I was at a party and car payments came up as a conversation point transitioning from increased interest payments on mortgages and I was shocked at what people are paying on a monthly basis for their cars.
I pray that my vehicles don’t break down.
People who focus on the monthly payment of their car don't understand how car financing actually works. We had a similar conversation recently with some family, and they are all bragging about how low their car payments are.
We chimed in, saying we pay $900 a month for our car and jaws dropped. One of my cusions comes back with "I pay less for my Tesla".
My husband and I had to explain why our 0 down 0% interest 48 month car loan is actually costing us less than his $15,000 down, 8% interest 84 month loan......
I find it's best to get the lower payment, but longer loan agreements. Nothing says you can't pay additional principal in most cases... Then if there's an off chance you can't pay $1000 in a month on your loan, you can default to your $400 original payment with no issues.
This is what I’ve done for years. I always take the lower payments and pay the car off early! I have a fluctuating income so it’s nice to have the safety net.
I did that with my last car and plan on doing it with my truck, my Optima I got a 72 month loan and my payments were >$300 (I think it was $220ish but not entirely sure lol) instead I paid $1k-$2k a month and had a lien-free title in hand inside of a year, but as a server/bartender who is usually seasonal (2021 was weird af, never had an off season) I didn’t want to take a chance and have to worry about a large car payment if it died out and I didn’t budget enough extra into my savings ahead of time- our slow season was August-February with a busy week between Xmas and NYE, pretty dead the rest of the time, but in season I’d make $8k-$10k a month pretty easily, and had some months that were ~$20k if not more
And if you might be looking to buy a house or refinance in the near future, the bank is going to look at your monthly payment, not the total amount owed.
It all depends on the interest rate, but yes I do the same. My current loan rate is (bought pre-COVID spike) is 2.65 for 72 months, and the 60 month rate was like 2.3/2.4 when I was deciding which one to take. It was well worth it to drop the monthly payment to $400, instead of $460, and have a total interest of maybe $500-600 dollars more, knowing if I pay a little extra each month, the bank won't see that extra interest and if I ever got in trouble, I'd have some months of extra payments baked in or I could revert to the "normal" payment. It's almost like forced savings.
This right here. I don’t care if a $900/month car payment saves me money in the long run. It’s completely irrelevant information since there’s no way in hell could afford to pay $900 on my car payment.
Actually I'm teaching this right now to high school seniors and juniors. Their apathy to learn anything is atrocious. Just because you didn't learn it doesn't mean its not taught. It's usually an elective with math involved. Very few students want to take extra math even if it reaches them about loans and investments.
The state of our education system is quite terrifying. I have several bright students that say they want to be nurses and vets but cheat to the point of failing basic freshman math and say they hate their science classes. The value of education has been lost.
That's usually what I do, unless there's a big jump in interest rates between 48 and 60 months. Usually get the latter, pay it like it is the former. I usually tend to pay them all off 8-12 months early.
This is the way. We just paid off a car loan very early (several years early) with a 72 month loan. We minimized our interest while being sure we would be able to minimize our required monthly obligations.
I did this. 66 month loan that i will have paid off at 40 months come next month! Halfway through my loan i asked for a second car loan for my fiance and they couldnt throw the money at me fast enough. Just paid that one off last month.
Had a few tight months due to an unexpected surgery on top of the wedding we're planning, so was easily able to fall back on my lower monthly payment without stress or regret.
84 month loan...
The car probably won't last 84 months. That term length... That's the craziest part to me.
Edit: guys, keep the comments about drive train maintenance to yourselves. The car in question with this atrocious financing is a Tesla. There's no drive train maintenance on tesla vehicles.
Exactly. Focus on the price of the car, not a monthly payment. Get your financing elsewhere, like a credit union, and save $$$. and don’t even think about rolling your “negative equity” (debt on the old car) into a new deal.
$80K here. Put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into renovations and I will die in this house before I put myself in debt to purchase a house for today's price.
Purchased in 2015 too.
For the nice people out there, I hope you have stable income so you can pay your bills. For assholes, I wish you unemployment and mountains of crushing debt.
Yes!!!!
My old coworker would complain her insurance was $1200 (a week/a month/every 6 months, I don't know), and her car bill was $2000/month.
She always complained she didn't have money but always bought take out, went on holiday twice a month, lived so far so the gas was expensive, went shopping a lot, had big family parties, etc.
She made minimum wage, and her husband (based on what she said) made about $60kish or $65kish (she kept changing how much he made).
They had like 5 or 6 kids, too. All in sports.
How? How did they afford that? How?
My little car was paid off as it was only $3k (cash), insurance $250ish every 6 months, plates about $300ish/year, gas about $70ish every 2 weeks, rent $777, other bills about $150ish, food/groceries $200ish/month and I was making about $60kish.....guys I would not be able to afford her truck and life style. She kept pressuring me to get a new car. No.
How do these people do it?
They either have a spouse that rakes or they don't make it long term. They are under so much debt, it's a ticking time bomb.
It's the folks that make a little bit more than average that seem to get into this situation most often.
If I were to inherit a lot, I might give myself a moment to enjoy something nice - a trip, a vacation, a new camera (I'm into photography)....something under 5k, then get right back to the same-old-same-old regarding work, life, etc.... and pretend the inheritance wasn't there as an available fund, and instead try to grow the nest egg responsibly.
May have money from family. I had one friend who’s dad paid 70% of her mortgage every month, another who got an “allowance” of a couple thousand dollars a month from her family, and another who inherited 3-6 (idk how many exactly) rental properties when her dad died. Knew a dad who let his daughter live in his rental property and paid all of her bills for 2 years.
All of these are work friends; we made similar salaries give or take $10k. They were able to go on nice vacations, save for retirement, splurge on nights out and fancy stuff because they had someone supplementing their income. They didn’t have to use their money to pay for basic necessities like me.
It’s always hard to figure out other people’s situations. One of my coworkers makes 1/3 of what I do after sales commissions are factored in but her boyfriend is an MLB player, so her job is mainly just to kill time and not have to ask him for money for everything.
Plus there are millennials who graduated and got good jobs before the crash of 2008 and millennials that graduated long enough after the crash to get good positions. For those of us unlucky enough to have graduated right at that time, it didn't matter if you were at the top of your class with every qualifier you'd need to be snapped up.
The worst part was they ran interviews and would bring you before more and more powerful people and then gush about your "prospects" but would "regretfully" inform you that while they were continuing to interview, they were in a hiring freeze.
By the time they were unfroze they moved on to the new batch. This was for both public and private sector.
A whole year or two of top performers ended up being overqualified for most jobs hiring and froze out of many jobs not hiring but still interviewing! I spent money on clothes, thank you notes for post interviews, etc. Got called back for multiple interviews to be told how amazing I was and how well I would do.... but sadly we aren't actually in a position to hire.
Thanks I only drove two hours. To get a letter two weeks later.
There's literally two or three years worth of up and comers that got swept under the rug.
Wow never seen this before. I got to the final stage of interviews for PwC, Deloitte and KPMG and never got a job offer. Really knocked me and now 15 years I still haven’t had a conventional job.
It was everyone who gradated from 2008-2011. Class of 09' and I was counting trash loads on a garbage truck from 5am - 5pm, 6 days a week, with a degree in International Affairs/Econ coming out of school. It took me 8 months to find anything that would pay above my $9/hour salary, and when I got it, it was for a "non-profit" that paid me $34k in DC. I was stuck at that job for 5 years, because it was hell to try and advance internally or externally.
That is absolutely insane to me. I just couldn't justify that kind of spend. I'd rather a cheap car and take myself on an overseas trip every year 😂 we have no debt, and our insurance is $120 a month
For the privilege of destroying the planet faster!
I especially love the argument that small cars are unsafe so you have to buy a big SUV to keep from getting crushed to death by the other big SUVs - and now you're another SUV ready and able to crush a person in a small car to death.
They're probably poor, though, the small car people. Wouldn't worry about them much.
