More Than 80 Percent Of Americans Can’t Afford New Cars
More Than 80 Percent Of Americans Can’t Afford New Cars
Experts say you should earn $100K before buying a new car so you don’t spend more than ten percent of your monthly income on payments
shrug and?
I know most people want "New cars" and fine, go chase that over priced luxury, but I'd rather a car that's 1-2 years old that's dropped more than half the price, and being passed over because new shiny thing came out.
People shouldn't have to drive beaters, but buying a car for 10k isn't a bad decision unless you're extremely well off our only care about status symbols.
Like there's a reason I was able to buy a house, and a good job helped, but also my wife and I lived with in our means, which is something I feel that isn't talked about in the consumerism age. (You can buy something new, but for most things you don't need a yearly iphone/car/or anything. A good 50 inch tv works well for a tenth of the price of the newest one. ) And yet I see people complain about not having a lot of money yet they're always talking about the newest graphics cards, newest tvs, and newest tech.... I wonder why.
The newest car I’ve ever owned (and currently own) is a 2007 model. Not gonna lie, with all the BS getting loaded into cars nowadays I think I’ll keep it that way. It’s easier just to have a couple of cheap shitboxes in the driveway that way you have something to drive when one of them inevitably needs work
At today's car prices, it's actually cheaper for some people to use a rideshare every day. Especially when you factor in the cost of gas, maintenance, insurance,and parking. My friend drove for Uber and had a regular daily commuter, a nurse who worked in Houston's medical center where parking is around $30/day. We have no good mass transit options so Uber was the best choice.
Here's another reason why taking transit doesn't bother me. For five bucks a day I can listen to podcasts and music and read books for 30 minutes, and let someone else take care of everything, I do not love everything about the bus (really you have to make everyone disembark during rush hour so you can cram your obesity scooter on there so you can go to Tim Hortons so nobody else can sit down?), but honestly it's pretty stress free. I realize not everyone has access to transit but I think people should make more effort to use it.
People living in Central/Eastern Europe: 80%? Amateurs.
I don't know ANYONE who has a new car produced in last couple of years here in Poland. According to some statistic average age of car is 15.5 years here, in fact I drive 11 year old car myself. There's just no way I am going to dump so much cash on a freaking car (and personally I'd rather buy some nice electric bicycle instead).
It was bad enough before supply chain issues, but now the car companies and dealerships are so used to ridiculous margins and they want to keep it this way as long as possible. Something's got to give eventually, but if I've learned anything since the great recession of 2008, it's that things can stay terrible for a very, very, very long time.
Experts say you should not spend more then 30% of your income on housing (shelter, heat, water, sewer and electricity). If you need a car (live outside a city, have bad city planing, etc.) then this is one more pressure on people.
The current “normal” world exists now only for people making a lot more then the average.
Oh and to better illustrate the gap between prices and wages: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_wage Compare to an average price of 48k https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a43611570/average-new-car-price-down-still-high/
I guess that's why used car prices are through the roof too. My neighbor bought a nice but 6 year old car 2½ years ago, he can sell it now at he same price he gave! We bought an older car 4 years ago, and there is no way we can get a similar deal today, prices in this segment have almost doubled! And the prices were already inflated 4 years ago.
It's ridiculous how expensive used cars have become.
Honestly good. There are plenty of used and pre-owned vehicles that just need minor repairs or tune-ups. I drive a used 2015 Chevy Spark, financed it back in 2022 and it's nearly paid off. My car only needed a new battery, new tires, and an oil change. My mom on the other hand financed a new luxury Acura RDX back in 2018 as an upgrade from her 2006 Honda CRV, she's still making payments to this day. I asked why she didn't get a newer Honda CRV and she said that she didn't want the same vehicle as a McDonald's worker.
Why owning an average car costs $650 000+
Maybe Americans should move the subsidies they give car owners, car companies, oil companies, etc. to public transport? Well, Europe should do that too, but if Europe can't there's no hope for America.
That's my car in the picture that I bought this year! Subaru and government fucked me out of my 8K rebate and locked me into the purchase to try and get it or losing $3k.
I have to pay 20% of my income on this loan, Subaru provided a low interest rate loan because of the rebate thing while loan interest rates were over like 6%. I do pay more though making it 25% of my income. Combined with my mortgage I am paying 50% of my income on loans.
Since it is electric and my commute was costing me $160 prior, I am saving about $100/month on gas at least. After 3 years I should have it paid off early. Thinking of getting solar afterwards so hopefully one year in my life my costs will go down enough that I can afford to do nice things or retire.
The example the article gives is pretty extreme to me:
[Greg] McBride, the Bankrate analyst, walked MarketWatch through a hypothetical car-buying scenario for an average-priced new car that cost $48,000. Taking into account the trade-in value of your existing vehicle, let’s say you knock some money off the sticker price and finance a $40,000 purchase price at 7.5% for five years. That’s an $801 monthly payment — which means you would need to make $96,100 a year if you wanted that payment to be 10% of your income.
I don't think I'd ever want to spend half a yearly income on any single purchase. An investment in a house being the only exception.
I'll rather buy used car and have no monthly payment anyways. A new car is among the worst investments to spend your money on.
good