• malloc@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The shift towards massive vehicles (SUVs) and trucks loaded to the tits with tech junk is to blame. Auto industry sold the idea to Americans that their fat ass needs a compensator instead of psychiatric help.

    • Pasta4u@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Nah.

      It’s poor planing and over spending that is the issue. People who lease cars are on an endless cycle of never owning anything and always laying a premium.

      Just actually buy a car you can actually afford.monthly payments on and drive the car into the ground. Every car in have owned has made it at least a decade and a 150k miles. Once you are done paying off take what the monthly payment would be and out it into two banks account split 20/80. Woth the 80% being towards a new car and the 20% being for repairs.

          • n00b001@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            And if someone can’t afford a car, and they live within a car-centric area of the world, and they can’t afford to move?

            Maybe they make a gamble and buy a car with the hope it will be an investment, and provide them with more income…

            But when interest rates have been at near zero for over a decade, and now they have shot up - it could upset quite a lot of finances!

            • Pipoca@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              That’s one of the big problem with unwalkable cities, yeah. In Amsterdam, if you’re poor you don’t have to buy a car. Bikes are way cheaper than a beater car.

              In the US, we’ve decided to design nearly all cities and towns to make life impractical if you don’t have a car. Just another way we fuck over poor people.

            • jlking3@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              I see people who can’t afford a car trying to make it using an e-bike or a cheap scooter. Where I live, scooters are allowed to get up to 32mph, and e-bikes are limited to 20mph. That can make for a long, rough commute in any place except urban settings (where you have a fighting chance at public transportation), 55+ communities where everyone drives golf carts, or resorts, where traffic is usually painfully slow to begin with.

      • dan1101@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Exactly. I like cars so it starts to suck keeping them for 10 years but otherwise I’d be in continual car payments.

        Also taxes and insurance get cheaper as the car gets older too, so that helps.

        • Pasta4u@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yup. We run two cars since we both commute for work but one is fully paid off and the other one is almost done. They payment for the first one is now going into a repair account for it and a down payment account.

          The reason we haven’t paid off the other car is because we had 0% financing. So the money going into the ally account is making us money vs the bank having it.

          We also have a gm card and both cars are gm. So we should have several thousands to redeem on that towards a new down payment.

        • Pasta4u@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          My brother in law and sister in law. They have two brand new leases and a house they can’t afford and have been borrowing money from my in laws to keep afloat.

          Lots of people over spend this way. I had a friend who was making $700 a month payments on a used Mercedes suv as a new teacher.

          Lots of people over spend on dumb shit.

          • Pasta4u@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Dude also just injected a bunch of assumptions into his post and forgot I stayed to put 20% of what your payment was into an account for repairs.

        • Pasta4u@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I live in NJ and my last car before this had a 100mile round trip commute on it. Last I checked they salt the roads. I don’t do any maintenance on my car. I take it in for service at the dealer during the finance period and then a local shop near me for larger repairs. I take it to a valvoline for oil changes. Last car I retired needed a total of 6grand in repairs over its life that weren’t regular maintaine. That is why I said to take 20% of the payment and put it in a bank account for repairs. You should read another person’s posts before making a bunch of self serving assumptions to make your self feel better

    • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Auto industry sold the idea to Americans that their fat ass needs a compensator instead of psychiatric help.

      True or not, that got a good belly laugh out of me.