“Drive it till the wheels fall off.”
Getting frustrated with your husband for taking too long to do something you asked him to highly relatable. At worst it typically causes an argument.
For one husband, his procrastination proved costly.
TikTok creator Michael (@michaelandcole8512) posted a video that shows his wife leaving in her Toyota 4Runner.
“Hey, where you going? I was gonna get it,” Mike says to his wife as she leaves. The text overlay reads, “I should’ve changed it sooner, I guess.” That “it” refers to the oil change, presumably.
In the next scene, she drives up to the house in another white SUV. The only difference? Now she’s in a Lexus GX550.
While the post is pretty clearly in jest, people had a great time with the concept of a wife trading in her 4Runner because her husband took too long to change the oil.
In the comments section of the video, several viewers argued that the wife was perfectly within her right to trade-in her 4Runner in for a Lexus GX550.
“At least she saved her money on the oil change,” joked one viewer.
“Honestly, it takes less time to buy a car from a dealership than to get your oil changed there,” said a second person.
“Next time change the oil, fool,” a third person said.
Someone else called it a “$90K oil change.” And that’s not exactly an inaccurate description of what happened.
Many people decide to trade in their car when it starts needing major repairs. It can be hard to know if this is a wise financial decision, however. In general, experts recommend comparing the cost of the repair to the value of the car. If those numbers are similar, it might be time to trade it in.
Obviously, a routine oil change doesn’t fall into that category. Oil changes typically cost between $100-$200. Of course, this seems more like a tongue and cheek joke between spouses than a serious debate about whether to trade in a car in order to avoid an oil change.
You should also consider how much you owe on your current vehicle.
In a Reddit thread, someone asked whether it’s fiscally responsible to trade in a vehicle that needed a timing belt and water pump. They estimated that this maintenance would cost about $2,000.
The response in the comments was overwhelmingly negative, particularly because the person was driving a Honda Accord he still owned $6,500 on.
“People use the same tired excuses to try and mentally back themselves into a corner over doing something that’s financially dumb with cars,” one commenter wrote in response. “It’s either ‘I need something reliable,’ ‘the car I bought not too long ago isn’t practical and I need something practical now,’ or ‘a baby is one the way, time for an SUV.’ Please, just be honest with yourself and say I wanna do something dumb with debt.”
A second person said, “Even if you were to trade it in, they will take into account the deferred maintenance. You are not the first one to ditch a car when the 100K mile check-up happens. The real conundrum is, what are you going to replace it with? If the car is solid, I would keep it and drive it till the wheels fall off.”
Motor1 contacted Michael via TikTok comment and direct message for comment. We’ll update this if he responds.
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