It looks like we are always waiting on something. Waiting in line somewhere, waiting on something to happen and so on.
Sometimes the wait can be long, sometimes shorter but I don't want to calculate how much time we are waiting per year! The internet tells me that this add up to easily 3 to 5 days per year. A big part of this waiting time is waiting before a traffic sign or stop light.
Now, the way how we wait has changed a lot. In the old days it was just waiting. Trying to start a conversation with others waiting for the same, looking around or just having lots of thoughts running through your mind, each trying to catch the most attention.
These days waiting has shifted to doing stuff on your mobile. From reading mails, browsing the internet or have some online discussions.
So, waiting doesn't feel like waiting anymore for some.
By nature I am an impatient person. I do like that stuff happens instantly, that people do react quickly on email I did send and so on. I have to admit that time did decrease my impatience. Sometimes I do even see this as a point to relax, because there is nothing else I can or want to do.
The ones who do follow me here, know that I am in the process of ordering a new company car. The car has been ordered and yesterday evening I did get the email with the expected delivery date! While I did expect that it would turn out into a long wait, it was a little bit longer than expected. The estimated time of delivery is 14th of December 2023. Knowing that these days, these estimations tend to be on the defensive side I don't expect it to have it this year anymore. Even if I would arrive around that time, I don't think that the lease company would register it in December and will wait until January, because this would mean the car would be one year younger when selling it after the lease period. Not the build date is important in that aspect but the first registration date. So let's say the second Friday of next year, which would be the 12th of January!
This means 9 months and 13 days or 41.1 weeks and in days it feels only longer with 288 days to go. So I better try to forget this for a few months. Of course, I will contact the dealer and see if they can move the car on the roll forward. While the chances are slim, it isn't impossible, so I can better ask this.
With the oldest son getting 15 in the summer, he is more and more interested in the car we do order. Because we both (the misses and I) have company cars, we always had decent cars. So, I explained to him yesterday that if I had to purchase a car myself, it would be something completely different. Just like most people, I do want to drive the most luxury car for the smallest amount of money. But the car I would purchase wouldn't even come close to the cars I have driven. I probably would purchase a b or c brand car second handed and drive with it for 10 years. While it is great to have a great car, it is just something which allows you to drive van x to y.
He asked it would could purchase this car ourselves. If we would have the finance for it. Then I did explain him that I do life with the idea that a person should normally only buy a house with a mortgage all the rest a person does buy should be paid up front. I can see some situations in which it is necessary to get a loan for a car, but then I can't imagine buying a top segment car. There are multiple reason for that. When you do pick up a new car at the dealer, paid off and everything, and you drive away from the parking lot, the value of the car already has decreased with 20 to 25%. Not exactly a good investment. So, why get a loan for a car which is more expensive than you normally can afford?
So his next question was could we save money for such a car. I told him that we could but in the best possible situation it would take us between 7 to 8 years to have saved enough to purchase the car!
I do know that a car is for a lot of people a status symbol for a lot of people. But it isn't for me and I do hope that this would be the same for my kids!
Cheers,
Peter