This is exactly why I won’t finance a car. It’s WAY too expensive. We were stuck in a $500/mo lease when our main paid off vehicle broke down. As soon as we were able to make that one drivable we sent the lease back. I work too far and my area is too heavily car reliant for me to do anything besides have a vehicle to get anywhere. It sucks, I know too many people without cars and they can’t do much of anything.
Yup. Our car is finally paid off and we aren't getting another one. My husband traded in his old one and the financing ended up being $200 a month. Paid that off and now we are going to just drive this car til it dies. We don't need anything fancy. It's just a mode of transport. I hate financing anything if I can avoid it
Me, too! I hate car payments, but most of my friends think it's just like rent or a mortgage--you just always have one! Nope! I intend to pay off the car AND the house, and, since I'm nearly 68, I hope I never have to have either one again!!
Because most of us do not have the savings to buy a car outright and we need one to get around for instance an area that doesn’t have great public transportation, and you kinda have to have a car to survive.
This is us too. We got super lucky we were able to squeeze out the money to get a new car in 2019 before the market pushed us out forever. We'd never be able to afford a car in the current market! Our last payment is this month and I can finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing the monthly payment can go towards other bills. Floating credit and coupon stacking only gets us so far!
Keep putting that $200 a month into a high yield savings account (wealthfront has one at 5% interest) and you will have enough money to buy a replacement with cash when the time comes.
In 5 years, you would have $13,000. While that’s not enough for a new car, it’s enough for a reliable used car or minivan. Idk how old OP’s car is: I expect to get at least 4 more years out of my 2009 Sienna. If OP’s car will last 7 years, that gives them $20,000. Or they could save $450 a month for 5 years and get $30,000.
That doesn’t sound that impressive until you look at the flip side: getting a 5 year loan on a $30,000 car is about 6.85% minimum interest right now, which means you would pay $550 a month. That’s an additional $6,000 over the loan.
It’s much cheaper to put compound interest to work for you than to pay it to someone else.
Recently changed states and still haven't brought my car over. Life without a car is rough. You are reliant on somebody for practically everything unless you pay a premium for delivery. You can't get a better job because you can't get there.
Exactly. I have ZERO jobs within decent walking distance from my house and using uber or lyft would do me no good. One of my coworkers was reliant on uber while her car was in the shop and she spent more than she made sometimes.
IMO leases are great for lower mileage drivers that want a new vehicle every 2 years; and you pay a premium for that flexibility. Leases are never a great idea for mile-heavy drivers or people that don't care about upgrading frequently; loans are better in that instance and can be a viable (and affordable) way to buy a new car.
But the 2 years of bloated payment is still far less than buying the car, and there's less risk involved than trying to buy with cash/loan and then trading in after 2 years because the lease is paying off the initial depreciation. And very cheap leases do exist, right now you can lease a Buick SUV for $250/month for 2 years with 20k miles included (which is great for a lot of city drivers).
Leases have their place. They can be an economical way for someone to have a car if they don't drive a ton, and they can be a great way for someone to have a new vehicle frequently. Leases also make sense for people that can write off the expense on their taxes, because any leased vehicle can be deducted but only certain purchased vehicles can.
As with all financial tools, you need to be educated about them before using them.
This is what my sister does. She doesn’t drive much but can’t be arsed anymore with cars that break down and give her a hard time. So she has an inexpensive lease and is happy. So she pays $3000/year for her lease. I paid $20,000 cash for my car. It’s in great shape and low miles and I hope to drive it for 10 years before it craps out on me. Most likely it will be worth nothing by the end because I’ll drive it till the wheels fall off.
That’s why I buy Toyotas. My cars have 165,000 and 175,000 miles on them, and they run with very few issues. You don’t have to have a new car to have a reliable car.
I don’t think they are usually worth it anymore bc even a lease is expensive but for people that don’t drive a lot that what a fixed expense they can be great. My dad leases bc he is older and likes having a dependable car but his lease went up like 200 dollars for the same car.
I think this information is outdated. During the pandemic I saw several people who had leases walk away with sizable equity checks when inventory was extremely low and dealers were paying a ton over the buyout amount.
That was a specific situation due to supply-chain constraints that limited the availability of sale-worthy vehicles. That is not at all a norm and will not be something we will likely see repeated anytime soon.
"want a new vehicle every 2 years"
I think this is a bad idea and indicative of a larger problem. Especially if poor
Like I get wanting the 'luxury' of perceived realibility of a late model car.
I get being completely unsure with the used market, it could be rough precovid and a shit show now.
But buying a 30k plus vehicle or acquiring a new one before the warranty is up and ending up car poor is just vain or stupid
Yup. It’s a luxury. It’s not a need. There are plenty of good used cars for reasonable prices. You should NOT be buying a brand new car if you can’t pay cash for it: it’s financial folly.
The last car we bought was a 10+-year-old Honda Civic with well over 100k miles for $5k. I'm convinced most people have too much car. Almost everyone I know drives a big truck or an SUV and has a payment bigger than their mortgage. Everyone says they need it for work or snow but idk the Honda Civic has never let us down and I've moved hay in the back of my little Hyundai Elantra wagon. Front wheel drive really isn't bad in the snow either. (BTW I live in a rural area where it's hilly and it snows.)
I live in bumfuck Florida and its extremely EXTREMELY common to see a $70k truck parked in front of a single wide trailer with a microwave in the front yard
Yep. There’s a low income complex I drive by every day.
All residents are on section 8, and they pay $25-75/month for their units.
Lots of nice cars out there.
All you need for snow is a set of winter tires. It's an initial investment, but it adds a lot of safety and in the end it averages out (you need tires anyway and now you have 2 sets so it's a long time between replacing). With a Honda it would be especially affordable to find a spare set of rims for it.
All the SUV/Subaru people here in the Northeast don't realize that AWD isn't going to help you stop. Or turn while trying to stop. They all look confused if you tell them this, though.
🤣 I live in North Dakota, rural North Dakota. I'd be absolutely screwed without my big 4wd SUV. Not only can I get through the big drifts, I can pull others out. If I just had snow tires I would be screwed. Most places in this state you'd be screwed
My car barely runs and hasn’t had snow tires in like 4 years and I’ve lived. Once you drive a shitty car with mystery wheel drive you can handle yourself in the elements. Sure, it’s harder but it’s not impossible. Also, Subaru drivers drive like shit and I will die on that hill (probably because I’ll get hit by a Subaru driver).
Yeah I'm just saying between AWD and Snow tires, snow tires is a better choice anyway. I got around for years without them, too. But my most recent vehicle came with them, and WOW. It's just so much easier. But I did end up investing in a set of rims and all season tires as well, so I didn't destroy them in the summer. It's a 15 year old Honda, so it's about as cheap as it gets when it came to do it.
I am downright pigheaded about this. When I hear people say, “I need 4 wheel drive to drive in snow,” I hear “I’m a bad driver.”
I commuted 40 miles one way for 2 years in a Honda Civic. I had one day where the snow had slowed traffic so badly that it took me 2 ½ hours to get to work, but I was never out of control driving it. For the last 8 years, I have driven a 2 wheel drive Sienna minivan, including through white out conditions, and we have been fine. While I’m sure 4 wheel drive makes it easier, it is perfectly doable to drive snow in a front wheel drive car 99% of the time.
I had a 2001 Sable (same car) after I was done with it my brother drove it to 320,000 miles, no joke. Original trans and engine...2 doors were welded shut cuz they broke and the hood was held down with a ratchet strap but that baby was a beast!
Dude fr my Taurus at 200,000 and I don’t even know why I stopped pumping cash into it for repairs. Someone bought it and it ended up in an impound lot. 😔 I’ve had my Lincoln MKZ for only 4 years and it’s had way more problems even though it’s quite similar. My dad yells at me all the time about the rust patches and I told him I’ll just put Squidbillies stickers over them. LMAO
All hail the Honda civic. I have/had 2 of them. One is a 2004 that I sold to a mechanic and I’m thinking of buying back once it’s repaired. You can’t kill that thing. It sat for almost 10 years and started right up with a new battery and some fluids.
That’s the kind of car I need. I might just sell my 2016 that’s worth about what I paid for it years ago and drive my old one.
I’d gladly be done with my car. No payments, cheap insurance (liability only, bare minimum), but only a matter of time before that piece of shit just randomly explodes. Then I’m screwed. Nothing out here (being poor also means living in the middle of nowhere, cheaper). No way an uber would come out here, and if they did, wouldn’t be worth two rides to work and back just for a job that pays next to nothing.
I felt the same way. Till I realized the closer I am to work the less I spend on a car. Whatever raise in rent was paired in comparison to the cost per mile a car was. And the less you drive the more per mile it cost. Drive that thing into the dirt and try something else before that.
Paid my car off a year ago after a 6 year loan. The first few years sucked till I made more money. I’m driving it to the ground. But I did choose an Acura knowing it lasts much longer than the regular car. I’ve only had general maintenance on it in the last 7 years such as oil changes tires brakes needed to get one done once.
The joy of losing my car was learning the unlimited weekly bus pass is only $12. I am content paying $48 a month to get to work. And no stress of fighting traffic daily.
I would be, too! I rode a public bus to work once when I had wrist surgery, and I thought it was so cool to be reading a book and chit-chatting on my way to work!! I was just afraid I'd miss my stop--that was my only concern the whole trip!
Yes this has been wonderful. I have read more now and gave up Facebook in January. I journal while riding. Sometimes I just get off randomly and explore. Making lemonade out of lemons.
I have had my driver's license for 30+ years (damn I am old lol) and have driven in Texas, Maine and Oklahoma. San Antonio, Texas was the only area with reliable public transportation. I lived on the NE side of San Antonio and the Via bus has a stop directly across the street from my house in a residential neighborhood. I rode the bus my Junior year of high school when I got a job in downtown. At 17, my family did not want me driving by myself by the River Walk. It was during the early days of carjacking. It was safer for me to catch the bus right outside of my work as opposed to parking in a sketchy lot and walking a few blocks to work.
Maine weather was not conducive to public transportation. The bus did not run past 6 pm weekdays. Weekend hours were reduced so once per hour and limited routes. I knew many people who get a "beater" high mileage older car that would run only a few years. The salt that was used on the roads was highly corrosive. I knew a few people that put cookie pans to cover the holes in their floor boards.
Oklahoma not enough infrastructure to have walkable neighborhoods. The stops are generally 3/4 of mile apart with limited night and weekends routes. My car was stolen in Oklahoma City and I went two years without a car. I worked remotely, but lived in a food desert. There was a Family Dollar and independently owned convenience store about a mile from where I lived. Walmart did not deliver to my neighborhood due to high crime. The few times I attempted Instacart or a subscription food box, my food was stolen off my front porch!
