this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
318 points (95.2% liked)

News

23353 readers
3146 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] echodot@feddit.uk 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (10 children)

Do Americans predominantly buy new cars then? Seems like a really weird thing to do if your cash strapped couldn't you just get a second-hand car?

They car I've got his third hand and other than a minor electrical issue it works fine and I paid the equivalent of about 1000 dollars for it

[–] mightyfoolish@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The used market is terrible. A used crossover or sedan (Camry sized) from 2019 is like $25000. In 2020, it would have been more like $15000 for that SAME year vehicle.

New cars are limited to drive prices up. Also, in the US everyone thinks they need a pickup, Wrangler, or Bronco which are ridiculously marked up.

In 2015 I had a beater I got for $2500 from a third party used car salesman. Those seem to be gone in my area and a beater is now 3x that price.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are big used-car buying corporations like Carvana that buy up used cars by offering better prices than dealer trade ins.

This means way less used inventory on dealer lots and higher prices across the board, so that means a lot more people need loans to buy cars, and loans are longer with higher rates.

[–] OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck. It's pretty hard to save up enough to buy even a used car cash anyway.

This is also true. No disagreement at all.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

A used car in the US will run you 10k easily. And that's just for the oldest stuff they're willing to sell instead of junk.

In a country where people have trouble scraping together an extra few hundred dollars for an emergency expense, that's going to hurt.

And it's not like you can just not have a car. In most of the country having a car is pretty much a requirement.

[–] mightyfoolish@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Very true. The days of cheap beaters are gone. A car from 2009 can cost $10000 it it just looks decent.

[–] Hubi@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I had no idea the used market was this bad in the US. I've never paid more than 3000 Euros for a car here in central Europe and most were in pretty solid condition. Hell, one just cost me 100€ and I drove that thing for 4 years with zero issues.

[–] CmdrShepard@lemmy.one 3 points 1 year ago

They're primarily talking about cars from used car lots or dealerships. You can find cheaper cars all day on Facebook. The real cheap beaters are pretty much gone these days but cars are also a lot better built than they were in the 80s and 90s where those uber cheap beaters originated.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

It's a covid thing, the lack of new cars caused a supply shock that made everythingmore expensive. The used market is getting better, but there's still really low inventory all around, which is causing higher prices.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've seen them as low as £500 but never dead get one as I've always assumed that they're secretly some kind of final destination style death trap.

[–] Hubi@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

Some definitively are, which is why I do a thorough inspection before I buy. The one and only time I bought one without inspecting it first, it had a hole in one of the front control arms that I could almost stick my hand through...

[–] snoopfrog@midwest.social 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Used market used to be better-priced, but I felt it was sketchy unless you were handy or "knew a guy" who could repair it. I decided years ago to only buy new so that I knew it was well-maintained and not abused. I make payments into a savings account and pay cash, or if the best offer is a financing offer, I'll take the financing and either make payments or pay it off right away, depending on whether my savings interest is outperforming the rate of the loan. I only buy pretty basic things. Last car was a base model 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer. I'm in a 2022 Honda HR-V now. My next car will probably be something that takes advantage of the EV tax credit before it expires in 2032. Wife and I share one car, for what it's worth, since we work in the same place.

[–] stolid_agnostic@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Financial literacy is often lacking amongst the populace.

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

This, and a lot of young adults getting enlistment bonuses and buying Dodge Chargers. Seems like in Maryland, everyone 18-22 had one with their instagram handle on it.

[–] Auduras@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Used car prices skyrocketed during/post COVID. Still bad now compared to before, but better.

[–] SCB@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I have no idea why I found this so interesting, but here are some car facts:

  • average vehicle age in the US is 12 years (but I believe this counts commercial vehicles, which would skew the number)

  • 40 million used cars were sold in 2021-22

  • new us cars sales are steadily dropping, a trend started before the pandemic, and are hanging out around 12-14MM per year

  • most new sales are trucks

https://autoleap.com/blog/how-many-cars-are-sold-in-the-us-each-year/

https://www.marklines.com/en/statistics/flash_sales/automotive-sales-in-usa-by-month-2022

[–] creamed_eels@toast.ooo 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

There’s a sizeable portion of Americans who are obsessed with making sure people know just how rich they are by purchasing the newest, most expensive toys to show off, even if they aren’t rich. In fact, especially if they aren’t rich. Then when they implode, it’s someone else’s fault.

[–] stinerman@midwest.social 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah I feel bad for people struggling right now making payments on some beater.

The people who decided during the pandemic that they needed a $80k truck and suddenly can't afford it. Yeah, I'm not losing sleep.

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Us d cars have also skyrocketed. I bought a used NV200 in July with 36,000 miles on it and it's costing me 465 a month for the next 6 fucking years. And I got a really good interest rate.

[–] tomkatt@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I buy new which is against the overall trend, but I also tend to drive my cars into the ground and want something functional and warrantied, I don't want second hand issues in the event someone didn't do the regular maintenance and I live in the boonies now where reliable transportation is a must. I'm not interested in "new" just functional.

Last car before this I drove for 14 years and I only traded it in because I needed a CUV crossover to handle light off-road use after moving to a rural area (my old car was a small sedan style hatchback with a fixed suspension). I'd otherwise still be driving the old one I bought in 2006.

My "new" car (bought in late 2020) was fairly cheap as these things go (I got the 2020 model instead of the new 2021) and I paid a third of it cash down and got a 0% APR on it due to a financing deal, so zero interest at all. I'm also paying well above the monthly payments and expect to have it fully paid off within the next year, just because I hate having a car payment. Currently the car costs as much or more on the used market than I paid for it new, and with many more miles on it than I currently have.

Also, in fairness, I can 100% afford it and if needed could pay it off lump sum right now. I don't buy or finance things I can't comfortably afford.