Pop Goes The Car Bubble . . . And It May Not Be a Bad Thing

Eric Peters Autos ^ | 09 June 2017 | Eric

[Grams A]

Telling my age but our first house, which we purchased in the late 1960’s, was a three bedroom split, two bath, double car garage with a basement on huge lot for $27,500 and it was brand new. Sold that and bought another new one with four bedrooms, three baths, 4300 square feet in 1980 for $61,000. Had more money in the bank then than now, too.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I have two cars - a 2008 Ford Escape and a 2000 VW Golf with 40K miles. I bought it from my Little Old Lady Step-Mom’s estate when she passed. Both have been paid off for - FOREVER. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had a car payment. Sometime in the early 90’s, maybe?

Dave Ramsey taught me to buy quality cars for cash and keep them maintained for forever!

Now, if only the bubble would pop in something important to me, like, say, Precious Metals? LOL!

[discostu]

Seven year loan for a car that will last 12 ain’t that outrageous. It’s a different world now. Keep in mind most new cars have a 10 year warranty too, so if repair costs go up after 4 (not as likely as it used to be as models hardly change anymore and the 4 year old car can usually use parts for this year’s model) you ain’t paying it, the company does. The modern level of vehicle durability has changed all the math.

[stationkeeper]

Check out the prices on GM’s Tahoe/Yukon/Escalade family of SUV’s.
They took a precipitous jump when the latest versions were introduced a few years ago.

I asked a dealer about the big price jump:.......”Chevy Volt”.

[windcliff]

ping

[RightField]

We put in this little gizmo to turn off the Daytime Running Lights in our Honda CR-V. It's touted as the way to turn off the Accessories (radio & 12V outlets), but we needed the 12V to power the auxiliary braking setup while we're towing the Honda behind our motorhome. Even though we have a secondary trickle charger on the car battery while towing, the car battery would sometimes be nearly depleted after a long day of driving. Since we installed this fuse cutoff switch in the DRL fuse, no problems. I hate those lights any, so I just keep the turned off now.

Auto Fuse Bypass

[wintertime]

My 14 year old VW diesel Beetle is still running great. I love my car as much today as I did the day I drove it off the lot. Great car.

[TexasGator]

“maintenance”

Maintenance? Really! My last repair was on an 82.

[wintertime]

Most cars look like vacuum cleaners. Borrrrring!

[gibsonguy]

You are so right. CAFE is just about the worst things ever imposed on an industry. At one time cars were built with the priorities of Style, Comfort and Performance. At GM for instance entire floors of people exist just to cope with CAFE requirements. It adds enormous amounts to the price is cars and strangles engine performance. Yet 12 states have threatened to take Trump to court if he cancels the almost impossible CAFE requirements Obongo tossed in on his way out the door.

[discostu]

The wife’s Tacoma is 15, needs a paint job but it runs like new. I had an 04 Sentra until there was an illegal left in front of it. I never liked that car (Sentra’s got too big, I like em small) but I paid $10K for it and the insurance company gave me $4.5K so I’ll call it a win. Now I’ve got an Elantra, they’re paying me back for the battery I had to replace last week, I don’t know when batteries landed in warranties but the guy at Checker said he thought it would be an a few e-mails later they’re sending a check.

[TwelveOfTwenty]

Tell me again, exactly why a new pickup truck should cost between $45K - $55K dollars. RIP OFF!!!!

As I recall, the same thing was said of selling a car for $8,000.00 about 40 years ago.

That said, the price you quoted is for loaded trucks. More basic trucks list for much less, and I'm seeing big trucks discounted about 8-9 thousand dollars around here. If you're in the market, now might be a good time.

[discostu]

Yeah aerodynamics have taken a lot of the fun out of cars. At least the outside. Whipping corners with no effort can be kind of fun though.

[setha]

Shame that they won’t let the companies count CAFE compliance based on their global lineup, versus their US lineup.

The US market is still for larger, more powerful cars & trucks - despite the environmental activists push for 4bangers & turbos.

[DoughtyOne]

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Just $880.00 to 91.00%

[enduserindy]

A used Chevy express, say 2006, 3/4 ton v8 with racks and shelves for 10k with 200,000 miles is a joke. Waiting too.

[Windflier]

"...ludicrous technical complexity for the sake of electronic gimmickry..."

There are far more bells and whistles in newer cars and trucks than I'll ever need, or want.

We have a 2013 Silverado that is so jam packed with high tech features, I still haven't figured them all out - and we've owned it for three years. I almost prefer driving my 2012 E-250, which is bare bones, in comparison.

[enduserindy]

I remember when daytime running lights came out. A friend of mine cleaned up with sylvania stock. He told me he would.

[rb22982]

If you can get a 0 or 0.9% loan, why would you pay cash? I can get 3-4% on a diversified dividend portfolio or save 3.5% by paying off my mortgage faster. Also, most new cars will not have major issues until long after 4 years are up - more like 10 these days - unless you drive 20-25k mi/year (7k for me).

[enduserindy]

Those deductions don’t pay for the van. Mileage rate is the same if I pay 3k or 30k for it. Throw in all the section 179 and bonus depreciation rules and it’s not so simple for some of us either.