This Is The Most Overpriced New Vehicle You Can Buy Today

Everything feels expensive now, doesn’t it? Maybe it’s the growing percentage of Cranky Old Man in my core, but I feel like I remember a time when not every single thing on some crappy chain restaurant’s menu was over $18. Shit’s expensive! Cars especially, as the whole low end of the auto market feels like it’s been eaten away by some sort of greedy slime-mold. But even with everything being expensive, sometimes you encounter something so improbably overpriced that it commands your attention like an unexpected grab to the genitals. I think I’ve encountered such a something, and it’s a vehicle. An electric vehicle. And I think it may be the most overpriced vehicle anyone can buy new today.

Now, this is a pretty specialized sort of vehicle, something designed for commercial/industrial use, so that may explain its high cost, since this is something that ordinary people are unlikely to buy, and may just be worked into some large budget of some sort. It’s just called a “Personnel Carrier,” and that’s pretty much what it does: carry a personnel around, at what seems to be a maximum of 9 mph, which, the description helpfully notes, is three times faster than walking.

It’s for warehouses and campuses and places like that, not regular roads. Well, here, you can see for yourself what I’m talking about. Meet Personnel Carrier 6794N11:

Guess how much this thing costs? Or, I suppose, you could just read how much on that link or screenshot, but where’s the fun in that? Look at that little three-wheeled electric standing trike and make a guess. Tally the features, if that helps! Three penumatic tires, a steel body, a couple of bent-metal fenders, a little clipboard in the middle of those bicycle-like handlebars, a battery, a motor, a little tray on top, and, um, that’s about it. So how much is this thing?

$7,214.99. That “0.99” really helps, because if this thing were $7,215, I’d just walk away. But $7,214.99? I’ll roll away, thanks very much, at three times walking speed!

I first encountered this on the Daily McMaster-Carr X-Twitter account:

Personnel Carrier
$7,214.99 Each
6794N11

Submitted by @MattLitke: "imagine how many stickers you can get on those flat sides." I'm just imagining how fun it must be to zoom around on one of these. ???? pic.twitter.com/VcMyrqe2xi

— Daily McMaster-Carr (@McMasterDaily) June 30, 2025

…there was also a follow-up tweet showing the thing in action, and I do mean action:

Damn, that dude is really standing on the back there! You can feel the excitement through the screen!

I mean, I bet this thing is kinda fun to buzz around in, and I suspect everyone lucky enough to be issued a 6794N11 is happy to have it as they whizz down massive warehouse aisles, perhaps looking for where somebody put the Ark of the Covenant. Also, I suspect this thing is built to last, as it all looks like very basic thick sheet metal and some batteries tucked inside. I’m sure it’s quality.

But for over seven grand, would it have killed them to give this thing some lights? A horn? It has a reverse alarm, but everyone hates those. There’s no padding or a seat or anything  like that. There’s no way this thing can be worth anywhere near $7,000. The money-to-what-you-get ratio of this thing puts it easily in the running for the most overpriced vehicle you can buy.

I mean, look at this:

That’s an electric trike from AliExpress, and as you can see, it’s about one-tenth the price of the McMaster-Carr electric trike. I’m sure it’s not built as well as the McMaster one, but this one is almost the exact same size (length is within two inches), has a range between 35-75 miles (the McMaster one says 35 miles), but this cheap one can go about 30 mph (ten times faster than walking, not just three) and has things like a seat and lights and turn indicators and also has a little cargo/tool holder.

Maybe the McMaster one will last 25 years, and this one will only last, oh, five, let’s say. You could still buy five of these and just keep swapping them as they expire and you’ve still spent half as much! Someone explain to me why anyone would spend $7,000 on that thing?

What am I missing? What is this thing even used for, anyway? Moving one person around? With a little bit of stuff? How hard is this thing really going to get worked? Nobody is going to fill it full of gravel or use it to tow an airplane or anything like that? Wouldn’t this $600 trike accomplish the same things?

Hell, even if we look at other small electric personnel carriers built to the same general industrial standards and quality as this one, it still feels way overpriced. Look at this – here’s a new Taylor-Dunn personnel carrier for sale on eBay for $6,175:

Yeah, I rounded up that penny. So what? That Taylor-Dunn is built in the same simple, rugged, thick bent sheet metal sort of way, but is larger, seats twice as many people – hell, it has a seat, period – and can hold a lot more cargo, too. All for about a thousand dollars less! Oh, and it has a headlight! And a taillight! Again, who is buying these McMaster-Carr things?

I say all this, but then Peter mocked one up in Autopian livery and now I kind of want one. Think anyone would notice if I hid this somewhere deep in next quarter’s budget? I bet not?

Anyway, I’m just baffled. Maybe one of you out there has seen some crucial element or has some inside information that will make this all make sense. But at this moment? I just think you’d have to be a fool to buy a new 6794N11.

Come at me.

(top image sources: McMaster-Carr, Freepix)