Article

2022-07-03 Economy

Monthly car payments have crossed a record $700. What that means

[NPR] Cars have long had their own special place in America.

The wide open roads, the wind in your hair, the feeling of freedom when you drive. Cars have been celebrated in movies and eternalized in songs for evoking all that.

And right now, that feeling of freedom comes with a pretty hefty price tag. The average monthly car payment crossed $700 a month earlier this year, the highest on record, according to Cox Automotive/Moody's Analytics.

"I joke with people that every new car purchase is a luxury car purchase, I don't care what you're buying," says Ivan Drury, senior manager of insights at the car buying expert Edmunds.

However, cars aren't just a symbol of freedom.

In fact, they play an essential role in the economy. People rely on cars to get to work — 3 out of 4 Americans commute to work by car. Then there's school drop-offs, doctors appointments, grocery shopping and more.

And yet, for more and more Americans owning a car is becoming unaffordable.

"Unfortunately for the segment of the population that probably needs it the most, it's getting more and more out of reach," Drury notes.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-07-03 15:12|| || Front Page|| [17 views ] Top

#1 And yet, for more and more Americans owning a car is becoming unaffordable.

But I thought that was the plan ?

Posted by Besoeker 2022-07-03 15:40|| 2022-07-03 15:40|| Front Page Top

#2 About what my house payment was 30 or so years ago

Posted by Glenmore 2022-07-03 15:53|| 2022-07-03 15:53|| Front Page Top

#3 Reducing mobility kills the suburbs, drives people into the hive city, urban sump, where in a generation their kids are taught dependence, guilt and powerlessness.

When you look across the entire panorama of American life today, you see myriad changes that all push people in one direction, towards the modern serfdom of the Matrix and the hive collective where control and monitoring are the most effective. This isn't the arc of history or some other normative evolution, this is the planned long march and in modern times the only source of such strategic thinking are proto-Marxists in the CCP. The irony is, it is our money they use to buy compliance from politicians, educational institutions and the sham media.

Posted by NoMoreBS 2022-07-03 16:25|| 2022-07-03 16:25|| Front Page Top

#4 Means more renters are going to move into their cars. You can sleep in the car. Can't drive the house to work.

Posted by Skidmark 2022-07-03 18:23|| 2022-07-03 18:23|| Front Page Top

#5 Many years ago, when the first big housing developments began, there were billboards that said, "If you lived here, you'd already be home." Soon, someone was making bumper stickers that said, "If you lived in your car, you'd already be home."

All well and good as a joke, but not any way to live.

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-07-03 18:42|| 2022-07-03 18:42|| Front Page Top

#6 The Enviro Greenies love this.

Posted by Black Charlie Slairt1430 2022-07-03 19:17|| 2022-07-03 19:17|| Front Page Top

#7
The Dodge Journey we purchased in 2018 cost $16.5K.
A quick check of www.Kbb.com shows it is worth MORE Today USED, than it cost brand NEW.

Tell me this isn't $%^& mess?

Posted by NN2N1 2022-07-03 22:20|| 2022-07-03 22:20|| Front Page Top

10:00 Skidmark
09:58 EMS Artifact
09:58 Cholutle+Thrans9751
09:57 M. Murcek
09:56 Besoeker
09:56 M. Murcek
09:55 Skidmark
09:49 Besoeker
09:48 Grom the reflective
09:44 alanc
09:42 Skidmark
09:41 Skidmark
09:40 Procopius2k
09:40 magpie
09:37 M. Murcek
09:37 Procopius2k
09:36 Besoeker
09:36 magpie
09:34 Procopius2k
09:24 Skidmark
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08:51 NN2N1
08:29 NN2N1