Ravi Stephens II paid $80,000 in 2022 for a Ram 2500 pickup, which he planned to use in a business he was starting.
The $1,019-a-month, seven-year loan he took out was more than double his previous car loan for a 2013 Camero. It didn’t cause him too much trouble at first.
Melissa Dickerson never imagined she would end up with a $1,100 monthly car payment, especially for a used car. Then her son wrecked her Acura.
This isn’t a article about 1K+ car loans, it’s about American Idiots and American males with SDE.
They only have one god damn line that actually addresses the issue:
, as well as the cutting of production on cheaper models.
And if the article isn’t bad enough, it’s locked behind a “agree” button unless you use a vpn and if it’s this bad now, can’t wait to see how CNN will be after MAGA gets a hold of it.
Lawnman23@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The lady bought a $51k Acura and the dude bought a $80k Ram.
These aren’t exactly “just trying to get buy” vehicles. These are financially stupid people not wanting to work within their financial means for a vehicle. They wanted a too expensive for them “looks good so people don’t think I’m poor” vehicle and now are getting bit in the ass by it.
The article is making it out to be they are just trying to get by in life. Uh no.
roofuskit@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
In fairness 51k ain’t even luxury prices anymore. Low end cars start at 30k now.
jacksilver@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It was $51k for a used car.
If it was new I could understand, but that much for a used car is crazy. I’m guessing she had to buy when used car prices were almost the same as new, but I feel like that’s still a lot.
hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I’m not sure how it goes with tariffs, conversation rates and whatnot but in last I checked the low end cars in Europe started from way under 20k, Kia picanto for example is 18k
And that’s brand spanking new cars, that are always a bad deal. Few years older and you can drop half the price for basically still a new car
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
And they burn $3-5K less gas, and cost less to insure. This is the 5 year math everyone should do but nah, people buy cars on childish impulses.
WoodScientist@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
We bought a new 2025 Corolla for $24k.
mracton@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Yeah….the customers are the problem…not the tariffs, not the auto industries, not the financial industries, not the marketing practices of these companies.
Even people who’ve been doing relatively well have had their costs jacked up even more as we move from income taxes to tariffs. Wages in the bottom have remained stagnant. First time home ownership’s average age is 40. They’ve/We’ve all drank the materialist capitalist kool-aid and it’s hard to take back what control we do have.
Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
I bought a rebuild Subaru for $15k and have gotten almost 150k miles out of it in the past 5 years.
There’s no way I would buy a new vehicle unless I was significantly stable in my finances and made way more money.
I don’t understand why people who can barely afford them buy new vehicles when there are much cheaper used options.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
The gas bill on that RAM is at least $400/mo.
Poor people don’t know how to be poor. They think they can afford whatever banks will loan them.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That truck cost more than my bachelor’s degree and car combined… And Acura is just luxury Honda. Japanese automakers like to have luxury brands separate from the main one. Buying an Acura (Honda), Lexus (Toyota), or Infiniti (Nissan) should be assumed out of the question unless you can afford a BMW, Cadillac, or any other classic luxury car. And honestly pickups that you don’t need for work should be seen the same way, but moreso.
jj4211@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Less that Japanese like to have luxury brands, more that the market here seems to demand it.
Cadillac is fancy Chevy. Audi is fancy VW, Genesis is fancy Hyundai, etc.
At least at one point I think Lexus wasn’t a thing in Japan, they just were Toyota models.
Pickup trucks seem to buck the trend, your fancy ass 100k truck needs to still be a “good ol F150”.
WoodScientist@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Seriously. Last September we had to replace our old 2007 Corolla that got totaled after someone drove out in front of us. We were the only owners of the 2007 Corolla. We owned it from new to dust. We shipped around a bunch, considering various new and used options. We eneded up buying…a brand new 2025 Corolla.
The cost of this vehicle? About $24k. We ran the numbers on it, and that’s actually less, adjusted for inflation, than we paid for the 2007 one.
Affordable cars still exist. You just have to be content with owning less car.
FatVegan@leminal.space 2 weeks ago
But how else will strangers know that they are not poor?
Washedupcynic@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
In 2020 I bought a brand new bike, spent $1400 on it and had it for 23 years until it was stolen. At the time, when I bought it, I was making 26K a year. I paid cash; that was what was within my means to own something without having to pay extra for it through a loan. In 2023 I bought a new (electric) bike, paid $1000 cash, no loan. I make 55K now. That’s what was within my means to own something outright, without having to pay a middle man for the privilege of borrowing money. No car loan hanging over my head, no worries about gas prices, or paying insurance and registration for the privilege to drive. You are 100% right about people living above their means. If the weather is really bad, I take public transit. The most I spend on transit is $65 a month during 1 month in the winter. Other months is usually $13-26 when I am mostly riding the bike everywhere. Me being a cheap bastard about transit affords me the ability to live 3 miles from my job, (higher rent,) and affords me the opportunity to travel and take a small vacation on yearly basis.
xxam925@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Except how you look is almost everything in our society.