When it comes to luxury vehicles, the buying price is just the less significant cost of entry. What truly matters is how to maintain it — costly, apparently, if you went for a $25,000 used Mercedes-Benz, for instance. Now a salesperson is coming forward to encourage people not to go that route. We live in a world where Teslas get commercials on the White House lawn. The options for luxury vehicles have never been wider or felt more accessible. Especially for a young car owner just getting their first taste of success and wanting to look like Beth from Yellowstone, so they go for a luxury vehicle — but one they can afford: a used one. A Mercedes saleswoman has now come forward through SupercarBlondie and outrightly advised young drivers that that may not be the way to go. She explained that used luxury cars usually come with no warranty, high interest rates, and often eye-watering maintenance costs. She made the case that luxury vehicles go hand in hand with luxury maintenance. When you’re younger, she argued, you almost certainly have bad credit and could face interest rates of about 20%. She added that when people simply look at the price of the car and calculate a reality where they can make the payments every month, she, as a salesperson, can’t tell them what it would ultimately cost to fix something if it breaks. One of the people engaging with her comments said he once bought a used luxury Mercedes-Benz at an affordable price, only for the car to develop a battery issue two months later that cost $1,200 to fix. It’s situations like that people often find themselves in when dealing with these luxury cars. Some spare parts even need to be imported — and with current tariffs, who knows how much that could cost now. The saleswoman instead suggested a cheaper car that actually costs around $25,000 when new. She explained that for some brands, that could be their luxury model — one used by someone who can afford to properly maintain it, allowing the car to stay in pristine condition for longer. The question here seems to be: would you rather have a broken-down car with a highly respected logo, or drive around in a car that isn’t as admired at car shows but will always serve you — and when it breaks down (because all machines eventually do), you can afford the repair? It’s an easy choice for most, but some people will always prefer the fancier car brands regardless of how compelling the argument is against buying them before they’re completely stable and comfortable. Still, it’s clear the Mercedes-Benz saleswoman had nothing to gain by sharing this information. You could even argue it might harm her business. When explaining why she gave away this advice, she said her motive was simply to prevent people from making mistakes. “One of the hardest things for me to do as a salesperson,” she shared, “is to sit back when I’m selling a car to somebody who could easily be my niece or nephew.”