You probably saw the commercials for the Volkswagen Routan a while back. Brooke Shields “reports” that a baby boom has resulted from people buying the Routan for its German engineering. The commercials are funny, but there may be a tiny hint of truth embedded. A CarMax survey reported that career changes and children are likely to prompt a woman to purchase a car. “For women between the ages of 18 and 34, forty-one percent responded more likely to purchase a car when they become pregnant or welcomed another child into the family.”
This makes sense to me. Most people don’t drive around in a mini van before they have kids (unless you’re talking about my brother-in-law). When a new baby is on the way, suddenly space is an issue. Try getting an infant carrier in and out of a compact car and you’ll realize why a mini van becomes a priority once you have kids. So it stands to reason that woman would be motivated to purchase a new car when they have a baby; I’m betting that they are buying a mini van or some other type of larger vehicle like an SUV.
Also at the top of the list of reasons to buy a new car was a job change. I’m assuming that the reasons behind these car purchases are different from those for families welcoming a new baby. It could be that the new job offers higher pay, making the purchase of a better vehicle possible. On the other hand, perhaps there is an underlying issue behind both scenarios. Could it be that life changes warrant big purchases in some way? Does one big change open us up to another?
I’m saving my mini van purchase for baby #2, whenever that is, but becoming pregnant did prompt me to make one big change: I chopped off more than 12 inches of my hair!
Did you buy a new car when you had a baby? If you are pregnant, are you mini van shopping?