Before the Brain is Invited to the Meeting

There are times when I make buying decisions before my brain is even invited to the meeting. Usually with cars.

Last year that led me to this 24-year-old Nissan Micra – in glorious, if hastily resprayed, green, with bonkers orange faux-leather interior and retro-fitted electric windows. I ‘needed’ a local runabout, and the Micra was bewitchingly listed on Autotrader. So I rang up and bought it blind.

This is not wise, rational, economically-optimised behaviour. And it wasn’t the first time. My other two similarly aged cars – a Jaguar XJ8 and a Range Rover Vogue – were bought in much the same way.

Ok, none of them were expensive. The Micra was £3k. A grand over its fair market value – I knowingly overpaid. But I didn’t care. If it had been sold from under me, saving a thousand pounds would have been scant consolation.

Because here’s the truth: there are times when we’re not really choosing between options. The decision has already been made.. and we’re just catching up. In those moments we haven’t asked ‘which one is best?’ We’ve asked ‘how do I make this mine?’

I’m sure there’s a label for people like me – impulsive purchaser, meaning-seeker, hopeless romantic with an Autotrader habit. I don’t really mind. I know myself well enough by now.

When I’m in the market, one glorious photo is all it takes.