Love your Car? Getting Too Attached Might Cost You...

I have seen this first hand, my father getting way too attached to his car. His car was a 1989 Chevy Caprice Classic, which is a gas guzzler, and with all the problems it was having to most people it wouldn’t be worth fixing, but my dad still was holding on to that car. My family wanted him to get rid of during Cash for Clunkers, but he was reluctant to do so, and took a lot of convincing for him to finally get rid of that car. On the other hand during Cash for Clunkers I jumped on the opportunity to get rid of my 2001 Jeep Cherokee because it was falling apart and I wanted a more fuel efficient car with less maintenance problems. I am sure you know many people like this. Don’t believe me, there are some interesting facts below….

Although Americans parted with nearly 700,000 old vehicles in last year's Cash for Clunkers program, many of them probably had a hard time letting go, say researchers at the University of Michigan. (Phys.org)

Phys.org says that this is to blame on anthropomorphism—the tendency to ascribe human attributes to an inanimate object. The University of Michigan researchers conducted a study to test how anthropomorphic thought affects consumers’ product replacement intentions. One group of participants in the study were asked to describe their car in technical terms (ex. Quiet, reliable etc) and the other group of participants were asked to describe their car in personality terms (ex. Nice, snobbish, considerate etc.) The group who were asked to explain their car in personality terms reported that they were less willing to replace their cars then people who did not.

Why Anthropomorphic can be a problem for consumers and dealers? Scharz a professor of marketing at the University of Michigan explains, "Anthropomorphic beliefs may potentially increase consumers' maintenance costs beyond economically defensible levels while reducing producers' sales.” With more and more consumers using anthropomorphic cues to influence how they think about their cars, dealers are going to have to come up with marketing campaigns to show that their vehicles are alive, to appeal to more consumers.

My Final Opinions:

If your very attached to your car, and don’t want to give it up, why not consider trading it up to a newer year and model? It’s practically the same car, with better features, newer, and hopefully less problems. Or if you need help deciding what the trade in value is worth for your car, and what your options are check out Basil and have one of their friendly and experienced car salesman help you out today!


If you want more information about this go to http://www.physorg.com/news186171125.html. Or if this article made you think about replacing your vehicle check out http://www.basilresale.com/

Courtney Walczak