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Comment by wernercd | Hacker News Reader

It was more than just "being a mechanic".

It's

  * being a mechanic (so you don't have to pay $500 for a $200 job).  
  * having a job with flexible hours (This happens on the way to McJob and your late? McBye Bye.)   
  * having someone else dependable with a flexible job (Friday night and everyone know you know is working at McJobs?)
  * having someone to take care of your kids so the kid is at home/daycare/babysitters and not freezing in your car 
  * having spare money so the choice isn't food vs radiator
  * being able to easily adjust to different circumstances.

Not everyone can lose a car and adjust with minimal effort. car breaks down and you expect McJob holder to be able to afford another car? thousand(s) for fix? downpayment on a replacment in short order?

All of this revolves around the fact that he's in a good place, and able to count his blessings. If all you got out of this is "you gotta be a mechanic" then you need to re-read it.

View on HN

“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

"Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

"But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

"This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.” - Terry Pratchett, Men At Arms: The Play http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/72745-the-reason-that-the-ri...

This is a good point, and why it usually be framed in a different way, that some people get rich by being very value-oriented. It's about getting the best bang for the buck.

I'll second that in a heartbeat.

I have a good friend that always struggled with money - rent, food, you name it... yet somehow has an expensive car with expensive insurance. He makes 1/2 what I do (or less) yet somehow drives a car worth 2/3x more than what I drive (just got a new used 2011 Honda Civic).

Generally you become, and stay, a millionaire by saving money. It's why so many people can win Millions in the Lottery and be broke a few years later. Getting money is only the first part. The second part is keeping it.

Even saving a lot, not everyone has sufficient income for that in a first place (even considering saving for a long time).

I have a pithier version: Being poor is really fucking expensive.

But yeah, the guy's problem isn't that he bought a used car. It's that he bought a used luxury car. They're not exactly designed for reliability or easy repair.

Can't reply to neckro23, and I don't know why. But he made a comment that the problem with the article is they bought a used luxury car not designed for repair. My question: Are ANY new cars designed to be easy to repair? while my old Bronco isn't the easiest to work on, it is much more "mechanical" in nature, with lots of room in the engine compartment and under the body to do work. I wonder what it's like to do non-trivial repairs on a 2015 F-150.

I have a buddy with a late 2000's F350. The head gaskets blew and the first step of the repairs was "Remove the body from the frame." Not something I'd like to try.

I love that. I also love that when he finally gets expensive boots, he hates them because he can't tell what street he's on in the dark anymore.

Poor people do this all already, just with beater Fords and Chevys instead of old ass Mercedes. And instead of fixing it themselves they just pay someone, which makes it even harder.

The Mcjob holder gets a ride, runs the risk of their kid getting cold, makes the choice between food and fixing their car.

They already do this.

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