...to be a veggie and get a used car with leather seats

[Eatcabbage]

I wasn't looking for them, it just has them. Everything else about it seems great. Should I carry on looking and find an equivalent car without them?

If you're not 100% comfortable with it don't buy it and find another one that you don't have feelings about if possible. It's not worth the risk of feeling guilty in a couple of months if you decide you don't want to buy leather.

Even if it's 2nd hand you are creating a resale market for leather. If there was no resale market for leather seats then people would buy fewer new leather seats.

It's up to you really and where you are comfortable. You aren't going to eat them so you are still vegetarian in my opinion. Also they are easier to clean.

It's second hand. Not like you have bought it new.
I'm vegan and have bought secondhand wool items from charity shops (a coat and a big cardigan) and still wear my leather shoes from when I wasn't one as I can't afford to spend hundreds on new stuff and chuck out the old. It's already dead and there's nothing you can do. If you aren't creating a demand for it so that others will be encouraged to buy the same but new I don't see an issue with it.
Do what you feel comfortable with doing. I wouldn't buy it as I don't much like the feel of leather seats but it's personal choice. I know some vegans who have secondhand leather sofas as the cats don't scratch them to bits like with fabric.

@KittyMarrion

Some leather is not a by-product of the meat industry, eg crocodile, ostrich etc. Those animals are farmed specifically for their skins, and such leather is directly analogous to farmed fur. The vast majority of the leather used in clothing, shoes, bags and car seats is made from cow hides, taken from animals which are bred, farmed and slaughtered for their beef.

I know about about the meat and leather industry because I am vagan. To say leather is a by-product of the meat industry is an over symplistic view.

Vegan

Also most leather is not from the UK so has not been "ethnically" farmed.

But being vegetarian is not eating meat plus or minus not using by by products. Vegetarians can still use leather technically, it just depends on how you feel about it. It doesn't make then hypocrites. Vegans wouldn't be allowed of course but that's a whole different thing.

I should add I wouldn't judge any vegan for using second hand leather. People doing their best for animals and the planet is fine by me, people don't need to be perfect.

KittyMarrion

How does being vegan mean you know about the meat and leather industries? Did you used to work in that field? Or is your knowledge internet based ?

I know some vegans who have secondhand leather sofas as the cats don't scratch them to bits like with fabric.

Now I’d say that a vegan having any kind of pet is potentially more hypocritical than having a secondhand leather sofa.

But whoever said it’s a personal belief not a religion got it spot on. There are no rules for vegetarianism or veganism that you have to abide by. You know where your own limits are; it’s not for anyone else to set them.

No. It's 2nd hand. The cow is already dead and the company who bought its skin have had their money. At this point you aren't doing any more harm to the animal and as the car isn't any more expensive you aren't creating a financial incentive for anyone to kill any more.

To say leather is a by-product of the meat industry is an over symplistic view.

This. I think some people like to believe that cows and lambs frolick in fields, die a peaceful death and nothing of the animal goes to waste in some holistic hippy ideal.

OP, do the best you can do with the resources you have right now. The demand for non-animal products is rising and it will be easier and cheaper (ethics are prohibitively expensive sometimes!) to avoid leather products in the future.

If you’re a ‘veggie’ does that mean you’re not vegan so therefore still eat dairy and eggs? If so, that’s much worse than leather.

I know vegans who use second hand leather products because they don’t want the animals life to have been wasted by the product being binned. Also know some that buy real vintage fur and give it to animal shelters to use as blankets.

i'm a veggie the only thing leather i own are a pair of doc martins, my other pair is vegan, i don't like leather or other animal 'by products' myself but i wouldn't judge either, each to their own.

I think this is an interesting ethical dilemma for a vegetarian -- but it depends on your reasons for being a vegetarian.

I disagree with the responses saying that you might as well buy it because the animal that provided the leather isn't going to come back. You might as well say the same about the meat you see at the butcher's.

If you refuse to eat meat because you are against murdering animals for consumption or clothes, and refuse to have anything to do with what you regard as a corrupt and immoral practice, then you should not buy this car.

