[joey]

Ah, that reminds me of something: if you can't afford to buy a car all at once (i.e., with a signed check), you can't really afford the car. At some point in society, people began viewing cars like houses (which merit a thread unto themselves), replete with monthly payments and finance rates. It's bizarre.

There are a lot of things viewed as normal that are wholly abnormal; one of them is buying a car piece by piece and paying extra for the privilege because you can't actually afford to buy the car in one go, but are too (greedy) to buy one within your means.

Simply put, if you can't drive off the lot knowing every part of that car belongs to you, you just bought something beyond your budget, and have signed over years of unnecessary wage labor to the dealership.