Submitted 11 hours ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/business/1k-car-loan-payments-budgeting
Why do people always have to live above their means and then complain? If You can’t pay cash for your car, it’s outside of your budget.
I see so many people here driving cars that are Wwwwaaay above what they could actually afford. One tiny miscalculation and shit hits the money-fan.
I would never feel relaxed driving a car that is beyond the amount of spendable cash I have. Unless its company leasing. Those are so cheap it hurts 😁
A record share of Americans — more than 20% — agreed to pay more than $1,000 per month for a new car loan at the end of the year, according to car sales site Edmunds.
fuk… that’s absurd. I felt bad agreeing to 300/month. I’d laugh at the dealer, call em drunk and never return if they tried that shit
Yeah, my car payment is $250 and I hate paying that much.
I feel sorry for people that have car payments. If you can’t pay cash, you can’t afford it.
That’s outrageous!!
If you’re not paying cash for your car, you can’t afford it.
Why in the fuck would u pay that and not just buy a shitbox for like 2k
I’m driving a car from 2005 (original owner!) but off the top of my head: bad credit, or needing a vehicle that can handle a long drive commute reliably.
If u can pay that much to rent u can afford to buy some shitbox outright no credit required. Most of the shitboxed I’ve driven or my mates have driven are reliable as shit just ugly with no ac, and a broken stereo.
But why? Isnt the sub-25k car still a thing?
Just searching online “cheapest cars USA”, there’s still several options for under 25k
Not new.
Lawnman23@lemmy.world 10 hours 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.
Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 1 hour 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.
FatVegan@leminal.space 1 hour ago
But how else will strangers know that they are not poor?
roofuskit@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
In fairness 51k ain’t even luxury prices anymore. Low end cars start at 30k now.
hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 hours 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
mracton@piefed.social 9 hours 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.