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New Cars Are Too Expensive For The Typical Family, Says Study (gulfnews.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from GulfNews: A new analysis from Bankrate.com found that a median-income household in the U.S. could not afford the average price of a new vehicle in any of the 50 largest cities in the country, though cars are more affordable in some cities than others. The average price of a new car or light truck in 2016 is about $34,000, according to Kelley Blue Book. That's in part because new cars are loaded with helpful but expensive safety features like collision-avoidance systems. Bankrate calculated an "affordable" purchase price for major cities, using median incomes from U.S. census data, and factoring in costs for sales taxes and insurance. In San Jose, California -- the heart of Silicon Valley -- the median income is about $84,000, and an "affordable" new car purchase price is about $33,000 -- close to, but still below, the average new car price. In lower-income cities, however, affordable purchase prices for a typical family are far below the average cost of a new car. In Hartford, Connecticut, where the median income is about $29,000, an affordable purchase price is about $8,000 -- about a quarter of the average new-car price. Experian Automotive said the number of new cars bought with financing rose to more than 86 percent (Source: may be paywalled) in the first quarter of this year. The average loan amount topped $30,000, with the average term for a new-car loan in the 68-month range -- some stretch as long as seven years.
Some have suggested that self-driving cars will lead to a decline in personal vehicle ownership. Instead, people will rent a car from a membership pool when they need it, paying a simple fee per use or per month instead of bearing all the costs of insurance, inspection and registration on themselves.
I do not own a car and exclusively use car sharing when I need a car. The reason is money. I now pay less per month than what I used to pay for insurance.
Been doing it now for about 2 years. And I must say that the cars are not dirty at all. The reason is acountability. They know who used the car when.
So if I would get into a car and there is a lot of trash in the car, I just notify the company and they will make a note of it. If I see it before I get in the car, I do not open the car and could inform them right away. If the same person does it again, another user will notify the company. When you abuse the cars, you will get banned, so no more car for you.
It is not that you just walk up to the car with a pre-paid card and drive around. You need to subscribe.
I must say, it just works and the cars are cleaner and newer that what I used to drive myself and better maintained for sure. I use http://www.cambio.be/cms/carsh...
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I had a very different experience. I went shopping for used cars for my daughter and to replace my old car. I found used cars hold their value much, much better than they used to. 2-4 years in, they were only selling for a 20% discount under prices for new cars. It seems the days of a car losing half its value when it rolls over the dealer curb are over.
Um, no. Unless your car is a complete shitbox to start with, or you drive ~100 miles per day every day, keeping it for 10-15 years will not cost you more than replacing it every six years. Depreciation is an accounting trick that only really works in aggregate. If your car is still running in six years time, keep it. You will save the cost of a new car. The fact that yours is worth zero on paper means absolutely nothing if it still works the way it's supposed to.
I have an 07 Chevy. The biggest expense I've had on my car was when it got hit by a forklift while parked. That was 3k in body work covered by insurance. The next biggest expense was about 700 to replace the brake disks because I let the brake pads wear down to the metal. Oops; everyone has to learn somehow to replace their brake pads regularly
Other than that, new brake pads and fuel injector cleaning every two years (200 a pop). New spark plugs every four years. New tires every ~3-4 years depending on mileage (again, 300-400 depending on tires). New battery and timing belt at six or seven years.(500-600, I don't recall). Oil changes every three months ($30). All of those are recurring costs no matter whether your car just came off the line or is ten years old.
And lastly it goes without saying that even if you do make mid six figures, a 25k car gets you to work on time just as well as a 50k car. There's not even that much difference in the bells and whistles these days.
Honestly, if you spend more than 30 grand on a new car, you're already rolling in a lot of superfluous or unused features. My family members always end up buying well-equipped (not best equipped) midsize sedans like Toyota Camry and Honda Accord in the low 20Ks, and usually under the sticker price. And in fact, Camry and Accord have gotten too fat to even be called mid-sized. So if you want to save more money, go for a 20K compact car, like a Corolla, Focus, or Civic, etc. This still have four doors and five seats. Plenty for an average family, specially with younger children.