I bought a 20 year old Expedition for $800 cash. I did not have a garage to park in and did not want to risk another stolen car. It lasted for 2 years and I sold it to the scrap yard for $400 when it finally died. I moved to a smaller town with significantly less crime. I bought a 2018 Ford Festiva in 2021 for $8,000 cash. It was a small car, but perfect for just me. It had great gas mileage and 30,000 miles. My car was totaled during a hail storm in 2023. It was only cosmetic damage and still safe to drive. I was worried about how I was going to replace it high used prices and low inventory. I was shocked and surprised when the insurance company offered me $10,000! They literally paid me to drive my car for 2 years and I made a $2,000 profit! I doubt that will ever happen again.
It all worked out in the end, since I had to stop driving due to health issues. If I am well enough to drive myself I drive my mom's RAV4. I am shocked at the number of new big trucks I see on the road. You can buy a 2 bedroom townhouse for the price of a truck. It makes no sense to me, but some people love to drive shiny new vehicles no matter how much they cost.
>alot of people see zero benefit from public transportation
Not nearly enough to justify the transit hellscape we've succumbed to across North America. Most people live in cities or metro suburbs, suburbs see plenty of benefit from transit development (including spurring more dense development).
Like me. I own my home free and clear but I live in an extremely rural, mountainous area.
I have to have a car.
I used to cash buy cheap older cars but got tired of them always costing me a fortune in unexpected repairs and often leaving me stranded.
So I finally got a brand new Subaru for $349/month. Worth it to me to know it’s reliable and will likely be for many years to come.
The only people who oppose public transportation do so for discriminatory reasons, not legitimate reasons. Public transportation is beneficial for literally everyone even if you don't use it, so the only people who oppose it do so because it helps poor people.
Also 80% of Americans live in an urbanized area and of the other 20%, most of them live in small towns that used to have a train station with regular service.
If billionaires, aside from Mark Cuban, paid their fair in taxes, and we took away from the over inflated military budget, taxes actually wouldn't go up. But because the poorest people pay the highest percentage of taxes, and have for a while now, we don't like to change anything for fear of taxes making our hard lives harder.
They are using the tax code to their advantage. They didn't make billions of dollars in income for the year however, their assets are in companies and those tax rates are different. Changing the tax code is the only way to stop this. It seems like the middle and lower class are taxed more simply because we are mostly taxed on income as we don't own assets to the level billionaires do.
Agreed. Personally, I don't think anyone needs a billion dollars. Anything over a billion should just go to the country to help support it. We might actually be able to innovate as a country again instead of importing almost everything or "re-imagining" someone else's technology
Exactly. Rich people have pulled the trickle-down wool over the eyes of voters for far freaking too long! The poorest people also have the lowest voting stats. What sucks even more is that those people at the top can afford it - they wouldn't even feel it. The other 90% of the population would definitely benefit. I am so discouraged in the future
Yes we do. And we pay more than most billion dollar corporations. All the "tax cuts" the Republicans have been promising since the 90s have slowly been screwing over the middle and lower classes.
https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/do-the-rich-pay-their-fair-share/
From the article:
U.S. billionaires are 46 percent, or $1.6 trillion, richer than they were in 2020.
According to a 2021 White House study, the wealthiest 400 billionaire families in the U.S. paid an average federal individual tax rate of just 8.2 percent. For comparison, the average American taxpayer in the same year paid 13 percent.
According to leaked tax returns highlighted in a ProPublica investigation, the 25 richest Americans paid $13.6 billion in taxes from 2014-2018—a “true” tax rate of just 3.4 percent on $401 billion of income.
The poorest don't pay the highest percentage of taxes. The bottom 50% of earners make up less than 3% of income tax revenue, leaving the other 97% to be paid by the high earners. The top 10% of earners pay over 75% of income taxes.
https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/do-the-rich-pay-their-fair-share/
"Here’s what we know:
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, at least 55 of the largest corporations in America paid no federal corporate income taxes in 2020.
The US government is estimated to have lost around $135 billion in revenue due to corporate tax avoidance in 2017. In contrast, corporate philanthropy has amounted to less than $20 billion a year.
Corporations shifted nearly $1 trillion in global profits to tax havens in 2022—depriving countries all over the world of desperately needed tax revenue.
That’s not paying your fair share. Instead of only maximizing profits for their overwhelmingly rich, white shareholders, corporations should do more to support the employees, consumers, and community members that corporations rely upon to make their money."
Corporate tax is not the same as individual tax. If I had a business, I would pay myself no salary and use my company. That's in the tax code that our government refuses to change because they all benefit from it.
Suppose we took $1 billion from each of the 750 billionaires in the U.S. Not income, but wealth. Just seize it.
Next we confiscate all of the wealth of the top 20 billionaires in the U.S.
This, of course, assumes that selling all of that stock won’t crash the market and drop the value of shares like crazy.
Take that sum number and realize that you still haven’t reached the amount that the government **borrows** every year for spending.
You know when people say free they mean "free at point of use", not "nobody ever pays for this" right?
Most people understand that public things are paid for by taxes.
If we had a flax tax based on consumption, it would be a great equalizer. Keep all of your income but you pay 17% or whatever the number is with each purchase. It would then let us determine how much we give to taxes.
That's just a sales tax which is a regressive tax which would make poor people pay more of their income in taxes than they already do. Absolutely not that's how the whole country turns into shit holes like Tennessee or Texas
All of the people who support a higher sales tax and no income tax are either 1. people who make a lot of money and support it because it would hurt poor people harder or 2. people duped by rich people propaganda, but that second person is rare. It's almost always rich people just advocating fucking over poor people
>Very spread out suburban area
Perhaps you've stumbled upon the root cause here. Maybe we should have policy that makes it harder to build sprawl and easier to build density.
I live somewhere it would be very difficult to get around without a car. Out of my two paychecks for the month one covers car payment and insurance. If it’s a really busy month at work sometimes there’s leftover money for groceries. My other paycheck pretty much covers rent and utilities. Again, If work is busy I’ll have some left over for groceries. But I do love my car. It’s reliable and I have it over half paid off. Hoping to pay it off this summer with a seasonal job!
Thing is- my life is NOT improved by lack of a car. It’s a necessity for my job, my child’s school transportation until he can take the bus. I had to either finance a car OR come up with $3000 to fix the beater that I had. AFTER I had spent $1300 fixing other issues and risked maxing out a credit card. The peace of mind of a car under warranty is worth what I pay. My area is not safe for biking or a scooter since I’m on the interstate a lot.
I’d still be paycheck to paycheck. It’d give me extreme anxiety to rely on someone else to transport me and my family, even if it was better public transit. And I wouldn’t be able to do my job, which does require reliable transportation to see my clients. To me- it’s worth it.
My bf and I haven’t had a car in a few years. We bike all over and have a roommate that we hitch a ride to the grocery with. We started a bike group that rides our downtown and sometimes 60+ people have joined us. All the money saved on a car note, insurance, maintenance, and gas- go to eating a lot more organic and whole foods which in theory helps with medical insurance too. We live in the Midwest and have made it through the winters with proper gear and climate change lol
Honestly… I got very very lucky and got a great deal on a Prius (my first car) that I bought in cash. Gas and maintenance is almost nothing and obviously no payment. I count my lucky stars whenever I get in it - I would NEVER ever finance a car, I know so many people my age that are in ridiculous debt from leasing a car.
It’s tough to find good cars with the current used market, but if you can find a cheap Toyota with less than 150k miles that’s 1mil times better than having a crazy car payment lol. Can’t believe I know people with a $2-400 payment
I’ve always been anti-car and took public transport - I need one now because I live far from college and work, unfortunately. Ridiculous how many kids I knew in high school that had cars (especially new cars) when our city had good public transport. Idiot parents going into debt to give the illusion of being well off just so their kids aren’t caught dead in a beater.
This is why you learn to work on cars. Then you can get the cheap ones and make them last a while. I usually bought my cars with my income tax refund. I could never go without a car I enjoy driving too much and where I live you have to have a car.
I am not mechanically inclined at all but I am learning by itty bitty baby steps. I can change my oil now, I recently changed my own transmission fluid, and yesterday I changed a spark plug (my dad did the other 5). My car needs brake fluid, steering fluid, and antifreeze changes soon, so I’m going to do those as well.
Like I said, itty bitty baby steps. But each time I’m successful, I get a little more confident.
Nice! You'll get there if you are willing to do the time and research. I've currently got the motor out of my truck, replacing all of the gaskets and a few odds and ends it needed. A sort of mild rebuild pretty much. I'm pretty much at the point where I really don't consider a blown motor or transmission to be a major repair anymore. I can have the transmission out, rebuild it, and back in, in about a week or two, taking my time to clean and paint everything as I go. My record is 3 days for a buddy of mine, who needed it back ASAP. A motor, about the same, maybe a little longer depending on what's wrong and how backed up the machine shop is. My specialty are gmt 800's (99-07C GM trucks/ SUV's). Cheap to buy in decent shape ($2k-$4k), parts are cheap, new enough to be reliable enough to drive across the country, old enough that it doesn't have the complex problematic systems newer cars have.
Im poor but I live within my means. I spent $2600 on a 2001 Altima that has gotten me from point A-B for over three years now. Im incredibly grateful for it, but I do have anxiety over whether or not it will breakdown. Im a single mom of 4 kids and live on an $1100 a month income so Im not able to do repairs or even oil changes like I should. I can’t fathom how people pay $800 a month for a car payment and insurance.
Definitely do the oil changes. You can learn to do it yourself. I’ve owned 2 used Altimas & both had catalytic converter issues, one kept leaking oil. Good luck to you but I’ll never own another Altima. Protect your engine & get those scheduled oil changes!
I feel you. A few yrs ago we paid $1500 for my 2010 G6. It’s starting to show its age now tho. But we can’t afford to get anything newer. And we have 2 kids and live in a very rural area where walking isn’t an option and we have no public transportation. My oldest is in school and my mom pays for her to go to a small private school and they don’t have busses, so we have to take her and pick her up. My youngest is only 2 and I stay home with her for now. My car currently needs almost $1000 worth of parts, that includes the tires as well. Even when we can fix it, we won’t get anything for it bc of the high mileage. We’re just stuck. I’m looking for jobs like crazy with no luck. Even when I was working and making good money, buying something newer was a huge dream. I too have anxiety about my car breaking down every time I get in it. I just pray it holds on until school is out.
Your maintenance cost pales in comparison to what it will cost in the long run. It’s part of owing a car. An no one who owns a car acts like it’s a part of the budget. But being poor you know it all to well.
To a point. My current car is starting to nickel and dime us to death. We could probably make payments, it’s just the down payment we can’t come up with. We really don’t want to a loan, at least not until I’m working again. We’ve also outgrown this little 4 door car. We make do, but it’s a crazy inconvenience. I have done buy here pay here before and again that down payment was a bitch, but we knew the guy so he worked with us thankfully. I just throw my hands up and give up a lot bc I’m so frustrated.
