The importance of understanding the manner in which the desire to buy arises in buyers has been neglected in the study of consumer psychology. This report identifies those few research projects which have studied the origins of consumer motivation and describes a phenomenologically-guided investigation which studied individuals' desires to purchase a car. Volunteer participants were asked to describe in writing the process through which they began to desire an automobile. They were then orally interviewed and each case was separately analyzed. The phenomenon of the concept of "lack" is explored, and two case studies are analyzed in order to determine the circumstances in which individuals believe they have experienced negative situations because they lack car ownership. Findings indicate that the more possessions an individual owns, the more things that a person believes they lack or need and that the emergence of desire to purchase an item is based upon a person's experiencing a "lack" situation. (JHP)