Jump to content

Americans can no longer afford vehicles


Recommended Posts

The water pump and a coil needed to be replaced in my 2009 A4. Total cost was estimated at $3k.  Told them to hold off as I window shopped. Inventory consists of only fully loaded cars with ridiculous prices.  Used prices were not much better. I decided to fix it and hope prices come down later. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Brian said:

The water pump and a coil needed to be replaced in my 2009 A4. Total cost was estimated at $3k.  Told them to hold off as I window shopped. Inventory consists of only fully loaded cars with ridiculous prices.  Used prices were not much better. I decided to fix it and hope prices come down later. 

 

I am keeping my 2003 Acura limping along even though it is leaking 3 different types of fluids. Once my wife gets her new car delivered in a few weeks my Acura will only get driven once or twice a week so I hope that I can drag another year or even two out of it, replacing two cars in one year really isn't in the budget.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Uaarkson said:


My sweet summer child.

 

they are actually getting a bit better. I've been keeping an eye on used car pricing and they do seem to be heading down, it has miles to go to get to reasonable but at least it is headed in the right direction. You can also get a lot of new cars under MSRP, something that was unfathomable a couple years ago. Shit is still stupid expensive but it seems to be improving albeit very slowly. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, Brian said:

The water pump and a coil needed to be replaced in my 2009 A4. Total cost was estimated at $3k.  Told them to hold off as I window shopped. Inventory consists of only fully loaded cars with ridiculous prices.  Used prices were not much better. I decided to fix it and hope prices come down later. 

 

We have the same car? :o Mine's a 2000 though.

 

But I've found repairs are fairly high on these anyway, most of it is labor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

We have the same car? :o Mine's a 2000 though.

 

But I've found repairs are fairly high on these anyway, most of it is labor.

Nice. I love my Audi. I take it to a VW place to get it fixed. It’s much cheaper than taking it to Audi. Since we bought a couple of cars from them, they give us an additional discount. 

  • Halal 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/17/2024 at 11:29 PM, Ghost_MH said:

 

I mean, yes. The numbers cited are you need to make a minimum of $100k to buy new these days, but if that's the minimum then I've got you assume that also means the cheapest new car model. Neither of those is happening right now. 1.5m repossessed cars last year? That obviously di6dn't include only new cars, but it certainly means millions of people that are buying are buying more car than they can afford.

 

They are using the 10% rule. 10% for a $100k income would mean a $833 payment each month assuming they use pre-tax income. The monthly payment would be $625 with 25% in taxes on a $100k salary.

 

There are ton of cars under both of those values. A new Toyota Corolla can be had for $24,000. That is essentially a $300/month payment.

 

Working backwards from $300/month would mean you would need a salary of 36,000 pre tax or 48,000 if using after tax numbers.

 

Honestly, I have no idea how the article came up with $100,000 as a minimum salary using the 10% rule. It most definitely  was designed for click bait.

 

The problem is that people tend to buy the cars they want rather than what they can afford or need. By no means is a Toyota Corolla a sexy car but it gets 99.99% of the job done. The only mission it won't do well is haul a lot of stuff but that is an edge case rentals can cover when needed for a vast amount of people.

 

Most people don't need an overpriced F150.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course. That is why it is a "general rule." My problem is that the article set it as the standard and then failed at doing the actual math with that standard.

 

EDIT: Now that I think about it most general large investment guidelines go by percentages. For example 25-30% for a house. You could move the percentages around if in a high cost of living area but the percentage guides would apply regardless. If you pay more than 30% of your salary for a home then you may be in an area that is out of your budget to begin with. Obviously these rules only apply to the lower and middle class salaries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...