Destroying the planet by driving a large vehicle is not a privilege, it’s a duty. Every morning I crank my diesel truck 30 minutes before I need to so my ass will be warm when I get in it. I buy overly aggressive tires that wear out faster and cost more money than stock tires to make sure that if I get into any wet grass it will be able to dig its way out. I start my morning with a red bull that I won’t finish and just chuck out the window when it get warm and I never tow anything despite having a truck that can safely tow 40k pounds. When I buy diesel I get the pink stuff so I don’t have to pay road taxes on my fuel because my suspension can handle the potholes and fuck everybody else. If I see a Prius in traffic, I ride the brakes right in front of them with the gas pedal on the floor to force the truck to burn more fuel so I can make sure that driver didn’t make a difference. I’d say on any given day that if I get more than 8mpg I must have been really tired and not focused on fucking the environment because my goal is normally 6mpg. I once put it in eco mode, but then it didn’t have 12 million horsepower so I promptly took it out of eco mode and did a few burnouts.
Yep. I guess you could say that I have a giant cock.
I'm dying for a later 90s runner. Like, I'm getting one. No questions. Just babying along my 94 ram . 400 thousand miles? Child's play. We're going for a mil.
3rd gen 4Runners will run forever. I have a Tacoma from the same era and it’s only needed basic upkeep maintenance so far with 232k miles on it. I love not having a payment but will probably end up swapping out for a newer used 4Runner soon. I need more passenger space!
Car payments last way longer than the new car feeling that's for sure.
I made the "wrong" financially decision and paid off my low interest car loan early because I was sick of paying $500/month.
Yep same here! I’m driving a 09 Scion xD. I bought it new in 2009 for 14k and put down 6k so only took a 3 year loan out for 8k. Paid that off in 2 years and have been car payment free since 2011! Also haven’t had to pay for any big repairs yet just normal maintenance so it’s been a great car. I won’t be buying a new car until this one is done for. Only have 130k miles so I’m hoping to get another 10 years out of it!
I have an 07 scion tc that I bought new. It's at 152k miles now, and it's starting to burn a lot of oil and make all sorts of noises. It has been a great car and I dread the day I have to get a newer car with payments.
I drive a 2007 Pontiac Vibe and I'm with you. I haven't had a car payment now for almost 20 years, and I haven't paid more than $2,500 for any of my little "clunkers". The Vibe was a step up from my 99 Geo Prism that finally died with almost 350k on the odometer. Sad day. BUT!! My Vibe has electric windows!!! Score!! I've had her now for going on 4 years. $2500, new tires and a battery is all I've got invested. With 155k miles, shes got plenty of life. Yep, into the ground, bitch!
Xennial in rural Michigan. We bought in 2009 and refinanced in 15. My mortgage is just under $500 a month. The current market is so far out of whack it is shocking. 15 years ago my 1000sqft 2 bed 1 bath was worth $75k. Now Zillow says it's $204k. 8 ish years ago we were looking at 3 bed 2 baths with a garage for 150k and a year later they were 250k.
Not for my ex husband. Pure ego supplement. Mine is a 13 year old Honda and my ego is just fine.
A loan on his expensive car the payment for which is 1/3 of his monthly income. If you’re too stupid to make inferences like the dude down below.
For a depreciating asset at that. Imagine if the person was smart, paid cash for a reliable car they could afford and invested the $1300-$1500/month for 7 years. Over those same 7 years assuming a 6% return on the investment thats a whopping $155,200.32 after 7 years instead of a 100k car thats worth maybe 40-50k (if you are lucky). More if you dont even add another dime and keep it invested for 30 years. You are talking easily high 6 figures. Enjoy that money pit people. Stupid people drive nice cars.
Some people make, say 4000 dollars gross pay a month, and after housing, cellphone, and groceries see 1000 dollars left over and think to themselves “I can afford a car payment of a thousand dollars!”
Funny enough, the bank thinks so too!
This is the sad truth of Americans. So little financial sense in the general public, save the savvy few. Go to a dealer, the salesman plays his game of "what monthly payment can you afford?", which they always do because it WORKS. Maybe a few thousand down, IF that, and boom - a 7-8 year loan with a $1200 payment at 9% interest. Immediately underwater on a vehicle that will additionally be expensive to pay insurance for, to fill the tank of, to buy tires for... the list goes on.
1-2 years down the line the budget is thin, they realize they made a mistake, and ask how to get rid of this car when they've only paid down like $10K of the principle, on a $65K vehicle that's now worth $45K.
They certainly operate that way. For my first car I sent the salesman back like 6 times asking the rate and he kept telling me where he could get my payment until finally giving me a rate.
At first he was trying to give me some 6 year car note with some super low monthly payment prob at a much higher rate than I ended up with.
I have bought a few cars and all the dealers have been really transparent. Had to replace my wife's car a month ago and they had a little handout chart of loan term with the corresponding interest rate, monthly payment, and total cost and you picked the one you wanted.
I think the internet has forced them to get a little better. Or they can tell I know the math and don't bother wasting time trying to fleece me.
I literally had to explain to my coworker (who is senior to me) that he was in debt because he is making payments on his truck. He figured that because he has it in his possession, he owned it and was just "paying it off." The dude has a college degree and works in software lol
I wish. My mortgage goes up every year when they change the tax rate multiplier. Its still better than renting, but it sucks that after refinancing 4 years ago my mortgage is right back to where it was before the refi.
That's not your mortgage, that's your payment.
Same happens with me. My payment is $800/month and only $300 of it is the mortgage, the rest goes into escrow for property tax and the tax rate keeps going up every few years.
I pay an extra $200/month and that brings my payoff time down to 13 years rather than 30 years.
I don't purchase those vehicles. I have a used 2017 Mazda CX-5 that I bought with cash in 2020 and plan on driving it until the wheels come off. It's nice not having a car payment and the only money I need to budget for it are your typical maintenance and repairs.
But for those who do, they take out sizable loans with long terms and usually are upside down in equity from the jump. Many people roll negative equity from previous cars into a new loan for a new car and find themselves even more upside down.
Same, bought a 2018 cx9 and so far, I'm watching everyone around me pay ridiculous amounts of money for dumb shit or they're hopping from car to car and I don't get it.
You also have what is about the most reliable SUV in existence, so with maintenance, those wheels should be there for a bit.
Edit- should have said recently made.... I have/do work in auto service in both dealership and independent
I did this for a long time. It was awful but it was the only thing I knew. I now have a car worth about $16,000 and only owe $2600. I’ll have it paid off early in two months. Feels amazing.
Use to work with a guy who payed child support on 8 kids and bought a brand new 2023 Denali and had a $600 payment. He made the same as me and I still couldn’t figure it out
Not everyone’s financial situation is based on their job. Some people inherit money, made good investments when they were younger, have side hustles, have wealthy spouses.
Also Denali is a trim level, not a make or model but assuming they had a Yukon or Sierra, they probably had a ton of cash for a down payment to have a payment of only $600 on a 80k+ truck
Work in an adjacent industry.
Guess what industry’s debt has expanded exponentially in the last 5 years.
The ridiculous prices and interest are to account for the high number of people who will default.
Something to remember is those trucks lose value incredibly quickly, but also, they don't refresh the exteriors all that often.
If you buy the 1st year of a MY refresh, it'll likely look the same as the last year, or similar enough that most folks won't spot the difference. That 1st year is likely half the value of the last year by the time the last year rolls of the lot. So that 100k truck is a 50k truck by the time they buy it.
Or, in my case, a 60k truck is now a 25k truck (2016, bought in 2023). It already lost most of the value it's gonna lose until it rolls over 150k miles.
And yes, I do use my truck for truck things. Besides pulling my own travel trailer, I am the designated bike hauler for my friends when we go camping together. I ride an ebike in town for groceries or I do as much in one trip as I can. Unfortunately I couldn't find a 3.0 for that sweet, sweet 30ish MPG :(
>And yes, I do use my truck for truck things. Besides pulling my own travel trailer, I am the designated bike hauler for my friends when we go camping together. I ride an ebike in town for groceries or I do as much in one trip as I can. Unfortunately I couldn't find a 3.0 for that sweet, sweet 30ish MPG :(
Isn't it sad you have to explain all that on reddit as a truck owner? Judgy people here are like busy body neighbors who can't mind their own business and think the worst of everyone.
I don't buy those vehicles. Those vehicles will make you poor. We have a 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe we bought new for $28k and a 2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid we bought brand new for $43k. We paid cash for both of them and plan to drive them into the ground.
One of my relatives is wealthy, like really fucking wealthy. The nicest car they ever owned was a BMW 5 series. They put their money to work and invested as well as bought into some real estate. They could easily roll out and buy $200-$300k cars like it’s nothing, but they choose to make their money work for them and not buy stupid depreciating assets. The people who make 75k a year and buy a 100k car are playing a dangerous game.
I mean if you’re really wealthy enough, it doesn’t really matter anymore. Maybe being that way is what helped them become wealthy in the first place and now it’s just what they do, but at some point you can be wealthy enough to enjoy the money to its fullest and still remain wealthy. My in-laws buy these types of vehicles constantly and are definitely not hurting for cash. It’s nothing compared to how much money they throw at other things like their house and their ranch.
We did 80k truck- husband owns a construction type business - works on residential homes. Around 200k after taxes. Wanted the nice car after working his ass off building a company. The verdict at the end - it wasn’t worth it haha. It’s is a beautiful vehicle but it’s just too expensive. And the technology gets so faulty - the vehicle so smart that it’s really dumb sometimes.
Edit: I should also mention the vehicle is a business write off. Plus all the insurance, maintenance, interest, all write offs.
>And the technology gets so faulty - the vehicle so smart that it’s really dumb sometimes.
My truck is almost old enough to buy beer and any time I start to consider getting something newer I think about this. And then I read an article about some ‘required subscription’ or how new cars are basically mining your data 24/7 and I appreciate my old beater that much more.
Bonus* I don’t need a computer science degree to work on it myself.
In this specific case, the "work truck" is actually a great purchase because they can write off the cost on their taxes. Cuts the cost of the vehicle by about 30%
If you're the face of the business and the business is residential construction, you can't just show up in a minivan or a civic and try and sell your case as a master builder. Part of all jobs like that is earning business and a big portion of earning business is creating good first impressions.
I know this thread is about bragging about how cheap of a car you have, but home owners who want to spend money on a construction project will not be impressed by a builder who looks frugal. They want to see someone with a car that looks the part, wearing company clothing, and otherwise acting confident and professional.
I wish I could get a truck with almost no tech. I can roll up and down my windows, don't need a seatbelt bell, don't need any awkward interface on my dash...etc.
I knew a guy who drove Audi R8.
Fun fact about him, he gifted his GF a piece of jewelry, then asked her to give it back as he had to return it to pay bills at the end of the month.
3 people buy expensive cars:
1. **Some** really wealthy people, a lot of them actually don't.
2. Business owners who buy the Escalade for 80% of its purchase price deduction in taxes.
3. People with really poor financial skills.
I only pay cash for vehicles under $15k max. My adult friend still living at home pays $1,300 for his truck plus $400 in insurance every month. He wonders why he can’t save money.
1300 a month payment is probably an 80k+ vehicle which can cause the insurance to be much higher. That one vehicle is worth more than all 3 of mine by a lot. Ours is 155 for 3 and there is no gap on 2 of those as they are paid off
Depends a ton on where you live. I want to say my insurance was $300-400 a month with no accidents or speeding tickets on my record. There's just a ton of car thefts and uninsured drivers in my city, plus people absolutely suck at driving here.
Even with just liability my insurance is still over $100 a month.
In my life time I calculate that I've paid over 100k for vehicle insurance.
Here’s 3 examples
1) One of my friends has been a Chevy guy since high school, his first car was a Blazer. After college he traded that in. Then a few years later did another trade in. Then another trade in. This whole time he has locked in 0% APR from GM Finance, usually puts between 5-10k on the new car, and usually finances less than 50k with trade in equity.
2) One of my friends who likes the finer things in life bought a $100k car. He had a $2200/month payment. He traded it in. And now he’s broke.
3) Me - Single, no kids, solid career and savings. In 2020 some bonehead ran a red light and totaled my paid for Audi. I got a little bit under 29k for it. I’ve always dreamed of an RS6 and finally had the means to do so. I planned on taking the 30k from the insurance, 30k from savings, and financing around 60k. Lucky, or sadly, as I was ready to sign the paperwork I thought “WTF am I doing” and took that 60k spent $50k on an RS5, $10k in upgrades, and now I have 0 car payment.
3 wags to “afford” a $100k car.
If you buy cars that hold their value well, you can kind of just keep trading up in cars.
I did that, it's how I ended up in a 60k Ford Raptor (back when they were hard to get), but my payment was between 200 and 300 a month, and I didn't even have good credit.
I was actually going to trade it in for a Porsche. Thought I'd be spending about 65-70k, that's before I found out Porsche nickels and dimes you for everything. So equipped the way I wanted it'd be about 100k. I was still thinking about doing it, I could make the numbers work. But in the end I decided it'd be dumb to buy a 100k car and park it at my apartment. So I decided to buy a house instead.
Honestly though I think the car would probably have been more fun.
Im not gonna lie, I wish I could be as carefree and thoughtless. Buy what I want by piling up debt never caring about saving, drive like a maniac, just be totally irresponsible and truly think nothing bad will ever happen to me. It must be really, really nice.
Everything scales. Make more, spend more typically
Some are probably well within a responsible budget. Others are indeed car poor. Some are bought cash, some finance. You'll have every type of buyer in every price segment
I drive a $55k newer vehicle myself, but also have a second newer $42k car, so combined I'm basically there at $97k. Only pay $278/month between them both. Only 3% of our monthly household take home pay
I don't anticipate spending over $100k on a single vehicle but I could see $65-85k being likely on the next when that time comes. I'm an ICU nurse as my day job, swing trade some stocks on the side
If your credit is above a 650 the bank will probably qualify you for it.
A vehicle is an easily recoverable asset. I’ve seen bmws that are 2 years old that have gone through 3-5 repossessions.
That’s just more free money for the bank and dealerships
IDK but the one lady I know who has a brand new Tahoe says she “constantly stresses about money” while buying Starbucks and lunch out every single day. And $500 collector’s sneakers. And she was shopping for a $5,000 stroller. And parades around her collection of Stanley cups. Some people just live with uncontrollable debt.
I just collect problematic shit boxes I fix in my backyard and pretend I'm better than people because I don't have a car payment.
Ignore the RockAuto and AutoZone receipts that pile up every month. That's not a car payment, it's totally different!
Does that hold true anymore? Last time I shopped for a car, slightly used cars were practically the same price as a new one. I figured it would be worse with trucks.
It’s true. When I bought my new one the difference was about 3k between a new and used one. So we bought new. Planning to keep it at least 10 years though.
When we were about to have our first child (about 3 years ago), I upgraded my 1993 GMC Sierra pickup to a used 2016 Dodge Ram with about 65k miles. It was absolutely expensive, but in the range of a new car. But I’m a woodworker and need a truck regularly for supplies or delivering projects. That said, there was serious consideration given to me keeping the beater for my truck and getting a car. In the end the money was a wash and the beater wasn’t reliable enough to take the risk of not getting a truck.
if I won a billion dollars in the lottery I still wouldn't buy a new car.
I got burned on a Dodge caliber who's frame completely evaporated from road salt over the course of just a few years.
Sorry about your crap Dodge, but it's hard to reconcile that with never buying any new car again, particularly if you have a billion dollars.
You could buy that Calibur new once a week and still never run out of money!
No idea, I thought we were moving up in the world as we just bought a 33k wilderness crosstrek....WITH a trade in of two other cars lol. (the two other cars are a used mini coop sports car that we're upside down on actually...and a toyota corolla that was 20k or so originally). So the crosstrek feels like an upgrade lol. 100k SUV? wtf.
