Its official - 60% of households and 82% of singles can't afford a new car.

[andrew_j]

I would agree, except if a 0% loan is offered, use that (or even loans that are cheaper than interest on savings). But only if you could afford to buy it outright.

Too complicated for me. Have three bank accounts(one rainy day others active) and know liquid financial picture in a glance.

 

[daves87rs]

I own my house. It's worth more now, and would be harder to replace. I locked it in in a "buyers market." Whatever happens to the dollar, or real estate prices, I can choose not to participate and just keep on living here.

I own my cars. My Prius is connected to Toyota through the cell network but I can cripple that, and my bluetooth microphone, by pulling one fuse. All its features, like heated seats and radar cruise control, I also own. I can drive my cars until they rust out, and I'm pushing that point as far in the future as I can.

Yes big business is looking to milk the working class even more... there are guys working 50-60 hours a week looking to put the squeeze on, and there needs to be an organized counteraction to that. The non-profit "Consumers Union" started 90 years ago; they print "Consumer Reports" magazine. I can't think of any other particular examples. There are various governmental agencies that were formed with good intentions but many get made toothless as time goes on. I personally had a GREAT experience with the CFPB, hope that one sticks around.

And there is truth to that, as I too own my house and cars. The part that sucks is most folks don’t. While I could upgrade from my house, it suits the son, gf, and I just fine. No reason to add more debt at this point.

And I can agree with you- they are going to try to find a way to squeeze as much as possible.

 

[daves87rs]

That is certainly the model - what Uber is trying to do ultimately, or Elon Musk's self driving technology. You don't own a car, you hale one.

But I don't think this has been thought through - on a pure technical basis. Because everyone needs to go at the same time, so you still need as many cars. Everyone goes to work and comes back at around the same time. The ball game is at a specific time. So you still need lots of cars. Maybe ride sharing solves some of that, but there are 283M cars now. The argument was that the typical car sits 99% of the time so you only need 1% of the cars, but I think its probably 25% at least. Are corporate's going to pay for 75M Ubers? Maybe - but I just don't see this working.

I think they thought work from home and such would negate a lot of need - but no one actually works from home - they goof off.

I do agree with saving all you can the worst is yet to come - but that has almost always been the case. For the last century there has been a major cataclysmic type event every 10 or 15 years. WW1, great depression, WW2, Cold War, Oil Embargo, 70's inflation, .com bust, 9/11, Great financial crisis, pandemic. We get through all of them and come out better on the other side, but having some acorns in the tree is a good thing.

All true.

But I think they might want folks on buses or trolleys or something to that nature……

 

[Kurtatron]

the buying public needs to buy small cheap cars again. All this talk of expensive cars are draining the middle class, blah blah blah. Manufacturers can build cheap cars, but Americans won’t buy them.

Women want big honkin’ SUVs because they are ‘safe’.

Men want to feel powerful or masculine by driving big trucks or flashy sport cars.

None of these are cheap things. You could buy a fuel efficient car that’s reliable for 13k, but Americans won’t. Once cheap money is no longer available and people can’t get financing just because they have a pulse, extravagant car spending will nosedive.