Have you bought a car recently?

[Sean Hayden]

Me either, and that's not about to change, which is unfortunate given I live in a city that requires a car. I just can't bring myself to spend 30,000, and that's cheap. What's shocking is how fast this all happened. The average price of a new car wasn't thousands less in some distant past, but like, just 4 years ago --dude.

Report: Regular People Cannot Afford New Cars Anymore

...the whole situation seems to have come undone in a staggeringly short amount of time. Jonathan Smoke, the chief economist at Cox, told Bloomberg that the average new-car payment hovered around $400 a month for roughly a decade. But things began pitching up in 2019, with a brief reprieve at the start of the pandemic due to nobody leaving their homes to buy anything. Then feces made contact with the proverbial fan for consumers as we saw record-breaking prices month after month.

How is this even possible when the last couple of years represent the lowest sales volumes in over a decade? Easy. Automakers just started selling to people with more money or an unhealthy willingness to put themselves into severe debt. Based on data from JPMorgan, the average price for a new vehicle sold inside the U.S. has soared to almost $50,000. That represents a staggering 30 percent increase since 2019, which has been reflected in the overall profitability of automakers.

The sickest part, realizing it's not going to change for the better. The people with an unhealthy willingness to put themselves into severe debt are everywhere.

Americans are ready to start spending money to treat themselves — and 44% are willing to go into debt to do it, a report from CreditCards.com finds.

Millennials, ages 24-40, are most likely to take on more debt (59%) followed by Gen Zers, ages 18-24, coming in at 56%. Only 40% of Gen Xers, ages 41-56, and 32% of baby boomers, ages 57-75, said the same.

When it comes to what respondents are willing to incur charges for, car purchases and other automotive spending topped the list.

[macdoc]

Get motorcycle be happy. 70 mpg, easy parking, fun and cheap.

[Brian Peacock]

I never learned to drive, but at least four people I know have gone carless after the old one had run it's course. There seems to be an increasing number of rickshaws on the city streets too. Even the cabbies are ditching their cars. I'm just waiting for the return of the horse.

[macdoc]

30% of adults in Toronto ( 5 million +) don't even drive
eBikes run riot.

[Sean Hayden]

I need a car for work and errands. Most outsiders really don't get it. Public transport is shit, and you're not getting anywhere on a scooter. In fact, our highways are a big part of the reason the more affordable foreign bikes have struggled to gain a following here until recently. Driving 50 km to work isn't unusual, and good luck doing it on I-45 on your moped.

Thankfully we're almost done here. Barring some major complications we'll be one of the lucky ones to get out, move to a walkable city elsewhere, and yes, potter around on a scooter or some other bike.

--//--

I'm not sure what everyone is thinking, or what the hell is supposed to save us.

[Sean Hayden]

[pErvinalia]

I keep buying shit boxes. I'm looking to upgrade next year (another second had car, this one a bit newer than the last few I've bought).

[Sean Hayden]

Even used cars are silly right now.

You can get 7,000 back for certain EVs and that will put the price ~38 on some models. But it’s not the transition to electric I expected.

I guess mechanics might do okay.

[pErvinalia]

Yeah second hand prices went up during the pandemic as supply of new cars dried up. Second hand Troopcarriers were selling for more than a new one.

[Sean Hayden]

Oh well, somebody’s going to fill the void. We just have to be patient and let others play test dummy while the kinks are worked out.

[JimC]

Bron is very happy with her recently bought Tesla model 3 (it took 10 months from order to delivery); most of our city and nearby driving is in that. I'm hanging on to my Subaru Forester, it's economical for our trips into the inland...

[macdoc]

Who said anything about a moped. ??
There are any number of full sized motorcycles perfectly happy at speed with 60-70 mpg.
I can carry 65 litres of groceries .....lots for weekly shopping.
In the $2-3k range used.....and hellishly easier to commute on and way more fun.

[Sean Hayden]

Who said anything about a moped. ??
There are any number of full sized motorcycles perfectly happy at speed with 60-70 mpg.
I can carry 65 litres of groceries .....lots for weekly shopping.
In the $2-3k range used.....and hellishly easier to commute on and way more fun.

Indeed. I was talking about why commuting on small bikes isn’t the norm here.

The reason no bikes are the norm here probably has something to do with the fact that more than twice as many people are killed on motorcycles every year in Texas than Australia. Plus my commute is on the 2nd most dangerous highway in the US, through the worst city on that highway. There just aren’t a lot of any bikes making the trip.

I still want one! But all the experienced riders tell me not to commute on it.

[The_Metatron]

Not so sure the real problem is the vehicles, but the need for a “commute”.


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[Brian Peacock]

Not so sure the real problem is the vehicles, but the need for a “commute”.


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TM in da hoos.