How to buy a car

One of the questions I got asked in my medical school admissions interview was to do with how I might go about buying a car. I realized that this was obviously a question to do with how I go about applying myself to achieving a task, including information gathering, testing, weighing alternatives, and taking action. The theory is, I suppose, that such a rational decision-making process could equally well be used in formulating a research program or treating a patient or striking for more pay.

So I talked in my best reasonable-man's-voice about things like reading car reviews, examining resale values, setting budgets, deciding on what measures of a car such a fuel economy or power or style were important to me, and so on and so on. I even threw in a joke about not ever buying a Renault again, because there's nothing Australians love like a good anti-French joke. Presumably I sounded reasonably coherent because a little more than a year later, here I am in medical school.

In that time I've bought one car and I'm now looking at buying another one, and (astonishingly) neither time have I followed anything like the procedure that I so carefully explained to my interviewers. The actual procedure I follow consists of these steps:

• Choose a make and model of car based on what looks good, mostly defined by the shape of the bonnet and headlights, and the wheel arches.
• Test drive a dodgy version of the car of the moment and be disappointed. Become entranced by an adjacent car of a completely different make and model. This is the new car of the moment.
• Discover that the car of the moment is well beyond my means and start all over again.
• Become enraged with a salesman and swear to never look at the poor innocent car ever again. Start again.
• Ask some friends what they drive.
• Imagine what I would buy if I had triple the budget.
• Get tired of the whole thing and impulsively go the nearest dealership that has copious and colourful bunting and buy the first car that I can get a good price on.

I can heartily recommend this process to you. Not only is it a great way to buy a car, it can also be used to formulate a research program, treat a patient, or strike for more pay.

Good luck!