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

US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 252 posts

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

#91

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

ryandrake wrote: post #60
gensym wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Exactly. This is going to come off as incredibly privileged, but I'm not a huge fan of car loans. In fact, I'm not a huge fan of leveraging to afford any asset unless it's appreciating in value or generating income. I buy and drive old, nearly junker cars because I can't afford a $40K new car. I can "afford" the monthly payments on a $40K car, but it's just a terrible financial idea. Totally nutty. A $750 monthly pay…

The problem with old junkers is that if you don’t have the money in cash, how do you fix a major car repair? You can get a loan for a new car with money.

The car “generates income” because it allows you to get to work and hopefully make more than your car note.

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

#92

Post by dragant »

Funny how a lot was going really well thanks to the last administration. Full employment, hot economy, and administration going after the billionaires. Wow...so much has changed in a year. We piss off the world, we implement tariffs hapharzardly, car and car prices soar and the rich get richer. Brace yourself....

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

#93

Post by adriand »

ryandrake wrote: post #60
gensym wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Exactly. This is going to come off as incredibly privileged, but I'm not a huge fan of car loans. In fact, I'm not a huge fan of leveraging to afford any asset unless it's appreciating in value or generating income. I buy and drive old, nearly junker cars because I can't afford a $40K new car. I can "afford" the monthly payments on a $40K car, but it's just a terrible financial idea. Totally nutty. A $750 monthly pay…

It’s not ridiculous, it’s how the whole system works. People need to live their lives, and if they only way they can get around (or throw a birthday party, or have a funeral, or some other human thing) is to borrow money, they borrow money. Which in turn props up a huge proportion of the businesses that make up the economy.

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

#94

Post by _heimdall »

ryandrake wrote: post #60
gensym wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Exactly. This is going to come off as incredibly privileged, but I'm not a huge fan of car loans. In fact, I'm not a huge fan of leveraging to afford any asset unless it's appreciating in value or generating income. I buy and drive old, nearly junker cars because I can't afford a $40K new car. I can "afford" the monthly payments on a $40K car, but it's just a terrible financial idea. Totally nutty. A $750 monthly pay…

The standard recommendation of taking out sent so you can invest your money and "make it work for you" frustrates me to no end.

Yes, on paper I can accrue more wealth if I mortgage my house and invest that same amount elsewhere. No, I would not trade owning a house outright for having a house that will be taken from me if I can no longer pay, strict insurance requirements, and a pile of someone else's debt that I call money and ignore the risk implied in investing in someone else's gamble.

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

#95

Post by Ccecil »

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?

Bushings and suspension parts will likely have similar (or possibly worse) wear than an IC based car due to the extra weight. Brakes a bit less possibly since you can use the regenerative braking but this also depends largely on the driver and situation.

*This is an assumption based on my experience with cars in general and doing my own repairs/maintenance not a slam on EVs.

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

#96

Post by ajross »

harmmonica wrote: post #15

As 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…

> New and used car prices are at all-time highs (nominal it sounds like

Well, yes, nominal. But no, not really. Cars (and really this isn't surprising) have been getting steadily more affordable over time. They represent about half the fraction of consumer income that they did in the 80's. AS ALWAYS, please just go to FRED to ask these questions before announcing incorrect answers on the internet. New car price[1] expressed as a fraction of median income:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1NbqH

[1] Actually it's new car CPI, so the values are unitless.

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

#97

Post by ants_everywhere »

tehjoker wrote: post #78
ramesh31 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

As the Palestinian resistance has shown, the vietnamese, the cubans, etc it is very difficult to defeat a population that doesn't want to give in even if you have fancy toys and a huge kill ratio.

The Vietnamese and Cubans were funded by the Soviets trying to expand their empire. They were proxy war fighters for a nuclear power. Sure they were kind of rag tag but only because the Soviets considered all soldiers to be disposable.

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

#98

Post by lotsofpulp »

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.

Average (presumably) mean car price is not useful when discussing affordability.

There are very reliable, brand new vehicles for $30k. The extra amount is luxury.

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

#99

Post by mgh95 »

_heimdall wrote: post #83
mgh95 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The value of the dollar has already plummeted, 10% or so this year. Compared to what? From Nov 3, 2024: the USD against: GBP (3)% JPY (1.7)% EUR (6.7)% INR 4.6% AUD 1.3% CAD .74% RMB .4% The EUR (if that is what you are going by) is unusually strong, and that's actually starting to cause issues. But the dollar isn't "collapsing".

Comparing against other currencies are tricky, they often move in a similar direction at different rates.

Exactly what people are saying here (the USD is weakening at an alarming pace! Americans are going Weimar Republic!) isn't borne out in the data. We aren't seeing the USD weaken against other countries in an independent manner. That's the point; not to prove that we are seeing a stalwart dollar, but that we are seeing roughly "business as usual".

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

#100

Post by cogman10 »

mgh95 wrote: post #70
epistasis wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The value of the dollar has already plummeted, 10% or so this year. It's expected that 2026 will have an equal dollar devaluation. This is the best-possible interpretation of the goals of this administration, the so-called Mar-a-Lago Accord that is somehow supposed to help some part of the economy. It's unclear who or how, to me.

> The value of the dollar has already plummeted, 10% or so this year. Compared to what? From Nov 3, 2024: the USD against: GBP (3)% JPY (1.7)% EUR (6.7)% INR 4.6% AUD 1.3% CAD .74% RMB .4% The EUR (if that is what you are going by) is unusually strong, and that's actually starting to cause issues. But the dollar isn't "collapsing".

The BRL or CNY is probably one of the most apt comparison given the BRICKS alliance. That's where you are seeing the roughly 10% swing since Jan. (if you go back to last Oct the swing is less pronounced. IDK exactly what was happening last Oct, but there appears to have been an upswing in dollar value from Oct to Jan and a steady decrease of the dollar value since.)
Post reply on HN