• 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.

      • TenderfootGungi@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        My wife’s Honda has over 300k and still runs fine and doesn’t use oil. We put $10k aside for an emergency down payment, but every month it keeps going we are a few hundred dollars wealthier.

        • Sparlock@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I laugh at my buddies who constantly need to have new vehicle.

          Too many see their car as a measure of their worth.

          Funny thing is my wife bought herself a beat up 1980 squarebody pickup for hauling stuff around the farm and you cannot take it out anywhere without people stopping to comment it and she only paid 4k for it… Hell, we have near weekly offers from strangers to buy it off of us at a premium. I want to emphasise it is not some pavement princess it has whiskey wrinkles from past owners and plenty of rusty bits.

          • Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I have a similar truck. It’s great for hauling junk around. I’ve had it since college. It used to be my daily driver. Now I have a commuter car, but I use that for errands. The thing is a tank. I also get notes on it all the time. I paid $500 for it 10 years ago. People have offered me $10k. It’s very tempting, but I love that truck.

            • Sparlock@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Yea, I don’t think there is a dollar amount that would make my wife sell hers.

          • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            whisky wrinkles

            Love it.

            I have a most similar vehicle, a battered 12 year old F150 that started life as a Menard’s rental truck. The most notable feature about it is that it’s a long-bed, single cab truck that isn’t white. People who ride in it are either confused or enthralled with it’s lack of whiz-bang features. There are no power windows, no power locks, no keyless entry, no color touchscreen infotainment center, no CD player, and no carpet. It’s not driven every day because motorcycle, so it should hold up a long time.

        • KptnAutismus@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          that’s what i’m hoping for with my 1st gen yaris, 100k and no signs of wear besides the 3 previous owners fucking up the clutch and synchronizer gears.

          • 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.

        • Sparlock@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Wherever you live sounds like a shithole.

          At my last place where we live for over a decade we had nice patio furniture and garden tools out on the front lawn and the only time something was touched is when a neighbor borrowed it for a day. Never had so much as a little kids toy taken.

          You should hop in your car and move someplace where people don’t steal your shit. It’s easier than you think to set up in a new area ( I’ve done it multiple times in my life with less than $100 in my pocket. ) people only think they are stuck and it become a self fulfilling prophecy.

            • Sparlock@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              New York is pretty safe now.

              District of Columbia,
              Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Hawaii, Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Delaware, Missouri, Arizona, Oklahoma, California, Montana, North Carolina, Kansas, Utah, Minnesota, Nevada, Nebraska, and Vermont

              All have higher larceny theft rates.

        • 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.