I wouldn’t say I’m a student of human behavior by any means, but I am often mesmerized by how the general populous thinks and acts at times. The way companies study us to get us to buy things, think a certain way about products, feel a certain way about ourselves, etc. The root of it seems to be money driven, and I can’t blame companies for that, but it’s kind of sad how manipulated we are, and how that manipulation drives billions and billions of dollars of the economy in the U.S. alone.
This of course filters down to one of my favorite subjects, Porsches. Many people who don’t drive a Porsche make some pretty erroneous assumptions about those of who do. Things like people who drive a Porsche have loads of money, those behind the wheel of a Porsche are jerks/drive too fast/have no regard for others, and insuring a high performance sports car like a Porsche is off the charts expensive (good thing all of us have “loads of money”!).
What recently got me to thinking about this was an article I came across on an insurance site. It was talking about the costs to insure various cars. According to the research, which is a couple of years old, the Subara Impreza WRX held the title for most expensive to insure after the studies found drivers of the souped up mini sedan are more likely to get into accidents causing injuries such as whiplash claims. Interestingly enough, the Porsche 911 Turbo and 911 Coupe were at the other end of the spectrum with owners holding a significantly lower chance of injury claims compared to other policyholders.
One site had this to say:
For example, the Porsche 911 has a 67% less chance for injury claims than the norm. Go figure. The Mitsubishi Lancer has almost double the injury claim rate over the norm. [Source: CarInsurance.com]
I’m sure much of it has to do with the age and driving habits of Porsche 911 owners compared to the same of WRX owners, but that kills a couple of big misconceptions people have about the Porsche brand.
Even when you’re driving an older model that costs half as much as an average family minivan, people still look at you like you’re a rich snob and think you’re going to drive like a maniac. I even had a guy cut me off on the freeway this last summer, then flip me off even though I was doing the speed limit while passing him. I assume it’s because I was in a sports car and that somehow upset him.
I love the Porsche brand and the cars they turn out. I’m not a fan because they represent some status symbol in my mind. I simply love the cars and the experience of driving them. It’s icing on the cake to read things like the insurance articles that talk about how safely the drivers of our beloved brand conduct themselves behind the wheel. Course I’m sure there’s a lot of injury lawyers out there that wish that weren’t the case!
That and two bits will buy you a cup of coffee as my Dad likes to say.
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