Reader Question: To Buy or Not?

Here’s the latest reader question, along with my reply!

Stuart asks: I’ve been thinking about buying a new car but am concerned that whatever I buy today may not be legal for me to drive tomorrow – or ten years from tomorrow. Or that special taxes will be applied to me ten years from now because my car isn’t a “zero emissions” electric car. Do yo think my worry is reasonable?

My reply: Two words. Hell and yes.  We have the fact that non-EVs are already restricted in many parts of Europe and the fact that the sale of non-EVs has been banned after 2035 in places like the UK. If the Orange Man should lose the Decidership this fall, it is much more likely that such restrictions – and taxes – will be applied here. And even if the Orange Man does win the Decidership, it may only be a four-year reprieve. What comes apre may just be the deluge.

In which case, your only five-year-old car (by 2025) could be in the crosshairs of the Orange Man’s successor. Maybe not – if the Orange Man succeeds in turning things around – but this strikes me as unlikely given the fact that at least half the country and probably more in numbers has been Cloverfied and wants to herded into stack-a-prole apartments and electric car ride-sharing – because it is in thrall to the new religion of the “climate” being in “crisis.”

There is no reasoning with these believers. You may as well try to teach a pig to sing.

So it is entirely possible your new car (today) could be rendered a useless car within as few as five years or so. That would certainly give me pause as five years is about a third of the useful life of a car and not nearly long enough to amortize what you paid for it.

There is another worry, too. If – two or three years from now – it seems clear that anti-IC fatwas will be hurled, it will crater the resale value  of every non-IC car since what use is a car you’re not allowed to use?

Thus, I’m with you – and reluctant. I think it’d be smarter to buy an older car for less, which will reduce the financial hit you might be facing and – in the short term – let you avoid all the new car annoyances, such as ASS, driver “assistance” and narc-you-out “connectivity.”

…

Got a question about cars, Libertarian politics – or anything else? Click on the “ask Eric” link and send ’em in!