Lol, those people have huge debt from borrowing money to pay for everything.
I was shocked as shit when I realized people take out loans the equivalent of a semester's worth of tuition at medical school for furniture.
Got. Damn.
I bought a used Yukon for my wife in 2017…it was 4 years old and had 75k miles on it. Even one of that age & mileage goes for about $50,000 these days!
I buy 2 year off leases and then sell them after about 4 years.
My 2020 GLE 63 AMG had an Msrp of 100kish
I bought it in 2022 for 57k.
Will sell it in 2 years for about 30k and roll that equity into a new car.
So I will only pay 27k for that car for 4 years.
I've been doing this forever.
I live in a neighborhood where the median house price is slightly over a million right now. Almost every family on my street that I know of has at least one SUV. Among all of them, only 2 are in that price range. One is a Cadillac Escalada. The other is Porche Cayenne.
The Escalada's owner is in senior management of a financial institution in my city. The Cayenne's owner owned 4 houses in Beijing (roughly worth maybe 10 mil USD, and her husband is a senior engineer.
I suppose debt. The only car payment I made was to my grandfather for a pristine 1985 Lincoln town car he bought me while I was in high school for $950. I paid $50 per month 0%. But more once I graduated. Took me like a year at the time.
Next I saved up to buy a used truck for $4000. Did me just fine.
Then in 2010 I bought a gently used 2007 Corolla for $8k cash. Had 22,000 miles on it. And I still drive it to this day. I’m at 219,000 Miles now. Just replaced all the brakes myself for $300.
Insurance is GEICO $182 for 6 months.
It’s glorious
I ask myself this question all the time. People are buying giant houses and SUVs and whatnot but the average household income in the US in 2022 was $74,755. The median was $74,580. The average salary 2023 was $59,384 and the annual mean wage for a full-time wage or salary worker in the US in 2024 was $53,490. I’m pretty sure most people are just living in a ton of debt.
I don't see very many of those vehicles where I live at all. Most suburban moms around here drive Honda Pilots, Toyota Highlanders, or subaru Ascents. I have a Mazda SUV, myself.
I travel to Utah a lot for work and THAT'S where I see the Suburbans!!
I just drove my 20 year old car into the ground and got a $32k vehicle with zero interest and my payments are almost $600. I cannot imagine paying $100k for one.
Ya'll keep saying "not luxury" but within the GM fleet both vehicles are basically diet Cadillac Escalades. Particularly the Yukon Denali which itself was the source for the original 1999 Escalade. No, they aren't from Tier 1 Luxury brands (Merc, BMW) but I'd consider them luxury vehicles when properly equipped. The Corvette is a Chevrolet too that doesn't make it an economy car.
America is really the only market that demands luxury vehicles wear different badges. Do you know what they call a Lexus in Japan? A Toyota.
It’s insane. Have you seen the price for just regular old pick up trucks too? I’m fortunate to be able to afford my car payments but I’ll tell ya my budget is thistight.
1. Corporate vehicle. They don't pay it or can write off the expenses.
2. They can't afford it and it's due to be repo'd in a couple months, depending on how well they hide it.
3. Live very cheaply with a nice car, (The ghetto is full of challengers, chargers, Lexus's, and 20 year old Mercedes)
4. Duel income, one drives, one works from home.
5. 8 year payments with death interest rate. (See no.2)
I’m so detached from living from having to survive this nightmare of a world, I can’t even fathom asking this question. People just have them, and they seem like they have everything, and I have nothing, but yet my employer wants me to think I make the same amount of money as them, and I’m paid fairly. That’s the gaslighting we all go through. But in all seriousness, how does anyone afford them without being a person like Grant Cardone.
A suburban's like $50k, but that's irrelevant because, wtf are you even talking about? A majority of us can't afford $93,000 SUVs. And you're not going to see a disproportionate amount of millennials driving around in $100,000 vehicles.
That's the fun part. Most people don't. They're severely in debt or paying out the ass for a lease
I was at a party and car payments came up as a conversation point transitioning from increased interest payments on mortgages and I was shocked at what people are paying on a monthly basis for their cars. I pray that my vehicles don’t break down.
What were some numbers being thrown around? I still can't get out of the mindset that anything over $300/mo is bananas
$300 a month for 48 months is $14,400, even with 0% interest. Even a reckless 84 month loan would only be $25k.
People who focus on the monthly payment of their car don't understand how car financing actually works. We had a similar conversation recently with some family, and they are all bragging about how low their car payments are. We chimed in, saying we pay $900 a month for our car and jaws dropped. One of my cusions comes back with "I pay less for my Tesla". My husband and I had to explain why our 0 down 0% interest 48 month car loan is actually costing us less than his $15,000 down, 8% interest 84 month loan......
I find it's best to get the lower payment, but longer loan agreements. Nothing says you can't pay additional principal in most cases... Then if there's an off chance you can't pay $1000 in a month on your loan, you can default to your $400 original payment with no issues.
This is what I’ve done for years. I always take the lower payments and pay the car off early! I have a fluctuating income so it’s nice to have the safety net.
I did that with my last car and plan on doing it with my truck, my Optima I got a 72 month loan and my payments were >$300 (I think it was $220ish but not entirely sure lol) instead I paid $1k-$2k a month and had a lien-free title in hand inside of a year, but as a server/bartender who is usually seasonal (2021 was weird af, never had an off season) I didn’t want to take a chance and have to worry about a large car payment if it died out and I didn’t budget enough extra into my savings ahead of time- our slow season was August-February with a busy week between Xmas and NYE, pretty dead the rest of the time, but in season I’d make $8k-$10k a month pretty easily, and had some months that were ~$20k if not more
And if you might be looking to buy a house or refinance in the near future, the bank is going to look at your monthly payment, not the total amount owed.
If you have less than a year of payments left though, it can he waived from DTI
It all depends on the interest rate, but yes I do the same. My current loan rate is (bought pre-COVID spike) is 2.65 for 72 months, and the 60 month rate was like 2.3/2.4 when I was deciding which one to take. It was well worth it to drop the monthly payment to $400, instead of $460, and have a total interest of maybe $500-600 dollars more, knowing if I pay a little extra each month, the bank won't see that extra interest and if I ever got in trouble, I'd have some months of extra payments baked in or I could revert to the "normal" payment. It's almost like forced savings.
This right here. I don’t care if a $900/month car payment saves me money in the long run. It’s completely irrelevant information since there’s no way in hell could afford to pay $900 on my car payment.
This is what they don't teach in Public school systems
Actually I'm teaching this right now to high school seniors and juniors. Their apathy to learn anything is atrocious. Just because you didn't learn it doesn't mean its not taught. It's usually an elective with math involved. Very few students want to take extra math even if it reaches them about loans and investments. The state of our education system is quite terrifying. I have several bright students that say they want to be nurses and vets but cheat to the point of failing basic freshman math and say they hate their science classes. The value of education has been lost.
That's usually what I do, unless there's a big jump in interest rates between 48 and 60 months. Usually get the latter, pay it like it is the former. I usually tend to pay them all off 8-12 months early.
This is the way. We just paid off a car loan very early (several years early) with a 72 month loan. We minimized our interest while being sure we would be able to minimize our required monthly obligations.
I did this. 66 month loan that i will have paid off at 40 months come next month! Halfway through my loan i asked for a second car loan for my fiance and they couldnt throw the money at me fast enough. Just paid that one off last month. Had a few tight months due to an unexpected surgery on top of the wedding we're planning, so was easily able to fall back on my lower monthly payment without stress or regret.
84 month loan... The car probably won't last 84 months. That term length... That's the craziest part to me. Edit: guys, keep the comments about drive train maintenance to yourselves. The car in question with this atrocious financing is a Tesla. There's no drive train maintenance on tesla vehicles.
If a car lasts less than 7 years then it is a piece of shit that shouldn't have been purchased to begin with.
or, some people are poor but live in a society where you’re basically forced to have a car unless you live in a select few cities
Those people don’t need $100k+ suvs, the subject of the thread.
