Theres a variety of factors here. For one, more and more people are rolling their already stupid high loans into their next loan on a new used vehicle. So that is driving up the overall price. Second is that the new car market average price is well over $40k on average. Since people who cant get a new car have to buy used, then used car prices will creep as close to that point as they can regardless of actual vehicle values. The actual value of the vehicle is irrelevant in a country where cars are a necessity for the majority of people. What dealers are selling is the opportunity to have a vehicle more than the vehicle itself, and so they are gouging the shit out of people who have no reasonable alternative outside of buying on the used car market

Know what? People used to be able to understand contracts. This is what’s happening. People are so dumbed down, they don’t even know what they’re signing. Welcome to the USA , and soon to be Alberta, Canada

• Dealers jack prices way up
• High prices allow them to give ridiculous trade in value
• Trade ins scrapped or exported
• Sky high used car prices due to constrained supply
• Buyers forced into new cars

See how that works?

If they haven't been trapped by a ridiculous car deal, then theyll be trapped in any number of another Money Traps that have been deliberately engineered into society: Health Care, College Tuition, Student Loans, Rent, Gambling Apps, Expensive Consumer Crap, Streaming Platforms, Luxury Phones, etc. Probably several simultaneously.

The entire point is to make us spend every penny before we die, and not leave any sort of inheritance to give the next generation a leg up. And if we get to the end of our lives with a little nest egg left, they know you'll get sick, and they'll get to drain every last penny.

Funny thing how my grandma died in the care center, the month before her money was set to run out, after a lifetime of her and my grandpa carefully investing and saving. They took it all.

If it had a timing belt on that engine, and hadn't been changed already, then yes it needed a timing belt.
Its a preventative maintenance part. You don't want to run it till it breaks then fix it, because a broken belt can mean valves are down (open) and piston is coming up for a interference crash.

You bought a Golf GTI that had 193.000 km on it and it still drove for 5 years?

We went backwards. Had a 2015 Fit which needed work on the VTC and other electronics, and the new cars have too much unneeded stuff that can fail, and surveillence in the infotainment system, so we traded it down to a 2004 Echo.

The car looks and runs like new, and I can fix whatever breaks.

I managed to get a Mercedes C-Class for under 300 a month, was 3 years old at the time, with 140k km. APR was under 4%... Until Putin attacked Ukraine anyway, after that EURIBOR went up and so did my rate lol, must've been about 8% APR at peak (interest rate was around 6%). Best car I've ever had and the monthly payment was low enough that it easily made up for all the time I spent in the garage on all of my older cars.

I got a brand new car last year and I’m paying like 300.

In much of the US, the bus routes (if they exist) don't serve everywhere and only run once an hour or two. And biking on the roads is essentially signing your own death warrant with the lack of bike lanes and driver antagonism towards cyclists. Everything is so car-centric that not having a car consumes an undue amount of time and safety.

I suspect you have never been to the US. It is HUGE. You cant get anywhere without a car, and most cities have terrible or no public transportation.

The last car I bought cost me $1000 :( A 2002 Jetta Vr6. Lasted me three years (purchased in 2018) before the head gasket needed to be replaced.

We went into the pandemic with beater cars costing $500-$1000. Now? A shit beater starts at $3000. It blows my mind. I know I am getting old, but christ.

I know and was a poor person('s) with a car. Keep in mind me car cost me about €600 a year including tax, insurance and fixing it(somethins I do myself or with friends) now. And I'm not considered social minimum anymore.

So owning a car is expensive(€600 a year is a lot of money), but I doesn't mean poor people don't have them.

Higher fuel prices suck, we can me the decision to not eat at a restaurant anymore once a month, but some people can't. But lowering the taxes for everybody is just stupid.

I hate that I need to own a car. Or anybody for that matter. I live in a village of 6000, no train and a bus one-time a hour (in rush hours 2 times a hour). I can't make it home when my work ends at 22 and can't make it to work when I need to start at 8.

The only solution in my eyes would be cheap or free(it's is still cheaper in gasoline to take the car then the bus) public transport and more. There are a lot of village's and cities where you are very limited in public transport. So just cheaper train tickets not gonna help a lot of people not near a train stations. We need to invest in public transport (and I do prefer public owned and not for profit in any way)

We and many friends really loved the cheaper ticket for the train this summer. (Bit annoying it didn't include bus, metro and tram) For some €50 a month was still a lot of money. But we all enjoyed it. Seeing friends and family. So yeah cheap train tickets helps a bit, but especially for work related or medical appointment isn't practically perfect)

even disregarding public transport it makes no sense, because surely poor people don't live places where they need a car to get around? For people to qualify as "poor" in my eyes they're going to be living in an apartment, everything else is so horrifyingly expensive that you'd only be poor because you're spending 75% of your salary on housing.

And apartments almost universally exist in cities, near where people go to work and near stores. So poor people are by far more likely to get by just fine with a regular fucking bicycle.

I could slap them silly if everyone agrees.

very true

in case you didn't read the article, it covers buying a used car as well

Fair point, but no way could I afford payments like that.

He creates alts, then makes those strange reports while downvoting every single post I make, regardless of subject.

In DMs, he says I'm here to destroy Lemmy. I guess I'm doing that by talking about how cars suck?

I want everyone to know it was me.

They just can’t be seen driving anything less than a brand new Bronco.

Well new cars start somewhere in the 40k range and I have customers buying 100k suv and trucks these people aren't bright.

Here in the US we used to do that, in the 80's I think. But all I ever see around here is big ass SUVs now.

You haven't been shopping used cars lately have you? Sure, some luxury cars will see a dramatic drop after a year or 2 of owning, but not most. My 2022 Maverick that I bought new, for 24k, is currently valued for $23,400 at Carvana.

A coworker just bought a 2018 civic with 81000 miles for $15000. The used car market is insanely overpriced.

I have 2 20+ yo cars that run but I don’t trust them for long trips so I have a new car as well

Not anymore. Most new cars only work about 5 yrs, after that sudden 'unexpected' problems start popping up. Obviously in built degradation - according to couple mechanics I trust, german brands are really bad / good at timing their failures at the end of your loan term. But other brands are following also - so pre covid cars are still fine-ish.

I'm paying $700 a month for a used shitbox, because I had to get a secondary loan to pay for fixing the shitbox's engine.

🎵 *And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free 🎶 *

Here in the US, even used shitboxes are very expensive, and you never know if it'll break down on you or not. When I was a teen, my first car cost $700 USD. Now for evne a used piece of shit in my area, they are around $10,000 USD

I've been driving used EVs for almost 20 years now, and it's been great cheap transportation. We did get hit with around an unexpected $8k battery replacement on a Nissan Leaf, but it was still cheaper in the long run than a new electric or a used ICE.