4 ms·

Cars are too expensive for people without much money. Boom, question answered.

• creshal 10y ago
  We're talking about the same millennials that have more than one laptop and smart phone per capita, right?
  • djent 10y ago
    You don't need to pay to fill up your phone with gasoline
    • grecy 10y ago
      You do pay to fill it with a data plan, music, movies, apps, etc. Then you probably have to buy a case, screen protector, headphones, etc.
      • probably_wrong 10y ago
        Case, screen protector, headphones: they are all one-time costs. If you factor them into the cost of the phone, it's still way cheaper than your car's first payment. A data plan may perhaps equal the monthly amount of gas a car needs. But then you have insurance, maintenance, and parking. Overall, we are talking an order of magnitude of difference. Unless you really need a car, like some of the commenters do, a car is truly a money sink. Car manufacturers seem to keep missing this point, which I honestly find surprising.
      • amyjess 10y ago
        I'd argue that the presence of so many money sinks is why a lot of us don't own cars. Why spend money on a car when I can spend it on a laptop, smartphone, music, movies, apps, case, screen protector, headphones... and I spend money on a whole bunch of other hobby-related things besides those. Really, what kind of money sinks did my parents have when they were in their 20s and 30s in the '60s and '70s? Video games weren't a thing, home video wasn't a thing, personal computers weren't a thing, cell phones weren't a thing (some of these existed in the late '70s, but they were extreme niche products the general public didn't know or care about). About the only consumer electronics that were around were TV, radio, records, and consumer audio/visual technology didn't constantly evolve like it does now: if you had a color TV and a stereo system (record player, radio, speakers), you never had to upgrade, and they were built like rocks and lasted forever. The only media you could buy were records and books. So that's it: you'd buy one TV and stereo system your whole life, you'd have a record collection and a bookshelf, and you had a pile of money left over. Why not put that into a car? See also: mortgages and expensive classy furniture, neither of which are particularly popular among Millennials either.
  • cLeEOGPw 10y ago
    That's like saying that people must afford an iphone 7 if he owns a calculator and an alarm clock. Laptops and smartphones are orders of magnitude cheaper.
    • creshal 10y ago
      Used cars are cheaper than high-end Macbooks.
      • Lio 10y ago
        The thing to do here would be compare used cars to used high-end MacBooks or used generic, low end PCs in general.
      • Macha 10y ago
        Macbooks running costs come down to a small amount of electricity. No services, fuel, insurance, etc. Cars that cost less than macbooks also are going to need (relatively) expensive repairs or even replacements on a similar if not more frequent basis than the macbooks gets replaced.
      • icebraining 10y ago
        Used car + gas + insurance + repairs is certainly not cheaper than an high-end Macbook + electricity to run it.
      • acdha 10y ago
        Only the absolute worst ones, and you're ignoring the cost of repairs (significant on a junker), fuel and other consumables, insurance, in many cases parking and tolls, and in some cities you pay property tax or other non-trivial annual levies. In a large city just parking alone can be a MacBook every couple of months unless your employer subsidizes it.
      • cerebellum42 10y ago
        Running a used car for a year costs much more than buying another Macbook.
      • 10y ago
  • forgetsusername 10y ago
    There's a magnitude difference in price owning 2 iPhones + 2 laptops versus a car, and that doesn't include maintenance.
  • Broken_Hippo 10y ago
    I have more than one smartphone. Mostly because I've never gotten rid of some old ones that don't really work well or reliably. It isn't that out of range to have a couple of laptops, one older and the updated one. When so much of your life is on the computer, this makes sense - you are really out of sorts without it. A car, on the other hand, costs more. I figure upfront costs for a cheapish used car being around $3,000 - $5,000. This costs more than a couple of laptops and smartphones combined - and it is all at once. At least the phones might be subsidized by the phone company (though I read that is changing there). In addition, there are all these fees associated with cars. You have taxes and plates and insurance (which can cost as much as internet every month). These cost more with newer cars. Newer cars you have car payments, followed by some time with overlapping maintenance fees and car payments. Used cars with a loan have that as well: Without a loan, you still have maintenance costs and fuel costs to consider. Seriously an unfair comparison. Besides, even with a vehicle, the expectation is really that folks have a cell phone and internet service: Computer instead of television of days gone by. Heck, you need this sort of thing for job and apartment shopping. Sure, theoretically there are libraries, but not everyone actually has access to them. (there are places in Indiana without a local library, and any they can use charge to use them, for example).