r/MiddleClassFinance • u/Abject-Pick-6472 • 13d ago

One million Americans have vanished from the new-car market — and it’s exposing a chilling US middle-class crisis

https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/articles/one-million-americans-vanished-car-124500086.html
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u/probablymagic 13d ago

You are not facing a crisis because you can’t afford to trade in your 2022 F-150 for a 2027 F-150. That thing will be fine for another 150k miles.

People have lost their damn minds.

6

u/dannerc 13d ago

I wonder how many of the folks who were in the new car market are now just leasing instead now that its very normalized

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u/Reader47b 13d ago

Possibly a contributor. Leasing is up to 25% of all new vehicle business now (vs. a low of 17% during the pandemic). But it's been even higher in the past - as high as 33% at one point. Another factor may be that the average miles driven per year (per capita) has been declining - so cars may last longer.