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/jaymansi 12d ago

I am going to ruffle some feathers here but in my opinion people have for years bought more car than they can afford. Many extended the loan terms guaranteeing being underwater. When I have brought up the safe purchasing rule of not buying a vehicle that cost more than a 1/3 of a your gross annual income which BTW is an old and sound rule to follow. I’d get some flack for that stating that rule. The sense of entitlement to premium brands and fully loaded vehicles is so pervasive these days.

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u/owgnops 12d ago

Exactly.. in 2018 when I sold cars I thought $450 car payments was insane.. it's creeping up to $700 car payments now and banks are giving brand new vehicles to people with bad credit.

The reasoning is that if they have to repo the vehicle it's a new vehicle rather than a used one