Warren Buffett’s 2014 Cadillac XTS.
Warren Buffett is not only one of the richest people in the world but also very frugal to a point that it is very surprising to people. He lives in the same five bedroom house he purchased in 1958 for $31,500. He also has a modest car in comparison to his net worth. He could own any car he wanted to in the world and have a big of a collection as he wanted. So what did he chose?
He previously drove a 2006 Cadillac DTS from 2006 until 2014 when it was approximately eight years old. He only decided to finally trade it in and get rid of it after his daughter Susie told him that it was embarrassing. He did finally replace it in 2014 with a new model Cadillac XTS, which had an original starting price of US $44,600. So Buffett chose a car that is also driven by many upper and middle income American families. He values simplicity and comfort over any need to show off. He also is not materialistic and values more intellectual pursuits.
He did not even shop for the car himself. He sent his daughter, Susie Buffett to the Huber Cadillac dealership in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska where he still lives to go look at cars for him. Showing he doesn’t even want to go through the effort of shopping and spending money as he seems to not enjoy it. Susie told the saleswoman Madison Willers that she was there to shop for her father. She did not tell them her father was billionaire Warren Buffet, she “merely described the personality and habits of her anonymous father,” according to Buffett’s letter to GM CEO Mary Barra.
The salesperson at the dealership said:
“Mr. Buffett requested that I personally deliver his XTS so that he could say hello after all the time that had passed.”
She drove the car to Buffett’s office at Berkshire Hathaway and also brought him a Cadillac hat to go with the new car.
“He seemed just as excited about the hat as he was about the car,” Willers wrote.
Susie said that also in the past he also liked to buy beat-up cars, like hail-damaged cars because they had reduced prices and after buying them he is reluctant to replace them, his daughter Susie Buffett explained in a BBC documentary. Those cars were fixed and didn’t look hail-damaged and even became a regular part of the Warren Buffett frugal lifestyle.
Buffett explained in a Forbes interview: “The truth is, I only drive about 3,500 miles a year so I will buy a new car very infrequently,”
Warren Buffett is programmed to have frugal values and does not believe in wasting money and just is not materialistic. In is authorized biography he says he s happiest in jogging pants with popcorn watching a Nebraska college football game or playing bridge on his computer.
Cars are just not his passion or hobby they are just a means to get from point A to point B and replacing them is unnecessary and a bother to replace in his perspective. That is a huge contrast to so many people that spend money on expensive cars that go down in value and that they can’t really afford and would be better off driving a used more affordable car and investing the difference.
Most people would think one of the richest men in the world has a chauffeur and is driven around in a limousine but the reality is he drives himself around in a six year old Cadillac. Nice car, but far below his means, he could buy a whole car company if he wanted.
