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US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans

theguardian.com

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Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans

#241

Post by Iwan-Zotow »

bcrosby95 wrote: post #3
dijit wrote: post #2

It'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…

For lots of America alternatives don't take that much investment. Creating a safe bike network would be relatively cheap and is feasible in large swaths of suburbs.

> Creating a safe bike network would be relatively cheap and is feasible in large swaths of suburbs

hard to do biking if there is 33C outside with sun in top of it

Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans

#242

Post by redwall_hp »

technion wrote: post #77
conception wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my favorite thing about getting an EV; effectively zero maintenance except for tires.

I keep seeing this argument but I think about whats broken in my ice over the years: brakes, control arms, struts, suspension springs. You get a pass on gearbox but as a genuine question, do these usual mechanical problems that have nothing to do with the engine jist not happen on EVs?

My increasing fear is that EVs just have mechanics' eyes on them a lot less frequently, so preventative maintenance on brakes and the other mechanical parts doesn't get done. Which means, on a heavier vehicle as well, more risk of catastrophic failures during use and vehicles on the used market being junk.

A heavier vehicle also will wear tires faster, and my observation of other cars on the street is that people as a whole are very bad about not replacing tires on time.

Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans

#243

Post by itake »

_heimdall wrote: post #189
supertrope wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think gp comment is advocating doing a cash out re-finance, but to exploit leverage when first financing the purchase. I used to be very debt averse. Owing a six figure sum seemed like a huge burden. Now I understand that mortgagees are non-callable. If you put 20% down that removes a lot of risk of being underwater. Fannie Mae is eating inflation risk for you. It's a way of smoothing expenses over multiple l…

Respectfully, you're effectively describing the argument I take issue with. > Now I understand that mortgagees are non-callable. How are you defining non-callable? If you stop paying on your mortgage that sent will eventually be called and you will be kicked out. > If you put 20% down that removes a lot of risk of being underwater That removes the risk of being underwater for any market correction sub-20%. Real estat…

The people in the camp of payoff early often highlight the emotional safety of paying off the debt…

But that logic never made sense to me, because homes are always callable: if you stop paying property taxes, Thats not your house any more.

If house burns down, Thats not your house any more.

Safety comes from optimizing your wealth for size and liquidity.

The person that kept things liquid, leveraged into the stock market 401k etc will be much better in a catastrophic event (job loss, flood, etc) than the person that has less liquid assets and a property tax payment due.

Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans

#244

Post by redwall_hp »

acdha wrote: post #184
micromacrofoot wrote: post #43

Also worth noting the average new car is now $50k and the average new car loan is $40k+ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/10/17/50000-new... Starting to find out the risks of a car-centric society in a slow-burn economic crisis.

A lot of that is that Americans are buying trucks, not cars. It’s easy to stay under $30k with a sedan, but a sizable group of people think they need the image of driving a full-sized pickup truck to the office and each 7 year loan on an $80k truck is going to drive the average up, not to mention leaving the buyer more cash-strapped due to the higher operating costs.

My favorite is the people who whine about gas prices, when they chose to deliberately shoot themselves in the foot daily by buying a GMC Yukon or something instead of a sedan. To mostly commute to work, but oh no, they need a monster truck because they might have 1.5 children in it occasionally. And everyone knows sedans don't have back seats or cargo space.

Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans

#245

Post by smileysteve »

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #102
_heimdall wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Old car repairs generally don't cost as much as you'd expect, especially when you aren't paying $750/no on a loan plus higher insurance premiums. My mechanics often perk up when I bring in my 80s era pickup. It has very low miles, they can generally diagnose it with very basic tools, and parts are cheap. When I have the time to work on it myself I appreciate it for those exact same reasons.

And when you buy the car hypothetically and the motor goes out or the transmission within three months? And it’s one thing if your car breaks down on a side street, it’s completely different if it breaks down on an interstate. If you have a daughter would you be comfortable with her driving an unreliable car? Your wife? Your mother?

A car that averages 15k miles/year, has a maintenance record, and appears in good condition tends to be less likely to be a lemon than most brand new cars.

For an anecdote, consider that Jeep just bricked thousands of new cars, including on interstates 2 weeks ago.

That GM recalled most 6.2l engines made in the last 5 years; ... Toyota engine castings, bmw chain tensioners, Ford Ecoboost coolant passages, Porsche bearings... Most of these problems became apparent before a long term first owner sold (yes, you should do research)

A pre purchase inspection, and all around maintenance (brake, coolant, oil, transmission oil, and differential oil) will get you a long way; a $2k suspension refresh will take you even further.

Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans

#246

Post by hn_acc1 »

Freedom2 wrote: post #136
estimator7292 wrote: post #63

Earlier 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.

Who is trying to remove education and welfare and how are they accomplishing it? I have high doubts people actually want those things removed, especially in a country as great as the US.

Did you not see them firing thousands of people from the department of education and trying to fully close it (at the federal level)? They put Linda (*@&#$ McMahon (yes, from WWE wrestling) in charge of it..

Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans

#248

Post by esseph »

ramesh31 wrote: post #52
JohnFen wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Historically, this has ultimately led to revolutions.

>Historically, this has ultimately led to revolutions. Which is why they've spent the last 50 years pitting the lower classes against themselves with meaningless culture wars. In a world with F-16s, Apache helicopters, and panopticon digital surveillance, there will never be armed revolution again (nor would anyone actually want that); the only option is nonviolent resistance. But it'll never happen in the US since w…

You drastically underestimate the damage an insurgency can do, and a reduction in force of anymore than 30% would make most units combat ineffective.

You also drastically underestimate the number of combat veterans created since 2001.

Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans

#249

Post by esseph »

alephnerd wrote: post #126
achierius wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, funnily enough they said the same thing before 1918. They also said a bunch of Vietnamese farmers could never beat a world class military. Have faith in your fellow workers and hold on to the hope that a better world is possible.

As someone who knows people who fought that war on the other side, the vast majority were professionally trained soldiers, not Huy the illiterate rice paddy farmer who took an AK-47 and took pot shots at Americans. There's a reason much of the older generation of Viet military and political leadership studied in Czechoslovakia, Poland, East Germany, BSSR, and RSFSR and why both the Vietnamese Army and the MPS still s…

Now do Afghanistan and Iraq.

Re: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans

#250

Post by s1artibartfast »

esseph wrote: post #249
alephnerd wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who knows people who fought that war on the other side, the vast majority were professionally trained soldiers, not Huy the illiterate rice paddy farmer who took an AK-47 and took pot shots at Americans. There's a reason much of the older generation of Viet military and political leadership studied in Czechoslovakia, Poland, East Germany, BSSR, and RSFSR and why both the Vietnamese Army and the MPS still s…

Now do Afghanistan and Iraq.

There are similar biases there about the technological sophistication of what the Americans were up against. The image of a Taliban soldier rarely includes an engineer with a spectrum analyzer on his back to probe US jamming signals, or plasma cannon IEDs, but they were a big part of that conflict.
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