Maybe a can of worms here, but… what the heck is the deal with trying to buy new gas powered cars? I’ve been wanting to buy a new cargo van and they get snapped up before I can even see them! Used ones are more expensive than new! Wait times on ordered vans are 6-8 months!! I gave up and will wait. Any opinion as to why so many people have so much money to be scarfing up new cars? And, when will this insanity end?

 

Everything is in short supply to build them with, and even repair the older ones with. These are uncertain times, and the adminstration running the country now is not helping matters by pushing everything to go electric, and encouraging fuel prices to go up.

If you can wait,that will be the best thing to do. Keep saving your money and orient yourself to have a stable income. It's going to hit the fan eventually, so hang tight, you might get your van cheaper than you would have thought.

 

With the continued supply chain disruptions and oversea production issues, along with current administrations massive inflationary policies causing interest rates to continuously rise, there will most likely be a decreased overall demand on products and items requiring financing. Automobiles are largely financed because of the exceptionally high sticker prices these days, and with the higher interest rates, a portion of population will no longer be able to afford the higher interest payments. In theory this should cause the demand to decrease and hopefully prices to follow suit.

I am however not in the automotive, lending, import industries and everything I said is total speculation… but it sound plausible? Just save your money and put a huge down payment down and you should be fine 🍻

 

When I recently renewed the plates on my 2000 Super Duty I noticed a $7.00 older vehicle tax on it. When will they try to keep us from driving older vehicles. TX wingnut is right the demand is going to drop due to economy slow down and higher interest rates. These vehicles will be setting on the lot, probably this winter.

 

What state is that in? I'm in OR and am surprised that our state legislators have overlooked this type of revenue generation larceny... l really hope they don't start getting ideas, but there aren't too many areas that are left untapped to the point of exhaustion.

I'm not saying that this is how you get a tax revolt... ​​​​but this is how you get a tax revolt.

 

Do you also have a yearly property tax on that SD?
We do here and the county wants me to tell them all cars, trucks and trailers plated or not to charge me tax every year.
Right now they only have what is plated and it will stay that way as long as I can
Dave ----

 

Well. I tend to agree that things should tighten up. However, they still haven’t even begun to get better. I guess I’m kind of curious about what you all think about WHO’s buying all these cars? As said, the cost is astronomical, interest rates are higher, but they keep getting sold. This is what’s blowing my mind.

 

I hear adds on the radio if you make $xxx, good credit / bad credit no problem you can get a car or truck.
Around here they dont care if you can afford it or not they will repo it and make your credit as such.
I start work anywhere from midnight to 4am and I see all the trucks towing in cars that are repo during the night.

I also see people driving new cars & trucks around here and know ruffly what people make and cant see how they can afford them so I guess they will get repo'd?
Then again who cares when we are trying to beat the Jones next door with something newer & bigger to show off with

BTW the newest thing we own is a 2013 Subaru then my 2002 Durango and 81 F100 nope not showing off to anyone here
Dave ----

 

I’d read that the repossession rate is up. But you never know how accurate the press is. They sensationalize everything. I will be waiting to make my purchase.

 

As I said I see the tow trucks every morning and there can not be that many people broke down that early.
They are all dark in color (black) and never have to over head lights on may have the under the rear truck lights on for hook up (wheel lifts tow trucks) as that is the only way I can tell they are tow trucks when driving down the road.

Ever see Lizard Lick towing on TV a few years back?
That is what they did, repo cars and guess what, Lizard Lick (yes name of a town) is not far from me here in NC.

If repo is big here guess it is big every where?
Dave ----

 

That's one of your signs things are getting worse. It will take some time, but there is a big adjustment coming. Just make sure you are prepared for it. I am trying to cut enough firewood to have some heat this winter. No way can I afford to pay over double the price for heating oil. Luckily we have another bug given to us by Asia called the "ash borer" that has been killing all the ash trees around my house. So they are dead and very close to ready to be burnt. And I get decent heat from that type of wood.

We are going to have it bad over here, I keep hearing Europe is going to have it even worse this year trying to keep warm. This "go green" stuff has really put a hurting on everything. Too bad people have to suffer so much for it.

 

My cousin is in QC at TMMI here in Indiana. They build the Tundra and Highlander here. I am told that they only make completely loaded vehicles using their limited supply of chips. All manufacturers are doing this as the margins are significantly higher. You can't have a base Tundra. All the bells and whistles or nothing.

One could argue that this policy is artificially inflating new vehicle prices.

Manufacturing plants that build the base cargo vans are begging bean counters for more chips. Their marshalling yards are full of uncomplicated units. In the end, stock holders are calling the shots. And, as always, profit is what is more important.

 

I wonder about that too... l looked at a new Raptor last year; $75G PLUS a $10G dealer premium just for the privilege of buying it. Yet, l see a lot of them, plus a lot of other new, high-end, highly optioned cars and trucks around. Like Dave, our newest vehicle is a 2013 (Explorer). My DD is an '02 Ram and there's my 85 F150, a 99 Cherokee, and an 04 Mustang (the last two are for sale) all bought with cash... I'll never (EVER) saddle myself with a vehicle payment like that, I don't even like having a mortgage. My parents were pretty frugal (Mom made us save tin foil and Christmas bows, you know) so that's probably where l got it. Maybe I'm insecure... but not so insecure that l feel the need to drive an $85,000 truck.

If you have a Raptor, Kings Ranch, Tesla, Bimmer, whatever, no offense offered or implied... it's just not for me (although l ain't too proud to accept donations).

 

Interesting comments so far. I hope things do swing the other way soon, but I just don’t see it happening for a while. At least for cars. Funny thing, they advertise on TV like crazy! But when you go to look, they have none on the lot. Why waste the money advertising? My 82 F350 is my daily and will remain so until things get “normal” again. I worry too that if I wait too long, I may not be able to buy a gas engined vehicle. The Challenger and Charger are even stopping production of gassers in 2024 for electrics. I’m glad that the electrics help the planet, but I really don’t see me driving one. Not that there’s anything wrong with that—it’s just not my preference. Kind of like a self driving car. Once they are self driving, why own one? Take the bus.

 

I have also wondered you can afford all these $60,000 + trucks and SUV's driving around. Our 2018 Outback was paid off a year after we bought it, I have a 09 Subaru Legacy Spec B (one of 112made) with just over 100,000 miles and my favorite driver is my 05 Legacy GT wagon 5mt, (one year only car) just turned 305,000 miles.
It is true, there is a lot of money out there, but those people are not on a truck forum talking about a 1980's pick up.

I remember back in the early 1980's when a mortgage was near 20% interest. I also remember sitting in the lunchroom at work, where I was making about $11.00 an hour on second shift and asking, how do people survive making $3.35 an hour. I think that was a minimum wage about that time.

I have thought since retiring, (the smart thing to do) I should sell my two cars, take over the Outback 3.6R (it has 28,000 miles, bought it Oct 17') and lease her something.

We'd like to go Hybrid or EV, but the price is still too high for my taste. I guess I'll have to get used to paying near $45,000 for a small SUV. But I'm in no hurry.

I see you can lease a Hyundai and Kia for $239 or $279 a month.

I think if things were different in Ukraine things wouldn't be this bad. Hopefully congress will figure out what most working people said for decades, we need to stop sending jobs to China. A different subject, what happens when China's Navy is bigger than ours ?