# If someone offered you a Rolls, would you accept it?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 28, 2020, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761 "2020-09-28T18:58:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/1 "2020-09-28T18:58:14Z")
Simply what the title says. Say someone offers you a mid-80s Rolls Royce, low miles, in fine operating condition. Only catch is - you have to keep it, at least for a couple years, rather than just turn around and sell it.
Me - no, solely because I don’t think I could fit my upright bass in it, and wouldn’t want it to take up as much room in the garage. If I had a bigger garage and could keep 3 cars…
---
### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/2 "2020-09-28T19:00:23Z")
I can’t afford the gas, insurance and upkeep on a junkyard special so no.
---
### Author:  [@CardboardBoxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CardboardBoxx)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/3 "2020-09-28T19:01:13Z")
The cost of 3 years long term parking is going to be a fraction of the selling price, so of course. If you enjoy driving luxury vehicles that becomes a bonus, but there’s virtually no downside in accepting.
---
### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/4 "2020-09-28T19:08:35Z")
I’d accept it and drive it. Maybe I’d sell it eventually, maybe I’d keep to be buried in.
---
### Author:  [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/5 "2020-09-28T19:13:43Z")
I don’t keep cars in the garage except for my wife’s car when it snows (and then only until the driveway is cleared), so that’s out.
I might be willing to drive it for a couple of years for the novelty of it, but expect that the expense of maintenance and repairs would make the novelty quickly wear off.
I got rid of a 1992 BMW in 2004 because I got tired of the incessant, expensive repairs. (The BMW was a joy to drive, but its reliability was atrocious.)
I expect that owning a 1980s Rolls in 2020 would be a much, much more expensive proposition than my old BMW. The only reason I’d even consider it now is the novelty of owning a Rolls (as I mentioned), and the fact that I’m now in a much better financial situation than in 2004.
This offer is the very definition of a white elephant.
> **[White elephant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant)**
>
> Pages for logged out editors learn more
>
>
> A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, construction project, scheme, business venture, facility, etc. considered expensive but without equivalent utility or value relative to its capital (acquisition) and/or operational (maintenance) costs.
> The term derives from the s...
---
### Author:  [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/6 "2020-09-28T19:15:17Z")
Egads! No! Ugly af, costly to maintain, a big heavy behemoth gas guzzler.
---
### Author:  [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/7 "2020-09-28T19:21:41Z")
From the 80’s? No thanks.
Early 1960’s or older in mint condition and I would, for sure.
---
### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/8 "2020-09-28T19:22:47Z")
Sure, I’d park it out back, put it on blocks, place a car cover on it and pay storage insurance only on it until it was time to sell. The only work I would do is make sure the battery was charging and turning over the engine for a couple of minutes about 4 or 5 times a year. Then sell it for a tidy profit when the obligation to own it runs out. Hell I’d have a buyer lined up a couple of months ahead of then I would think no problem.
Do I have to pay a gift tax? Or does the person giving it to me pay that? Because that changes the equation.
---
### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/9 "2020-09-28T19:23:08Z")
I could imagine just driving it into the ground, then when it dies, selling it for salvage. Could be fun for a couple of years. My younger dtr is considering just that. (The car is my FIL’s.)
FWIW - an average used Rolls is not as expensive (to buy!) as you might imagine.
---
### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/10 "2020-09-28T19:28:48Z")
That’s a good point. I just looked on one of the auto sales websites. 1984 Silver Spur with 73,000 miles, listed at $19,900. How much might get after having to deal with such a car for two years? Not enough to justify the trouble.
---
### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/11 "2020-09-28T19:34:55Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> …1984 Silver Spur with 73,000 miles, listed at $19,900. …
That’s right in the ballpark.
---
### Author:  [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/12 "2020-09-28T19:38:25Z")
1970’s? Yes. They looked nice. 1980’s? No. They were unfathomably ugly and bought by people with more money than taste. Now they are cheap enough to be the province of people who have neither. Any decent $10,000 used car today will be infinitely more comfortable and better in every conceivable way.
---
### Author:  [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/13 "2020-09-28T19:38:58Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#):
>
> FWIW - an average used Rolls is not as expensive (to buy!) as you might imagine.
I just looked it up, and you’re right. It depends on the model, but a mid ‘80s Silver Spur (for example), goes for about $20K to $40K.
What do you get for that? A old, heavy, gas-guzzling vehicle with no safety features (not even airbags). The only thing it has going for it is the luxurious aspect of it, but that would be largely overshadowed by the age of the vehicle. If you like old cars, it would be attractive, but I don’t particularly, at least not for my daily driver.
---
### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/14 "2020-09-28T19:41:42Z")
I probably would. I’d put liability-only coverage on it. I don’t currently have a car. I’d park it on the street in front of our house. Some of the juxtapositions (incuding but not limited to simply seeing me get into or out of it) would be fun.
---
### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/15 "2020-09-28T19:45:05Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#):
>
> Sure, I’d park it out back, put it on blocks, place a car cover on it and pay storage insurance only on it until it was time to sell.
Yeah, maybe that. I have an extra parking spot in a garage so storage wouldn’t be much of an issue for me. But while it is technically free money (I’m sure I’d turn a profit), whether I’d want the minor hassle of keeping, insuring and lightly maintaining the thing for a couple of years is another matter. Because it would not be anywhere near life-changing free money for me and I hate minor hassles. And I have not much above zero interest in a Rolls in of itself - I don’t particularly care to drive boats like that.
I’d might take it but have mild “buyer’s” remorse afterwards. On the wrong day I also might just say no.
---
### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/16 "2020-09-28T19:46:35Z")
> [@AHunter3](#):
>
> …Some of the juxtapositions (incuding but not limited to simply seeing me get into or out of it) would be fun.
Yeah - that’s the way I feel. Would get a kick outta wheeling up to the golf course in it a la Al Czervik, but I think it would get old fast, especially switching from my current GTI.
---
### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/17 "2020-09-28T19:47:28Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> Because it would not be anywhere near life-changing free money for me and I hate minor hassles.
Well put.
---
### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/18 "2020-09-28T19:53:14Z")
If I cleared $15K it would go far towards putting a new deck and driveway on my house. Not life changing but definitely worth my time.
My 87 year old neighbor has a 2007 Mercedes Coupe parked in his back driveway with a cover on it for over 5 years now and he basically does as I describe. Now I could turn my nose up at him as I serviced my Rolls, that is until he brings out his 1946 Indian Chief and kickstarts it. Hell up to 3 years ago he still drove it around the block.
---
### Author:  [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/19 "2020-09-28T19:56:19Z")
I’d take it. I’ve got plenty of room to park it and whenever I could I’d sell it.
I spent a weekend being driven around in an 80s Bentley a couple of years ago it was pretty comfortable. Of course I had to be driven around in it since I couldn’t fit behind the wheel. Two friends and I were given the car as a loaner by a wealthy friend and two of us we 6’6"+ while the midget was 6’1" he was the only one that could drive the car so we ended up with a nice car with plenty of room in the back and an included driver. I’d guess the Rolls has a similar driver’s position.
---
### Author:  [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2020, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761/20 "2020-09-28T19:58:23Z")
> [@robby](#):
>
> I got rid of a 1992 BMW in 2004 because I got tired of the incessant, expensive repairs. (The BMW was a joy to drive, but its reliability was atrocious.)
Huh. I had a '92 beamer that I drove for 14 years. Yes, toward the end some expensive things started breaking like the suspension, but before that I found it extremely reliable. Basic 325 with a manual shift and it was fun as all getout.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-offered-you-a-rolls-would-you-accept-it/921761.md?page=2)