then you get into all the details – how many miles you can drive, what they count as “wear and tear,” and all the surprise fees they can hit you with when it’s over. My brain felt like it was doing gymnastics trying to keep up. It felt like you needed to be a Wall Street wizard just to figure out the paperwork.
Then I thought, “Okay, plan B: buy a car that’s three years old.” That sounded way more straightforward. So, off I went into the jungle of used cars. And let me tell you, that was a whole other kind of beast.
- Trying to sniff out if a car was secretly a piece of junk.
- Dealing with slick salespeople who probably thought I was born yesterday.
- Constantly worrying if someone had messed with the mileage clock.
It was tiring. I mean, I spent weeks doing this stuff, felt like I was training for a marathon I didn’t even sign up for.
And you know, while I was deep in the trenches, trying to figure out if a five-year-old Toyota was a better deal than a three-year-old Ford, I’d see stuff online about Kevin O’Leary himself. Pictures, articles, you name it. Sometimes he’s next to some seriously fancy metal. We’re talking stuff that costs more than my house. He loves his watches, his wine, his art – calls them ‘passion assets.’ So it made me think, are these fancy cars also ‘passion assets’ for him, or is the ‘don’t buy new, cars are trash investments’ rule just for us little guys?
It kinda felt like his public image is all about this super tight-fisted money management, especially for us regular folks. And his car advice fits right into that. But then you can’t help but wonder if it’s a classic “do what I say, not what I do” situation. Or maybe when you’re that rich, “not wasting money” on a car means something totally different than it does for the rest of us.
What did I learn from all this? Well, his advice about cars losing value is dead on, can’t argue with that. But trying to actually follow his specific rules to the letter, especially if you’re not loaded, can be a real pain in the neck. It’s not as cut and dried as it sounds when he’s saying it on TV.
In the end, after my whole Kevin O’Leary-inspired car hunt drama, I just found a decent, reliable used car. It wasn’t brand spanking new, but it wasn’t exactly three years old either. It fit what I could afford, and I didn’t need to hire a detective to make sure I wasn’t getting ripped off. I guess the best money advice is the kind that actually works for your life and lets you get some sleep. For him, whatever car he picks, it’s probably not keeping him up at night. For me, trying to be Mr. Wonderful Jr. with my car purchase? That was a different story altogether.
