Americans can no longer afford their cars

Lee Duna@lemmy.nz to News@lemmy.world – 377 points –
Americans can no longer afford their cars
newsweek.com
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I think statistically speaking the absolute best value is a 5 year old car that has been at least reasonably well-maintained. The vast majority of depreciation happens during those first 5 years.

For those that do need to finance a car, a three year loan term should be the maximum. I think you are 100% correct on that. There are people with car loans that have terms of 7 years. It's sad that people are setting themselves up for failure like that. If you can't afford the monthly payments on a 3 year term then you really can't afford the car at all.

I think my current car was four years old when I bought it. I didn't mean two years as an absolute. The term of the note is absolute though.

No worries, I wasn't trying to imply that to be honest. I liked your comment and was simply trying to add some extra information for anyone else that stumbled upon the thread.