The price of everything is unsustainable.
this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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Fuck Cars
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When a car loan is longer than 5 years and you're still paying $500-700 per month, yeah, it's too expensive.
Five year loans used to be scandalous twenty years ago. The goal posts always shift.
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(24 replies)
Cars are unsustainable for our planet. Even EV's. It's already too late to stop the damage they have caused already. The best time to transition to alternative modes of transportation was during the 70's. The second best time is now.
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There is a big culture of shaming and questioning people who buy small vehicles in the US and Canada. From salesmen who use it to push bigger, more profitable vehicles to people, to marketers who prey on fear and toxic masculinity to sell , and to everyday people who perpetuate the myths and fear, teasing and mocking their fellows who might have chosen a smaller vehicle. So here we are, barely a small vehicle to be bought and all maxed out on credit to drive the biggest rig we can. Well interest rates are headed up, gas is only going to get more expensive and suddenly that big rig with the the big operating cost shouldn't seem like such a good idea.
I'm in the process of buying a car right now and ended up with a Rav4 because it would take six months to get a Camry, it sucks.
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Even smaller vehicles are getting ridiculous. The Honda Civic is a $30,000 car now.
Why do I only buy used cars?
I've been priced out of new cars.
Edit: I of course also drive cars basically until I can't fix them anymore (a high bar) though so it's not like I buy cars often lol
Used cars are also getting to be insane. Try finding a ~5 year old Camry or Corolla in good shape for for less than 25K (CAD)these days, even the supply of $500 rusted out Crown Vic’s is drying up. I’ve even seen 10+ year old cars going for between 15-20K in my area.
Anecdata: this is also screwing with insurance. My sister got hit in a minor accident, we were sure the car was going to be written off since it’s 7 years old and more than three body panels would be replaced. But, the car had increased in value by $3,000 since she bought it five years ago, so they got to repair and keep it.
Yeah my current car is a 14 year old Kia Rio Hatchback and when I checked how much I could sell it for the price has actually gone up since I bought it 7 years ago
This shit's crazy
My cars are as old or older than my kiddos. ‘08 VW Rabbit (aka Golf) and a ‘13 Traverse. I want a slightly larger vehicle with a bit more room for the younger one’s car seat, but I can’t afford a payment for anything recent. Would like to jump ahead to at least 2018 models.
Personally I'd love to get a vehicle with more ground clearance than my current car (slightly modified Kia Rio Hatchback with ~ 7 inches) to something with like 10 inches to 12 inches.
I do a lot of hiking and backpacking so things can get a bit sketchy at times trying to get to a trailhead.
But damn prices are high on new vehicles so I'll probably go with something 20 years old or older.
Wear and condition are more important than year in my book. Yes, age does cause some issues, but they are less common. I buy older low mileage cars that were well cared for. But they are hard to find. It sometimes takes months of watching.
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not only tht but the civic is the size of an accord from the 90s now.
"Might" thats real cute.
Seriously though, there's some real insidious shit that goes on here in the US as far as mandates minimum fuel economy in large cars, which is definitely not helping this whole cost problem.
Basically, the US both nerfs requirements extremely quickly for more wasteful vehicles (such as SUVs and trucks) and nerfs the requirements within each individual category (like car, truck, mid-size SUV, etc) as the physical size of the vehicle gets closer to the max allowed size within that category.
This is a total win-win for automakers, as they can skate by with lower efficiency vehicles (reducing cost a lot) while making them physically bigger (not that much more expensive) and pocketing the difference. Oh and bigger is better so on top of that you just pay a fat-car tax straight to the automaker.
It's really properly fucked.
YouTube for more: https://youtu.be/mQDegCqiVnU
There is no reason to ever buy brand new car for your daily commute.
There's no reason to ever buy a brand new car period. I say this while being someone who likes cars and is planning to buy a new car at some point. The only "reason", if it even counts, to buy a new car is if you're customizing a luxury/sports car and want it to your specifications. That's it. Used cars work fine.
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Work on ending car dependency
There's a lot of people that will default on car loans with only the most minor financial disruption
Cars are unsustainable.
When they say car prices are unsustainable do y'all think they mean the manufacturer website one? (Website is pretty reasonable )
Or....
The one that when I step into a dealership they add $15000 for the "privilege" of me buying the car from them?
From the dealership mindset I must be batshit crazy for not buying a car from them.
I agree but you could easily fool me with the amount of brand new trucks and suvs I see driving around. Prices will not go down if everyone keeps paying them. And then there are people that can't afford to buy groceries but they have their brand new jeep wagoneer that cost like $80k... that just further drives up prices because you have people that can't afford it still paying the premium, still driving the demand, so the dealers can get away with charging whatever they want.
My understanding is that a big part of the reason car prices are up is that everybody wants luxury brands + high-end trims now. So a lot of these delinquencies could be for people who would have had no problem affording a $300/month car lease if they'd opted for a cheaper car.
Consumer preference is part of it, but car manufacturers have also intentionally stopped competing for the low end and small vehicle market. It’s textbook tacit cooperation.
During the pandemic, there was a chip shortage that led makers to prioritize high margin cars like trucks and luxury SUVs. Many makers decided that they liked being a low volume high price seller and just cut their lower priced cars altogether. If everyone does it at the same time, there’s no market mechanism to punish them. Many people can’t buy smaller cars even if they wanted. It doesn’t help that all of our car regulations in the US and Canada encourage this by having much weaker regulations for bigger vehicles. The whole market is a mess.
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Get a better job, ya commie!
Might be?
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