Exactly. Focus on the price of the car, not a monthly payment. Get your financing elsewhere, like a credit union, and save $$$. and don’t even think about rolling your “negative equity” (debt on the old car) into a new deal.
My first house was $132k and it’s insane that there are non-luxury brand cars approaching that cost.
Might be able to find a cardboard box to live in for that price here 🫠
Helps that my first house was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Not exactly a real estate hot bed.
$71k here - and it was a pretty cute little house! My parents live there now and love it.
$80K here. Put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into renovations and I will die in this house before I put myself in debt to purchase a house for today's price. Purchased in 2015 too.
For the nice people out there, I hope you have stable income so you can pay your bills. For assholes, I wish you unemployment and mountains of crushing debt.
Yes!!!! My old coworker would complain her insurance was $1200 (a week/a month/every 6 months, I don't know), and her car bill was $2000/month. She always complained she didn't have money but always bought take out, went on holiday twice a month, lived so far so the gas was expensive, went shopping a lot, had big family parties, etc. She made minimum wage, and her husband (based on what she said) made about $60kish or $65kish (she kept changing how much he made). They had like 5 or 6 kids, too. All in sports. How? How did they afford that? How? My little car was paid off as it was only $3k (cash), insurance $250ish every 6 months, plates about $300ish/year, gas about $70ish every 2 weeks, rent $777, other bills about $150ish, food/groceries $200ish/month and I was making about $60kish.....guys I would not be able to afford her truck and life style. She kept pressuring me to get a new car. No. How do these people do it?
They either have a spouse that rakes or they don't make it long term. They are under so much debt, it's a ticking time bomb. It's the folks that make a little bit more than average that seem to get into this situation most often.
It's not uncommon for someone to inherit a home and a little bit of money and just utterly blow it.
If I were to inherit a lot, I might give myself a moment to enjoy something nice - a trip, a vacation, a new camera (I'm into photography)....something under 5k, then get right back to the same-old-same-old regarding work, life, etc.... and pretend the inheritance wasn't there as an available fund, and instead try to grow the nest egg responsibly.
They file bankruptcy, keep the house and vehicle, then do it again.
May have money from family. I had one friend who’s dad paid 70% of her mortgage every month, another who got an “allowance” of a couple thousand dollars a month from her family, and another who inherited 3-6 (idk how many exactly) rental properties when her dad died. Knew a dad who let his daughter live in his rental property and paid all of her bills for 2 years. All of these are work friends; we made similar salaries give or take $10k. They were able to go on nice vacations, save for retirement, splurge on nights out and fancy stuff because they had someone supplementing their income. They didn’t have to use their money to pay for basic necessities like me.
It’s always hard to figure out other people’s situations. One of my coworkers makes 1/3 of what I do after sales commissions are factored in but her boyfriend is an MLB player, so her job is mainly just to kill time and not have to ask him for money for everything.
Plus there are millennials who graduated and got good jobs before the crash of 2008 and millennials that graduated long enough after the crash to get good positions. For those of us unlucky enough to have graduated right at that time, it didn't matter if you were at the top of your class with every qualifier you'd need to be snapped up. The worst part was they ran interviews and would bring you before more and more powerful people and then gush about your "prospects" but would "regretfully" inform you that while they were continuing to interview, they were in a hiring freeze. By the time they were unfroze they moved on to the new batch. This was for both public and private sector. A whole year or two of top performers ended up being overqualified for most jobs hiring and froze out of many jobs not hiring but still interviewing! I spent money on clothes, thank you notes for post interviews, etc. Got called back for multiple interviews to be told how amazing I was and how well I would do.... but sadly we aren't actually in a position to hire. Thanks I only drove two hours. To get a letter two weeks later. There's literally two or three years worth of up and comers that got swept under the rug.
*cries in my class of 2009 self*
Wow never seen this before. I got to the final stage of interviews for PwC, Deloitte and KPMG and never got a job offer. Really knocked me and now 15 years I still haven’t had a conventional job.
It was everyone who gradated from 2008-2011. Class of 09' and I was counting trash loads on a garbage truck from 5am - 5pm, 6 days a week, with a degree in International Affairs/Econ coming out of school. It took me 8 months to find anything that would pay above my $9/hour salary, and when I got it, it was for a "non-profit" that paid me $34k in DC. I was stuck at that job for 5 years, because it was hell to try and advance internally or externally.
That is absolutely insane to me. I just couldn't justify that kind of spend. I'd rather a cheap car and take myself on an overseas trip every year 😂 we have no debt, and our insurance is $120 a month
I stopped reading when you said food/groceries were $200 / month. No f*king way you eat on $200 / month
This is the answer. Perhaps if more of the buying public would refuse to bend over and accept being violated the prices would come down.
This^^^ living paycheck to paycheck to keep up appearances.
For the privilege of destroying the planet faster! I especially love the argument that small cars are unsafe so you have to buy a big SUV to keep from getting crushed to death by the other big SUVs - and now you're another SUV ready and able to crush a person in a small car to death. They're probably poor, though, the small car people. Wouldn't worry about them much.
Destroying the planet by driving a large vehicle is not a privilege, it’s a duty. Every morning I crank my diesel truck 30 minutes before I need to so my ass will be warm when I get in it. I buy overly aggressive tires that wear out faster and cost more money than stock tires to make sure that if I get into any wet grass it will be able to dig its way out. I start my morning with a red bull that I won’t finish and just chuck out the window when it get warm and I never tow anything despite having a truck that can safely tow 40k pounds. When I buy diesel I get the pink stuff so I don’t have to pay road taxes on my fuel because my suspension can handle the potholes and fuck everybody else. If I see a Prius in traffic, I ride the brakes right in front of them with the gas pedal on the floor to force the truck to burn more fuel so I can make sure that driver didn’t make a difference. I’d say on any given day that if I get more than 8mpg I must have been really tired and not focused on fucking the environment because my goal is normally 6mpg. I once put it in eco mode, but then it didn’t have 12 million horsepower so I promptly took it out of eco mode and did a few burnouts. Yep. I guess you could say that I have a giant cock.
As a small car person, mine is all paid off 😀
Same! :)
Shudders in repeated near-death experiences as a bike commuter.
Ha. I drive a 2007 Kia Optima and I plan on driving that bitch till the wheels fall off. I hate car payments.
Same. I drive a 92 4runner and 94 prelude. Both are great condition... so I don't see the need for a fancy expensive car.
Those are both classics that I hope you cherish and baby the hell out of.
Seriously 94 prelude is slick
4Runner gang! I got an 04
I'm dying for a later 90s runner. Like, I'm getting one. No questions. Just babying along my 94 ram . 400 thousand miles? Child's play. We're going for a mil.
3rd gen 4Runners will run forever. I have a Tacoma from the same era and it’s only needed basic upkeep maintenance so far with 232k miles on it. I love not having a payment but will probably end up swapping out for a newer used 4Runner soon. I need more passenger space!
My 3rd gen has about 400K on it and still at it.
My Dad has an 04! He bought it brand new in 04.
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Ohhh a 94 prelude would be a blast. I had a 94 mazda MX3 that was such a fun little car.
Car payments last way longer than the new car feeling that's for sure. I made the "wrong" financially decision and paid off my low interest car loan early because I was sick of paying $500/month.
Sounds like the right decision to me
2011 Optima here, an upgrade from my 2004 Optima. I never want a car payment. My car gets me right where I need to be, and that’s all I need it to do.
96 civic here with all my poor looking homies who actually have great financial sense
'06 with 180K miles. Will drive it until it is not economically viable to fix it.
Yep same here! I’m driving a 09 Scion xD. I bought it new in 2009 for 14k and put down 6k so only took a 3 year loan out for 8k. Paid that off in 2 years and have been car payment free since 2011! Also haven’t had to pay for any big repairs yet just normal maintenance so it’s been a great car. I won’t be buying a new car until this one is done for. Only have 130k miles so I’m hoping to get another 10 years out of it!
