When I was a kid in the 1960s, our family vehicle was an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser station wagon.
The only safety option it had was seatbelts, which we didn’t use, and a hood as wide as Tennessee and promised to bludgeon anything in our path with the brute force of a snow plow.
Today’s families have a ton of options to choose from when buying a new car, truck or SUV – including high-tech safety nannies that make modern vehicles less susceptible to crashes. On top of that, modern electronics have made automobiles cocoons of creature comforts with Wi-Fi hot spots, audiophile-quality sound systems and navigation systems featuring real-time traffic alerts.
The trick is knowing which “options” are the most cost-effective and useful for families. It’s not unusual to see options totaling one-quarter of the sticker price.
But what’s the true return on investment?