Rant Alert. Friend wants a new car. Delusional.

So I have a knack for finding good deals on cars. I enjoy it and understand the process due to being in equipment sales myself. I’ve helped a few friends, but this one takes the cake.

They currently have a Chrysler Pacifica that they rolled negative equity from a Jeep Grand Cherokee into. They owe $27,000 on the Pacifica with a trade value of about $13,000.

They want a new car because the transmission may be failing, but they won’t pay the $200 diag fee to find out if their extended warranty will cover it.

They come to me.

They want a $650 payment, less than $1,000 down. Must be same size as the minivan. Heated seats and remote start.

Obviously their credit isn’t great (assumption) and they recently bought a house they can’t afford. (Don’t even get me started on this. Roughly same size house for $100k more and worse interest rate. 🤦)

Like are people really this dumb?