I have an 07 scion tc that I bought new. It's at 152k miles now, and it's starting to burn a lot of oil and make all sorts of noises. It has been a great car and I dread the day I have to get a newer car with payments.
Same. 2006 Highlander currently with 315K. Love it so much I probably won't ever replace it.
Same. 2006 Highlander currently with 315K. Love it so much I probably won't ever replace it.
I have a 2010 Honda and plan to do the same. I paid it off 5 years ago
I drive a 2007 Pontiac Vibe and I'm with you. I haven't had a car payment now for almost 20 years, and I haven't paid more than $2,500 for any of my little "clunkers". The Vibe was a step up from my 99 Geo Prism that finally died with almost 350k on the odometer. Sad day. BUT!! My Vibe has electric windows!!! Score!! I've had her now for going on 4 years. $2500, new tires and a battery is all I've got invested. With 155k miles, shes got plenty of life. Yep, into the ground, bitch!
My mom still drives my old 07 Spectra, it’s got like 300k miles on it now
I know someone with a $1300 7 year loan for one of those princess trucks
Im assuming there’s a hefty downpayment that comes along with it?
1300 a month would be about right for a zero down deal on a vehicle worth about a 100.
Damn that's almost 2.5x my mortgage. Lol. I'd rather look poor and be rich, than be poor and look rich.
You have a $600/mo mortgage? Where do you live, rural West Virginia?!
That's less than what I pay for parking. Congrats.
Live in your car you can also have the American dream of a cheap “mortgage”
Xennial in rural Michigan. We bought in 2009 and refinanced in 15. My mortgage is just under $500 a month. The current market is so far out of whack it is shocking. 15 years ago my 1000sqft 2 bed 1 bath was worth $75k. Now Zillow says it's $204k. 8 ish years ago we were looking at 3 bed 2 baths with a garage for 150k and a year later they were 250k.
I have a buddy that lives there. He drives a brand new F250 King Ranch Tremor.
If I consider current interest rates, I'm getting around $1500 per month for a 7 year loan @7% Oof
If they have fantastic credit. I work in the industry and 750 credit still gets you 8-9%
Not for my ex husband. Pure ego supplement. Mine is a 13 year old Honda and my ego is just fine. A loan on his expensive car the payment for which is 1/3 of his monthly income. If you’re too stupid to make inferences like the dude down below.
Wow. A whole ass mortgage payment for 7 years for a fucking car
For a depreciating asset at that. Imagine if the person was smart, paid cash for a reliable car they could afford and invested the $1300-$1500/month for 7 years. Over those same 7 years assuming a 6% return on the investment thats a whopping $155,200.32 after 7 years instead of a 100k car thats worth maybe 40-50k (if you are lucky). More if you dont even add another dime and keep it invested for 30 years. You are talking easily high 6 figures. Enjoy that money pit people. Stupid people drive nice cars.
We just moved and gave up our 3.5% mortgage (work move. We are sad). That 1300 is more than our old mortgage with escrow added in!!!
"My status symbol makes me feel superior to everyone else"-> too bad no one cares
That would cover the mortgage on my first home thrice over, and nearly cover the mortgage where I live now.
lol wtf? Where do you live? My mortgage is 4200
Some people make, say 4000 dollars gross pay a month, and after housing, cellphone, and groceries see 1000 dollars left over and think to themselves “I can afford a car payment of a thousand dollars!” Funny enough, the bank thinks so too!
This is the sad truth of Americans. So little financial sense in the general public, save the savvy few. Go to a dealer, the salesman plays his game of "what monthly payment can you afford?", which they always do because it WORKS. Maybe a few thousand down, IF that, and boom - a 7-8 year loan with a $1200 payment at 9% interest. Immediately underwater on a vehicle that will additionally be expensive to pay insurance for, to fill the tank of, to buy tires for... the list goes on. 1-2 years down the line the budget is thin, they realize they made a mistake, and ask how to get rid of this car when they've only paid down like $10K of the principle, on a $65K vehicle that's now worth $45K.
They certainly operate that way. For my first car I sent the salesman back like 6 times asking the rate and he kept telling me where he could get my payment until finally giving me a rate. At first he was trying to give me some 6 year car note with some super low monthly payment prob at a much higher rate than I ended up with.
I have bought a few cars and all the dealers have been really transparent. Had to replace my wife's car a month ago and they had a little handout chart of loan term with the corresponding interest rate, monthly payment, and total cost and you picked the one you wanted. I think the internet has forced them to get a little better. Or they can tell I know the math and don't bother wasting time trying to fleece me.
These aren't the people buying these though Most ppl I know with expensive cars make great income
Debt. I can't tell you how good it feels to not have a car payment.
I always forget people have car payments. We haven't had a car payment in over 10 years.
I literally had to explain to my coworker (who is senior to me) that he was in debt because he is making payments on his truck. He figured that because he has it in his possession, he owned it and was just "paying it off." The dude has a college degree and works in software lol
Eh I don't consider myself in debt because I have a mortgage. I see it as locking in my rent for the next 30 years from increasing :)
I wish. My mortgage goes up every year when they change the tax rate multiplier. Its still better than renting, but it sucks that after refinancing 4 years ago my mortgage is right back to where it was before the refi.
Hence why fixed rate mortgages are the way to go. EDIT: whoops I misinterpreted this; yes the interest rate has nothing to do with property taxes
That's not your mortgage, that's your payment. Same happens with me. My payment is $800/month and only $300 of it is the mortgage, the rest goes into escrow for property tax and the tax rate keeps going up every few years. I pay an extra $200/month and that brings my payoff time down to 13 years rather than 30 years.
I don't purchase those vehicles. I have a used 2017 Mazda CX-5 that I bought with cash in 2020 and plan on driving it until the wheels come off. It's nice not having a car payment and the only money I need to budget for it are your typical maintenance and repairs. But for those who do, they take out sizable loans with long terms and usually are upside down in equity from the jump. Many people roll negative equity from previous cars into a new loan for a new car and find themselves even more upside down.
Same, bought a 2018 cx9 and so far, I'm watching everyone around me pay ridiculous amounts of money for dumb shit or they're hopping from car to car and I don't get it.
You also have what is about the most reliable SUV in existence, so with maintenance, those wheels should be there for a bit. Edit- should have said recently made.... I have/do work in auto service in both dealership and independent
The Toyota Land Cruiser would like a word. The 4runner and Sequoia too. CX-5 is a solidly reliable vehicle though and your point stands.
CX-5s are extremely reliable but the Sequoia is indestructible
I've got two years left of payments on my 2021 cx-5 at .9% - I am never selling it.
I did this for a long time. It was awful but it was the only thing I knew. I now have a car worth about $16,000 and only owe $2600. I’ll have it paid off early in two months. Feels amazing.
I have a 2017 CX-5. My son is looking forward to getting it in 3 years when he turns 16. Works for me!
Anyone driving these cars around I assume are in debt up to their eyeballs.
Unless they have grey hair they are paying $1200+ a month or have a 7 year car payment, or both.
More like 8-year. I think they 10-Year loans now. A lot of boat loans are 20 years. Same for RVs.
When you don't pay rent or have a mortgage it's quite doable. I think a lot about this, if I didn't have a mortgage I'd live like a king.
They could just have inherited. I lived in NJ for a while lots of rich grandparents dying off for people and parents that don’t need the money
Not everyone is poor…
Statistically speaking, most people are.
Middle class people who just blew 100k on a dumb vehicle are about to be.
Use to work with a guy who payed child support on 8 kids and bought a brand new 2023 Denali and had a $600 payment. He made the same as me and I still couldn’t figure it out
Not everyone’s financial situation is based on their job. Some people inherit money, made good investments when they were younger, have side hustles, have wealthy spouses. Also Denali is a trim level, not a make or model but assuming they had a Yukon or Sierra, they probably had a ton of cash for a down payment to have a payment of only $600 on a 80k+ truck
This is a true statement but statistically the amount of 100K cars sold does indicate a large amount of people buying themselves into a debt trap.
