How much would it cost for you to give up your car?

Most people simply don't care about what they drive.

That's a tough thing for me to deal with in my daily work. I love cars, and as a car dealer, it's my goal to get people behind a steering wheel with a paid-for set of keys whenever possible.

But when the overwhelming majority of my customers either want a rolling appliance, or an interior the size of a small living room with a high-end sound system and an array of video screens, one thought lingers on in my mind: Why not? I can hardly blame them for buying a car that gives them a sense of escape.

Commuting and errand-running these days is a time-wasting miserable experience. Bumper-to-bumper traffic. Staring ahead in a blankless state for several hours a week. Police officers and public officials trying to grind out revenue out of the population with an increasing number of speed traps, taxes and quotas.

None of my customers would willingly choose this for their life. Most people I know probably care more about their footwear and their cell phone than they do about their daily driver. The name and shape of the car doesn't matter to many of us. If it works, that's all we need.