Americans are now paying an average of $12,182 to own and operate a brand-new vehicle
Misleading title.
So new cars have gotten more expensive overall, people are buying more expensive new cars, and the cost of credit for new cars has gone up. In other words, don’t buy a brand new car.
Didn’t used car prices go up even relatively more though? Just my anecdotal experience after peeping around for a different car the past year.
In other words… live within your means.
FTFY
For anyone who didn’t click, they’re counting “cost of owning” to also include your loan payments. New cars cost more now on average than they did previously. This is not hard to figure out.
No one – or at least practically no one – is paying $12,000 a year just in fuel and insurance.
Ok, that doesn’t sound unreasonable then if someone finances a large percentage of an expensive car. Is this clickbait?
Pretty much, yeah.
Fuel and other costs are also up slightly, but not nearly to the level of greed driven “inflation” as the sticker price on new automobiles.
If I’m honest it does sound a bit unreasonable if you fork out a grand a month to park two tonnes of metal outside your house most of the time, or use it to drive it to your place of work. I understand that not everybody can live in a walkable neighbourhood but the price for the privilege of sitting in traffic still seems a bit high.
It’s not a grand a month if you don’t finance a new car. The cost of owning a used car is much more affordable.
Your friendly reminder to promote and encourage development of walkable and bikeable cities/towns, and to promote good public transit!
Some resources that may be of interest:
