New vs. Used Cars: How to Buy Smart & Avoid Scams with John Cadogan

Thinking about buying a car? 🚘 Whether you're tossing up between new or secondhand, wondering if electric vehicles (EVs) are worth it, or trying to figure out the best financing options, this episode is packed with must-know tips for Australian car buyers.

Molly sits down with auto expert John Cadogan—and trust us, there’s not much he doesn’t know about cars! With decades of experience in the automotive industry, John has helped thousands of Aussies navigate the real costs of car ownership, avoid common car-buying traps, and make smarter purchasing decisions. In this episode, he breaks down car brands, depreciation, insurance, financing, and used car inspections, so you don’t get stuck with a lemon. 🍋🚗

🔹 What you’ll learn:
✔️ New vs. used cars – which option saves you more in the long run?
✔️ Understanding car depreciation – how to avoid losing thousands 💸
✔️ The rise of EVs in Australia – are they a smart buy yet? ⚡🚗
✔️ How to inspect a used car like a pro 🔍
✔️ Car financing options & what to watch out for
✔️ Insurance must-knows to avoid nasty surprises

🚦 Whether you’re a first-time buyer or upgrading your ride, this episode is your roadmap to making a smarter car purchase.

This episode is brought to you by InvestorKit, Australia’s #1 Buyers Agency for 2023 and 2024. They specialise in helping investors find high-growth properties utilising industry leading AI and data driven research process across Australia. 70%+ of the properties they purchase are off-market and they have consistently outperformed national average capital growth rates by over 49%. Whether you’re looking to build your property portfolio or secure your first investment. Check them out here.

CHAPTERS

 01:11 – Personal Car Incident
01:51 – New vs. Secondhand Cars
03:07 – Inspecting Used Cars
04:54 – Car Brands and Depreciation
05:54 – Budget Considerations for Car Buyers
07:27 – The Rise of Electric Vehicles (EVs)
09:09 – EV Market Leaders & Emerging Models
11:07 – Petrol vs. Diesel & Introduction to Hybrids
12:33 – Understanding Hybrid Vehicles
13:58 – Leading Plug-In Hybrid Models
14:54 – Tips for Evaluating Used Cars
16:00 – Navigating Servicing & Insurance
21:00 – Financing vs. Buying Outright
23:00 – Mileage Considerations for Used Cars
25:36 – Final Thoughts on Car Ownership

LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

Carsales.com for used car searches - https://www.carsales.com.au

CONNECT WITH JOHN CADOGAN

Website: https://autoexpert.com.au/ 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/autoexperttv 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-cadogan-a207598b/

CONNECT WITH LADIES FINANCE CLUB

Join our free Facebook group - Ladies Finance Club Money Chat
Website: https://www.ladiesfinanceclub.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladiesfinanceclub/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ladies-finance-club/

TAKEAWAYS

• New cars offer reliability but come with steep depreciation.
• Used cars can be economical but require careful inspection.
• Always check the service history of a used car.
• Electric vehicles are gaining popularity but may not suit everyone.
• Petrol cars are often better for city driving than diesel.
• Insurance is crucial to protect against significant liabilities.
• Financing can lead to overspending if not managed carefully.
• Mileage is an important factor when considering used cars.
• Networking for trusted mechanics can save money and hassle.
• Understanding your needs can lead to better car choices.

SOUND BITES

"Depreciation is brand specific."
"EVs are not right for everyone."
"You need to check the service record."
"Make it your insurance's problem."
"Cars are a big topic obviously."

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Molly: I had a chat with the awesome John Cardogan from Auto Expert, and it was like talking to your super knowledgeable dad about cars. So he is the real deal. He's got a mechanical engineering degree. He's been covering all things car industries for the last 25 years on radio, online and TV. And he's also got over 415 YouTube subscribers and we'll pop the link where you can check out his YouTube if you want to learn more about cars.

[00:00:27] So in this episode, we chatted all thing cars and I got to ask all my car questions like, am I better to go second hand or buy new? What about the rise of EVs? Is it better to go for an EV? What are the things I need to think about? Should I buy it outright or should I go through financing? And what are just the biggest mistakes he sees people make when it comes to purchasing a car?

[00:00:48] Oh, and we also talked about insurance as well, car insurances. So remember, don't forget to hit that subscribe button. It takes two seconds and it means we can keep bringing on awesome guests like John onto the podcast. [00:01:00] Now, let's rev those engines and drive on into today's podcast with John. Hey, John, thanks for coming on the show today.

[00:01:09] John: It's my pleasure, Molly. Thanks for having me.

[00:01:11] Molly: So this is a topic I'm pretty keen to learn more about because I had a little incident this year with my car. Where it burnt to the ground, well, it didn't burn to the ground, but it caught on fire. So it was written off and yeah, now I'm looking for to buy a new car.

[00:01:27] So I have quite a few questions, but I also reached out to our community and they also had questions as well. So I'm just gonna hit you with a couple, jump straight into it. And my first question is, new or secondhand? So when I'm looking to buy a car, I'm now going, do I want to buy new? Because I know cars depreciate the minute you drive them at the store.

[00:01:51] So what should I be thinking about when I'm thinking about new or secondhand?

[00:01:55] John: Okay, so the advantage of a new car is you don't have to worry about abuse or [00:02:00] neglect by the previous owner, and obviously, uh, the second law of thermodynamics pertains as well, which just basically says that everything's a clock and therefore it wears out over time.

[00:02:10] So if you buy a new car, in addition to the new car smell, you get the best reliability that you're going to get with that make and model. And the older. The car, if you buy it used, the more likely that you're going to have substantial failures that cost you heaps down the track. Right. So that's a problem.

[00:02:26] And as you've said, nothing in life is free. So the price you pay for that is a more upfront cost and be the steepest depreciation because the depreciation is the most severe initially. And then over time, probably two or three years down the track, the depreciation kind of tapers off. So you've, you've just got to balance that up.

[00:02:47] I mean, nobody. Who wants a new car and can afford a new car really thinks about buying a used car because the acquisition cost is not trivial, but acceptable to them. And most people [00:03:00] who buy used cars tend to do it in the context of economic necessity. They need transportation, but they haven't got the budget for a new car.

[00:03:07] Molly: Okay. Great. And so if I was scanning like carsales. com, what are key things you would look out for if someone did decide to go down that secondhand

[00:03:17] John: route? Well, the most painful aspect of buying a used car is fraud. So you've got to. Insulate yourself against those kinds of things, which can just cost you heaps.

[00:03:28] So in addition to checking out the mechanical health and wellbeing of any used car, and you should do that by conscripting a trusted mechanic. If you find a car that you are on the cusp of falling in love with in the used market, you should take it to a trusted mechanic or get the trusted mechanic to visit that car with you.

[00:03:46] And give it a once over for a basic health check. Now, the other thing you should do is use one of those, uh, revs check kind of online services where you can import the rego number and the VIN code and other [00:04:00] data about the car and just make sure that it's not a repaired right off or something that's been rebirthed or any of those tragedies that could be easily sort of avoided at once.

[00:04:10] Molly: Awesome. And what was that website?

[00:04:12] John: There's a revs check. You could just Google the term revs check and there's a whole bunch of third parties that offer essentially a similar service. But what you need to do is you need to know the VIN code, which is like the car's DNA. It's a unique 17 digit alphanumeric identifier for that specific car.

[00:04:30] And once you know that you can crack the code on a lot of that car's past.

[00:04:34] Molly: Yes, I learned all about the VIN code when mine burnt down.

[00:04:38] John: I'm sure you did.

[00:04:39] Molly: Yes, yes. A lot, a lot about the actual insurance process as well, which was interesting. And so are there certain brands that do better? Because I know it was during COVID where we saw like secondhand, because it was so hard to get, I think, new cars, secondhand cars, weren't doing as well.

[00:04:54] Up in value quite a bit. So are there like certain brands we should be looking out for? [00:05:00]

[00:05:00] John: Depreciation is in a sense, a bit brand specific. If you buy one of these emerging brands that haven't been here for very long, then you should expect the depreciation to be pretty high. Whereas Toyota, which I jokingly refer to on my channel as the king of mediocrity, because they do the minimum required to be Australia's number one carmaker.

[00:05:22] They tend to hold onto their value really well. Like a secondhand Hilux is gold. They retain their value amazingly. And the depreciation is basically just representative of supply and demand in the market, right? So if there's a high demand for a particular brand in the used market, then it's retained value will be high, which is bad for you.

[00:05:44] If you're in the market to buy one, but it's good for you if you've got one and you've owned it for a few years and you want to sell it because you'll get more than. Somebody else who bought a less attractive brand.

[00:05:54] Molly: Awesome. If someone's listening to this and they're like, John, I've got 15 K. What would you do in [00:06:00] my situation?

[00:06:01] Could you just talk us through maybe what

[00:06:03] John: you would do? It also depends on you and how you want to drive and the kind of driving you need to do, because if you're a mom with three kids, then you need a different car than if you're a single young lady, just. Living in the inner city and driving occasionally.

[00:06:19] In fact, you could probably just get by with Uber if that was you in the latter sense, but if you've got 15 grand and you've got the regulation to kids, you want to run to the shops, take the kids to school, do whatever else you do. And it's just mundane driving by something like a Corolla, like a Toyota Corolla or a Mazda three, because nearly everyone can work on them.

[00:06:39] And the parts are relatively cheap. There's lots of third party aftermarket. Parts that are not necessarily Toyota branded so that you can get repairs done reasonably cost effectively and they're not going to cost you heaps anyway, and they're reasonably reliable. Now, I appreciate that cars are also, in addition to being transportation [00:07:00] and logistics, they're also for many people, a fashion accessory and a Toyota Corolla is not that.

[00:07:06] It's not a Lady Guillore handbag of transportation, is it, right? So there's a balance there as well. If you want a fashion accessory, it's going to cost you a lot more. I'm not so sure that people actually pay that much attention to you and what car you drive. It's probably more important to you. But, um, If you want to go down the fashion accessory track, it's going to cost you a hell of a lot more.

[00:07:27] Molly: Awesome. And so we're seeing the rise of EVs. So let's say your budget was a little more, not unlimited, but it was higher. Between the choice of an EV or, you know, a diesel car. What are we likely to see? Are we going to, are we going to see the rise of the EV and is that, do you think that would be a better investment?

[00:07:47] John: We have seen the rise of EVs, they've started from nowhere and they're on the cusp of achieving probably 100, 000 battery EV sales over the next few years. Per annum. [00:08:00] So that's good in a sense, but EVs are not right for everyone. If you don't park, if you haven't got off street parking, charging an EV is a big problem because you will have to use public charges and they're often out of service or in great demand during holiday periods.

[00:08:16] And You know, if you drive long distances, there was a story where a journalist from, I'm going to say the Daily Mail, it was one of those online newspapers like that, drove a Hyundai Ioniq 5 to Melbourne. And it took her like twice as long and took, and cost twice as much as doing the equivalent trip, which she does all the time in her trip.

[00:08:37] Toyota Corolla, and the reason it took a lot longer was she had to keep stopping to charge and she had to do that at times in locations that made her feel quite vulnerable because she was isolated and she had a kid and a dog with her in the car. So I'm also pretty certain that EVs are going to depreciate much more heavily than conventional cars, because we're not going [00:09:00] to see a full transition.

[00:09:02] Or even a mostly full transition to EVs anytime soon, because they're just not the right solution for most people.

