it’s extremely rare to find such a cheap used car. my partner spent $8k on one that lasted a year. also, you might be surprised to learn that driving isn’t optional in most of the US - it’s literally impossible to live without a car. I live in a suburb. it’s several miles of dangerous roads to get to a grocery store. there is no nearby public transit. even large cities like LA were completely designed around cars. zoning and urban planning here completely screwed us.
yes, it sucks, yes I’m aware, yes I’d love to live in a walkable European city with commuter rail and cafes on the street corner, no I don’t have a choice.
You can get solid suzukis for 1.5k that last forever.
If you can find porn for your weird fetishes you should be able to find a single goddamn guide on how to buy a car used.
Every single bit of info on how to buy, maintain and fix vehicles is online. For free. For everyone.
If you can’t live without a car at least spend 20 minutes googling it before buying a money pit.
You take that 10k you were going to drop on a crap used car, use that as down payment on a new car. Get a longer loan with lower interest and keep monthly payment lower. The larger the down payment, the lower the monthly will be, and now you have 10 years to set aside money for the next new car or “out of warranty” repairs.
There are still new cars that have a sticker less than 30k, after warranties and any desired upgrades, probably closer to 35k-40k for anything not a truck, EV, or sport car.
There’s also people who lease, they pay lots of money to rent a car for around 3 year, after that they trade in for a new car and the old car gets sold as used.
I spent 55k and bought my midlife crisis sports car. Most expensive thing I have ever spent money on and I just finished paying it off after 6 years 718$ payments. Now to buy a home. One day.
Optioned out Mustang GT. 5.0 with the performance package and all the other additional features. It’s amazing how fast and nimble the car can be. The only thing I didn’t get on it was the magnetic suspension. I couldn’t find one with that added on when I purchased.
You have the option of not buying one if you cant afford it.
And there are some used cars around the 2-5k€ pricepoint if you really need one i guess.
Edit: my main point was that it always shocks me to have such a car dependence in the US that you’d even have to go into debt. I am not saying Americans should just not buy cars…
You have the option of not buying one if you cant afford it.
Not really, depending on where you are.
When I was barely above broke out of college, I had to buy a shit box just to be able to go to work, because the only job I could find in my field was >20 mi from where I lived and had no public transit options that wouldn’t add an hour of walking on top of how long the bus ride took. And that’s assuming clear weather, which we get for maaaaaybe half the year. I don’t know about you, but I’m not about walking for an hour in the blistering cold with spotty sidewalks in busy areas
So, while I could take the option of not buying a car, it would turn a <30 min commute into 2-3 hours one way on a good day. Buying a car was the only way not to lose >25 hours a week on work transportation alone.
I am explicitly talking about this in the context of me being non-american.
And where I live the vast majority of people who can not afford a car (like young people) are not dependent on one. Even if you live in bumfuck nowhere you can get around by moped.
If you work full time you would usually be able to afford a (cheap) car. And if your still in uni the towns are generally big enough for you to not be car-dependant.
Where are you that cars are affordable to a point where this is an usual thing?
Yeah, u buy a used one for like 2,000 - 3,000€. Or you lease. But taking on a loan with 16.9% interest would not cross my mind.
If i cant afford a car, then i aint buyin one.
(This post was presented to you by “living in a livable city” Gang)
it’s extremely rare to find such a cheap used car. my partner spent $8k on one that lasted a year. also, you might be surprised to learn that driving isn’t optional in most of the US - it’s literally impossible to live without a car. I live in a suburb. it’s several miles of dangerous roads to get to a grocery store. there is no nearby public transit. even large cities like LA were completely designed around cars. zoning and urban planning here completely screwed us.
yes, it sucks, yes I’m aware, yes I’d love to live in a walkable European city with commuter rail and cafes on the street corner, no I don’t have a choice.
I know about american circumstances, thats why i added that part in parentheses.
In the european countryside, car dependency is definitely on the same level as in America.
On the topic of prices: the first car my brother and i shared was a 2008 ford fusion. We bought in 2019 for 1.5k.
😭
American, I bought a 2005 Honda Civic in 2020 for $7,500
America: third world country, first world prices.
You can get solid suzukis for 1.5k that last forever. If you can find porn for your weird fetishes you should be able to find a single goddamn guide on how to buy a car used. Every single bit of info on how to buy, maintain and fix vehicles is online. For free. For everyone. If you can’t live without a car at least spend 20 minutes googling it before buying a money pit.
Nobody with financial sense is taking out a 16.9% loan on a car. 5% is pretty typical right now for people with a decent credit history.
Whether or not that’s reasonable, is certainly up for discussion.
But for there to be used cars, there needs to be new cars… How do the people that buy new cars pay for them?
You take that 10k you were going to drop on a crap used car, use that as down payment on a new car. Get a longer loan with lower interest and keep monthly payment lower. The larger the down payment, the lower the monthly will be, and now you have 10 years to set aside money for the next new car or “out of warranty” repairs.
There are still new cars that have a sticker less than 30k, after warranties and any desired upgrades, probably closer to 35k-40k for anything not a truck, EV, or sport car.
There’s also people who lease, they pay lots of money to rent a car for around 3 year, after that they trade in for a new car and the old car gets sold as used.
Those are older/richer people that saved enough money to buy new.
Either company cars, leased cars or someone has the spare 30k for a car.
And of course people take out loans for cars too, but thats less common. And not really necessary in the cities.
True. The entire car market from new to beater is gonna get fucked up by tariffs pretty soon
I spent 55k and bought my midlife crisis sports car. Most expensive thing I have ever spent money on and I just finished paying it off after 6 years 718$ payments. Now to buy a home. One day.
What’d you buy?
Optioned out Mustang GT. 5.0 with the performance package and all the other additional features. It’s amazing how fast and nimble the car can be. The only thing I didn’t get on it was the magnetic suspension. I couldn’t find one with that added on when I purchased.
You have the option of not buying one if you cant afford it.
And there are some used cars around the 2-5k€ pricepoint if you really need one i guess.
Edit: my main point was that it always shocks me to have such a car dependence in the US that you’d even have to go into debt. I am not saying Americans should just not buy cars…
Not really, depending on where you are.
When I was barely above broke out of college, I had to buy a shit box just to be able to go to work, because the only job I could find in my field was >20 mi from where I lived and had no public transit options that wouldn’t add an hour of walking on top of how long the bus ride took. And that’s assuming clear weather, which we get for maaaaaybe half the year. I don’t know about you, but I’m not about walking for an hour in the blistering cold with spotty sidewalks in busy areas
So, while I could take the option of not buying a car, it would turn a <30 min commute into 2-3 hours one way on a good day. Buying a car was the only way not to lose >25 hours a week on work transportation alone.
I am explicitly talking about this in the context of me being non-american. And where I live the vast majority of people who can not afford a car (like young people) are not dependent on one. Even if you live in bumfuck nowhere you can get around by moped.
If you work full time you would usually be able to afford a (cheap) car. And if your still in uni the towns are generally big enough for you to not be car-dependant.
Every service worker is someone who needs a car but can’t afford one, it’s normal for working adults
No, you don’t. Go look at America on Google maps. Then take a good hard look at the transit schedules.
2-5k is not something people have laying around now days.
If they do, they’re not the kind to buy them.
But I’m speaking from UK market, might be worse down here.