• Kairos@lemmy.today
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    1 month ago

    An increasingly large number of Americans owe more on their auto loan than their car is worth

    So thats what it actually means.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      The same term is used with housing and perhaps anywhere a loan is involved with yes purchase of property.

      • Kairos@lemmy.today
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        1 month ago

        Part of me thinks this [the article] is entirely false due to the fact that as soon as someone buys a new car and finances it, they owe more on the loan than the car is worth due to the drive-off value drop (blanking on the actual name)

        But I didn’t actually read the article, and intuitively I know that the face value conclusion is very likely correct.

      • Obi@sopuli.xyz
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        1 month ago

        But in the case of (new) cars isn’t this applicable to literally everyone the moment they drive off the lot? Like it’s gonna take a while untill the loan payments catch up to the depreciation of a new car.

        • SoJB@lemmy.ml
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          1 month ago

          This might be a bit controversial

          But if you can’t afford to buy the vehicle in cash, you can’t afford the vehicle.

          This is the inherent evil in the spread of Western values. Build car centric societies. Keep people poor, keep them dumb, and keep them fat.

          • Obi@sopuli.xyz
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            1 month ago

            I totally agree, and proudly own our vehicles outright! Don’t care if they’re a bit older.

            • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              Damn skippy. We own all our cars hell just bought a 20 year old truck for 3300. Fuck paying 40 to 90k on fucking car. Plus all the computer bullshit where it can be expensive to fix, or worse car companies can shut down features or put them behind paywalls. Not happening for me.

              I rather we had better public transportation though and not have to rely on cars to get around if I could I rather only have a small car or van that you use for long road trips and commute by bus or train.

        • booly@sh.itjust.works
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          1 month ago

          Most people make a down payment so that their loan balance starts off being significantly lower than the value of the car.