[00:09:09] Molly: Okay, and with the EVs, out of the EV range, who, in your opinion, is kind of the leader? Is it the Teslas, or is it the Beyond Your Dreams?

[00:09:19] John: Okay, so Tesla is the Coca Cola of EVs, and although I'm kind of very critical of Elon Musk and I call him Electric Jesus all the time because that's kind of who he is, he done one thing really magically well that nobody else historically had managed, which is he made electric cars cool.

[00:09:38] And Tesla is that fashion accessory EV brand. If you want to show your environmental credentials on your sleeve in front of everyone else, buy a Tesla. The model Y is the most popular EV in Australia. And I think it's the top selling EV around the world as well. So Tesla is up there in terms of its brand [00:10:00] credibility for that niche of people who really want an EV.

[00:10:02] Molly: Are there any upcoming ones where you think they're pretty good, but they might not have the branding?

[00:10:08] John: MG is pretty good. The MG4 is a pretty solid EV, but frankly, we are going to see an absolute explosion of EVs from China. I spent the second week of 2025 in China, and I could not believe, like I've been playing the automotive game as a journalist for about 35 years.

[00:10:28] So Shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs, I started doing this and the number of EVs in China is remarkable because they give people such an incentive to buy them over there. And also the number of brands and vehicles that I couldn't identify without sort of walking around and looking at the badge.

[00:10:47] So we're going to see an absolute explosion of Chinese vehicles. And I'd suggest that maybe 30%, 40 percent of Australians over the next five to 10 years are going to be driving Chinese cars.

[00:10:58] Molly: Okay, there we go. [00:11:00] So, jumping back to second hand diesel, like petrol cars, actually that, that just brings me to another question.

[00:11:07] Petrol or diesel, is there a big difference between the two?

[00:11:10] John: I think the biggest thing about petrol versus diesel is that if you don't drive often on the freeway, Diesels can be operationally problematic because you need to regenerate a thing called the particle filter, and it can only do that at highway sort of cruising speeds.

[00:11:28] So if you're living in the inner city, commuting to work and doing only short distance trips, petrol is probably a better idea for you, but I'd suggest. If that's you, you probably want to look at buying a hybrid because that's the segment like hybrids and plug in hybrids is a slight distinction between these two, but they have absolutely boomed in percentage terms, admittedly off a fairly low base, but they boomed over the past few years.

[00:11:54] And with a plug in hybrid, if you're doing short distance trips, you can basically drive in EV mode. [00:12:00] For your normal commuting to the shops and to the school and to work and things like that. But if you need to drive into state or into the regions, you can just fill the tank up with petrol and drive as long as you've got petrol in the tank and you don't need to worry about where's the next public charger and is it in service and are there six people waiting when I get there.

[00:12:19] Molly: Okay, so with those, well, so I guess I am my best customer here because I don't really know what that is, a hybrid. So I'm assuming that's where you can choose whether you, so you charge it, but also it has gas or

[00:12:33] John: petrol

[00:12:34] Molly: or.

[00:12:35] John: Okay. There's two kinds of hybrids. They've all got a combustion side, like a conventional petrol engine, but they've also got an electric side.

[00:12:46] And the basic hybrid, which is like a RAV4 hybrid or a Corolla hybrid, just operates in the background and you don't need to do anything. And basically all it does is it uses a relatively small battery and relatively small [00:13:00] electric motor to catch kinetic energy. So. If you're driving along and the lights go red up in front and you take your foot off the gas, then it starts to absorb that kinetic energy, like the speed energy you've got, and it pumps it into the battery and you get to use it again to get going when the light goes green and thereby save a little bit of fuel.

[00:13:21] That's your basic hybrid. Your plug in hybrid has a much bigger battery and a much bigger set of electrical motors and gear like that and you can plug it in overnight and operate it as a pure EV for some tens of kilometers in the morning if you want to and then you can just drive Continuously interstate as well if you need to get a long distance from A to B and not worry about charging up because you don't have to plug them in.