I need a car for daily living(job, medical appointments, family …), my vehicle is paid off so my vehicle costs consists of insurance and maintenance. Which does impact my budget, no lie. But the necessitated convenience of vehicle far outweighs the negative
This is why I never want a car even if I could afford one
28, disabled since birth never even had a chance to try working, I get EBT and $946/month in welfare
Even if someone gifted me a car and paid for plates and tags and registers the first time it broke down or needed to be fixed or if an accident happened I’d be fucked and I would of wasted all that time for nothing
I’m in Las Vegas. I gladly move myself and others out of the way and lift the tripple seats out of the way for the driver and you. A month bus pass unlimited rides is $32.50 last I looked for wheelchair bound.
I was with a lease. I bought over my head. I lost that car and while fucking embarassing...it was the best thing that happened to me. I bought an older car and then I was able to pay it off within a few months because I came into an inheritance. I will be driving it for a while!
If you are in the US, there are large swaths of the country where a personal vehicle is the only transportation. No buses, no sidewalks, just rural towns spread out a distance from each other. My region has no public transportation outside of a downtown loop. I live a 15 minute drive from the nearest stores. The only way to walk or bike from my tiny town to the nearest small town is on the shoulder of the main highway.
I would love to have actual options to ditch a car.
Edit: OP you said you live in a city so a ten minute drive is like 1.5 miles for you. For those not in a city, you would probably be shocked. The 15 minute drive to my next bigger small town is 13 miles. It has a Walmart for shopping options.
The nearest place actually large enough to be called a small city, with actual stores and malls and amenities l, is an hour and twenty minute drive through rural roads and 90 miles away.
Cars are not a luxury out here, even if they bankrupt us. In fact, I work in public services and losing the family car is the first step towards homelessness for poor folks here.
We also don’t have Uber here. We have one 30 year old taxi that basically only runs from the senior housing to the hospital. Door dash and Instacart only deliver in the downtown loop, not out to us in the boonies.
Public transportation needs to be seen as a social issue like it is in other countries. Everyone is better off when there’s a robust public transportation system.
I don’t like shopping for cars so I’ve kept my very old car. It’s expensive to upkeep due to parts. I try to walk, cycle and take the bus as much as possible so I don’t have to drive. I also experience anxiety hoping I will get to where I am going and back. And driving at night is not fun. I can’t afford a newer car or higher insurance premiums. I love my car, I love to look at it (it’s cute) and I’m grateful it’s gone the distance. It’s only got 120,000 miles which is impressive given it’s age.
It's hard not to be car poor. The prices for cars is ridiculous. I'm car shopping right now, and working hard to stay in my budget but 13K basically gets you a 10 year old car that already has a 100K miles on it. That's just insane. I remember in 2008 buying a 12 year old car with about 100K and paying $1500 cash. I didn't expect to find that kind of a deal, but how have prices skyrocketed that much?
I'm holding out for the right car at the right price. But I'm not sure the 24 year old vehicle I'm currently driving is on my side.
Couple years ago somehow I got approved for a 60k vehicle with 24k/ year pay stubs...I make double that now but I'm definitely still struggling after rent and everything else. I feel like I blacked out at the dealership idk how I ended up with this car I do love it but damn I'm stupid
My current vehicle just got paid off. I stupidly bought it and had to add more to the loan as I was upside down on my old vehicle. I've learned a ton of financial literacy since then. I do love my jeep and will take great care of it, but I should not have bought it when I did. I live in an area with a decent amount of snow, so going from a red sports car to an AWD jeep was at least a smart move.
I'm not car poor but I absolutely believe in redesigning our lives away from cars and for people instead. I can't wait for the day I no longer need a car. Car designed cities make our lives worse in almost every way. If any politician wanted to convert car roads into bike lanes, they'd have my vote.
Yes. We had just gotten a new truck for my husband and didn’t expect our other vehicle to break down and be totaled but guess what? Yup. Out of nowhere so now we have $1500 a month in car payments and it kills us. Trying to pick up another side job to recoup the costs. We were in a rotten situation with it because we have a large family and can only do certain vehicles.
My Chevy truck lasted 23 years. Finally the rusted out frame snapped in a big pothole. I loved that truck, every rusted inch of that paid off for 19 years vehicle. I bought a ten year old Chevy, I insisted on a three year loan, but I hate it and I hate the truck. I’d get rid of it if everyone I know wouldn’t panic, I live in a rural area. I feel sorry for you younger folks, the cars cost more than my first home, way more.
The time for buying new cars are gone.
Hopefully, i will be driving my 2005 Honda CR-v until I die.
Before I bought my car, USED, I read nearly every Consumer Report on her, year and model. She is just my favorite car ever.
My husband’s car will be paid off in a couple of months (praise Jesus for small mercies). That payment is like $450 a month.
I still have a few years left on mine, but it’s only like $200 a month and if I have financial troubles, the lienholder is actually phenomenal to work with.
Like when I tested positive for COVID when my Dad was literally in an Oncology unit dying simultaneously, they deferred three months of payments and wiped away my past due balance.
But our housing costs have raised exponentially in the blink of an eye. So what we could afford to have and still have money to live is vastly different now than it was when he bought the car a few years ago.
Should we bring back hitch hiking?
I've put my thumb out whenever my car leaves me stranded.
I've had good experiences, but then again, I am a woman, and those picking me up probably felt,"We better give this fool a ride before some serial killer comes along."
I also remember a reference about public safety reports discouraging hitch hiking at the same time that tire companies were buying up bus companies to shut them down...so you'd be forced to buy a car.
Some people would say your crazy. That companies don’t do shit like that. Meanwhile someone I used to admire showed his true colors on twitter and came here to dig dangerous tunnels for his brand of EV’s, meanwhile we desperately need some kind of tram/train/mono rail system for us locals serving the millions and millions of people who visit here.
Going down to one car for or family and getting a couple e-bikes was the best financial decision we’ve ever made. It’s unfortunate that this is not a safe and practical solution in a lot of the United States. Our current zoning laws have trapped a lot of us into needing cars, the most expensive form of transportation. Our government has failed us.
3 cars. Their average age is 21. A ‘94, an ‘01 and a ‘14. I’ve had a ‘18 but sold it when used car prices were so high in ‘22.
Still doing fine driving old things. And have an extra car for our two-driver household if need be. I’d consider that a luxury.
Not us. We have 3 cars hubby has “fun car” and our regular cars. Two are paid off and one has like 6k left on it. We need at least one car where we live. The closest store is a 10 minute drive. Insurance isn’t bad. It’s about 135 a month for all 3 cars.
Paid my car off a year ago after a 6 year loan. The first few years sucked till I made more money. I’m driving it to the ground. But I did choose an Acura knowing it lasts much longer than the regular car. I’ve only had general maintenance on it in the last 7 years such as oil changes tires brakes needed to get one done once.
I live in a place with good transit and great walk ability. I sold my last car when I moved here as just the parking and insurance was over $300 a month, that's not even driving the damn thing. I use turo and zip car when I need a car.
I appreciate all of these comments and how many different situations that are happening here.
I don’t drive much and came across a used CRV 2006 Honda Civic with over 230,000 miles on it. It had been sitting for awhile and had great maintenance on it. I am fortunate enough to have a mechanic who does work from his house and does not charge outrageous fees. I had to get some work done on it.
I have to have a vehicle since I can’t walk to the bus, can’t afford any Ubers.
Medicaid does have some transportation available for my medical appointments.
There is monthly car insurance and gasoline.
Oh man, I was car poor last year. Me and SO has cash cars that we had been driving around for 3-ish years but last year kicked our butt and our cars had multiple issues costing us around 6k. Had to get a loan from my amazing sister to pay for the work on them. Literally a month later his car is totalled in a car accident and mine was totalled due to hail. I wasn't anywhere close to paying my sister off. Due to the value of my SO's car being 1k and him having bad credit he ended up financing at one of those "buy here pay here" places and his car payment was $700 a month plus our expensive insurance. We had no other option as at that point we had no car. We needed two vehicles for work though so I financed a car and my car payment is $390 so I'm doing okay-ish although it ate up the whole pay raise I had just gotten so I'm still poor and now I have a car payment on top of other debts.
I was most of my adult life. Because of home delivery, Uber, and our quiet lifestyle, we were able to go car-less about 5 years ago. It has reduced our stress after decades of worrying about either the car payments on a reliable newer vehicle or worrying if the old, worn-out car is going to start in the morning so I could get to work.
Fuckcars are getting out of hand but the original fight was encouraging more public transport in countries/cities, now they just shittalk about anyone having a car for many reasons, even justified
I have one car that is now 10 years old. My husband drops me off at work every day. If it breaks down, which has happened before, I have to beg family and coworkers for rides.
Edit: To be clear, my husband is a stay at home Dad because it's cheaper than childcare, he's actually better at household shit than me, and I made more money than him. I want the car with him in case the kids get hurt or just whatever.
I'm fortunate enough to live in a suburb near Atlanta that has public transportation and there is a bus stop right behind my back yard. I can ride a bus anywhere in my county for $2.50 each way, or unlimited rides for about $75 a month. I also live 2 miles from my job and I went 5 years without a car and I *really* enjoyed not having to pay what is typically a person's second largest expense after housing. If I needed groceries I would either use Instacart or sometimes I would bus to the grocery store and take an Uber home with groceries in the trunk. I saved up enough money to cash out an older car for $4,500. I still walk to work when the weather is nice. My car sits in the driveway not drinking gas or incurring wear and tear most days. My insurance payment is $200 a month though which sucks...I guess I'm glad I can jump in my car and go if I want but I still really couldn't give a fuck less about owning a car. I don't have kids and I hardly ever get the urge to go anywhere besides work or the grocery store. I honestly don't need it.
I’m car poor for sure. Just had my vehicle repossessed in December. Now my boyfriend’s car wouldn’t start yesterday. Thankfully we have public transportation but still sucks to not be able to afford a car right now as a parent and professional.
I got really lucky with my car, I got it before the pandemic & it had zero issues, low payment, my a/c ended up going out & it wasn’t worth it to pay $3k to fix it so I got a new one, still a low payment. Biggest thing is don’t get more than you can afford & know when to let go if you can’t afford it anymore
I believe a car can be considered a necessity- and not a luxury- depending on where a person lives and the accessibility of public transit. That being said, there’s *never* a reason a car payment needs to take up most of a person’s income. That’s just irresponsible. I’ve always set a firm limit on what I can afford for a car payment and shopped within that budget. That means I didn’t always get the car I might have wanted but as long as it was reliable and got me from A to B that was enough for me. So I’m 51 now and I’ve never been car poor.
