Posted on 07/04/2023 2:10:20 PM PDT by Libloather
Cars costing under $30,000 make up just 8 percent of the market - down from 38 percent before the pandemic.
According to data from car shopping app CoPilot, cited by CNBC, expensive SUVs and trucks are in high demand, prompting carmakers to continue to upgrade their lineups and scale back on more affordable models.
Not only are new vehicle prices near an all-time high, but the interest rate to finance a purchase is also soaring.
'It’s the least affordable car market in modern history,' CoPilot CEO Pat Ryan told the outlet.
The average cost of a new car in May, according to Edmunds, was $47,892 - up from around $37,000 in 2019.
According to the car shopping website, 10 percent of all vehicles sold now cost more than $70,000 - up 3 percent from five years ago.
And just 0.3 percent of new vehicles cost less than $20,000, compared with 8 percent five years ago.
Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds, told the outlet how consumer tastes have shifted towards more luxury vehicles with high-tech features such as touch screens, heated and cooled seats and 360-degree cameras.
In response to this demand, dealers began stocking up with more expensive cars, and carmakers scaled back on cheaper models.
'It only makes sense to continue to ratchet up the price to offer more features and increase the size of the vehicle with each redesign,' he said.
Elevated interest rates also continue to drive up costs for those financing a car purchase.
Despite the Federal Reserve pressing pause last month on its consecutive interest rate hikes, the cost of financing a vehicle remains at an all-time high.
According to Edmunds, average monthly payments reached a record-breaking $733 in the second quarter of this year.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Just watched “American Graffiti” today. The oddest thing about the film is a world where teenagers actually owned cars.
**I have a 2010 Ford Expedition and just rolled 325K miles. Still going strong**
If you have a 5.4 triton v8, I hope you replaced roller bearing cam followers when you replaced the timing chains and phasers. Those cam followers are the 5.4 achilles heel.
Car buying the last couple of years has been a royal pain. I nursed a 2006 Nissan Frontier with creeping multiple organ failure since 2020 (aided by not driving much during NM’s covid over reaction) and I was well into the paranoid phase when I went to check a 2013 Tacoma at a local lot I’d done business with before. Clean, one owner, lots of records, new Michelins (a typical old guy car) with 100K on it. The Nissan almost died on the way there, so I was pretty much committed. It was only on their website for 12 hours when I bought it and they were getting calls about it while I did the paperwork. It may have been a bit over book, but he gave me a decent trade on the Nissan. Sometimes the best deal is just being able to get the thing. I now have a 300K capable truck.
If he had a Triton I don’t think it would have hit 300K
I have not replaced any internal engine parts yet. Have replaced the entire A/C system, rear springs, a couple of window motors and an O2 sensor. The windshield is tore up, body panels are missing the radio display quit working 100K miles ago and the window seals leak every time it rains. Other than that, rocking on. I guess I got a Wednesday car.
There are people buying new cars that come with $800 monthly payments. They are out of their minds. I like the smell of a brand new car myself but that only lasts a few months.
Cars are made so well these days that they will last you forever if you change the oil and keep to the recommended maintenance cycles.
Toyota Corolla circa 2003. $3200 when I bought it with 70K miles in 2010. It will serve me longer than my pacemaker.
**If he had a Triton I don’t think it would have hit 300K**
Likely not with original timing chains, phasers, and cam followers.
I replaced those parts on my son’s 2014 Expedition. It had a worn cam lobe from a bad cam follower. The previous owner had the chains and phasers replaced, but didn’t go ahead and replace the cam followers when it’s not that hard, while in that far.
V8 or the L6?
302 V8
Correct. The Global Economic “Reset”, doncha know...
Not only owned, but worked on.
Good advice. Best to just get a new car smell air freshener. The real new car smell is actually off gassing of some fairly toxic chemicals like from carpeting and plastic.
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