I’m not saying that there weren’t many bad decisions made, but this is also misdirecting where blame is owed. Cars have gotten more expensive and if you are a family, there really aren’t any low-cost family hauler options. Yes, people make bad choices, but they are often lead on by sales people and, in the US, they likely have to have a car.
Without a car sucks too here (Germany). We may have a better public transport but it still sucks bigtime the last time I had to use it. And I will not try it again unless forced to 😁
Also yes, cars got way more expensive and also the dumb cars will soon die out.
But honestly, “being lead by sales people” isn’t really a great excuse to sign your financial ruin. Could be avoided by first assessing what you actually CAN pay in the WORST CASE without being totally fucked, then find the right thing online and avoid salespeople. And I’m not great with money or a very responsible adult. Yet I would never go to a car shop and “browse” there. My desires might overshadow my abilities and salespeople can sniff that 😁
The financial literacy in this country is beyond poor. People really don’t understand money and, likely, that’s intentional.
The “right way” to do this is to not finance the car at all (given that it’s a depreciating asset). You save monthly what a payment would be and buy the car outright. Once you’ve done that, you drive it into the ground and save for the next car the entire time.
That is totally and absolutely intentional, rest assured.
And that is the right way, yes. Though it might be hard to start if you have nothing, but getting a loan in that case would be either.
Dunno about the US, but here you can really get a shitty car for like 300-500 moneyz. It’s surely not fancy and might break 5s later if you’re unlucky, but it also might live 2years and save you 100 a month for the next. At least it’s YOURS.
You often see such cars with stickers here that say “Ugly, but paid!” :)
On one hand I agree with a lot of the replies about how all cars have gotten massively expensive, but also I do generally agree with you. Like, yeah, it’s absolutely awful that Americans can’t buy a reasonably affordable station wagon with decent mileage to haul around their 5 kids these days, and the light truck loophole needs to be closed.
But also, I swear to fuck, the number of people I know that are lower/middle class schmucks who scoff at the idea of driving something that’s small, boring, and efficient is part of the problem. It’s a weird situation where it’s getting harder and harder to live within one’s means, but also so many people seem adamant not to.
Yeah my reasonable vehicle isn’t able to do everything I might want to, it wasn’t new, it’s not the fanciest car, and it isn’t engaging in the arms race that our roads have turned into. But I paid cash, I get good mileage, and it’s good enough. I’m what would be considered lower middle class to the boomers. I don’t make enough money to get the nicest, fanciest car or to drive a giant expensive suv and also have good finances.
I will say though that many Americans simply cannot pay cash or go without a car. When for most of the country busses in a major city come once an hour (and if you live in the affordable suburbs, it’s a single commuter bus) it’s often either vehicle ownership or unemployment. And cities with good public transit are generally pretty expensive. But you need to actually develop the financial literacy to understand what kind of loan you can take on and what kind of car you can have. You need to stop thinking of a car loan as a fixed cost that once it’s paid off it’s time to buy another car, and instead once it’s paid off it’s time to start putting that money aside for your next car so you take less of a hit. Americans don’t save even when we can, we take more debt than is reasonable and buy above what we can afford. Until that pattern stops we’re going to continue moving towards longer loans with more expensive payments.
I guess this pattern is not really just american but maybe universal in capitalism. Here it is the same. We learn from the beginning that your worth is simply measured by your wealth. Especially if you’re a dude.
But besides that being totally disgusting bullshit, i, personally, always thought higher of people that drove a shitty piece of old crap but still had some cash left at the end of the month, than of those that drove the newest hot shit but had like -1% net-worth each month just for blingbling.
Sure, i have it easier than most and never had to worry about loans or cash or whatever, but i still live way beneath of what i could. My house is tiny, my car not overly fancy my wardrobe is very compact etc.
And i always observed the same: someone earns 1k more a months and his lifestyle goes up 1k. Earns 20k more a month and lifestyle goes up 20k. And on the whole way they complain that no cent is left at the end of the month, yet fail to see the problem.
I don’t necessarily agree that you need to be able to pay cash for a car, but within reason. If you can’t pay way more than the minimum payment, you can’t afford it. Also, insurance exists for a reason!
I’ve got a small loan (~$14.8k originally) and I’m paying it off ASAP. After my 5 payments so far, it’s down to $11k. I’m paying over double what the monthly payment is set at, with all the excess going to the principle. I expect to have it paid off in ~18 months from now, if not sooner.
Sure, 18 months is kinda overseeable. But still very risky. One unexpected financial mishap and you’re rolling into the neverending pitfall of debt. I have not the slightest clue about average car prices in the US, so i can’t really put that $15k into perspective.
Insurance (i assume you meant coverage of potential unability to pay back?) is nice, but also rises the cost noticably :)
Of course, not judging you or anything. In my world, everyone would have car of their choice (within some reason) for free, given by the government (that kinda forces you to work and commute to where you do that).
Why do people always have to live above their means and then complain? If You can’t pay cash for your car, it’s outside of your budget.
I see so many people here driving cars that are Wwwwaaay above what they could actually afford. One tiny miscalculation and shit hits the money-fan.
