America's Car Loan Debt is out of Control
 

Interesting read I thought I share https://jalopnik.com/americas-car-lo...-wo-1832635925

Cars are going to be the next financial bubble. Leases are terrible too. GM and Ford are preparing for it with their recent business model changes..

Two years ago:

Going out seven years on a loan for a car that will last half that long....no bueno.

the car market here is bizarre. there's millions of fantastic used, old cars out there but people gotta have the latest and greatest.

I don't think the issue actually is with people and newer cars. It's people living pay check to pay check in jobs with little to no advancement opportunity. Because public transportation in the US sucks, the vast majority of people need a car to get to work. So for these people barely making it by, all it takes is one medical emergency or unexpected car repair, and now they are behind on payments on their used car. My wife works with foster care youth and these kids are barely surviving. All it takes is something like a parking ticket which they can't afford to pay or anything else (medical issue, etc), they either get in trouble for not paying the ticket, or get behind on car payment on their $2000 car, lose the car, lose their job, etc. Some of these kids are homeless and living out of their cars.

It's usually easier to buy new than used. Payments are sometimes less ,so people get sucked in without thinking of anything else.
Seems like used car prices are on the rise, for anything desirable. I blame Bring A Trailer and their inflation tactics LOL
Some states make owning an older car a pain in the ass. I'm talking to you ,Kalifornia.
I never buy new because I can't be okay with the depreciation. There is no new car that I will keep long enough to not loose my shirt in the sale.
older cars are better ,anyway.

We are in the best economic times, so there shouldn't be this problem with auto loan defaults. We are seeing signs of what some are calling the everything bubble.

This. I see countless people who just bought a brand new car a year or less ago chasing after the latest getting less than what they owe on their trade in driving the purchase price even higher. It blows my mind.

those aren't the people racking up loans on cars, it's middle to middle upper class that buy new cars, get 84 month payment plans etc. those people may get taken on how much interest they have to pay for their 2k car and stuff like that, but i don't think those are the majority of the auto debt we're seeing.

In the local classifieds the Chevy dealer is offering a Suburban with $10,000 of incentives, just the vehicle any soccer mom wants to helicopter her children around in. This brought the selling price down to seventy grand. Take the paperwork to the courthouse and you are back at eighty grand. I remember when I bought my Evo new for way less money and the lady at the courthouse looked across the counter at me and said, "I'm sorry." She looked sincere.

Courthouse? And why was she sorry?

I'm assuming this is a serious question. The DMV. She was sorry because of the amount of money I was having to produce to cover sales tax, property tax, wheel tax, registration and plating. Also, I needed the vehicle insured beforehand. The price of a vehicle is not just the sales price.