Car affordability in 2022 and beyond

I'd say that food is the hardest as it seems to be much more expensive. Rent went up, but not as much as everyone else. I just got health insurance (We pay for ourselves, as do most people in small towns with small businesses that don't provide health insurance) and it is considerably more expensive this year (which I'm not sure exactly why as the government helps with part of the bill and it's based on income). But yes, I'm getting paid nearly the same as 4 years ago, not even 50 cents more per hour and the hours per week are the same. Same with my wife's wages.

The one thing that would likely help with a new car right now is now I don't have a car payment and the Avalon is worth more than a couple hundred dollars. This is different than before when we went from the 1985 Golf to the Avalon (well, actualy Golf, then Leaf for a year, then Avalon) because we didn't have any substantial trade-in value. For an example, if I can get $5,000 from the Avalon then a $15,000 car loan becomes $10,000, unlike when we had to save up and put down $5,000 on the $15,000 Avalon so that the loan became $10,000 through the downpayment.

 

Maybe when people stop buying every expensive car that manufacturers can build, they’ll get a clue

 

That's the problem. I don't think that will end up happening in the long run. People in general seem to always try to bite off more than they can chew, or at least buy the most they can. I look at my neighbors, family, friends, and everyone else, and extremely few have cheap vehicles. Only but a few of them actually make a decent wage. Some are drowning in debt. But hey! At least they have that $50,000 or $60,000 gas guzzler SUV or pickup that they're proud to own and show off.

 

Pretty nice car a 2013 Avalon hybrid. They last a long time. A nice one here would go for 15. I saw one advertised at a Toyota dealer with 26 k on it before I got the Prime. They wanted 19k for it and it was gone immediately. First one there gets it type of thing.

 

I see a lot of immigrants around here driving old Honda and Toyota products.
Seem to be the most reliable and cheapest to repair.
I couldn’t afford to buy a new car until I was 30, so I drove old beaters, and purchased a few necessary tools to repair them

 

I hope so. There are a couple things I don't like about it and that don't work, like the radio. And the heater/AC sometimes has a mind of its own. But what concerns me the most is that the HV battery is getting close to needing replaced.

I'm 51 years old and have never bought a new car. And at this rate I probably never will either.

 

how many miles on the avalon?

 

140,000.

 

are you sure the battery is getting close? sounds like she's just broken in. why not put a grid charger on it, and replace cells when necessary?

 

I'm not sure how close. All I know is I'm closer than when I bought the car just a little over 5 years ago with only 50,000 miles on it.

The 2006 Prius had just over 200,000 miles on it and was 14 years old (2020) when the HV battery failed. I'll hit that same mileage and age in the Avalon in mid 2027 at the rate I'm going.

 

every car is different. i wouldn't think about it until i had to. a plan would be good though

 

Ya, I overthink things a lot.

I was thinking that the next time around I'd get a new Nissan Versa with a stick shift for around $17,500. But those won't exist after 2024.

A lot can change between now and then.

Maybe instead it would be worth putting in another HV battery, although I'm not sure what that would cost if I went with OEM.

Or I'll have to spend more on a new car, maybe a Corolla.

Or I'll just stick with used as before.

My parents never bought a new car except this last time. My mom got a brand new 2014 (or 2013 or 2015, can't remember exactly) Chevy Sonic with stick shift for around $15,000.

 

I recall when we had our roof replaced, checking out the crew’s vehicles: all beaters, but get you from A to B.

 

i had a remodeling contractor with a beater van and box truck. unfortunately, it turned out to be a reflection of his work

 

Our window/door guys should up in high-end Lexus’. They did a fine job for us, but a few years later were implicated in some sorta financing scam.

 

Like when I put an econo car, like a Honda Fit, on Autotrader and set a 300 mile radius and no more than 60k miles and that's from 2019 or 2020 (aiming for 5 years old) and there are two that are cheaper than $20,000, both with salvage titles, (actually three if you include one that's $19,998). The great majority of these 5-year-old Honda Fit econo cars are still over $20,000!

Setting the radius to 500 miles picks up more that are under $20,000, with the absolute cheapest being just over $12,000 (again salvage title). But the majority of them are close to the price of a brand new low trim Nissan Versa or higher!

Setting it to Nationwide gets me one that's as low as $10,000 some 1,000 miles away as the crow flies, with a salvage title of course.

So great! If I want a used econo car and want to buy it in state and don't want one that's more than some 5 years old or more than some 60,000 miles on it, I got to pay around $25,000 for it... So affordable (not!)

 

Yeah... a tanking value of a 1-3 year-old SUV. I just received a CARFAX message stating history-based value of our 15-month-old 11kmiles Escape PHEV MSRP $43K is now at $28K. That's Brutal! Nothing like the used car market value of the last 3-4 years. I will be keeping it for a few more years, but not planning to keep it longer than 3 years. I hope it won't depreciate much more in the next two years.

 

Ya, well I wouldn't want a used Ford Escape even if it were free. I've now known three people who've owned one and had the transmission blow up around 100,000 miles. And the costs for repairing have been upwards of $9,000. One close friend had just bought his and after 3 months the transmission blew.