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Economy
Americans struggling to make car payments is highest since Great Recession
2023-01-29
[Fox Business] A growing number of Americans are falling behind on their car payments, an ominous sign for the U.S. economy as high car prices and persistent inflation strain household budgets.

Car repossessions tumbled in the early days of the pandemic when the government sent millions of Americans stimulus checks. But they have progressively ticked higher as sky-high prices for used and new cars alike forced consumers to take out bigger loans.

In December, the percentage of subprime auto borrowers who were at least 60 days late on their bills climbed to 5.67% — a major increase from a seven-year low of 2.58% in April 2021, according to Fitch Ratings. It marks the steepest rate of Americans struggling to make their car payments since the 2008 financial crisis.
Posted by:Besoeker

#10  Gonna try to squeeze a few more miles out of my Hupmobile.
Posted by: M. Murcek    2023-01-29 17:12  

#9  Buyer's market? Ima take a 2nd look then at that '56 Pontiac Club de Mer.
Posted by: Rex Mundi   2023-01-29 17:05  

#8  Owe $700 on my 2020 F150. Post retirement income has a bonus ;-)
Posted by: Frank G   2023-01-29 16:46  

#7  They're going to have to show me a much better economy than I'm seeing right now before I finance a new(er) car or truck.

#6 May have nailed it.
Posted by: Besoeker   2023-01-29 16:42  

#6  Itll be a buyers market by summer. Cash is king.
Posted by: BrerRabbit   2023-01-29 15:31  

#5  I was finally hoping to hear some cries that mandatory auto insurance was patently raciss, but no such luck.
Posted by: DooDahMan   2023-01-29 10:51  

#4  Thanks for the giant influx of new unlicensed / uninsured motorists, Joe...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2023-01-29 10:36  

#3  @#1 - Yeah, I was reviewing my credit card bill recently and saw my auto-pay semi-annual charge for my auto insurance jumped a good $70 or so...spotless driving record, no accidents. Yeah, I was not a happy camper when I saw that.
Posted by: DooDahMan   2023-01-29 10:30  

#2  ...We're fortunate, both of our cars are in reasonably good shape and paid off. But I shudder to think what we'll have to do if one of them is wrecked or develops some unaffordable glitch.

With 12 year old cars going for well into five figures here, this is insane.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2023-01-29 09:32  

#1  
In our case, Corporate America greediness seems to have been our problem.

We REFI'd our Chrysler Capital car loan with our local credit union. Dropping the rate from 5.9% to 3.19%. It saved us enough to cover what seems to be an Industry wide car insurance price hike.
Posted by: NN2N1   2023-01-29 06:51  

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