Ahan Analytics, LLC

My wife recently relayed to me an odd story told to her by a car rental agent. This agent told my wife about a woman who for months has rented the same Escalade over and over, renewing her rental agreement for a few weeks at a time. Escalades are considered premium/luxury rentals, so the bill has mounted quite rapidly. At this point, she could have easily taken all that money she spent and bought herself a new, albeit modest, car.

The question is why is she “wasting” so much money?

Given my past training in economics, I could not accept that this woman (let’s call her “Elaine”) is behaving irrationally – I searched the deepest corners of economic logic to explain Elaine’s behavior. One saving grace is that she has not spent so much that she could have purchased an Escalade outright. This condition allows me to create two key assumptions (every economic theory needs convenient, simplifying assumptions):

1. Elaine’s, uh, business cannot be conducted without an Escalade. The style, the comfort, etc… is an absolute necessity to demonstrate to her customers that she is one of them, rich and powerful and ready to deal.
2. Elaine’s business is very uncertain. She lives from deal to deal. She works hard to close every deal, but she cannot afford to count her chickens more than a few weeks out. (Maybe she sells real estate to high-end clientele?!?)

These rationalizations mean that Elaine cannot risk committing to a $60,000+ purchase or even a less expensive lease, but each deal earns her enough to generate the $500-1000/week it costs to rent the Escalade she requires for her business. When she closes another substantial deal, she happily skips to the rental car agency to ask for another extension.

So is there a point at which Elaine is better off purchasing the Escalade? Not at all. As long as she is never “sure enough” about a $60,000+ income stream, she is better off buying what she can afford and still conduct her business. (Not to mention few banks, if any, especially these days, would even consider loaning money to Elaine for buying the car or for funding the business given the looming uncertainties!) At some point, she may save enough money to buy the Escalade outright, but it is also possible she has other expenses that prevent her from saving enough Escalade-money.

In other words, Elaine may be doing what so many people do NOT do – buying what she can afford now and not burdening herself with debt she can only aspire to afford.

This parable reminds me of something Nassim Taleb – the famous author of “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable” – said about confidence and debt:

“…overconfidence translates 1-1 into accumulation of debt…I know I’m going to make an 8% return, and if I underestimate my error rate I will know with certainty I’m going to make an 8% return, so if I borrow at 5% I can leverage up the wazoo. (“Taleb on Black Swans, Fragility, and Mistakes“, interview with Russ Roberts on EconTalk, May 3, 2010).

Go Elaine! And happy deal-making!