Its official - 60% of households and 82% of singles can't afford a new car.

[JeffKeryk]

Car companies are in the business of making money, not for providing customers with what they need.
Teach personal finance starting in grade school, or "Blame yourself!"

Finance has a concept, "The opportunity cost of money". It means money only spends once; once it's spent it's gone. Cars are generally depreciating assets. Spend your hard earned money wisely. I highly suggest investing in the future; invest in yourself!

Being drunk, broke and homeless taught me A LOT!

 

[alarmguy]

Car companies are in the business of making money, not for providing customers with what they need.
Teach personal finance starting in grade school, or "Blame yourself!"

Finance has a concept, "The opportunity cost of money". It means money only spends once; once it's spent it's gone. Cars are generally depreciating assets. Spend your hard earned money wisely. I highly suggest investing in the future; invest in yourself!

...

Amen
We live in different worlds but agree on some basic principles

 

[fantastic]

Car companies are in the business of making money, not for providing customers with what they need.
Teach personal finance starting in grade school, or "Blame yourself!"

Finance has a concept, "The opportunity cost of money". It means money only spends once; once it's spent it's gone. Cars are generally depreciating assets. Spend your hard earned money wisely. I highly suggest investing in the future; invest in yourself!

Being drunk, broke and homeless taught me A LOT!

which is another aspect of this thread title...Getting harder not easier to buy as some may imply.

 

[GMFan]

Adjusted for inflation a minivan my parents purchased in 1992 is comparable to the cost of a minivan today. And the minivans today are much improved. I think part of the issue may be “necessities.” A cell phone, high speed internet, cable TV subscription, and all the appliances and tech we have today weren’t available decades ago. Perhaps we’ve just gotten more complicated as a society - so there are more things to spend money on compared to the past. Our lifestyles and expectations have inflated.

 

[fantastic]

Adjusted for inflation a minivan my parents purchased in 1992 is comparable to the cost of a minivan today. And the minivans today are much improved. I think part of the issue may be “necessities.” A cell phone, high speed internet, cable TV subscription, and all the appliances and tech we have today weren’t available decades ago. Perhaps we’ve just gotten more complicated as a society - so there are more things to spend money on compared to the past. Our lifestyles and expectations have inflated.

Pay has not kept up with inflation for that minivan...The dollar value has declined well below inflation rate. That's the problem. Inflation has kept pace but pay has not. Hence American household=debt.

 

[KrisZ]

Adjusted for inflation a minivan my parents purchased in 1992 is comparable to the cost of a minivan today. And the minivans today are much improved. I think part of the issue may be “necessities.” A cell phone, high speed internet, cable TV subscription, and all the appliances and tech we have today weren’t available decades ago. Perhaps we’ve just gotten more complicated as a society - so there are more things to spend money on compared to the past. Our lifestyles and expectations have inflated.

They are pretty much all called subscriptions now. I think many younger people spend a lot more than they realize because each subscription is not usually that substantial, but they do add up. Couple that with other monthly bills and the money can quickly disappear.

A 2022 survey from the Kearney Consumer Institute found 40% of consumers think they have too many subscriptions, and more than half want to spend less than $50 a month on subscriptions.

But subscriptions are costing more than many consumers realize. The average monthly spending was $219, more than 2.5 times what consumers thought they were paying, according to a 2022 survey commissioned by market research firm C+R Research.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...iption-fees-tiring-out-consumers/11313797002/

 

[alarmguy]

Um yeah. The big 3 have decided that the profit margin is much greater on monstrosities like the Chevy Tahoe and pickup trucks, therefore they stopped making or importing Cruze's Astras, Sonics, etc. (already widely available in other markets). Gee where did I hear this before? Maybe 2006-08 during the 'great recession'?

I'm guessing Ford might be thinking of bringing back the Focus to US markets rather than making a really crappy SUV rendering they've already cancelled...

Ummmm no
Chevy Trax, Chevy Spark are two examples of many.
Automobile companies are in business to make money. The vast vast majority of the population can buy cars or they wouldn’t be priced as they are.

 

[Jim K]

Car prices and everything are crazy .

 

[Pew]

On the other foot, consumers can't buy what's not available. If the car manufactures only make high end trims then consumers are also forced to buy the high-end trims because the base/mid trim models are not available; ie: every dealer markup in the past 3 years.

 

[Dave Hess]

I’ve met a few self-made millionaires over the past 40 years.

The reoccurring theme I noticed is when they were in their 20’s and 30’s they were not a poser pretending to have money. They focused on building their knowledge and careers.

In their 40’s when they became millionaires…… then they bought / leased a fancy vehicle.

Way too many broke people pretending to have money and I don’t feel sorry for them when they go bankrupt, vehicles repo, foreclosure of home, etc….

