1. A lot of new cars are leased (30% of new car volume) 2. A lot of new cars are purchased with auto loans (44% of Americans are paying an auto loan) 3. The a

1. A lot of new cars are leased (30% of new car volume) 2. A lot of new cars are purchased with auto loans (44% of Americans are paying an auto loan) 3. The average new car loan amount is going up by a lot (reocrd high of $31,000 now) 4. A lot of people are defaulting (5.8% are > 60 days late, higher than the financial crisis years) PDF warning https://static.ed.edmunds-media.com/unversioned/img/industry-center/analysis/2017-lease-report-july.pdf https://static.ed.edmunds-media.com/unversioned/img/industry... Consumers Skip More High-Rate Auto Payments Than During Crisis https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-14/consumers-skip-more-high-rate-auto-payments-than-during-crisis https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-14/consumers... So to answer your question seriously, people take out auto loans and lease expensive cars because they like buying expensive things, even if they can't really afford it.