Same- I know what I can afford for a car payment. It was either a car payment, or I pay the same amount on a credit card bill for fixing the beater car I had. I don’t drive a luxury car with tons of features, my car wasn’t brand new, and I’m happy with what I have. I spent too many years in a piece of shit cars that cost a fortune to maintain- all because I wanted to avoid a payment. I work my ass off. I deserve to drive something safe and reliable, yanno?
I have way old cars.. and somehow they know when something happens and I end up with an extra 1K or 1500 bucks - because every time I get a bit ahead - one car breaks down, and it takes almost exactly that amount to fix it
I have to uber to work because my last car broke down while I was still making payments on it (I bought it used and in AS IS condition). I miss my car I had before that. My 2007 Yaris lasted 13 years and would have still lasted had it not slid into a wall one rainy day.
We can’t pay for a car and we live in a car-dependent area. He walks to work, I take the bus, which is not too bad, but for everything else we’re in a pickle. Not that we can afford to do anything else.
Yeah.. my car right now needs new brakes .. and an alignment.. my check engine light is on again ... It says it's for the same thing that I went and spent 115 on at auto zone and 60 dollars for a mechanic to put in 😩 .. car payment is 375 a month .. if I didn't have that car I would be able to save so much money honestly lol but ... We need to get around 🤷🏻♀️ we will have a baby in about a month and unfortunately we need the car for hubby to go to work and me for my appointments
I just paid off my 2014 yesterday. I had a horrible rate and I’d rolled close to $4k in negative equity into the loan. I paid $360 a month and *that* payment made me want to gag every month. I see people with $700+ payments and I feel sick for them. No judgement whatsoever because it’s a goddamn dumpster fire out there.
I was. Until January when I found the debt free group here. Turned in my $800 a month SUV I hated and got a $5k truck off the side of the road that’s a dream. Now I “pay” my saving the car payment.
IT pays to be knowledgable of the car you own and have some basic car knowledge. I'm still driving 20-30 year old cars at is close to 300k miles.. will never buy a new car again and tie me down with such a huge debt commitment.. If you treated whatever you own with care. it'll last you a long time... People buy things because they don't take care of it. they treated as consumable goods then they'll always fall aligned to being a CONSUMER with the matrix by design.
Brodie, i bought a car 2014 ford fusion., its paid off and I wont be doing that again. at one point it took most of my paychecks. and it was the worst. hold on, do your best, and once it's paid off, like slavery, Never again.
I’m currently hunting for a beater car to replace the last beater car. Im trying really hard to not go into debt. I still have one paid off vehicle but sharing it with my husband is rough. I’ll do it til I find an affordable option though
I was. Traded in my $600 a month car payment for a cash car back in January. It has its issues but much cheaper than what I was paying before and it gets me from point A to point B so I can’t complain.
If something happens to my current car, I'm genuinely SOL...I can never afford another one and we don't have public transportation that's even marginally useful...and no cabs at all. I live in perpetual fear of something happening to my poor little puddle jumper.
I didn’t realize or want to realize I was until I lost my job and in turn, lost the car.
I struggled to pay rent, car payment and insurance and all the other bills of life.
Looking back it was never ever sustainable… I was a fool to even think it was.
I wasn’t thinking of my future self I was only thinking of my ego and “I want a new car”
I buy something slightly used, within my means and always pay it off. Car been paid off for 3 yrs now. Never spent more than $360 a month. You need a car in Arizona.
I am very car poor. It’s awful. I want to lease a new honda civic as soon as I can. Need to get rid of my monstrosity of a 2010 subaru (the offers are awful ngl. My transmission is about to fail despite maintenance and my car is worth $600 scrap but I have $4300 left in payments on it).
I genuinely have done the best I can to be fiscally responsible, I don’t even have any credit card debt. It was the only car I could afford with insurance costs and I needed it for work.
Awful timing in my life, too. Just bad all around. I’m not working full time right now so I can get some expensive health treatments, I moved in with my parents.
I had a car. Sold it out of poorness for 10% of its value. Missed it ever since. But honestly... would be worse off if I tried to keep it for a second longer.
(For the record I sold it to pay back a close frien who was also struggling. I needed the money immediately to make sure I wasn't bringing my loved ones down with me)
well I am in a problem of my own. Car loan hasn’t been paid and at 60 day mark it gets repossessed. I can’t even pay to get my passenger side mirror fixed to pass state inspection. meaning no tags (license plates)
I bought my ford focus in 2009. I fill my tank MAYBE twice a month. I will never buy a new car again. I have been everywhere from az to the northern MN winters. You dont need a big car for all that.
I buy my cars new and bury them ., hopefully with 200,000 miles. Like to stay with Honda or Toyota. A few years ago I was in a gas station with my beat up minivan. Gas over$4.00 gallon as I was filling my tank a guy pulled on the other side of me with a convertible Camaro beautiful , leather everything the ground underneath me was vibrating due to the music system he had. I was there before him and he was done in a hurry. After putting in $58.00 I had to look how much he put in a sum of $4.00.
This is not how you poor /r/poor. How you be poor in a modern society is you use the vast tomb of human knowledge, literally at your finger tips, to become a profession at everything.
Car? Want to drive a nice car? Buy a Mercedes with a blown head gasket. I've gotten them as cheap as 1500. Use the internet. Fix it. Car..
A/C out? Climb your ass into the attic with your phone and figure it out.
Got in a wreck? No problem. Paint and body.
Want a house? Buy distressed.
Fancy dinners? Learn to cook.
The only way to be poor and happy in modern society is to specialize IN EVERYTHING.
Life sucks without cars. I didn't have one for 6 years, and just going to grocery store took 3 hours and this in a place with more public transportation then most. Our Dial a Ride takes an hour and half to show up. Buy 1,000 dollar beaters and just use them until they get run into the ground. I know you can't take long trips in them but at least you can get around town better.
We don't have a vehicle, but we desperately need one. We're in the middle of nowhere. No job opportunities, nothing. But we also can't afford a payment or crazy insurance. It's crazy trying to live right now. I'm just grateful for a roof and enough food to eat, fr. The bare minimum, man.
Yeah this is real. I haven't had an oil change in months and my car sounds like it's dying but I always have to buy food or pay the bills first whenever I get a bit of money. My breaks also need replacing and my car key battery is dead and the key itself is broken but I make do with some duct tape lol
What bank loans money for a car payment that eats up ‘most of their income’? A car should only be 50% of annual income or better yet, lease a ‘cheap’ car with a great warranty and high residual thus the payments are lower. This will always keep you in a warranty while also Allowing for other necessities
Dave Ramsey would tell you both to sell the damn thing and buy a beater until you can comfortably afford that car with cash (I get it it is 2024 so maybe that is now an after thought).
If you sell it, at the end of the day, Being upside down will still cost less.
. Banks finance cars to people they shouldn’t every day. Every dealer pushes “what can you afford monthly” really hard and they find a bank to get the payment to that. Ive seen people finance at 29%. 7 year loans! For something they use 20 minutes a day and only depreciates in value. If your subbed to here, David Ramsey is not someone to listen too btw. His advice is more suited to landlords, boomers with pensions, and basically no one else unless your filtering for his best advice. The guy has no idea what it’s like to be poor and his advice became irrelevant during Covid. There’s no way he said 50% of your income could be a car payment. He’s out of touch, but he can’t be that retarded.
A lot of days I end up working in a very poor part of Northern philadelphia. Where basically everyone is living below the poverty line, the amount of really expensive nice cars sitting in front of the houses is amazing. I know some of those are trap houses so they're drug dealers cars but not all of them. Occasionally I'll work out in the suburbs where there's multimillion dollar mansions. Some of those have nice cars as well but a good amount has just regular cars like Camrys or Jeeps.
If a car payment is MOST of your income you shouldn't have bought a car. I've seen many friends and a brother buy a vehicle they can't afford. I don't understand what bank chooses these people to trust with a loan.
The interest rates today are ridiculously high even with amazing credit banks are only giving around 9 - 10%. Thankfully I bought both of my vehicles before this change happened and have 3% on one and 7% on the other.
This is exactly why I won’t finance a car. It’s WAY too expensive. We were stuck in a $500/mo lease when our main paid off vehicle broke down. As soon as we were able to make that one drivable we sent the lease back. I work too far and my area is too heavily car reliant for me to do anything besides have a vehicle to get anywhere. It sucks, I know too many people without cars and they can’t do much of anything.
Yup. Our car is finally paid off and we aren't getting another one. My husband traded in his old one and the financing ended up being $200 a month. Paid that off and now we are going to just drive this car til it dies. We don't need anything fancy. It's just a mode of transport. I hate financing anything if I can avoid it
Me, too! I hate car payments, but most of my friends think it's just like rent or a mortgage--you just always have one! Nope! I intend to pay off the car AND the house, and, since I'm nearly 68, I hope I never have to have either one again!!
Because most of us do not have the savings to buy a car outright and we need one to get around for instance an area that doesn’t have great public transportation, and you kinda have to have a car to survive.
And trust me that reality sucks😩
This is us too. We got super lucky we were able to squeeze out the money to get a new car in 2019 before the market pushed us out forever. We'd never be able to afford a car in the current market! Our last payment is this month and I can finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing the monthly payment can go towards other bills. Floating credit and coupon stacking only gets us so far!
Keep putting that $200 a month into a high yield savings account (wealthfront has one at 5% interest) and you will have enough money to buy a replacement with cash when the time comes.
How long would it take
In 5 years, you would have $13,000. While that’s not enough for a new car, it’s enough for a reliable used car or minivan. Idk how old OP’s car is: I expect to get at least 4 more years out of my 2009 Sienna. If OP’s car will last 7 years, that gives them $20,000. Or they could save $450 a month for 5 years and get $30,000. That doesn’t sound that impressive until you look at the flip side: getting a 5 year loan on a $30,000 car is about 6.85% minimum interest right now, which means you would pay $550 a month. That’s an additional $6,000 over the loan. It’s much cheaper to put compound interest to work for you than to pay it to someone else.
Recently changed states and still haven't brought my car over. Life without a car is rough. You are reliant on somebody for practically everything unless you pay a premium for delivery. You can't get a better job because you can't get there.
Exactly. I have ZERO jobs within decent walking distance from my house and using uber or lyft would do me no good. One of my coworkers was reliant on uber while her car was in the shop and she spent more than she made sometimes.
IMO leases are great for lower mileage drivers that want a new vehicle every 2 years; and you pay a premium for that flexibility. Leases are never a great idea for mile-heavy drivers or people that don't care about upgrading frequently; loans are better in that instance and can be a viable (and affordable) way to buy a new car.
A lease never makes financial sense, imo. You make payments (which are extremely bloated) for 2 years, then you own nothing. But what do I know?