If you refuse to eat meat because you do not want any of your money supporting this (supposedly) corrupt and immoral practice, then the fact that the car is second hand may change things. For, as it's second hand, the damage has, as it were, already been done, and, arguably, your money would not go to support the system in any way. On this view, you may be able to buy the car in good conscience.

I'm not entirely sure whether the fact that the car is second hand is enough though. IF there is more demand for second-hand leather cars, then their resell prices will be higher; SOME car buyers may care about the resell value of their cars; accordingly, SOME car buyers may therefore be more inclined to buy a car with leather seats. So there may be an argument to the effect that, even buying the car second hand, contributes indirectly to the meat produce industry.

The effect is very marginal of course. But then, the effect of a single individual's choice not to eat meat is also very marginal!

I don't think it makes a difference that it's second hand. A new leather bag in a shop isn't going to get back onto the cow. Would you buy that?

Nope. It does make a difference. It's supply and demand. To put it simply, buying a new pair of leather shoes tells the shoemakers they need to make more products. They order more stock, another cow gets killed. Obviously the effect only takes place when you add up multiple people choosing not to buy the leather shoes. If new leather shoes are unpopular this year due to the rise of veganism, for example, less will be made.

With second hand leather products this doesn't matter. You're not supporting the leather industry. You're actually being eco by using second hand instead of buying new. But it's down to the individual vegetarian.

Ex-vegetarian here, so make of that what you will, but I would have been ok with second hand leather. Not reusing things that are already made is more wasteful.

It gets my back up a little bit that the word hypocrite is thrown around so much about vegetarians / vegans. Especially by total non vegetarians / vegans. Why can't people appreciate the people that are trying to help animals and the planet, even if they aren't totally ethically perfect yet.

I'm vegetarian but I appreciate pescetarians and even flexitarians or those just doing veganuary because at least they're trying and doing a little bit which is more than most people! I have massive respect for people who are vegan and I hope to gradually get there myself. I just don't think it's fair that people who are trying get way more flack than people who aren't.

Also, as long as it's a rescue animal I think it's ok to have pets.

This thread takes me back to the time a (non vegetarian) colleague told me off for eating Quorn sausages and mince. Because if you're REALLY a vegetarian why would you want to eat anything that even LOOKS like meat

I turn a blind eye to rennet as well but I certainly didn't tell her that Life is about compromise.

I don't see how having a rescue cat makes it logical for a vegan to have one. Obviously it's no worse than anybody else having one, but people might be lying to themselves to justify it.

It's not just the animal itself being 'kept' - how many rabbits, chickens etc. are killed to feed a cat for life? What about all the wildlife killed by domestic cats? Wouldn't it technically be more ethical to euthanize unwanted cats?

People should just admit they have a cat because they want a cat and they
find the deal acceptable.

I always find it slightly ironic seeing rescue centres that hold dogs and cats alongside rabbits and chickens!

If enough people refuse to buy 2nd had leather seats then people buying new cars might not buy new leather seats as it would be harder for them to resell their cars. So fewer cows would die for new seats eventually.

But yes, that particular cow has already died for the seats so it depends how you look at it I guess.

Buy it. If you aren't a vegan and drink milk you are contributing to the dairy industry anyway, which is just as bad really.

I thought it was only hardcore vegans who wouldn't use any product or by product of an animal

ACTUALLY @sack being a vegan is way more than just the non consumption of animal products.
You are still USING animal products if you have leather car seats.

Try and get your facts right before you act all high and mighty on the internet and make a fool of yourself.

ACTUALLY @sack being a vegan is way more than just the non consumption of animal products.

ACTUALLY the OP is not a vegan. The OP is a vegetarian. Get your facts right blah blah blah. high and mighty blah blah blah fool of yourself etc.

The thing is none of these descriptors are black and white. Vegetarian, vegan etc, there are no hard and fast rules as to what they can or can't do. They are general concepts with a lot of grey areas which at the end of the day just come down to personal choice.

As we've seen here some vegetarians will use but not eat animal products, others won't.

Some vegans will eat honey, others won't. Some vegans eat avocado pears and almonds which many people do not believe to be vegan foods.

There's no right or wrong really, it just comes down to us all doing what we feel comfortable with.