Where do these cars get sold? Sounds like it will be a good time to buy a new-ish used car soon.
US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans
211–220 of 252 posts
Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
The out of work tradesman going into the Fairfax VA or Berkley CA Whole Foods (IDK if either of these places have Whole Foods, but they seem like they could) in the year 2030 and dusting the avocados with anthrax won't care whether the anthrax is funded by China or Russia, just that it winds up in the lungs of the people who've run his country into the ground.
While I think terrorists should care who is using them and why, that wasn't my point. My point was that the parent comment's examples weren't of a difficult to defeat determined population. They were warlords helping imperialists establish nuclear bases so the Soviets could project power. Everything else is just a fairy tale. They tell all sorts of fairy tales to get soldiers to march into certain death and have thro…
the vietnamese in particular lost millions of people to america. they won.
the palestinians have fought using a home grown weapons program based on harvesting israeli bombs. they are still alive.
american nuclear weapons are stationed all over the world and have a ring of bases around asia. every accusation is a projection
Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans
#213It's an extremely inconvenient situation that Americans find themselves in, a sort of self-perpetuating cycle of car dependency that they reinforce because alternatives require far too much investment to make worthwhile. I'm really glad that I can live in a city without having to own a car if I don't want to. It makes a significant difference to my monthly expenses. And, honestly, it's a lot nicer and feels a lot mor…
It sucks that you need to own a car to get anywhere in most of the US. When my wife and I moved to Southern California from Chicago, we had a single car and tried to make that work for a while, but it was just not doable. We have a grocery store 2 miles away, but any other services are further than walking distance (and even the grocery store requires walking on the shoulder of a busy arterial road at a couple points…
Our solution to this was two cars, with one being a tiny well used EV (2015 Fiat 500E) where the range boils down to "dont leave town". Its a fantastic city car. 50% to full is about 3 hour on a 120v wall charger, and that's enough juice to run around our town for a ~week for all kinds of errands.
The other car is a 2023 Leaf with the extended range trim, which is sufficient to get us all around the PNW, although I would hesitate to take it east of the Cacades.
Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans
#214As if I need to make another comment about a, or multiple bubbles, but something has to give and here it's of course the consumer. New and used car prices are at all-time highs (nominal it sounds like, but tell that to someone whose wages haven't kept pace (i.e., almost everyone)). Housing prices are at all-time highs (in terms of price:income so no qualifier needed there). Tariffs are not being 100% eaten by the pro…
On paper, nothing will happen. The wealthy in America will continue to get wealthier. Real estate and stocks will soar in value. In reality, the dollar's true value will plummet. The FED is starting to lower interest rates again. We are likely going to undergo brutal inflation. Crashing the economy is obviously very politically unpopular. The left/right will do whatever they can to keep this charade up, even if it me…
[dead]
Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans
#215Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, but this time it's not different. The play has always and forever will be to try and force most of the population into a peasant caste be removing education and welfare, as well as setting up nice circular infighting. It will inevitably end up as it always does. Or we'll all die horribly. You know, either way.
> be removing education and welfare Both of these are historical anomalies; the middle class developed prior to their ever having been implemented.
[deleted]
Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why are you comparing the cities based on whether you can get around “without a car?” In America, even the vast majority of the poorest people have a car. 96% of occupied housing units in Osceola County (where Orlando sits) have a car. American cities are optimized for that. It’s almost certainly more convenient to get around Orlando by driving (as long as you aren’t going to Disney) than taking transit in Malmo. The…
The reason I’m talking about my city in particular is because everybody (even the poorest) can get around without a car and I’m not talking about just public transport. It’s very liberating, even for children to be able to get around if not everything requires the use of a car. I am aware that Orlando has optimised itself in a certain way, which makes it impossible to be any other way. That means being mildly conveni…
Are you saying that it’s faster to get around Malmo on transit than in a car? I can see that being true for some route, but it’s unlikely unless you’re wealthy enough to live and work very close to transit stations.
When I lived in New York I did have a commute where transit was faster than driving. But it was like Mad Men—I went from my fancy high rise right next to the train station to my fancy law firm right next to another train station. That was a lovely commute, even compared to driving in the suburbs. But most people in New York (or Tokyo) cannot afford to live so close to popular transit lines.
> With that in mind I find the argumentation that poor people have a worse time to be disingenuous- owning a car is the second largest expense most people have.
That’s what we call “penny wise and pound foolish.” Cars is capital equipment, and get handed down through families. Like any capital equipment, they depreciate and require maintenance. But they also enable people to earn money. I have relatively poor in laws: my wife’s grandmother raised four kids as a waitress, and her husband did hunting and odd jobs. Cars, which they carefully pass down through families, enable them to move around for better jobs and housing. When my father in law lost his job, he moved in with his mom and found various jobs in a 60 mile radius. If you look at the places in the U.S. with good transit, the poor there are structurally poor. They can’t just go to where the jobs are—they are stuck going to where the train lines go. It becomes a trap that creates generational poverty.
Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is an extremely privileged viewpoint. Even in Tokyo, people in the bottom half of the income distribution do not live close enough to popular transit lines to be as mobile as someone with a beater car in Dallas. They spend a lot more time commuting (and they can’t “just do some work on the train” because they have real jobs). Even in Tokyo, their commutes are crowded, they’re subject to the weather. Being tied t…
The cycle of car costs, repairs, and impacts of breakdowns for under-privileged people is a pretty serious poverty trap in places that have no other options. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/04/us/trump-tariffs-used-car...
Limited mobility from public transit is a much bigger poverty trap. In Oregon, where my in laws are, you can get tons of odd jobs to scrape by within a 60-minute driving radius. Even in a place with great transit, like Tokyo, you’re pretty limited to where you can go on transit in 60 minutes.
Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is an extremely privileged viewpoint. Even in Tokyo, people in the bottom half of the income distribution do not live close enough to popular transit lines to be as mobile as someone with a beater car in Dallas. They spend a lot more time commuting (and they can’t “just do some work on the train” because they have real jobs). Even in Tokyo, their commutes are crowded, they’re subject to the weather. Being tied t…
Isn't America literally the country with longest average and median commutes to work? Like, that was always an American thing - the long commute. Also, you cant do work in car either. You have to drive and actually pay attention. You cant (or should not) just listen to podcast or loosing yourself in the music. You dont get health benefits of walking a bit or of popping int the store on the way to buy food quickly. My…
Americans have shorter commutes: https://www.reddit.com/r/urbanplanning/comments/1bg82kg/amer...
Driving is much more comfortable than taking transit. You’re by yourself and you always have a seat. Anywhere that has transit good enough where it’s frequent and reliable is also a place where you’re probably standing during your commute.
Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
The reason I’m talking about my city in particular is because everybody (even the poorest) can get around without a car and I’m not talking about just public transport. It’s very liberating, even for children to be able to get around if not everything requires the use of a car. I am aware that Orlando has optimised itself in a certain way, which makes it impossible to be any other way. That means being mildly conveni…
Are you saying that it’s faster to get around Malmo on transit than in a car? I can see that being true for some route, but it’s unlikely unless you’re wealthy enough to live and work very close to transit stations. When I lived in New York I did have a commute where transit was faster than driving. But it was like Mad Men—I went from my fancy high rise right next to the train station to my fancy law firm right next…
> Are you saying that it’s faster to get around Malmo on transit than in a car?
It’s true for almost all journeys. Cycling is the fastest in almost all circumstances. Especially if you include parking.