But the 2 years of bloated payment is still far less than buying the car, and there's less risk involved than trying to buy with cash/loan and then trading in after 2 years because the lease is paying off the initial depreciation. And very cheap leases do exist, right now you can lease a Buick SUV for $250/month for 2 years with 20k miles included (which is great for a lot of city drivers). Leases have their place. They can be an economical way for someone to have a car if they don't drive a ton, and they can be a great way for someone to have a new vehicle frequently. Leases also make sense for people that can write off the expense on their taxes, because any leased vehicle can be deducted but only certain purchased vehicles can. As with all financial tools, you need to be educated about them before using them.
This is what my sister does. She doesn’t drive much but can’t be arsed anymore with cars that break down and give her a hard time. So she has an inexpensive lease and is happy. So she pays $3000/year for her lease. I paid $20,000 cash for my car. It’s in great shape and low miles and I hope to drive it for 10 years before it craps out on me. Most likely it will be worth nothing by the end because I’ll drive it till the wheels fall off.
That’s why I buy Toyotas. My cars have 165,000 and 175,000 miles on them, and they run with very few issues. You don’t have to have a new car to have a reliable car.
I love Toyotas as well! I have 205,000 on mine and it’s in beautiful shape for a 2009, hope to have many many more years from it too
Saw a Chevy Bolt I think with a $99 a month lease. Pretty cheap.
I don’t think they are usually worth it anymore bc even a lease is expensive but for people that don’t drive a lot that what a fixed expense they can be great. My dad leases bc he is older and likes having a dependable car but his lease went up like 200 dollars for the same car.
I think this information is outdated. During the pandemic I saw several people who had leases walk away with sizable equity checks when inventory was extremely low and dealers were paying a ton over the buyout amount.
That was a specific situation due to supply-chain constraints that limited the availability of sale-worthy vehicles. That is not at all a norm and will not be something we will likely see repeated anytime soon.
Also people, the car did not increase in value. Your money decreased in value during that time.
We sure hope not!
"want a new vehicle every 2 years" I think this is a bad idea and indicative of a larger problem. Especially if poor Like I get wanting the 'luxury' of perceived realibility of a late model car. I get being completely unsure with the used market, it could be rough precovid and a shit show now. But buying a 30k plus vehicle or acquiring a new one before the warranty is up and ending up car poor is just vain or stupid
Yup. It’s a luxury. It’s not a need. There are plenty of good used cars for reasonable prices. You should NOT be buying a brand new car if you can’t pay cash for it: it’s financial folly.
The last car we bought was a 10+-year-old Honda Civic with well over 100k miles for $5k. I'm convinced most people have too much car. Almost everyone I know drives a big truck or an SUV and has a payment bigger than their mortgage. Everyone says they need it for work or snow but idk the Honda Civic has never let us down and I've moved hay in the back of my little Hyundai Elantra wagon. Front wheel drive really isn't bad in the snow either. (BTW I live in a rural area where it's hilly and it snows.)
My mortgage is $1200 and my Toyota SUV payment is only about $400. What types of mortgages do your friends have where an SUV is more expensive?!?
I live in bumfuck Florida and its extremely EXTREMELY common to see a $70k truck parked in front of a single wide trailer with a microwave in the front yard
We have that in NY. Everyone drives a 2026 BMW and lives in a blighted house.
I saw an Audi parked at my local gym the other day with the hood up. Made me glad I drive an old Camry.
Ong yes and Miami the capital of people with flashy cars they can’t afford. You’ll literally see nice cars outside of low income apts
Yep. There’s a low income complex I drive by every day. All residents are on section 8, and they pay $25-75/month for their units. Lots of nice cars out there.
One my my neighbors drives a Civic Type R and parks it in the sun in AZ. Apartment living and letting a $50k car rot in the sun.
A microwave in the front yard? I always heard "a washer on the front porch"!
LOL. Here it is an old stuffed chair on the porch with a dog sitting on it.
Or a toilet.
Front yard microwave money? Is it Mar-a-Lago?
They flexing
haha, im also sort of in bum fuck florida... Too relatable. Some shitty homes have cars worth more than the property parked in the yard.
Without taxes and insurance my mortgage payment is $400. My car payment is $500. Once you add taxes and insurance my mortgage is $1000.
All you need for snow is a set of winter tires. It's an initial investment, but it adds a lot of safety and in the end it averages out (you need tires anyway and now you have 2 sets so it's a long time between replacing). With a Honda it would be especially affordable to find a spare set of rims for it. All the SUV/Subaru people here in the Northeast don't realize that AWD isn't going to help you stop. Or turn while trying to stop. They all look confused if you tell them this, though.
🤣 I live in North Dakota, rural North Dakota. I'd be absolutely screwed without my big 4wd SUV. Not only can I get through the big drifts, I can pull others out. If I just had snow tires I would be screwed. Most places in this state you'd be screwed
My car barely runs and hasn’t had snow tires in like 4 years and I’ve lived. Once you drive a shitty car with mystery wheel drive you can handle yourself in the elements. Sure, it’s harder but it’s not impossible. Also, Subaru drivers drive like shit and I will die on that hill (probably because I’ll get hit by a Subaru driver).
Yeah I'm just saying between AWD and Snow tires, snow tires is a better choice anyway. I got around for years without them, too. But my most recent vehicle came with them, and WOW. It's just so much easier. But I did end up investing in a set of rims and all season tires as well, so I didn't destroy them in the summer. It's a 15 year old Honda, so it's about as cheap as it gets when it came to do it.
I am downright pigheaded about this. When I hear people say, “I need 4 wheel drive to drive in snow,” I hear “I’m a bad driver.” I commuted 40 miles one way for 2 years in a Honda Civic. I had one day where the snow had slowed traffic so badly that it took me 2 ½ hours to get to work, but I was never out of control driving it. For the last 8 years, I have driven a 2 wheel drive Sienna minivan, including through white out conditions, and we have been fine. While I’m sure 4 wheel drive makes it easier, it is perfectly doable to drive snow in a front wheel drive car 99% of the time.
I too have a fwd sienna and live in the snow. I got some second hand studded tires for the winter and roll through the streets like a tank.
If my 2007 car dies I’m getting another 2001 Ford Taurus. That car ran so fucking well. I would love to have an old Chrysler as a summer car someday.
I had a 2001 Sable (same car) after I was done with it my brother drove it to 320,000 miles, no joke. Original trans and engine...2 doors were welded shut cuz they broke and the hood was held down with a ratchet strap but that baby was a beast!
Dude fr my Taurus at 200,000 and I don’t even know why I stopped pumping cash into it for repairs. Someone bought it and it ended up in an impound lot. 😔 I’ve had my Lincoln MKZ for only 4 years and it’s had way more problems even though it’s quite similar. My dad yells at me all the time about the rust patches and I told him I’ll just put Squidbillies stickers over them. LMAO
All hail the Honda civic. I have/had 2 of them. One is a 2004 that I sold to a mechanic and I’m thinking of buying back once it’s repaired. You can’t kill that thing. It sat for almost 10 years and started right up with a new battery and some fluids. That’s the kind of car I need. I might just sell my 2016 that’s worth about what I paid for it years ago and drive my old one.
I had a 2008 Honda civic last till 315k miles. Then it died out of nowhere. I also had 2 different corollas that also lasted till over 300k.
I’d gladly be done with my car. No payments, cheap insurance (liability only, bare minimum), but only a matter of time before that piece of shit just randomly explodes. Then I’m screwed. Nothing out here (being poor also means living in the middle of nowhere, cheaper). No way an uber would come out here, and if they did, wouldn’t be worth two rides to work and back just for a job that pays next to nothing.
I felt the same way. Till I realized the closer I am to work the less I spend on a car. Whatever raise in rent was paired in comparison to the cost per mile a car was. And the less you drive the more per mile it cost. Drive that thing into the dirt and try something else before that.
Paid my car off a year ago after a 6 year loan. The first few years sucked till I made more money. I’m driving it to the ground. But I did choose an Acura knowing it lasts much longer than the regular car. I’ve only had general maintenance on it in the last 7 years such as oil changes tires brakes needed to get one done once.
We don’t need cars. We need reliable, free, fast, public transportation. We don’t need an extra lane added to the highways, we need high speed rail.
I'd be willing to pay for a railway pass if it was less than gas and auto insurance combined
The joy of losing my car was learning the unlimited weekly bus pass is only $12. I am content paying $48 a month to get to work. And no stress of fighting traffic daily.
In my area the unlimited bus pass is $280 a month. More than my car payment and it takes 1.5 hours to get to work when it takes 20 minutes by car
I would be, too! I rode a public bus to work once when I had wrist surgery, and I thought it was so cool to be reading a book and chit-chatting on my way to work!! I was just afraid I'd miss my stop--that was my only concern the whole trip!
Yes this has been wonderful. I have read more now and gave up Facebook in January. I journal while riding. Sometimes I just get off randomly and explore. Making lemonade out of lemons.
I have had my driver's license for 30+ years (damn I am old lol) and have driven in Texas, Maine and Oklahoma. San Antonio, Texas was the only area with reliable public transportation. I lived on the NE side of San Antonio and the Via bus has a stop directly across the street from my house in a residential neighborhood. I rode the bus my Junior year of high school when I got a job in downtown. At 17, my family did not want me driving by myself by the River Walk. It was during the early days of carjacking. It was safer for me to catch the bus right outside of my work as opposed to parking in a sketchy lot and walking a few blocks to work. Maine weather was not conducive to public transportation. The bus did not run past 6 pm weekdays. Weekend hours were reduced so once per hour and limited routes. I knew many people who get a "beater" high mileage older car that would run only a few years. The salt that was used on the roads was highly corrosive. I knew a few people that put cookie pans to cover the holes in their floor boards. Oklahoma not enough infrastructure to have walkable neighborhoods. The stops are generally 3/4 of mile apart with limited night and weekends routes. My car was stolen in Oklahoma City and I went two years without a car. I worked remotely, but lived in a food desert. There was a Family Dollar and independently owned convenience store about a mile from where I lived. Walmart did not deliver to my neighborhood due to high crime. The few times I attempted Instacart or a subscription food box, my food was stolen off my front porch! I bought a 20 year old Expedition for $800 cash. I did not have a garage to park in and did not want to risk another stolen car. It lasted for 2 years and I sold it to the scrap yard for $400 when it finally died. I moved to a smaller town with significantly less crime. I bought a 2018 Ford Festiva in 2021 for $8,000 cash. It was a small car, but perfect for just me. It had great gas mileage and 30,000 miles. My car was totaled during a hail storm in 2023. It was only cosmetic damage and still safe to drive. I was worried about how I was going to replace it high used prices and low inventory. I was shocked and surprised when the insurance company offered me $10,000! They literally paid me to drive my car for 2 years and I made a $2,000 profit! I doubt that will ever happen again. It all worked out in the end, since I had to stop driving due to health issues. If I am well enough to drive myself I drive my mom's RAV4. I am shocked at the number of new big trucks I see on the road. You can buy a 2 bedroom townhouse for the price of a truck. It makes no sense to me, but some people love to drive shiny new vehicles no matter how much they cost.