[00:13:49] It's just something you should do at home if, if opportunity presents.

[00:13:54] Molly: Awesome. And who's kind of leading the market in that category?

[00:13:58] John: The darling of plug in [00:14:00] hybrids is probably the, is Mitsubishi, their Eclipse Cross and Outlander plug in hybrids are long term winners here. There's a lot of plug in hybrid action happening though.

[00:14:11] We're going to see a bunch of utes that are plug in hybrids from China enter the market this year. So that's going to set. The ute market on its ear. I'm not sure how many of your listeners and viewers are in the market for a blue singlet dual cab ute, but you know, I'm going

[00:14:27] Molly: to make a guess that it's probably not a huge amount.

[00:14:30] John: You never know. You never know. There's equal opportunity in vehicles as well as everything else now. So that's good.

[00:14:36] Molly: All right, let's say I can't get a mechanic to come along, but I found this car I like on car sales. I'm checking it out. What are some things I should check? Like I know someone once told me about the wheels and see how old the wheels are because that's something that you can negotiate on.

[00:14:54] What are some areas that And, you know, I'm being stereotypical here, like as women, I [00:15:00] can't say I've had a huge interest in cars in my life. I wasn't pulling them apart, putting them back together. So my knowledge is quite low. What are some little things I can be aware of?

[00:15:09] John: The first thing that anyone can do, and you don't need any specific mechanical knowledge to do this, is just open the owner's compendium that you get with every car and have a look at the service record, because cars need to be serviced on time.

[00:15:25] And the Pro tip there is it's the time or the distance, whichever comes first. So if the service schedule says 15, 000 K's or one year, and that car's six years old, and it's only had four services run away,

[00:15:39] Molly: right?

[00:15:40] John: Because the servicing is an obligation to maintain the warranty. And just because the previous owner abused the car.

[00:15:48] That's going to be your problem if you buy it, because if the engine has some sort of catastrophic failure and the car hasn't been serviced properly, the manufacturer is going to throw you under the bus and the bill is going to [00:16:00] be 25 grand for a new engine. So the service history is, is a big thing to check.

[00:16:04] The other, you can check the tires. As you said, if there's a lot of wear or uneven wear on the tires, then. You'd want to get that looked at if the engine's running rough or you take it for a brief test drive and it pulls to one side or it vibrates, it does the Synvitas dance down the road, whatever, then they're indications that something is awry and needs to be addressed at least before you start negotiating about it.

[00:16:28] Frankly, a lot of this stuff is pretty specialized. And if you're thinking about spending 15 or 20, 000, that's going to be a lot of money for you. When people buy a car, it's always a lot of money for them, except for the Uber wealthy. And it, you, you're gonna have, you must find 150 ish dollars for a mechanic to just pass their expert eye over that car, because you know, the cost, it, it could be a hundred fold return on investment.

[00:16:56] Molly: Yeah. Okay. Great. And I guess as well, when [00:17:00] I take a car to a service, sometimes they're like, your car needs this, this, this, and this. Generally should we take the word of the mechanic or are they generally trying to upsell us on a few things? Should we get second opinions?

[00:17:13] John: To be perfectly stereotypical here, I think there is a class of automotive business that sees a woman walk through the door and they just go ker ching, right?

[00:17:25] Because they go, she's not going to know anything about this car, I'm going to say this with a straight face and this will be another several hundred dollars for us. And that is prolific. I hear that all the time. I've had plenty of people reach out to me and clearly they're just being ripped off. So I think the best thing to do when it comes to dealing with automotive businesses is something that women are great at typically, and men are terrible at, which is networking with your friends and having conversations about which mechanic you like and which mechanic you hated.

[00:17:56] And that's the way to do it because otherwise you're just playing [00:18:00] Russian roulette.

