Why this ’96 Honda almost sold for $150,000

When Max Lanman’s girlfriend needed to sell her 1996 Honda Accord, the writer and director devised a plan: create an ad and sell it on eBay. The ad was so clever it went viral, and just five days after the car was listed for sale, the bidding had reach $150,000. In fact, eBay, stopped the auction, thinking something fishy was going on, so Lanman had to relist it. The vehicle, with 141,095 miles on it, is still going for well beyond its Kelly Blue Book value of $1,500. As of the writing of this Bored Panda article about the story, the eBay bid was $5,600.

Clearly it can pay to be creative, and Lanman’s sense of humor comes across loud and clear in the ad, which is just plain fun to watch. But there’s perhaps a more interesting lesson to be learned from this. Not only is Lanman a darn thoughtful boyfriend, but his branding message that “luxury is a state of mind” is right on target. Luxury is indeed a state of mind and cars are not ends in themselves, as so many car commercials would have us believe. Luxury is ultimately about what makes each of us look forward to getting up in the morning, and things like cars are merely a means to living our very best lives.