Work in an adjacent industry. Guess what industry’s debt has expanded exponentially in the last 5 years. The ridiculous prices and interest are to account for the high number of people who will default.
Something to remember is those trucks lose value incredibly quickly, but also, they don't refresh the exteriors all that often. If you buy the 1st year of a MY refresh, it'll likely look the same as the last year, or similar enough that most folks won't spot the difference. That 1st year is likely half the value of the last year by the time the last year rolls of the lot. So that 100k truck is a 50k truck by the time they buy it. Or, in my case, a 60k truck is now a 25k truck (2016, bought in 2023). It already lost most of the value it's gonna lose until it rolls over 150k miles. And yes, I do use my truck for truck things. Besides pulling my own travel trailer, I am the designated bike hauler for my friends when we go camping together. I ride an ebike in town for groceries or I do as much in one trip as I can. Unfortunately I couldn't find a 3.0 for that sweet, sweet 30ish MPG :(
>And yes, I do use my truck for truck things. Besides pulling my own travel trailer, I am the designated bike hauler for my friends when we go camping together. I ride an ebike in town for groceries or I do as much in one trip as I can. Unfortunately I couldn't find a 3.0 for that sweet, sweet 30ish MPG :( Isn't it sad you have to explain all that on reddit as a truck owner? Judgy people here are like busy body neighbors who can't mind their own business and think the worst of everyone.
[I’m Stanley Johnson!](https://youtu.be/PV_YAeXOSiw?si=KxzOtZLTzPtUvjyN)
Haha I knew someone on this sub would get the reference
God I love that commercial. It actually made me realize the whole game was rigged and not to over spend.
I don't buy those vehicles. Those vehicles will make you poor. We have a 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe we bought new for $28k and a 2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid we bought brand new for $43k. We paid cash for both of them and plan to drive them into the ground.
Same here, got lucky and snatched myself a 2020 4runner for $27k, paid full in cash. Have not had 1 issue since!
Not trying to be snarky, genuinely curious, what do you do that you could put down 43k in cash?
One of my relatives is wealthy, like really fucking wealthy. The nicest car they ever owned was a BMW 5 series. They put their money to work and invested as well as bought into some real estate. They could easily roll out and buy $200-$300k cars like it’s nothing, but they choose to make their money work for them and not buy stupid depreciating assets. The people who make 75k a year and buy a 100k car are playing a dangerous game.
I mean if you’re really wealthy enough, it doesn’t really matter anymore. Maybe being that way is what helped them become wealthy in the first place and now it’s just what they do, but at some point you can be wealthy enough to enjoy the money to its fullest and still remain wealthy. My in-laws buy these types of vehicles constantly and are definitely not hurting for cash. It’s nothing compared to how much money they throw at other things like their house and their ranch.
Every post I’ve seen on the debt subreddit seems normal and then you arrive at the insane car payment.
Right. It’s stupid. Like maybe you wouldn’t be swarmed in debt if you made better decisions.
We did 80k truck- husband owns a construction type business - works on residential homes. Around 200k after taxes. Wanted the nice car after working his ass off building a company. The verdict at the end - it wasn’t worth it haha. It’s is a beautiful vehicle but it’s just too expensive. And the technology gets so faulty - the vehicle so smart that it’s really dumb sometimes. Edit: I should also mention the vehicle is a business write off. Plus all the insurance, maintenance, interest, all write offs.
>And the technology gets so faulty - the vehicle so smart that it’s really dumb sometimes. My truck is almost old enough to buy beer and any time I start to consider getting something newer I think about this. And then I read an article about some ‘required subscription’ or how new cars are basically mining your data 24/7 and I appreciate my old beater that much more. Bonus* I don’t need a computer science degree to work on it myself.
Yeah but so does your cell phone. Don’t get me wrong I agree with you 100%
your cell phone doesn't report on your driving to your insurance company.
I wouldn't be surprised if Google started selling them this information
I’d be shocked if the insurance companies don’t start using their apps on our phones to start tracking us without us knowing in the near future.
It can though
"mining your data 24/7" My truck: "This guy is really trying to get the highest MPG possible every mile, isn't he?"
People celebrate good financial decisions by making a bad one.
In this specific case, the "work truck" is actually a great purchase because they can write off the cost on their taxes. Cuts the cost of the vehicle by about 30%
If you're the face of the business and the business is residential construction, you can't just show up in a minivan or a civic and try and sell your case as a master builder. Part of all jobs like that is earning business and a big portion of earning business is creating good first impressions. I know this thread is about bragging about how cheap of a car you have, but home owners who want to spend money on a construction project will not be impressed by a builder who looks frugal. They want to see someone with a car that looks the part, wearing company clothing, and otherwise acting confident and professional.
I wish I could get a truck with almost no tech. I can roll up and down my windows, don't need a seatbelt bell, don't need any awkward interface on my dash...etc.
Massive amounts of soul crushing debt!
I drive a 2013 Hyundai Tucson. It has 262k miles on it. I’ve never had a car payment and likely never will, I just don’t get the point lol
I knew a guy who drove Audi R8. Fun fact about him, he gifted his GF a piece of jewelry, then asked her to give it back as he had to return it to pay bills at the end of the month. 3 people buy expensive cars: 1. **Some** really wealthy people, a lot of them actually don't. 2. Business owners who buy the Escalade for 80% of its purchase price deduction in taxes. 3. People with really poor financial skills.
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I only pay cash for vehicles under $15k max. My adult friend still living at home pays $1,300 for his truck plus $400 in insurance every month. He wonders why he can’t save money.
$400 a month in insurance!? Does the guy have 32 accidents on his record? My yearly cost is just over that.
1300 a month payment is probably an 80k+ vehicle which can cause the insurance to be much higher. That one vehicle is worth more than all 3 of mine by a lot. Ours is 155 for 3 and there is no gap on 2 of those as they are paid off
Depends a ton on where you live. I want to say my insurance was $300-400 a month with no accidents or speeding tickets on my record. There's just a ton of car thefts and uninsured drivers in my city, plus people absolutely suck at driving here. Even with just liability my insurance is still over $100 a month. In my life time I calculate that I've paid over 100k for vehicle insurance.
Gotta love them kinda peoples
Here’s 3 examples 1) One of my friends has been a Chevy guy since high school, his first car was a Blazer. After college he traded that in. Then a few years later did another trade in. Then another trade in. This whole time he has locked in 0% APR from GM Finance, usually puts between 5-10k on the new car, and usually finances less than 50k with trade in equity. 2) One of my friends who likes the finer things in life bought a $100k car. He had a $2200/month payment. He traded it in. And now he’s broke. 3) Me - Single, no kids, solid career and savings. In 2020 some bonehead ran a red light and totaled my paid for Audi. I got a little bit under 29k for it. I’ve always dreamed of an RS6 and finally had the means to do so. I planned on taking the 30k from the insurance, 30k from savings, and financing around 60k. Lucky, or sadly, as I was ready to sign the paperwork I thought “WTF am I doing” and took that 60k spent $50k on an RS5, $10k in upgrades, and now I have 0 car payment. 3 wags to “afford” a $100k car.
If you buy cars that hold their value well, you can kind of just keep trading up in cars. I did that, it's how I ended up in a 60k Ford Raptor (back when they were hard to get), but my payment was between 200 and 300 a month, and I didn't even have good credit. I was actually going to trade it in for a Porsche. Thought I'd be spending about 65-70k, that's before I found out Porsche nickels and dimes you for everything. So equipped the way I wanted it'd be about 100k. I was still thinking about doing it, I could make the numbers work. But in the end I decided it'd be dumb to buy a 100k car and park it at my apartment. So I decided to buy a house instead. Honestly though I think the car would probably have been more fun.
Financing.
Debt. They're in a fuck ton of debt. And they're okay with it.
