Every once in awhile, I look out my window at the peons on the street below, and I wonder if I would want to live a life like theirs. Working nine to five, struggling to pay my bills, and living beyond my means on a regular basis… I have to wonder who would want to do this.

Apparently lots of folks. So many, that a car dealer has decided that the best way to get people to pay their bill on time and not have to re-po their car is to add a device that disables the car if you don’t pay your bill:

Payment Protection Systems Inc., the privately held company in Temecula, Calif., that manufactures the engine-shutoff devices, says it has sold more than 200,000 of them since 1999, and sales are growing 40 percent a year.

More than 1,500 dealerships across the nation are using the On Time devices, including eight in Massachusetts and 10 throughout the rest of New England, the company said.

Mike Simon, chief executive of Payment Protection Systems, said the device isn’t meant to be punitive. He said drivers unable to obtain financing or forced to pay astronomical rates for a loan are often able to strike a much better deal if they agree to have the shutoff device installed in their cars.

”We’re here to help you, not to shut you down,” Simon said. ”We help people continue driving and help them get better interest rates and cars.”

Wow. I think if Simon had continued that thought, he would’ve been chin-deep into the ground via spinning.

Look, I’m no fan of people not paying their bills, and I know lots of people try to live in ways that they can’t really afford, but let’s be honest for a second. A kill switch on your car for not paying your bills?

Firstly, doesn’t this kind of send the message that the car you’re driving around is a loaner? I know you don’t actually own a car until you make the last payment, but there’s something about this that just doesn’t sit right with me with respect to the car being yours.

Secondly, and it’s related to the first point, doesn’t this just encourage people to live beyond their means? If they have such bad credit that they need a shutoff device installed in their car to make sure they pay their bills, is it really something they should have in the first place? For all the rosey “we’re helping people, here” stuff, the only one really being helped is the dealership. Someone who probably can’t afford a car is probably not going to feel helped the first time that system shuts down his engine.

I may be a powerful person, but I hate “big brother,” and this thing just smacks of it. My advice to all you would-be average-joes who think this might be a good idea is to just live within your means. If you can’t afford a car, take public transportation. If that’s not viable, move closer to your job. And if that’s not viable, then you really need to re-evaluate your life a little better, not buy a new car you can’t afford.

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