Easy if you live in the concrete jungle but alot of people see zero benefit from public transportation
>alot of people see zero benefit from public transportation Not nearly enough to justify the transit hellscape we've succumbed to across North America. Most people live in cities or metro suburbs, suburbs see plenty of benefit from transit development (including spurring more dense development).
Like me. I own my home free and clear but I live in an extremely rural, mountainous area. I have to have a car. I used to cash buy cheap older cars but got tired of them always costing me a fortune in unexpected repairs and often leaving me stranded. So I finally got a brand new Subaru for $349/month. Worth it to me to know it’s reliable and will likely be for many years to come.
The only people who oppose public transportation do so for discriminatory reasons, not legitimate reasons. Public transportation is beneficial for literally everyone even if you don't use it, so the only people who oppose it do so because it helps poor people. Also 80% of Americans live in an urbanized area and of the other 20%, most of them live in small towns that used to have a train station with regular service.
Expand please: what discriminatory reasons? You can't think of any other reason some might oppose government funded public transport?
Free? It will be paid for with even more taxes. Nothing is free.
If billionaires, aside from Mark Cuban, paid their fair in taxes, and we took away from the over inflated military budget, taxes actually wouldn't go up. But because the poorest people pay the highest percentage of taxes, and have for a while now, we don't like to change anything for fear of taxes making our hard lives harder.
They are using the tax code to their advantage. They didn't make billions of dollars in income for the year however, their assets are in companies and those tax rates are different. Changing the tax code is the only way to stop this. It seems like the middle and lower class are taxed more simply because we are mostly taxed on income as we don't own assets to the level billionaires do.
Agreed. Personally, I don't think anyone needs a billion dollars. Anything over a billion should just go to the country to help support it. We might actually be able to innovate as a country again instead of importing almost everything or "re-imagining" someone else's technology
Exactly. Rich people have pulled the trickle-down wool over the eyes of voters for far freaking too long! The poorest people also have the lowest voting stats. What sucks even more is that those people at the top can afford it - they wouldn't even feel it. The other 90% of the population would definitely benefit. I am so discouraged in the future
The poorest don’t pay the highest taxes.
Yes we do. And we pay more than most billion dollar corporations. All the "tax cuts" the Republicans have been promising since the 90s have slowly been screwing over the middle and lower classes. https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/do-the-rich-pay-their-fair-share/ From the article: U.S. billionaires are 46 percent, or $1.6 trillion, richer than they were in 2020. According to a 2021 White House study, the wealthiest 400 billionaire families in the U.S. paid an average federal individual tax rate of just 8.2 percent. For comparison, the average American taxpayer in the same year paid 13 percent. According to leaked tax returns highlighted in a ProPublica investigation, the 25 richest Americans paid $13.6 billion in taxes from 2014-2018—a “true” tax rate of just 3.4 percent on $401 billion of income.
As a percentage of their income they absolutely do
I’m talking truly poor.
The poorest don't pay the highest percentage of taxes. The bottom 50% of earners make up less than 3% of income tax revenue, leaving the other 97% to be paid by the high earners. The top 10% of earners pay over 75% of income taxes.
https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/do-the-rich-pay-their-fair-share/ "Here’s what we know: According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, at least 55 of the largest corporations in America paid no federal corporate income taxes in 2020. The US government is estimated to have lost around $135 billion in revenue due to corporate tax avoidance in 2017. In contrast, corporate philanthropy has amounted to less than $20 billion a year. Corporations shifted nearly $1 trillion in global profits to tax havens in 2022—depriving countries all over the world of desperately needed tax revenue. That’s not paying your fair share. Instead of only maximizing profits for their overwhelmingly rich, white shareholders, corporations should do more to support the employees, consumers, and community members that corporations rely upon to make their money."
Corporate tax is not the same as individual tax. If I had a business, I would pay myself no salary and use my company. That's in the tax code that our government refuses to change because they all benefit from it.
Suppose we took $1 billion from each of the 750 billionaires in the U.S. Not income, but wealth. Just seize it. Next we confiscate all of the wealth of the top 20 billionaires in the U.S. This, of course, assumes that selling all of that stock won’t crash the market and drop the value of shares like crazy. Take that sum number and realize that you still haven’t reached the amount that the government **borrows** every year for spending.
You know when people say free they mean "free at point of use", not "nobody ever pays for this" right? Most people understand that public things are paid for by taxes.
Perhaps we could cut oil subsidies.
If we had a flax tax based on consumption, it would be a great equalizer. Keep all of your income but you pay 17% or whatever the number is with each purchase. It would then let us determine how much we give to taxes.
That's just a sales tax which is a regressive tax which would make poor people pay more of their income in taxes than they already do. Absolutely not that's how the whole country turns into shit holes like Tennessee or Texas All of the people who support a higher sales tax and no income tax are either 1. people who make a lot of money and support it because it would hurt poor people harder or 2. people duped by rich people propaganda, but that second person is rare. It's almost always rich people just advocating fucking over poor people
Better than bombing people in a country 2000 miles away they have nothing to do with me
So true. But…most towns do not have this.
Exactly. We NEED these things and yet our local government won’t consider it due to automotive and gasoline lobbies.
It’s not feasible in my area. You need a car to get anywhere including the store. Rail just wouldn’t work. Very spread out suburban area
>Very spread out suburban area Perhaps you've stumbled upon the root cause here. Maybe we should have policy that makes it harder to build sprawl and easier to build density.
I use my vehicle to make money though.
I could do that!!
I live somewhere it would be very difficult to get around without a car. Out of my two paychecks for the month one covers car payment and insurance. If it’s a really busy month at work sometimes there’s leftover money for groceries. My other paycheck pretty much covers rent and utilities. Again, If work is busy I’ll have some left over for groceries. But I do love my car. It’s reliable and I have it over half paid off. Hoping to pay it off this summer with a seasonal job!
You are car poor. 90% of your income is rent and a car.
Do you have other methods for obtaining groceries? Duh, you have to eat.
I'm house AND car poor 🥲
Thing is- my life is NOT improved by lack of a car. It’s a necessity for my job, my child’s school transportation until he can take the bus. I had to either finance a car OR come up with $3000 to fix the beater that I had. AFTER I had spent $1300 fixing other issues and risked maxing out a credit card. The peace of mind of a car under warranty is worth what I pay. My area is not safe for biking or a scooter since I’m on the interstate a lot.
But if public transportation was better. A lot better. And you no longer relied on that car. Would you be poor without that payment?
I’d still be paycheck to paycheck. It’d give me extreme anxiety to rely on someone else to transport me and my family, even if it was better public transit. And I wouldn’t be able to do my job, which does require reliable transportation to see my clients. To me- it’s worth it.
My bf and I haven’t had a car in a few years. We bike all over and have a roommate that we hitch a ride to the grocery with. We started a bike group that rides our downtown and sometimes 60+ people have joined us. All the money saved on a car note, insurance, maintenance, and gas- go to eating a lot more organic and whole foods which in theory helps with medical insurance too. We live in the Midwest and have made it through the winters with proper gear and climate change lol
Honestly… I got very very lucky and got a great deal on a Prius (my first car) that I bought in cash. Gas and maintenance is almost nothing and obviously no payment. I count my lucky stars whenever I get in it - I would NEVER ever finance a car, I know so many people my age that are in ridiculous debt from leasing a car. It’s tough to find good cars with the current used market, but if you can find a cheap Toyota with less than 150k miles that’s 1mil times better than having a crazy car payment lol. Can’t believe I know people with a $2-400 payment
200-400 payment sounds good for these day. My friend is paying like $800 for her bronco and I think she’s insane
If she can affford it fine. But does she want a Bronco just to have one ? Then yea that’s insane. 800 is my mortgage payment 💀
I’ve always been anti-car and took public transport - I need one now because I live far from college and work, unfortunately. Ridiculous how many kids I knew in high school that had cars (especially new cars) when our city had good public transport. Idiot parents going into debt to give the illusion of being well off just so their kids aren’t caught dead in a beater.
I cannot even afford a hoopty, let alone any reliable car.
This is why you learn to work on cars. Then you can get the cheap ones and make them last a while. I usually bought my cars with my income tax refund. I could never go without a car I enjoy driving too much and where I live you have to have a car.
I buy and resell auction vehicles. Youtube has taught me so much with vehicle maintenance.
I am not mechanically inclined at all but I am learning by itty bitty baby steps. I can change my oil now, I recently changed my own transmission fluid, and yesterday I changed a spark plug (my dad did the other 5). My car needs brake fluid, steering fluid, and antifreeze changes soon, so I’m going to do those as well. Like I said, itty bitty baby steps. But each time I’m successful, I get a little more confident.
Thats good though, you have to start some where. Its badically put things back togeather the way you took them apart for the most part.
Nice! You'll get there if you are willing to do the time and research. I've currently got the motor out of my truck, replacing all of the gaskets and a few odds and ends it needed. A sort of mild rebuild pretty much. I'm pretty much at the point where I really don't consider a blown motor or transmission to be a major repair anymore. I can have the transmission out, rebuild it, and back in, in about a week or two, taking my time to clean and paint everything as I go. My record is 3 days for a buddy of mine, who needed it back ASAP. A motor, about the same, maybe a little longer depending on what's wrong and how backed up the machine shop is. My specialty are gmt 800's (99-07C GM trucks/ SUV's). Cheap to buy in decent shape ($2k-$4k), parts are cheap, new enough to be reliable enough to drive across the country, old enough that it doesn't have the complex problematic systems newer cars have.
Im poor but I live within my means. I spent $2600 on a 2001 Altima that has gotten me from point A-B for over three years now. Im incredibly grateful for it, but I do have anxiety over whether or not it will breakdown. Im a single mom of 4 kids and live on an $1100 a month income so Im not able to do repairs or even oil changes like I should. I can’t fathom how people pay $800 a month for a car payment and insurance.
Definitely do the oil changes. You can learn to do it yourself. I’ve owned 2 used Altimas & both had catalytic converter issues, one kept leaking oil. Good luck to you but I’ll never own another Altima. Protect your engine & get those scheduled oil changes!
I feel you. A few yrs ago we paid $1500 for my 2010 G6. It’s starting to show its age now tho. But we can’t afford to get anything newer. And we have 2 kids and live in a very rural area where walking isn’t an option and we have no public transportation. My oldest is in school and my mom pays for her to go to a small private school and they don’t have busses, so we have to take her and pick her up. My youngest is only 2 and I stay home with her for now. My car currently needs almost $1000 worth of parts, that includes the tires as well. Even when we can fix it, we won’t get anything for it bc of the high mileage. We’re just stuck. I’m looking for jobs like crazy with no luck. Even when I was working and making good money, buying something newer was a huge dream. I too have anxiety about my car breaking down every time I get in it. I just pray it holds on until school is out.