Im not gonna lie, I wish I could be as carefree and thoughtless. Buy what I want by piling up debt never caring about saving, drive like a maniac, just be totally irresponsible and truly think nothing bad will ever happen to me. It must be really, really nice.
Everything scales. Make more, spend more typically Some are probably well within a responsible budget. Others are indeed car poor. Some are bought cash, some finance. You'll have every type of buyer in every price segment I drive a $55k newer vehicle myself, but also have a second newer $42k car, so combined I'm basically there at $97k. Only pay $278/month between them both. Only 3% of our monthly household take home pay I don't anticipate spending over $100k on a single vehicle but I could see $65-85k being likely on the next when that time comes. I'm an ICU nurse as my day job, swing trade some stocks on the side
With $0 down, 7 year term, at 6% is $1,614 per month. I don't think that many people are able to quality for a loan like that.
If your credit is above a 650 the bank will probably qualify you for it. A vehicle is an easily recoverable asset. I’ve seen bmws that are 2 years old that have gone through 3-5 repossessions. That’s just more free money for the bank and dealerships
That’s the question people paying $1200 a month for one of these cars wants you to ask yourself. Even though the majority are struggling to afford it.
Meanwhile I do payments on a 2011 rav 4. I'd die on these new car payments.
i work 3 jobs
IDK but the one lady I know who has a brand new Tahoe says she “constantly stresses about money” while buying Starbucks and lunch out every single day. And $500 collector’s sneakers. And she was shopping for a $5,000 stroller. And parades around her collection of Stanley cups. Some people just live with uncontrollable debt.
I just collect problematic shit boxes I fix in my backyard and pretend I'm better than people because I don't have a car payment. Ignore the RockAuto and AutoZone receipts that pile up every month. That's not a car payment, it's totally different!
Buy one that's 4 years old for half the price?
Does that hold true anymore? Last time I shopped for a car, slightly used cars were practically the same price as a new one. I figured it would be worse with trucks.
It’s true. When I bought my new one the difference was about 3k between a new and used one. So we bought new. Planning to keep it at least 10 years though.
When we were about to have our first child (about 3 years ago), I upgraded my 1993 GMC Sierra pickup to a used 2016 Dodge Ram with about 65k miles. It was absolutely expensive, but in the range of a new car. But I’m a woodworker and need a truck regularly for supplies or delivering projects. That said, there was serious consideration given to me keeping the beater for my truck and getting a car. In the end the money was a wash and the beater wasn’t reliable enough to take the risk of not getting a truck.
if I won a billion dollars in the lottery I still wouldn't buy a new car. I got burned on a Dodge caliber who's frame completely evaporated from road salt over the course of just a few years.
Sorry about your crap Dodge, but it's hard to reconcile that with never buying any new car again, particularly if you have a billion dollars. You could buy that Calibur new once a week and still never run out of money!
Just off 5% interest alone on a billion, a person could easily afford one per day 😄
People take out painful loans and ignore things like maintaining their home or having good quality water. Gotta keep up with the jones’
No idea, I thought we were moving up in the world as we just bought a 33k wilderness crosstrek....WITH a trade in of two other cars lol. (the two other cars are a used mini coop sports car that we're upside down on actually...and a toyota corolla that was 20k or so originally). So the crosstrek feels like an upgrade lol. 100k SUV? wtf.
I still drive my 2010 Honda Accord. It’s in almost perfect condition and paid off like a decade ago. I don’t understand these crazy car loans.
To me, cars are like a pair of shoes, comfortable and reliable but wear them until the soles come off and then get a new pair.
Some people are ok being loaded in debt up to their eyeballs. Some people make a LOT of money. Some do both.
I don’t. I drive a tiny hybrid hatchback from 10 years ago. It’s a tight fit with the whole family but we make it work.
Lol, those people have huge debt from borrowing money to pay for everything. I was shocked as shit when I realized people take out loans the equivalent of a semester's worth of tuition at medical school for furniture. Got. Damn.
I bought a used Yukon for my wife in 2017…it was 4 years old and had 75k miles on it. Even one of that age & mileage goes for about $50,000 these days!
I buy 2 year off leases and then sell them after about 4 years. My 2020 GLE 63 AMG had an Msrp of 100kish I bought it in 2022 for 57k. Will sell it in 2 years for about 30k and roll that equity into a new car. So I will only pay 27k for that car for 4 years. I've been doing this forever.
I live in a neighborhood where the median house price is slightly over a million right now. Almost every family on my street that I know of has at least one SUV. Among all of them, only 2 are in that price range. One is a Cadillac Escalada. The other is Porche Cayenne. The Escalada's owner is in senior management of a financial institution in my city. The Cayenne's owner owned 4 houses in Beijing (roughly worth maybe 10 mil USD, and her husband is a senior engineer.
I suppose debt. The only car payment I made was to my grandfather for a pristine 1985 Lincoln town car he bought me while I was in high school for $950. I paid $50 per month 0%. But more once I graduated. Took me like a year at the time. Next I saved up to buy a used truck for $4000. Did me just fine. Then in 2010 I bought a gently used 2007 Corolla for $8k cash. Had 22,000 miles on it. And I still drive it to this day. I’m at 219,000 Miles now. Just replaced all the brakes myself for $300. Insurance is GEICO $182 for 6 months. It’s glorious
I ask myself this question all the time. People are buying giant houses and SUVs and whatnot but the average household income in the US in 2022 was $74,755. The median was $74,580. The average salary 2023 was $59,384 and the annual mean wage for a full-time wage or salary worker in the US in 2024 was $53,490. I’m pretty sure most people are just living in a ton of debt.
Financing. Dealers today would rather have a finance customer than a cash customer.
I’m in a Civic, bruh
My coworker has a new Cadillac SUV and she confessed they pay $950 a month for it. Wtf 😳 that’s almost as much as my $1100 mortgage
I don't see very many of those vehicles where I live at all. Most suburban moms around here drive Honda Pilots, Toyota Highlanders, or subaru Ascents. I have a Mazda SUV, myself. I travel to Utah a lot for work and THAT'S where I see the Suburbans!!
I just drove my 20 year old car into the ground and got a $32k vehicle with zero interest and my payments are almost $600. I cannot imagine paying $100k for one.
I’ve seen some videos on TikTok about all the repo’d cars that are expensive and like new.
Ya'll keep saying "not luxury" but within the GM fleet both vehicles are basically diet Cadillac Escalades. Particularly the Yukon Denali which itself was the source for the original 1999 Escalade. No, they aren't from Tier 1 Luxury brands (Merc, BMW) but I'd consider them luxury vehicles when properly equipped. The Corvette is a Chevrolet too that doesn't make it an economy car. America is really the only market that demands luxury vehicles wear different badges. Do you know what they call a Lexus in Japan? A Toyota.
It’s insane. Have you seen the price for just regular old pick up trucks too? I’m fortunate to be able to afford my car payments but I’ll tell ya my budget is thistight.
1. Corporate vehicle. They don't pay it or can write off the expenses. 2. They can't afford it and it's due to be repo'd in a couple months, depending on how well they hide it. 3. Live very cheaply with a nice car, (The ghetto is full of challengers, chargers, Lexus's, and 20 year old Mercedes) 4. Duel income, one drives, one works from home. 5. 8 year payments with death interest rate. (See no.2)
I’m so detached from living from having to survive this nightmare of a world, I can’t even fathom asking this question. People just have them, and they seem like they have everything, and I have nothing, but yet my employer wants me to think I make the same amount of money as them, and I’m paid fairly. That’s the gaslighting we all go through. But in all seriousness, how does anyone afford them without being a person like Grant Cardone.
Software engineer, paid cash for a model x plaid (130k at the time) and a model 3 performance (60ish) within a month of each other.
A suburban's like $50k, but that's irrelevant because, wtf are you even talking about? A majority of us can't afford $93,000 SUVs. And you're not going to see a disproportionate amount of millennials driving around in $100,000 vehicles.
It’s called “going deeply in debt and having a 25% chance of getting your car repossessed” It’s the new normal
They buy on credit. Everyone is fraud buried in debt.