Life is sooooo much better when you are not under a mountain of crazy debt.

 

[Dave Hess]

Instead of the Dave Ramsey type BS some might blurt out, the reality is the middle class is shrinking. My wife and I just bought a new 202 VW GLI 40th with a stick a week ago

You are 100% correct.

 

[Chris142]

. I don't see any old vehicles on the road,

Where do you live and what do you consider old?

 

[Pew]

I’ve met a few self-made millionaires over the past 40 years.

The reoccurring theme I noticed is when they were in their 20’s and 30’s they were not a poser pretending to have money. They focused on building their knowledge and careers.

In their 40’s when they became millionaires…… then they bought / leased a fancy vehicle.

Way too many broke people pretending to have money and I don’t feel sorry for them when they go bankrupt, vehicles repo, foreclosure of home, etc….

Life is sooooo much better when you are not under a mountain of crazy debt.

There should be a balance, only shills brag about money. Be smart about money and enjoy life. Lots of stories where people retired rich as heck, only to die shortly thereafter.

 

[gfh77665]

I’ve met a few self-made millionaires over the past 40 years.

The reoccurring theme I noticed is when they were in their 20’s and 30’s they were not a poser pretending to have money. They focused on building their knowledge and careers.

DING!

 

[BLND1]

My “starter home” purchase at the bottom of the last crash with 3% interest is now my “forever” home.

I drive a 13 year old truck. Wife has a 2021 Atlas. I expect to keep the atlas AT LEAST to the 7 year extended warranty limit.

It’s exceptionally more difficult to stretch our income today than at any point in the last decade.

Interest rates being high is one thing - housing/vehicle costs not dropping as a result and rampant inflation makes this a zero sum game for anyone trying to be fiscally responsible on a budget.

 

[JTK]

Who here on BITOG bought the cheapest, least equipped model, the stripped down version, preferably a car and not an SUV or a pick up in the last two years?

It’s easy to blame others or the manufacturers. It’s clear that it was us, as consumers, collectively buying whatever was available at whatever price that made the market the way it is.

I love basic. All of the vehicles in my sig are base models or rental spec models. The most basic is my 2015 Nissan Versa S that I bought 4yrs ago. Crank windows, no power locks, $2 ignition key, 4spd AT. My 2022 Frontier is also an S-model, but a ~$36K one being a 4x4 crew cab. The 2016 malibu is a rental spec "LT". Not sure you could get an 8th gen more basic than this and the 2019 Pathfinder SV 4x4 is also an ex-rental.

I am frightened at the cost of vehicles presently and will likely have to downgrade from pickups and SUVs to CUVs and sedans going forward. If my truck got totalled tomorrow (Gawd forbid!), I would replace it with a FB Marketplace Buick sedan or similar for now and bank the rest.

 

[MrStamper]

Just buy a used Honda civic and drive it into the ground.

 

[JTK]

Just buy a used Honda civic and drive it into the ground.

I agree with this given you don't live in the rust belt. If you do, you don't get that kind of life span out of a daily driver.

 

[normal username]

Why not just post the whole article rather than just cherrypicking it?

They go Indepth as to WHY cars are more and it is pretty complicated starting with pandemic supply chain and microchip issues.. I think the gist is that this more or less a temporary phenomena rather than any fixed long term trend....

It's also just kind of funny that the leading overall sales leaders are the "foreign" manufacturers like Kia or Toyota that still offer small cars around the $20K+ range...

This.

You guys really thought that the economy in a 1-in-100 year pandemic, would come out unscathed? LOL. Impossible. Capitalism doesn't like pauses or slowdowns. We're lucky the people behind the wheel right now in America are actually competent and didn't let it sink. IIRC, America is one of the only few countries that's actually progressing economically and the gears are still turning.

This is temporary, althought it hurts -- it's just a matter of time before things go back to reality. We're well past the halfway point now since it's 2024 and not 2020.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I’ve met a few self-made millionaires over the past 40 years.

The reoccurring theme I noticed is when they were in their 20’s and 30’s they were not a poser pretending to have money. They focused on building their knowledge and careers.

In their 40’s when they became millionaires…… then they bought / leased a fancy vehicle.

Way too many broke people pretending to have money and I don’t feel sorry for them when they go bankrupt, vehicles repo, foreclosure of home, etc….

Life is sooooo much better when you are not under a mountain of crazy debt.

In my mid 20's I was broke and homeless and getting worse. Fast.
Joined AA at 33. No more DD arrests; go figure...
I got my 1st college degree at 40.
Money? Now I can even buy stupid EVs that I don't need. Elon's wack anyways, right? Who cares? Not me!