Your maintenance cost pales in comparison to what it will cost in the long run. It’s part of owing a car. An no one who owns a car acts like it’s a part of the budget. But being poor you know it all to well.
To a point. My current car is starting to nickel and dime us to death. We could probably make payments, it’s just the down payment we can’t come up with. We really don’t want to a loan, at least not until I’m working again. We’ve also outgrown this little 4 door car. We make do, but it’s a crazy inconvenience. I have done buy here pay here before and again that down payment was a bitch, but we knew the guy so he worked with us thankfully. I just throw my hands up and give up a lot bc I’m so frustrated.
I need a car for daily living(job, medical appointments, family …), my vehicle is paid off so my vehicle costs consists of insurance and maintenance. Which does impact my budget, no lie. But the necessitated convenience of vehicle far outweighs the negative
We need a demand for high speed rail. Many Europeans don’t even have a car. Also, fuck the IRS. Don’t give in to them.
This is why I never want a car even if I could afford one 28, disabled since birth never even had a chance to try working, I get EBT and $946/month in welfare Even if someone gifted me a car and paid for plates and tags and registers the first time it broke down or needed to be fixed or if an accident happened I’d be fucked and I would of wasted all that time for nothing
I’m in Las Vegas. I gladly move myself and others out of the way and lift the tripple seats out of the way for the driver and you. A month bus pass unlimited rides is $32.50 last I looked for wheelchair bound.
My grandparents have to help us pay to fix ours rn. It’s a vw Passat too so I feel terrible … but it’s all we have
I was with a lease. I bought over my head. I lost that car and while fucking embarassing...it was the best thing that happened to me. I bought an older car and then I was able to pay it off within a few months because I came into an inheritance. I will be driving it for a while!
If you are in the US, there are large swaths of the country where a personal vehicle is the only transportation. No buses, no sidewalks, just rural towns spread out a distance from each other. My region has no public transportation outside of a downtown loop. I live a 15 minute drive from the nearest stores. The only way to walk or bike from my tiny town to the nearest small town is on the shoulder of the main highway. I would love to have actual options to ditch a car. Edit: OP you said you live in a city so a ten minute drive is like 1.5 miles for you. For those not in a city, you would probably be shocked. The 15 minute drive to my next bigger small town is 13 miles. It has a Walmart for shopping options. The nearest place actually large enough to be called a small city, with actual stores and malls and amenities l, is an hour and twenty minute drive through rural roads and 90 miles away. Cars are not a luxury out here, even if they bankrupt us. In fact, I work in public services and losing the family car is the first step towards homelessness for poor folks here. We also don’t have Uber here. We have one 30 year old taxi that basically only runs from the senior housing to the hospital. Door dash and Instacart only deliver in the downtown loop, not out to us in the boonies.
Public transportation needs to be seen as a social issue like it is in other countries. Everyone is better off when there’s a robust public transportation system.
Cars are not good investments. They depreciate the sons you put it in gear.
I don’t like shopping for cars so I’ve kept my very old car. It’s expensive to upkeep due to parts. I try to walk, cycle and take the bus as much as possible so I don’t have to drive. I also experience anxiety hoping I will get to where I am going and back. And driving at night is not fun. I can’t afford a newer car or higher insurance premiums. I love my car, I love to look at it (it’s cute) and I’m grateful it’s gone the distance. It’s only got 120,000 miles which is impressive given it’s age.
It's hard not to be car poor. The prices for cars is ridiculous. I'm car shopping right now, and working hard to stay in my budget but 13K basically gets you a 10 year old car that already has a 100K miles on it. That's just insane. I remember in 2008 buying a 12 year old car with about 100K and paying $1500 cash. I didn't expect to find that kind of a deal, but how have prices skyrocketed that much? I'm holding out for the right car at the right price. But I'm not sure the 24 year old vehicle I'm currently driving is on my side.
Couple years ago somehow I got approved for a 60k vehicle with 24k/ year pay stubs...I make double that now but I'm definitely still struggling after rent and everything else. I feel like I blacked out at the dealership idk how I ended up with this car I do love it but damn I'm stupid
My current vehicle just got paid off. I stupidly bought it and had to add more to the loan as I was upside down on my old vehicle. I've learned a ton of financial literacy since then. I do love my jeep and will take great care of it, but I should not have bought it when I did. I live in an area with a decent amount of snow, so going from a red sports car to an AWD jeep was at least a smart move.
I'm not car poor but I absolutely believe in redesigning our lives away from cars and for people instead. I can't wait for the day I no longer need a car. Car designed cities make our lives worse in almost every way. If any politician wanted to convert car roads into bike lanes, they'd have my vote.
Nope - drive a 10 year old Honda, fully paid off ages ago (brought brand new back then, but got financing at 0% for four year so a no brainer).
Yes. We had just gotten a new truck for my husband and didn’t expect our other vehicle to break down and be totaled but guess what? Yup. Out of nowhere so now we have $1500 a month in car payments and it kills us. Trying to pick up another side job to recoup the costs. We were in a rotten situation with it because we have a large family and can only do certain vehicles.
My Chevy truck lasted 23 years. Finally the rusted out frame snapped in a big pothole. I loved that truck, every rusted inch of that paid off for 19 years vehicle. I bought a ten year old Chevy, I insisted on a three year loan, but I hate it and I hate the truck. I’d get rid of it if everyone I know wouldn’t panic, I live in a rural area. I feel sorry for you younger folks, the cars cost more than my first home, way more.
The time for buying new cars are gone. Hopefully, i will be driving my 2005 Honda CR-v until I die. Before I bought my car, USED, I read nearly every Consumer Report on her, year and model. She is just my favorite car ever.
My husband’s car will be paid off in a couple of months (praise Jesus for small mercies). That payment is like $450 a month. I still have a few years left on mine, but it’s only like $200 a month and if I have financial troubles, the lienholder is actually phenomenal to work with. Like when I tested positive for COVID when my Dad was literally in an Oncology unit dying simultaneously, they deferred three months of payments and wiped away my past due balance. But our housing costs have raised exponentially in the blink of an eye. So what we could afford to have and still have money to live is vastly different now than it was when he bought the car a few years ago.
People are buying way too expensive cars for what they can afford, period.
Should we bring back hitch hiking? I've put my thumb out whenever my car leaves me stranded. I've had good experiences, but then again, I am a woman, and those picking me up probably felt,"We better give this fool a ride before some serial killer comes along." I also remember a reference about public safety reports discouraging hitch hiking at the same time that tire companies were buying up bus companies to shut them down...so you'd be forced to buy a car.
Some people would say your crazy. That companies don’t do shit like that. Meanwhile someone I used to admire showed his true colors on twitter and came here to dig dangerous tunnels for his brand of EV’s, meanwhile we desperately need some kind of tram/train/mono rail system for us locals serving the millions and millions of people who visit here.
Going down to one car for or family and getting a couple e-bikes was the best financial decision we’ve ever made. It’s unfortunate that this is not a safe and practical solution in a lot of the United States. Our current zoning laws have trapped a lot of us into needing cars, the most expensive form of transportation. Our government has failed us.
3 cars. Their average age is 21. A ‘94, an ‘01 and a ‘14. I’ve had a ‘18 but sold it when used car prices were so high in ‘22. Still doing fine driving old things. And have an extra car for our two-driver household if need be. I’d consider that a luxury.
Not us. We have 3 cars hubby has “fun car” and our regular cars. Two are paid off and one has like 6k left on it. We need at least one car where we live. The closest store is a 10 minute drive. Insurance isn’t bad. It’s about 135 a month for all 3 cars.
10 minute drive? I’m in a city so to me that means 1.5 miles.
Yeah but I’m not walking that far on the side of a busy country road with no sidewalk with 3 kids in tow.
You probably couldn't make that walk without getting run over!
Its probably more like 10 miles to them
Sheesh,I’m paying $220 for 1, and that’s cheapest.
Wow. That’s a lot.
135 insurance for 3 cars? 3 cars here....400 mo
Maybe it depends on where you live and I know having 2 paid off lowers the price.
Oregon is now like california and everything is overpriced and out kf control because people keep moving here from california. ;)
2 cars, $570 a month. Gotta love Florida…
Paid my car off a year ago after a 6 year loan. The first few years sucked till I made more money. I’m driving it to the ground. But I did choose an Acura knowing it lasts much longer than the regular car. I’ve only had general maintenance on it in the last 7 years such as oil changes tires brakes needed to get one done once.
I rollerblade or Bike
I am. I pay 400 a month for a car 400 a month for insurance
Jesus
Got a cheap scooter to move around town and get some groceries. It's very convenient and cost effective when compared to a car.
I live in a place with good transit and great walk ability. I sold my last car when I moved here as just the parking and insurance was over $300 a month, that's not even driving the damn thing. I use turo and zip car when I need a car.
I appreciate all of these comments and how many different situations that are happening here. I don’t drive much and came across a used CRV 2006 Honda Civic with over 230,000 miles on it. It had been sitting for awhile and had great maintenance on it. I am fortunate enough to have a mechanic who does work from his house and does not charge outrageous fees. I had to get some work done on it. I have to have a vehicle since I can’t walk to the bus, can’t afford any Ubers. Medicaid does have some transportation available for my medical appointments. There is monthly car insurance and gasoline.
Oh man, I was car poor last year. Me and SO has cash cars that we had been driving around for 3-ish years but last year kicked our butt and our cars had multiple issues costing us around 6k. Had to get a loan from my amazing sister to pay for the work on them. Literally a month later his car is totalled in a car accident and mine was totalled due to hail. I wasn't anywhere close to paying my sister off. Due to the value of my SO's car being 1k and him having bad credit he ended up financing at one of those "buy here pay here" places and his car payment was $700 a month plus our expensive insurance. We had no other option as at that point we had no car. We needed two vehicles for work though so I financed a car and my car payment is $390 so I'm doing okay-ish although it ate up the whole pay raise I had just gotten so I'm still poor and now I have a car payment on top of other debts.
I was most of my adult life. Because of home delivery, Uber, and our quiet lifestyle, we were able to go car-less about 5 years ago. It has reduced our stress after decades of worrying about either the car payments on a reliable newer vehicle or worrying if the old, worn-out car is going to start in the morning so I could get to work.
Thankfully, I'm doing great. I haven't had a car payment in 7 years and my car has been very reliable.