[00:18:01] Molly: Nice. Yeah, good advice there. And insurances. So, I luckily had all my insurances, but actually what was interesting was a lot of people were like, your car was quite old, why did you have comprehensive? So, what's the rule of thumb with insurance?

[00:18:16] Like, obviously in Australia we all have to have third party insurance, but should you always get comprehensive?

[00:18:22] John: If you've got a cheap car, it's really cheap. It's a bit of a bomb. You don't need to comprehensively insure it because it's probably only worth a few thousand dollars. And if it gets damaged and written off, then you can probably cop that on the chin.

[00:18:37] And if you don't write your car off religiously once a year, then after five or six years of paying the insurance, you'll probably be in front. What's really important though, is to have. Enough insurance so that if you crash into a Lamborghini, it doesn't cost you the house. Right. Or if you injure somebody and they've got some claim against you, then you really need [00:19:00] insurance that covers all of that kind of third party damage.

[00:19:03] Now the third party insurance kind of that comes with your registration, that's really just for. People getting injured. Okay. It doesn't cover you if you crash into someone's Mercedes Benz. So you, you really need that third party property damage, third party fire and theft, I think they call it.

[00:19:21] Molly: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:19:22] And I remember speaking to a debt counsellor and this guy had hit a car, which he hit another car, which he hit another car and pretty much bankrupted him because he didn't have the, Proper insurances in place. So if you're listening, make sure you check your insurances and you have enough cover because it's what, yeah, I guess it's what can happen.

[00:19:41] And apparently hitting power poles as well can be really expensive because the power companies charge you a lot.

[00:19:47] John: Yeah, it's, it's pretty sobering because if you, if you hit a power pole and it's your fault because you were driving negligently or something, which if you crash just for no reason into a power pole, the cops will go you for negligent [00:20:00] driving, but the utility company, the first thing they'll do, you can be in hospital in traction and you'll get a bill for the replacement of a power pole, which Not cheap.

[00:20:08] Not fun. Make it your insurance's problem by having the appropriate cover. The other thing to realize though, is that your insurance doesn't cover everything. You know, if, if you're completely irresponsible, like you're driving drunk, for example, you're not going to be insured. And a lot of people discover that for the very first time when they're in that situation.

[00:20:28] And I'd suggest that, uh, You're probably better off thinking about in that situation, you can, you know, you can sit in court and go to a traffic day and just look at the endless cascade of people flowing in through the courtroom who just drive like. Irresponsible Muppets and they're among us in society.

[00:20:49] And you, that's another, you need to cross that bridge and not behave like that. But you also need to say that that person is not going to have insurance because they're driving like that. And I can't make a claim against [00:21:00] them. If they got no assets, there's no point suing them. I'm going to have to rely on my own insurance, which is another reason to have that insurance.

[00:21:07] Molly: Wow. That's such a good point. I did not think of that. So get your insurance is the key takeaway of just that conversation then. And then when it comes to buying a car, if you're in the position where you can buy a car outright or you can get it on a loan. How does that work? Because I hear people say, Oh, well, on a car loan, you pay so much more in the end.

[00:21:31] John: The cheapest way to buy a car is to have the cash in the bank and just buy it, but very few people have that. The trap I think with car finance is that the whole car industry is geared this way to get people to spend more money than they can afford. So a car dealer, for example, is going to be quite happy to ramp you up on the finance and get you paying a loan that is.

[00:21:54] Borderline insolvency for you. They won't care. And you say the car is very sexy. You like it. You go, [00:22:00] I want that. And they'll say, we can make that easy for you sign here. And you do. And it's really hard to make the payments. So your spending capacity and your reporting. Repayment capacity is very important to have in the front of your mind when you're in a dealership because they make it so easy to spend so much more than you really want to.

