Actually, I would bet I did read it and his point was directly addressing the article. In fact, the article itself commits suicide by the end when the author ad

Actually, I would bet I did read it and his point was directly addressing the article. In fact, the article itself commits suicide by the end when the author admits that one can just hire a mechanic to do the work. (And his quoted price for per-hour is ridiculously high. My mechanic charges me 70$ per hours, not 170$.) And yes, the author's point is totally dead. How can one be able to pay 300$ every single month but unable to pay 600$ once every blue moon for a big repair? Predictability is oversold. The only fact remaining is people inability to live within their budget; if you can somehow put away 300$ every month when forced to pay for a new car's reimbursement, you should be able to put aside the half as much for future unknowns. This is not theoretical since that's how I live and how I manage my car. I own a 2001 Corolla. I even had to change both the motor and transmission two years ago. The cost of which, including parts and labor, came down to less that one year's worth of payment on a new car. You can buy used car. You can pay for repair. It's still cheaper than a new car, and you don't need magical privilege to do so. (Simple real-world hindsight would tell anyone so. Just look around: poor people drive old cars. According to you and the author, they couldn't. Yet they do. So, which is wrong: reality or arguments on a page?)