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People keep repeating this uncritically. There is a car-debt crisis, and wages haven't kept up with house/car costs. We have one person saying "well in Califor
by Someone1234 8mo ago
People keep repeating this uncritically. There is a car-debt crisis, and wages haven't kept up with house/car costs.
We have one person saying "well in Californian wages..." and another saying essentially that 50K isn't a lot of money when the average SALARY is $66K/year.
- freetime2 8mo agoI also believe this $50,000 stat is the mean car price which is likely to be pushed up by luxury car sales that cost 2-4x what a typical car costs, whereas a median price would give a better indication of what most people are actually spending. I did a quick Google search and wasn't able to find any data on median price, though.
- darth_avocado 8mo ago$50000 stat is the mean transaction price, which includes the dealership stuff that gets added on. While it’s true that it is an average, companies are increasingly not making cheaper models. Sub $30k new cars are almost a myth at this point. You get sedans and hatchback models that start in the high 20s as the base price but we all know you’re not walking out of that dealership with a base model or just paying the advertised rate. SUVs on the other hand, which most people prefer these days are closer to $40k.
- JumpCrisscross 8mo ago> There is a car-debt crisis To what degree is this caused by car prices versus Americans' compulsion to keep buying new cars? Anecdotally, the folks I know struggling with car payments are almost exclusively in the latter bucket. But I'm open to having my mind changed with data.
- Lammy 8mo agoIf people didn't buy new cars there would never be used cars.
- bdangubic 8mo agoI have 2014 Tesla S which which I recently had drive unit and battery replaced ($20k total). my friends all think I am nuts, but they all have $1k+ payments (some for 72m) while I haven’t had a car payment since 2017 and won’t have another one till 2036 :)
- hnburnsy 8mo agoHow many miles?
- bdangubic 8mo ago67k
- cosmicgadget 8mo agoWhat are you thinking about getting next?
- bdangubic 8mo agonothing till 2035 and even then I might just replace the battery again. people look at EVs as like some disposable thing, when battery deteriorates you chuck it (shows in the pricing of 'used' EVs, my friend bought a 3-year old eTron that was originally purchased for $93k for $35k - 19k miles on it). my tesla is rock n roll now and will be good for the next decade
- Aurornis 8mo agoIf your friends dumped $20K into paying off those loans they’d be a lot closer to paid off or maybe paid off completely, though. And that’s on a newer, lower mileage car. I’m all for maintaining vehicles and keeping them on the road, but I don’t think you’re in a place to criticize your friends with $1K car payments after putting almost 2 years worth of those payments into a car that’s over a decade old.
- bdangubic 8mo agoI put in two years worth of payments for 18 years driving the car (9 since my last payment and 9 more after the maintenance) :)
- jerlam 8mo agoI wonder how much of this ridiculous car money was previously buy-a-house money. If you don't think you'll ever buy a house, you might as well spend it on a car.