sometimes extreme arrogance can be picked up by even all those customers you consider morons. Worth thinking about.

chances are benhogan has a better relationship with most of his customers that you do with yours. Arrogance has that particular quality of being easy to pick up on, yet invisible to those of us it afflicts.

Sure he can seem to be more professional with paperwork and make what seems like a cash business pretty top heavy, for the little utility that seems to have for him.

Next you can suggest to the local fruit stand owner that he vacuum pack and date every article of fruit he sells out of the back of a truck, or maybe you'd like a warranty policy on the set of used tires you got of craigslist?

sometimes stuff makes sense at a bigger scale, that doesn't at a smaller scale.

__________________
This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

Not always. I am aware of the fact that I'm an arrogant bastard.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

I don't know why anyone would buy a Sprinter they are so expensive. Much better off with a Ford, GM, or Nissan van. They are not as sensitive to neglect and for $4k I could put a motor and transmission in a Ford or GM van.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Well at least for us, we got ours for around $33,000 new (bought in 04, was an 03 model). Six months later the same model commanded a $40,000+ price tag because they exploded in popularity. We got ours as a work/moving vehicle and to transport my disabled sister around with the family (used to have Plymouth Voyager Minivan to do that with but we outgrew that and it was a POS), which it excels at both. Also it has been pretty reliable (it has had its faults as all vehicles do). Many businesses buy them because of the amount of cargo it can hold (much more than your typical work van).

__________________
Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.

Concerning the title of this thread....

I always advise people that if you buy a well kept used Mercedes, and give it the service it requires, it will be the cheapest car you will ever own.

But if you buy the cheapest thing you can find, with no service records, then you have just purchased the most expensive car in the world.