Listening to Car Talk: SL 500 VS $50 a month?

Someone recently called in to the NPR show "Car Talk" complaining of leaking anti freeze coming through their air conditioner/heater in the car. The hosts offered up a diagnosis which involved replacing the parts in question to the tune of several hundred dollars. The caller sounded hesitant and revealed that this was a sum of money they did not have. The hosts of the show recommended a cheaper, interim solution of sealing up the hoses (which would also also mean they have no heat/AC) and also recommended setting aside $50 a month until they have the money to do the full repair.

The next caller was a lady asking for advice on picking a car for her nephew's 16th birthday. She was concerned that her first choice,  a Mini Cooper Type "S" was deemed too girly by the nephew. In choosing her car, she said she had been requested to keep it below $25,000. The hosts suggested the Honda Element. Later in the conversation, the caller revealed the she herself was also about to complete a purchase of her own new vehicle of a Mercedes SL 500, a roughly $100,000 car.

Gifting a car is an extravagant measure by almost any standard, but the stark contrast between these two back to back callers in very different financial circumstances underscored this difference further. One caller could not afford to repair a leaky heating/AC system that was introducing anti-freeze in to the cabin of the car. The other needed advice on selecting a sub $25,000 car for her nephew's 16th birthday. I got the feeling that the second caller, the one who was in the market for two brand new vehicles could have paid for the repairs of the first caller with the money in her wallet. But that is not the point of the show.

In what way does the abundant availability of a resource by one individual/family in any way relate to the dire need for the same resource in another? The hosts of Car Talk did not comment on the two callers. The show is primarily about "cars, car repairs", not a social commentary. Is the progressive tax system an infrastructure to address situations like this? Or should this be the prerogative of the more well to do to give to charities or other mechanisms as they see fit?