I would never feel relaxed driving a car that is beyond the amount of spendable cash I have. Unless its company leasing. Those are so cheap it hurts 😁
I’m not saying that there weren’t many bad decisions made, but this is also misdirecting where blame is owed. Cars have gotten more expensive and if you are a family, there really aren’t any low-cost family hauler options. Yes, people make bad choices, but they are often lead on by sales people and, in the US, they likely have to have a car.
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Without a car sucks too here (Germany). We may have a better public transport but it still sucks bigtime the last time I had to use it. And I will not try it again unless forced to 😁
Also yes, cars got way more expensive and also the dumb cars will soon die out.
But honestly, “being lead by sales people” isn’t really a great excuse to sign your financial ruin. Could be avoided by first assessing what you actually CAN pay in the WORST CASE without being totally fucked, then find the right thing online and avoid salespeople. And I’m not great with money or a very responsible adult. Yet I would never go to a car shop and “browse” there. My desires might overshadow my abilities and salespeople can sniff that 😁
The financial literacy in this country is beyond poor. People really don’t understand money and, likely, that’s intentional.
The “right way” to do this is to not finance the car at all (given that it’s a depreciating asset). You save monthly what a payment would be and buy the car outright. Once you’ve done that, you drive it into the ground and save for the next car the entire time.
People don’t have the discipline for that.
That is totally and absolutely intentional, rest assured.
And that is the right way, yes. Though it might be hard to start if you have nothing, but getting a loan in that case would be either. Dunno about the US, but here you can really get a shitty car for like 300-500 moneyz. It’s surely not fancy and might break 5s later if you’re unlucky, but it also might live 2years and save you 100 a month for the next. At least it’s YOURS. You often see such cars with stickers here that say “Ugly, but paid!” :)
On one hand I agree with a lot of the replies about how all cars have gotten massively expensive, but also I do generally agree with you. Like, yeah, it’s absolutely awful that Americans can’t buy a reasonably affordable station wagon with decent mileage to haul around their 5 kids these days, and the light truck loophole needs to be closed.
But also, I swear to fuck, the number of people I know that are lower/middle class schmucks who scoff at the idea of driving something that’s small, boring, and efficient is part of the problem. It’s a weird situation where it’s getting harder and harder to live within one’s means, but also so many people seem adamant not to.
Yeah my reasonable vehicle isn’t able to do everything I might want to, it wasn’t new, it’s not the fanciest car, and it isn’t engaging in the arms race that our roads have turned into. But I paid cash, I get good mileage, and it’s good enough. I’m what would be considered lower middle class to the boomers. I don’t make enough money to get the nicest, fanciest car or to drive a giant expensive suv and also have good finances.
I will say though that many Americans simply cannot pay cash or go without a car. When for most of the country busses in a major city come once an hour (and if you live in the affordable suburbs, it’s a single commuter bus) it’s often either vehicle ownership or unemployment. And cities with good public transit are generally pretty expensive. But you need to actually develop the financial literacy to understand what kind of loan you can take on and what kind of car you can have. You need to stop thinking of a car loan as a fixed cost that once it’s paid off it’s time to buy another car, and instead once it’s paid off it’s time to start putting that money aside for your next car so you take less of a hit. Americans don’t save even when we can, we take more debt than is reasonable and buy above what we can afford. Until that pattern stops we’re going to continue moving towards longer loans with more expensive payments.
I guess this pattern is not really just american but maybe universal in capitalism. Here it is the same. We learn from the beginning that your worth is simply measured by your wealth. Especially if you’re a dude. But besides that being totally disgusting bullshit, i, personally, always thought higher of people that drove a shitty piece of old crap but still had some cash left at the end of the month, than of those that drove the newest hot shit but had like -1% net-worth each month just for blingbling.
Sure, i have it easier than most and never had to worry about loans or cash or whatever, but i still live way beneath of what i could. My house is tiny, my car not overly fancy my wardrobe is very compact etc. And i always observed the same: someone earns 1k more a months and his lifestyle goes up 1k. Earns 20k more a month and lifestyle goes up 20k. And on the whole way they complain that no cent is left at the end of the month, yet fail to see the problem.
I don’t necessarily agree that you need to be able to pay cash for a car, but within reason. If you can’t pay way more than the minimum payment, you can’t afford it. Also, insurance exists for a reason!
I’ve got a small loan (~$14.8k originally) and I’m paying it off ASAP. After my 5 payments so far, it’s down to $11k. I’m paying over double what the monthly payment is set at, with all the excess going to the principle. I expect to have it paid off in ~18 months from now, if not sooner.
Sure, 18 months is kinda overseeable. But still very risky. One unexpected financial mishap and you’re rolling into the neverending pitfall of debt. I have not the slightest clue about average car prices in the US, so i can’t really put that $15k into perspective.
Insurance (i assume you meant coverage of potential unability to pay back?) is nice, but also rises the cost noticably :)
Of course, not judging you or anything. In my world, everyone would have car of their choice (within some reason) for free, given by the government (that kinda forces you to work and commute to where you do that).
“Can’t post my shitbox on the 'gram, I don’t wanna lose aura.” 🤷😔
Like that. If that is ones motivation for a car The couldn’t afford, well…it will sooner or later bite their asses