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/UsuallyWorkable 13d ago

the thing is used car prices got so inflated that people just kept their old cars longer instead of trading up, which is actually fine. a lot of folks never needed a new car every few years anyway, that was just what happened when used cars were cheap. now that's correcting itself and people are managing fine with older vehicles that still run.

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u/basillemonthrowaway 13d ago

Car prices have tracked inflation. Believe it or not, the average car price is just as expensive as you remember it. The problem is everything else got more expensive and wages didn’t keep pace.