Technology

The example the article gives is pretty extreme to me:

[Greg] McBride, the Bankrate analyst, walked MarketWatch through a hypothetical car-buying scenario for an average-priced new car that cost $48,000. Taking into account the trade-in value of your existing vehicle, let’s say you knock some money off the sticker price and finance a $40,000 purchase price at 7.5% for five years. That’s an $801 monthly payment — which means you would need to make $96,100 a year if you wanted that payment to be 10% of your income.

I don't think I'd ever want to spend half a yearly income on any single purchase. An investment in a house being the only exception.

I'll rather buy used car and have no monthly payment anyways. A new car is among the worst investments to spend your money on.

They're also pretty much exclusively sell SUVs or heavier cars, these are intentionally pricier

Great news!

Across the pond in the UK they're expanding ULEZ and this is a major sticking point. You need to upgrade to more fuel efficient cars, right when buying shopping is expensive enough. They want you to get new cars, and the majority cannot aford them.

Out of curiosity I went looking to see what the 2023 price is for my car and I'm really scared of how I'd afford a new one. After having two used cars turn into death traps I'm not interested in used cars. Even used cars are expensive now too.

I'm European and I'm disabled so I don't earn a lot. I plan on swapping my 30 years old Opel Corsa with a Yaris sometime in the far future. It'll be the last car I buy. Oh, I hate SUVs.

You can drive through the poorest looking neighborhood but they'll still have a $60K+ pickup parked in front.