by AdamB » Thu 26 Jun 2025, 09:12:59
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('theluckycountry', 'D')on't try and get your head around it adam, just go invest your money in used cars, that's what the poor people do
Well now, I take personal offense at this statement!
Once upon a time I bought new cages, on a regular basis. I fondly recall the days of 0% interest rates, $20k new family sedans and 2X4 pickups and a veritable plethora of <$30k cages.
And it is not an investment, buying a new or used car, unless maybe for some car collector types. So somewhere about the time the kids began driving, and later going off to college, I bought cages worthy of their inexperience and meager skills. Bumper cars as it were, paid for with cash, minimal coverage for the machine, specifically designed for the children to use as designed.
The plan worked pretty well, the girl avoided any fender benders throughout her high school and college career, and the boy screwed up while in college and hit someone while making a turn, the boy being quite the lucky chap the other person, who was not at fault, fled the scene. Some work with a crowbar to get the drivers side door working again, new belts and a pulley to replace the ones where the pulley touched the inside firewall when the front clip deformed and touched the pulley, shattering it for the power steering, and back in action that old cage went.
It still sits in my driveway, the boy took it to his new job the other day.
Why would anyone but a fool think a tool such as a cage is an investment, unless one is a collector of some sort, and buying matching numbers old Corvettes or Mustangs or something? The same kind of fool who waited until gold was expensive before buying some for themselves?
My experience with used cars, particularly older ones, convinced me I was ready (with the help of a knowlegable local mechanic), to make the BIG leap into OLDER cars! So I bought myself a salvage titled, driven by a single owner retiree until she was carjacked in Covid, 120k miles on the clock, not a speck of rust anywhere on the car frame or body, repaired the various pieces that weren't working (A/C, driver side back seat window, cruise control, coolant and thermostat changes, timing belt and fuel filter and rear differential oil) and started my adventure with a cage built in the last century.
It sits in the driveway, having just been on a 1000 mile road trip over 2 days this past weekend. It has clocked more miles in the past 3 years than all my other cars combined. Has about 165k on the clock, roadtrips around the country, equipped with a Class III hitch ready to haul a trailer and motorcycle into the mountains, etc etc.
What kind of down under uneducated clown would think anyone would buy a highly depreciating, brand new thing like a CAGE as an investment?
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