Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The rise of the disposable car

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 267 posts

Re: The rise of the disposable car

#71

Post by linuxftw »

kd5bjo wrote: post #49
sokoloff wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our CR-V was rear-ended. It's a great car and it's pretty likely to be totaled because the cost of repairs is going to end up being higher than the insurance company is willing to pay. (And then I expect it's going to be a massive fight for me to get paid enough to replace it like-for-like, but that's a separate issue from the overall footprint.) I don't see any reasonable way around this, though. If I have a car tha…

> I don't see any reasonable way around this, though. If I have a car that I could replace for $8K and would salvage for $1K, I can't reasonably expect someone else's insurance company to pay $12.5K in costs (for repairs plus rentals/loss of use plus diminished value plus incidentals) to put me back in a place where I then have a crash-repaired car worth $7K plus $1K in cash in my pocket for diminished value. The pro…

What you describe would be insurance over the minimum coverage, which is available. If you take the minimum, expect to get the 'market value' of a replacement because that's what you agreed to when you initiated the policy.

Re: The rise of the disposable car

#72

Post by AnarchismIsCool »

salad-tycoon wrote: post #48

I just want a cheap, safe dependable car. Anti lock brakes, a couple of air bags, crumple zones, maybe Bluetooth, real dials, two base versions: AWD and non AWD. That’s it. No telephony, no on star, no breathalyzers. I don’t need to play Witcher in it. Just need it to turn on and then off after running around. I’m holding onto my ancient POS because it’s impossible apparently to find the above. Everything is new and…

I wish there was an actual community of people building open source cars. It exists for fucking airplanes but there's __nothing__ on the vehicle market. Pool some money, crash test a couple, get some shop in asia to make frames. Make it fairly modular, something like an EV version of the 1995 ford ranger, something where people can throw whatever they want on the back and turn it into anything. Super bare minimum, no egregious plastics all over the inside, just use off the shelf parts and people can customize as they see fit.

Re: The rise of the disposable car

#73

Post by bluGill »

skhunted wrote: post #51
dragontamer wrote: post #4

https://www.spglobal.com/mobility/en/research-analysis/avera... The opposite. With cars reaching much more advanced ages today, when a collision happens it's a write-off. The modern car isn't 'disposable'. In fact, all statistics point to us holding onto cars longer today than ever before. Today's cars are the most durable that they've ever been.

What do you think about Cubans keeping cars from 1950s running for as long as they did? It seems to me that maybe we live in a society that is overly permissive of replacing items.

They did that at great cost - the cars are not very close to factory original - most parts of been replaced multiple times. Those are not the original engines. It would have been much less labor to just replace the cars with something more modern. However Cuba had plenty of low cost labor and no ability to import anything else so they did it anyway.

Re: The rise of the disposable car

#74

Post by SoftTalker »

cratermoon wrote: post #69
SoftTalker wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As GP said, the author recognized that people are keeping cars longer and that they are more durable. However a new wrinkle is that "the proportion of brand new vehicles being written off has increased." This is due to the costs of repairing "Advanced Driver Assistance Systems” such as automatic braking and lane-keeping assistance. These systems include sensors, cameras, and other equipment that must be carefully cal…

Any collision that sets of the airbags in a modern car is almost guaranteed to be a write-off.

Yep, they are surprisingly complex and expensive sensor-controlled devices, and a modern car might have a dozen of them. Just their replacement alone will be thousands of dollars, on top of the actual collision repair work.

Re: The rise of the disposable car

#75

Post by nimbius »

The rich have been flogging this idea since cash for clunkers. That, because they run through cars like shit through a goose, you will too.

Speaking as a master diesel mechanic, this is a deleterious line of thinking for anyone with less than a few million dollars. Every car has 20 years of parts, and most Japanese cars have closer into 50 years of parts. Any engine built after 2010 will likely last half a million miles or more as a feature of quality control and automation alone.

Maintaining a well running vehicle long term with a local mechanic is always cheaper than buying a new car every 5 years, and just because insurance says its "totaled" doesn't mean it isnt fixable and safe to drive.