[00:22:20] I mean, so many people walk out of the dealership and go, what just happened? Right. And you don't want to be in that position if it's your own cash, or even more dramatically in some instances, if it's cash that you just borrowed and you wondered why you kept saying yes.

[00:22:38] Molly: Yeah. Because I do see people, younger people, with these very expensive cars, which on a daily Finance.

[00:22:46] And I think, wow, that must be such a chunk of their income going towards that. So do you have any, and it's okay if you don't, but do you have any examples of like what figures would be? So like if you got a 50, 000 car on [00:23:00] finance, what those repayments might look like?

[00:23:02] John: I don't have the figures off the top of my head, but I do know that, for example, that you can go to any of the major banks on their websites and look up car loans, and the interest rate is just extortionate.

[00:23:14] Even in the context of home loans being, whatever they are, six or seven percent or something, then you'll easily be paying double that. On a car loan and some people even roll their car finance into their mortgage by dipping into their mortgage. And the problem with that obviously is that you start paying your car off over 25 years.

[00:23:35] Only you're not going to own it for probably more than five or 10. And if you keep doing that, then the repayment horizon for your mortgage just. Keeps getting pushed back and back and back.

[00:23:48] Molly: Yeah. And this was another question that came through with one of our members. When buying a secondhand car, what kind of mileage do we want to anything over X amount avoid?

[00:23:58] Is there like a [00:24:00] certain like over 20, 000 kilometers don't go there, or is there a certain like rule of thumb there?

[00:24:06] John: Average vehicles in Australia do just under 15, 000 K's a year. So let's say 15, I think the sweet spot for buying a used car, if you can afford it is about three years old. So if you can find a three year old car with 40 K's on the clock, it should have More or less another 90 to 100, 000 Ks of relatively trouble free mileage.

[00:24:31] I mean, obviously there's wear and tear, tires and brakes, things like that, that you can't really escape from that, that wear and tear just happens, but you should have maybe another five years of relatively trouble free motoring without extortionate repair bills, failed engines and transmissions and things of that nature.

[00:24:53] Uh, and. Obviously this is economic dependent, right? Your spending capacity dictates how [00:25:00] new the used car that you're going to buy can be. And when you've got lower spending capacity, you've got to buy an older car and the, the potential for really expensive problems really is driven up. You'd have to say on the fast side of about 100, 120, 000 Ks on the clock.

[00:25:16] You've got to be expecting the bad news without warning because, you know, 120, 000 Ks is four laps of planet earth, three laps of planet earth. That's a lot of driving, right? It's 40, 000 kilometers around the earth. So people say to me all the time, but my car's only done 160, 000 Ks. And I go, dude, that's four laps of the planet.

[00:25:36] How much more reliable would you like it?

[00:25:38] Molly: Oh my gosh. There you go. Well, that was all my questions for now. Is there anything that you think with Ms. John or anything that you would like the audience to know?

[00:25:48] John: Cars are a big topic, obviously, but if the thing is finance, then cars really are transportation.

[00:25:55] And the biggest trap that I see people make is that they buy a car that they really [00:26:00] can't afford because of some, uh, Often spurious perception of status that is attached to the make and the model. And I think ultimately you'd be happier if you could just get the status concept and put it over there and say, what do I need instead of what do I want?

[00:26:18] I think there'd be a lot more happy motorists out there.

[00:26:21] Molly: Yes. No. And as the founder of Ladies Finance Club, I couldn't agree more. Yeah. Instead of spending that money on a car, spend that money working on yourself and understanding why the status means so much to you. John, thank you so much for coming and talking to Ladies Finance Club, sharing all your wonderful car knowledge and wisdom.

[00:26:41] So many golden nuggets of information there.

[00:26:44] John: Nice to talk to you, Molly. Thanks a lot.

KEYWORDS

money, car buying, new cars, secondhand cars, electric vehicles, car insurance, car financing, vehicle depreciation, petrol vs diesel, car maintenance, automotive advice