Buying a car in this economy (1 Viewer)

[gboudx]

We pay $1k a month on my wife's Telluride. But that's not the monthly payment; it's what we afford to pay it down faster. Sometimes when I walk around my neighborhood and see the vehicles people drive, and what they have for their kids, it makes me wonder if they're really that well off, or they're living for today and will worry about tomorrow later.

 

[efil4stnias]

i cringed when i got a $650 note.. but together we make $135k.
a woman that works for me just bought a new truck, $1150 a month. she makes $24/hr. Now, she just got married and her husband probably makes $150-200k a year. I know they are in love and all, but if it goes sideways, she is screwed. there is no way she would be able to keep that truck on her salary, especially if she had to start paying rent and utilites..

So she making around 50k and he around lets say 175k- so 225 total.

PRE TAX. Post tax probably around 14k~ per mo. ( take home )

one note is close to 10% of their monthly take home. Yeeesh...must be nice to be young lolol.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

So she making around 50k and he around lets say 175k- so 225 total.

PRE TAX. Post tax probably around 14k~ per mo. ( take home )

one note is close to 10% of their monthly take home. Yeeesh...must be nice to be young lolol.

well, they aren't young, they are in their late 40's (he may be early 50s).

 

[efil4stnias]

well, they aren't young, they are in their late 40's (he may be early 50s).

well then party on! lol they sayin 'eff it im buying what i want" LOL.

im not making that move - but then again i have 2 teens and a boatload of insurances to pay for. So their "budget" is probably WAAAY different than mine lolol

 

[bigdaddysaints]

well then party on! lol they sayin 'eff it im buying what i want" LOL.

im not making that move - but then again i have 2 teens and a boatload of insurances to pay for. So their "budget" is probably WAAAY different than mine lolol

My biggest thing is, if something happens, and she ends up on her own, she's screwed...

 

[Rickboy]

I am laughing out loud (literally) at everyone in this thread who claims that this is ‘unsustainable’.. people right here in this very thread have been saying this for over 2 years now, actually 2.5 yrs .. i was one of them, i was fairly optimistic, in 2021, that we’d seen the worst and that the market would cool significantly.. well here we are, cruising into mid-2023, and it hasn’t .. i think it’s time we all just admit that this IS the market.. it just is.. could we see a correction ? Of course.. but if people are willing to pay $1k plus per month for 84 months for an SUV then i dont see how logic really applies to this market, at all.. and so i dont see things changing .

Yup, i have to admit, the paradigm has shifted for this market. It may be years for it to change to lower prices. You've got car makers moving to EVs and using profits from ICE sales to fund it. We've still got component shortages as well. Used car prices started collapsing at the beginning of the year but all of sudden, they sprung back this month. I've seen nothing like it.

Some vehicles are no longer in short supply. Ford and GM both had to idle truck plants because inventories were creeping higher. Anecdotally, I'm seeing local Jeep and RAM dealers lots full of new product. I've been shopping for a Mercedes Benz Sprinter and there appear to be plenty to choose from but every dealer still wants $10K over MSRP for them. Markups are still around for those Jeeps, RAM trucks, etc. It's weird. I was planning to build a custom off road RV with a Sprinter van but I've given up on doing that for a while.

I'm glad we got our Rivian and Jeep Wrangler when we did. The Rivian would cost me $15K more if I bought it now and the Jeep about $10K more BEFORE markups. I was drooling over a Wrangler Rubicon 392 but they want $105K for it. Heck the base price on it is already $85K. That's a $15K increase over the last 3 years.

Well, at least this market has gotten me to stop buying new cars every year.

 

[DaveXA]

Yup, i have to admit, the paradigm has shifted for this market. It may be years for it to change to lower prices. You've got car makers moving to EVs and using profits from ICE sales to fund it. We've still got component shortages as well. Used car prices started collapsing at the beginning of the year but all of sudden, they sprung back this month. I've seen nothing like it.

Some vehicles are no longer in short supply. Ford and GM both had to idle truck plants because inventories were creeping higher. Anecdotally, I'm seeing local Jeep and RAM dealers lots full of new product. I've been shopping for a Mercedes Benz Sprinter and there appear to be plenty to choose from but every dealer still wants $10K over MSRP for them. Markups are still around for those Jeeps, RAM trucks, etc. It's weird. I was planning to build a custom off road RV with a Sprinter van but I've given up on doing that for a while.

I'm glad we got our Rivian and Jeep Wrangler when we did. The Rivian would cost me $15K more if I bought it now and the Jeep about $10K more BEFORE markups. I was drooling over a Wrangler Rubicon 392 but they want $105K for it. Heck the base price on it is already $85K. That's a $15K increase over the last 3 years.

Well, at least this market has gotten me to stop buying new cars every year.

I'm convinced they're mostly over the supply shortage and they're just idling production to continue making bank off this supply shortage. Once people start getting laid off and unemployment starts really ticking back up, you'll see people selling their overpriced cars and will have a tough time making ends meet. It's coming. Just a matter of time.

 

[Rickboy]

I'm convinced they're mostly over the supply shortage and they're just idling production to continue making bank off this supply shortage. Once people start getting laid off and unemployment starts really ticking back up, you'll see people selling their overpriced cars and will have a tough time making ends meet. It's coming. Just a matter of time.

Normally I’d not argue this but GM, Ford, BMW, and Daimler are all my customers. Every call I have there is some discussion about shortages. It can be batteries for EVs, wiring harnesses, switches, etc., etc. If it comes from overseas (ie: China) they’re having issues getting it.

For the most part, it’s legit.

 

[Sailorsaint]

My biggest thing is, if something happens, and she ends up on her own, she's screwed...

Depends on how big of a policy she has on him.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

Depends on how big of a policy she has on him.

i'm more pointing in the direction of him kicking her to the curb, as she is annoying as hell..lol

 

[DaveXA]

Normally I’d not argue this but GM, Ford, BMW, and Daimler are all my customers. Every call I have there is some discussion about shortages. It can be batteries for EVs, wiring harnesses, switches, etc., etc. If it comes from overseas (ie: China) they’re having issues getting it.

For the most part, it’s legit.

Maybe, but you'd think they'd have contingencies for this by now. It's been going on a long while. At some point they have to either resolve the bottlenecks or source elsewhere. Simply throttling back manufacturing for this long feels like more than just shortages. They making money hand over fist. Why would they change it up now?

To be clear, I don't doubt there are shortages, but I would think they've figured out how to work around that by now.

 

[Get in the Carr]

Have a neighbor who brought in his 2021 GMC truck to get serviced at the dealership and his truck was there for a month. They just gave him an extra 8K towards a new one because the part was on back order for six months

 

[Maxp]

Have a neighbor who brought in his 2021 GMC truck to get serviced at the dealership and his truck was there for a month. They just gave him an extra 8K towards a new one because the part was on back order for six months

Was it an emissions sensor on a diesel 2500?

 

[Get in the Carr]

Was it an emissions sensor on a diesel 2500?

Was an AT4 model Sierra. Don’t think it was diesel but believe he did say it was sensor