Re: The rise of the disposable car

#76

Post by bluGill »

AnarchismIsCool wrote: post #72
salad-tycoon wrote: post #48

I just want a cheap, safe dependable car. Anti lock brakes, a couple of air bags, crumple zones, maybe Bluetooth, real dials, two base versions: AWD and non AWD. That’s it. No telephony, no on star, no breathalyzers. I don’t need to play Witcher in it. Just need it to turn on and then off after running around. I’m holding onto my ancient POS because it’s impossible apparently to find the above. Everything is new and…

I wish there was an actual community of people building open source cars. It exists for fucking airplanes but there's __nothing__ on the vehicle market. Pool some money, crash test a couple, get some shop in asia to make frames. Make it fairly modular, something like an EV version of the 1995 ford ranger, something where people can throw whatever they want on the back and turn it into anything. Super bare minimum, no…

People make their own airplanes. What nobody tells you is that most people who complete the airplane would be time and money ahead getting a job at McDonald's and buying a completed airplane once they saved up enough money. However there are not enough people who want an airplane to pay for the costs/liability of setting up a factory to build one and so you have no choice if you want a new one.

People also build their own cars from scratch. It isn't as well known, but it is done. Again not a good use of time or money but if you want something specific that isn't on the market you have no choice.

Re: The rise of the disposable car

#77

Post by [deleted] »

nimbius wrote: post #75

The rich have been flogging this idea since cash for clunkers. That, because they run through cars like shit through a goose, you will too. Speaking as a master diesel mechanic, this is a deleterious line of thinking for anyone with less than a few million dollars. Every car has 20 years of parts, and most Japanese cars have closer into 50 years of parts. Any engine built after 2010 will likely last half a million mi…

[deleted]

Re: The rise of the disposable car

#78

Post by bluGill »

nytesky wrote: post #57
nickthegreek wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phoenix doesn't really have the related weather concerns of the midwest which allow Waymo to flourish in your state.

It’s also a grid roadway as a post-automobile city. Granted they got SF working too, which is pretty varied terrain but it took a lot of training. I guess we can roll it out city by city but will they ever recoup the cost?

I've long thought that the bus market would be ideal - the city bus doesn't take most of the roads in your city so you don't need to program them in (or than a dead in). Just make sure the roads department works with the transit department to program in just the detours needed before starting work.

Re: The rise of the disposable car

#79

Post by bluGill »

userabchn wrote: post #37
jseliger wrote: post #9

I live in Phoenix and now take Waymo regularly, and it seems like we're close to a world in which most people take self-driving cars most of the time, crash rates plummet, and these kinds of articles come to resemble articles from 1910 about horse-related problems. Humans suck at driving: https://jakeseliger.com/2019/12/16/maybe-cars-are-just-reall...

I wonder what we are going to do with all of the car parking that will become as obsolete as horse stables.

I think it is silly to think self driving cars gets rid of parking. If you don't use a car much it is cheaper to use a taxi service. However people who use a car often will be money ahead owning their own. Plus if you own the car you can keep your "junk" in it while doing something else. Most cars are needed during rush hour, so there isn't much need for cars the rest of the day.

All of which means we need nearly as much parking in the future. Sure we save a little because the car will leave your immediate area (read CO2 and other emissions) for free parking out of sight, but they are still parked. You will want it parked somewhat close to you because you never know when you will have a family emergency and have to leave early.

Re: The rise of the disposable car

#80

Post by jandrese »

nimbius wrote: post #75

The rich have been flogging this idea since cash for clunkers. That, because they run through cars like shit through a goose, you will too. Speaking as a master diesel mechanic, this is a deleterious line of thinking for anyone with less than a few million dollars. Every car has 20 years of parts, and most Japanese cars have closer into 50 years of parts. Any engine built after 2010 will likely last half a million mi…

It's usually not the engine that fails. The transmission is far more likely to be the weak point, and after that it is rust destroying the body or frame.

The average age of a car is like 13 years old. Most people are definitely not buying new ones every 5 years.

Post reply on HN