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> By comparison it’s difficult to spend that much under 500$/ month on a car This is not really accurate, the majority of the population spends approximately ~

> By comparison it’s difficult to spend that much under 500$/ month on a car This is not really accurate, the majority of the population spends approximately ~$250 per month or so on their car (full TCO -- including all taxes, insurance, financing, fuel, and maintenance). The average car on the road is ten years old, and the average person has never bought a new car in their entire life -- car costs are significantly cheaper than you claim. This is yet another thing most Urbanists / StrongTowns types do -- just artificially invent an extra $200 to $400+/month in fake costs to "cars", to try to make crisis-level housing costs look artificially reasonable.

Retric 7y ago
The used car market is limited by the new car market so the bottom 70% can’t get the cheapest used car as there is not enough of them. Frankly there are a lot of SUV’s etc on the road. Still let’s use a 10 year old Civic that’s kept for 10 years as a optimistic estimate. A 90k miles 2010 Honda Civic runs ~7,000$ over 10 years that’s 60$ a month excluding sales taxes, interest ect. It get’s 26/34 mpg new which tends to be reduced over time, but let’s be optimistic and call it 30. At 2.70$/gallon and an average 13,500 miles per year driven that’s 100$ a month for gas. Insurance is tricky as it varies by state, age, and driving record, but the average is clearly above the lowest possible price. Further, if you lack full coverage on average you add a new car or repair costs. I am going to call it 80$ a month though it can be a lot higher than that if you have say a DUI, but also a little lower. Looking here: https://www.edmunds.com/honda/civic/2015/cost-to-own/ https://www.edmunds.com/honda/civic/2015/cost-to-own/ a 10 year old Civic is running ~180$ a month in repair and maintained costs with a general upward trend. But let’s stick with 180$ out to year 20. Now that’s ~420$/month excluding interest (paid or opportunity cost), parking, taxes, tolls, tickets, etc. It’s clearly possible to pay less by driving less or doing your own repairs, but it’s also really common to pay far more.

Retric 7y ago

The used car market is limited by the new car market so the bottom 70% can’t get the cheapest used car as there is not enough of them. Frankly there are a lot of SUV’s etc on the road. Still let’s use a 10 year old Civic that’s kept for 10 years as a optimistic estimate. A 90k miles 2010 Honda Civic runs ~7,000$ over 10 years that’s 60$ a month excluding sales taxes, interest ect. It get’s 26/34 mpg new which tends to be reduced over time, but let’s be optimistic and call it 30. At 2.70$/gallon and an average 13,500 miles per year driven that’s 100$ a month for gas. Insurance is tricky as it varies by state, age, and driving record, but the average is clearly above the lowest possible price. Further, if you lack full coverage on average you add a new car or repair costs. I am going to call it 80$ a month though it can be a lot higher than that if you have say a DUI, but also a little lower. Looking here: https://www.edmunds.com/honda/civic/2015/cost-to-own/ https://www.edmunds.com/honda/civic/2015/cost-to-own/ a 10 year old Civic is running ~180$ a month in repair and maintained costs with a general upward trend. But let’s stick with 180$ out to year 20. Now that’s ~420$/month excluding interest (paid or opportunity cost), parking, taxes, tolls, tickets, etc. It’s clearly possible to pay less by driving less or doing your own repairs, but it’s also really common to pay far more.