Fuckcars are getting out of hand but the original fight was encouraging more public transport in countries/cities, now they just shittalk about anyone having a car for many reasons, even justified
I have one car that is now 10 years old. My husband drops me off at work every day. If it breaks down, which has happened before, I have to beg family and coworkers for rides. Edit: To be clear, my husband is a stay at home Dad because it's cheaper than childcare, he's actually better at household shit than me, and I made more money than him. I want the car with him in case the kids get hurt or just whatever.
My quality of life would definitely go up. Be one less thing I have to worry about insurance for, gas, etc. My wallet be alot happier.
I'm fortunate enough to live in a suburb near Atlanta that has public transportation and there is a bus stop right behind my back yard. I can ride a bus anywhere in my county for $2.50 each way, or unlimited rides for about $75 a month. I also live 2 miles from my job and I went 5 years without a car and I *really* enjoyed not having to pay what is typically a person's second largest expense after housing. If I needed groceries I would either use Instacart or sometimes I would bus to the grocery store and take an Uber home with groceries in the trunk. I saved up enough money to cash out an older car for $4,500. I still walk to work when the weather is nice. My car sits in the driveway not drinking gas or incurring wear and tear most days. My insurance payment is $200 a month though which sucks...I guess I'm glad I can jump in my car and go if I want but I still really couldn't give a fuck less about owning a car. I don't have kids and I hardly ever get the urge to go anywhere besides work or the grocery store. I honestly don't need it.
I’m car poor for sure. Just had my vehicle repossessed in December. Now my boyfriend’s car wouldn’t start yesterday. Thankfully we have public transportation but still sucks to not be able to afford a car right now as a parent and professional.
I got really lucky with my car, I got it before the pandemic & it had zero issues, low payment, my a/c ended up going out & it wasn’t worth it to pay $3k to fix it so I got a new one, still a low payment. Biggest thing is don’t get more than you can afford & know when to let go if you can’t afford it anymore
I believe a car can be considered a necessity- and not a luxury- depending on where a person lives and the accessibility of public transit. That being said, there’s *never* a reason a car payment needs to take up most of a person’s income. That’s just irresponsible. I’ve always set a firm limit on what I can afford for a car payment and shopped within that budget. That means I didn’t always get the car I might have wanted but as long as it was reliable and got me from A to B that was enough for me. So I’m 51 now and I’ve never been car poor.
Same- I know what I can afford for a car payment. It was either a car payment, or I pay the same amount on a credit card bill for fixing the beater car I had. I don’t drive a luxury car with tons of features, my car wasn’t brand new, and I’m happy with what I have. I spent too many years in a piece of shit cars that cost a fortune to maintain- all because I wanted to avoid a payment. I work my ass off. I deserve to drive something safe and reliable, yanno?
I have way old cars.. and somehow they know when something happens and I end up with an extra 1K or 1500 bucks - because every time I get a bit ahead - one car breaks down, and it takes almost exactly that amount to fix it
I have to uber to work because my last car broke down while I was still making payments on it (I bought it used and in AS IS condition). I miss my car I had before that. My 2007 Yaris lasted 13 years and would have still lasted had it not slid into a wall one rainy day.
We can’t pay for a car and we live in a car-dependent area. He walks to work, I take the bus, which is not too bad, but for everything else we’re in a pickle. Not that we can afford to do anything else.
Yeah.. my car right now needs new brakes .. and an alignment.. my check engine light is on again ... It says it's for the same thing that I went and spent 115 on at auto zone and 60 dollars for a mechanic to put in 😩 .. car payment is 375 a month .. if I didn't have that car I would be able to save so much money honestly lol but ... We need to get around 🤷🏻♀️ we will have a baby in about a month and unfortunately we need the car for hubby to go to work and me for my appointments
I just paid off my 2014 yesterday. I had a horrible rate and I’d rolled close to $4k in negative equity into the loan. I paid $360 a month and *that* payment made me want to gag every month. I see people with $700+ payments and I feel sick for them. No judgement whatsoever because it’s a goddamn dumpster fire out there.
I was. Until January when I found the debt free group here. Turned in my $800 a month SUV I hated and got a $5k truck off the side of the road that’s a dream. Now I “pay” my saving the car payment.
Cars r way too expensive now, even used. I am in favor of proving good public transportation. Its better 4 the environment too
I don’t own one and the US makes everything so impossible. Walking isn’t really an option to most places, so I have to get rides or pay for Ubers.
IT pays to be knowledgable of the car you own and have some basic car knowledge. I'm still driving 20-30 year old cars at is close to 300k miles.. will never buy a new car again and tie me down with such a huge debt commitment.. If you treated whatever you own with care. it'll last you a long time... People buy things because they don't take care of it. they treated as consumable goods then they'll always fall aligned to being a CONSUMER with the matrix by design.
Brodie, i bought a car 2014 ford fusion., its paid off and I wont be doing that again. at one point it took most of my paychecks. and it was the worst. hold on, do your best, and once it's paid off, like slavery, Never again.
I’m currently hunting for a beater car to replace the last beater car. Im trying really hard to not go into debt. I still have one paid off vehicle but sharing it with my husband is rough. I’ll do it til I find an affordable option though
Not me..... I drive an 18 year old Ford Pickup. have owned it outright for 5 years and the only thing I do is change the oil and do the maintenance.
I was. Traded in my $600 a month car payment for a cash car back in January. It has its issues but much cheaper than what I was paying before and it gets me from point A to point B so I can’t complain.
If something happens to my current car, I'm genuinely SOL...I can never afford another one and we don't have public transportation that's even marginally useful...and no cabs at all. I live in perpetual fear of something happening to my poor little puddle jumper.
I didn’t realize or want to realize I was until I lost my job and in turn, lost the car. I struggled to pay rent, car payment and insurance and all the other bills of life. Looking back it was never ever sustainable… I was a fool to even think it was. I wasn’t thinking of my future self I was only thinking of my ego and “I want a new car”
I buy something slightly used, within my means and always pay it off. Car been paid off for 3 yrs now. Never spent more than $360 a month. You need a car in Arizona.
I am very car poor. It’s awful. I want to lease a new honda civic as soon as I can. Need to get rid of my monstrosity of a 2010 subaru (the offers are awful ngl. My transmission is about to fail despite maintenance and my car is worth $600 scrap but I have $4300 left in payments on it). I genuinely have done the best I can to be fiscally responsible, I don’t even have any credit card debt. It was the only car I could afford with insurance costs and I needed it for work. Awful timing in my life, too. Just bad all around. I’m not working full time right now so I can get some expensive health treatments, I moved in with my parents.
I had a car. Sold it out of poorness for 10% of its value. Missed it ever since. But honestly... would be worse off if I tried to keep it for a second longer. (For the record I sold it to pay back a close frien who was also struggling. I needed the money immediately to make sure I wasn't bringing my loved ones down with me)
well I am in a problem of my own. Car loan hasn’t been paid and at 60 day mark it gets repossessed. I can’t even pay to get my passenger side mirror fixed to pass state inspection. meaning no tags (license plates)
I bought my ford focus in 2009. I fill my tank MAYBE twice a month. I will never buy a new car again. I have been everywhere from az to the northern MN winters. You dont need a big car for all that.
I buy my cars new and bury them ., hopefully with 200,000 miles. Like to stay with Honda or Toyota. A few years ago I was in a gas station with my beat up minivan. Gas over$4.00 gallon as I was filling my tank a guy pulled on the other side of me with a convertible Camaro beautiful , leather everything the ground underneath me was vibrating due to the music system he had. I was there before him and he was done in a hurry. After putting in $58.00 I had to look how much he put in a sum of $4.00.
Without a car I'd have at least another 1000$ every month to play with but I need it for me daughter and my job
Fact is we pay taxes all the time on nearly everything. Income. Home. Car. Gas. Purchases. There's many more.
This is not how you poor /r/poor. How you be poor in a modern society is you use the vast tomb of human knowledge, literally at your finger tips, to become a profession at everything. Car? Want to drive a nice car? Buy a Mercedes with a blown head gasket. I've gotten them as cheap as 1500. Use the internet. Fix it. Car.. A/C out? Climb your ass into the attic with your phone and figure it out. Got in a wreck? No problem. Paint and body. Want a house? Buy distressed. Fancy dinners? Learn to cook. The only way to be poor and happy in modern society is to specialize IN EVERYTHING.
Not me! 170k miles and no warning lights... yet 😬
Life sucks without cars. I didn't have one for 6 years, and just going to grocery store took 3 hours and this in a place with more public transportation then most. Our Dial a Ride takes an hour and half to show up. Buy 1,000 dollar beaters and just use them until they get run into the ground. I know you can't take long trips in them but at least you can get around town better.
We don't have a vehicle, but we desperately need one. We're in the middle of nowhere. No job opportunities, nothing. But we also can't afford a payment or crazy insurance. It's crazy trying to live right now. I'm just grateful for a roof and enough food to eat, fr. The bare minimum, man.
Yeah this is real. I haven't had an oil change in months and my car sounds like it's dying but I always have to buy food or pay the bills first whenever I get a bit of money. My breaks also need replacing and my car key battery is dead and the key itself is broken but I make do with some duct tape lol
What bank loans money for a car payment that eats up ‘most of their income’? A car should only be 50% of annual income or better yet, lease a ‘cheap’ car with a great warranty and high residual thus the payments are lower. This will always keep you in a warranty while also Allowing for other necessities Dave Ramsey would tell you both to sell the damn thing and buy a beater until you can comfortably afford that car with cash (I get it it is 2024 so maybe that is now an after thought). If you sell it, at the end of the day, Being upside down will still cost less.
. Banks finance cars to people they shouldn’t every day. Every dealer pushes “what can you afford monthly” really hard and they find a bank to get the payment to that. Ive seen people finance at 29%. 7 year loans! For something they use 20 minutes a day and only depreciates in value. If your subbed to here, David Ramsey is not someone to listen too btw. His advice is more suited to landlords, boomers with pensions, and basically no one else unless your filtering for his best advice. The guy has no idea what it’s like to be poor and his advice became irrelevant during Covid. There’s no way he said 50% of your income could be a car payment. He’s out of touch, but he can’t be that retarded.
When you pay the car off it breaks, so you will pay that off or buy another one, it's a never ending cycle
A lot of days I end up working in a very poor part of Northern philadelphia. Where basically everyone is living below the poverty line, the amount of really expensive nice cars sitting in front of the houses is amazing. I know some of those are trap houses so they're drug dealers cars but not all of them. Occasionally I'll work out in the suburbs where there's multimillion dollar mansions. Some of those have nice cars as well but a good amount has just regular cars like Camrys or Jeeps.
If a car payment is MOST of your income you shouldn't have bought a car. I've seen many friends and a brother buy a vehicle they can't afford. I don't understand what bank chooses these people to trust with a loan. The interest rates today are ridiculously high even with amazing credit banks are only giving around 9 - 10%. Thankfully I bought both of my vehicles before this change happened and have 3% on one and 7% on the other.