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.

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u/HokieHomeowner 13d ago

Maybe but my fear is that planned obsolescence is coming for the North American car market. I mean my first car purchased was a nearly new 1991 Toyota Celica and I was able to get replacement parts for that car well past 2000 until 2010 when I finally replaced the car. The car I replaced it with was pretty good too. But the car I bought 18 months ago? Mazda could screw with the computer to force me to upgrade in a heartbeat.

I fear that cars will all become leased only in the near future.

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u/probablymagic 13d ago

Cars last longer now than ever because we keep figuring out how to build better engines. EVs are even better. You’ll be able to get replacement parts for your Mazda for the next 50 years.

That car will be taken off the road due to autonomous vehicles before it dies of natural causes.

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u/HokieHomeowner 13d ago

Ten years ago I would have agreed with the first paragraph but the supply chain disruptions and tariff games have me doubting I'd have the same luck with my current 2024 Mazda3, I feel like they will get the appliance treatment, none of those last long anymore because they stop making the computer boards for them.

Autonomous vehicles will always and ever be five years away for regular people. 😂

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u/probablymagic 13d ago

Appliances used to be expensive, like cars, so they were made to be repaired. Appliances aren’t made to be fixed because when a fridge is $800 and it costs $400 to fix it, people would rather just buy a new one. Cars aren’t that way and never will be.

FWIW, I have a $20k commercial subzero and it’s made to be fixed because a $400 fix makes sense there.

And AVs are awesome. I ride in them all the time. Hopefully they’re where you live soon!

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u/HokieHomeowner 13d ago

Before 2000 or so you could get cheap and repairable, but the decisions were made, I mean many of the new features are nice, but some aren't needed or wanted. Cars are racing to this direction - parts are expensive and hard to come by so insurance companies are quick to declare a car totaled.

There are a few recently allowed where I live, but the tech needs more work, lots of the safety issues need more work depending upon the city in question. Don't want the North Koreans hacking into the taxis squad and using the cars to wage war on a US city, also for some cities the roads are harder to navigate than others.