$7,300 for a 1996 Geo Metro - Is This Insane?
Filed Under (Car reviews) by admin on 29-05-2008
Yes, you read the headline correctly and, no, I didn’t make a mistake on the price. On May 14, 2008, a 1996 Geo Metro sold on eBay (item #120259722316) for $7,300 (read the full story), about five times the Blue Book price for the car, and only about $2,000 less than new - 12 years ago! Yes, the car can get 44 miles per gallon of gas, but my only question is - what was the buyer thinking?
Marci Solomon, the buyer of the car, gushes “The Metro is an investment in the future.” It was all about saving money,” she said. “I don’t think gas is ever going to go down, and these are going to be the types of solutions we have to turn to. I wanted to beat the rush.” If this is what she thinks is a good investment, her retirement 401K is definitely in peril. Folks, this is a perfect example of what’s known as “herd” mentality - “describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors, follow trends, and/or purchase items” (Wikipedia). The focus here is on gas mileage only - sadly, no other factors are even considered. This was an incredible purchase that will most likely never result in any savings, and I can prove it.
For example, say I bought a 1996 Chevy Corsica with 39,000 miles for $1,930 (KBB price). At $4.00/gal for fuel and 22 mpg, it would cost $2,728 in gas for 15,000 miles. This Geo cost $7,300, gets 44 mpg and uses $1,364 in fuel for the same 15,000 miles, half the amount of the Chevy. Here’s where things get interesting - The Chevy costs a whopping $5,370 less than the Geo and, while it would use twice the amount of fuel, it would take almost 4 years of driving the Geo just to break even ($5,370/$1,364 = 3.94 years), considering the ridiculous purchase price of the Geo! And that doesn’t include the lost opportunity cost of investing the savings for those four years.
Let’s face it - the Geo was always a bottom feeder, even when new. Cramped, noisy and slow, new car shoppers usually just said “no” when car shopping in 1996, looking to much better designed Hondas, Toyotas and Mazdas to satisfy the small car urge.
Always consider more than just miles per gallon when shopping for an “economy” car.