You don’t need to drive a beater forever. At this level cars are basically worth the same you bought them for. A year of driving a 1k beater and saving 500 a month that is less than an average payment leaves you with 7k for a better car.
Minimum wage in most of the USA is $7.25. Working 40 hours a week, 4 weeks of the month is $1160 dollars before taxes and all the other bullshit. Where exactly is that $500 to save coming from?
Less than 1% of Americans make federal minimum wage. However, despite your dumb take on the amount of money Americans generally make, I strongly agree that saving $500 a month is a complete possibility for many working Americans
You’re buying bad cars, but that aside there’s a big range between your $500 shitbox and an overpriced $50,000 penis-extension.
Fyi, beaters can usually be sold for what you paid for them. Buy a beater for $1000, save for better car. Sell beater for $1000, and get $5000 good car.
I’ve driven nothing but beaters and beater-adjacent vehicles all my life. Even though I can afford a nice vehicle now, I don’t waste my money. Good test driving and mechanical skill goes a long way.
Oil in the coolant? Coolant in the oil? White smoke? Run away.
Knock? Walk away. Lifter tick? Ask to knock the price down, flush oil. You won’t throw a rod bearing on a modern car because it was low on oil a year ago. If it somehow does, you bought a car for less than a car payment. If it lasted 2 months you’re still ahead and now you have a parts car, get another.
Always head straight to the scrappers and grab an alternator and starter, put them in the trunk for when one of them eats shit.
Learn to spoon tires or make a friend with a tire machine. Tires are a huge expense and used ones / takeoffs are nearly free. Haven’t bought a new tire in many years. Get a plug kit too.
Learn to recharge AC and identify a working compressor with no charge. Then hard ball on the price. “Broken” AC devalues the car terribly and is a $10 fix.
Standard transmission cars go for a song, especially with slipping clutch they are worthless, learn to change a clutch and you can have one for decades. My favorite beater was a 1985 Corolla I owned from the age of 16 to 26, bought for $400 sold for $600.
Okay, and your average person doesn’t have the knowledge to buy ‘good’ cars. Google can only take you so far, and RNG will still fuck a significant number of people even with knowledge. If your system requires people to have fairly in-depth knowledge in a field they don’t work in just to not get absolutely fucked, then your system is shit.
The Magnuson Moss Warranty Act has given people the right to repair cars since the 1970s. Most people just don’t have the skills, time, or tools to fix them on their own.
Okay, so two years ago. Currently the cheapest two used cars in my local market are a Civic with 348,000 miles on it for $2000, and a 2010 VW with a blown engine for $3000. Even a clapped out 90’s Blazer is $5000 if it runs. That’s what’s out there on Craigslist and Facebook marketplace. Maybe I can go hang around every shady parking lot in town looking to see who’s got a lower number soaped on a window someplace, but people in the real world tend to have to work during daylight hours.
And then: Okay, so you found one 80’s Chevy Nova that might run. You got extremely lucky. If, as the other poster suggested, you’ll treat it as disposable and plan to ditch it after a few months and “buy another,” can you do it again? That’s even less likely.
Used car prices are still too insane for poor people to be able to count on reliably finding and scraping by with a beater.
And just cross your fingers that you don’t lose your job because you’ve called in 8 times with car trouble. Buying beaters isn’t the right path for most.
that’s not the point. the point is that there are people who can’t afford to save money in the long run. not like metaphorically can’t afford, like literally mathematically cannot afford.
they are trapped by their existing financial burdens which they already cannot meet and which are getting larger every month thanks to compound interest.
inflation, which normally has the effect of reducing the value of debts over time, is instead making their financial burdens effectively larger too. as inflation drives up the cost of living, wages stay the same and they have ever less of their income available to make debt payments as a result.
Or I’m literally just asking a question to gain some insight. I’ve heard the term thrown a rod, and I’ve actually worked on cars more than most people. But thanks for the unwarranted hostility.
when the transmission goes or the engine throws a cylinder?
You take the paperwork out, take the license plate off, and wave good bye to the car with “well car, I guess you are the local government’s problem now”.
Congratulations on littering your shitty cars around your city. Do you just go to friends houses and leave a fat shit in the toilet for them to clean up too?
Yep, a properly maintained car can last you a long time. Thankfully used car prices in my country that are outside of the top 3 brands have very reasonable prices. My last car lasted me 18 years before we couldn’t use it anymore due to emission regulations.
The best option is to ditch the car entirely… buy an ebike instead for the price of 1 car payment, or move to an area with ample sidewalks/mass transit…
Definitely a big task, but is certainly more viable than buying a car with cash… (it most certainly was for me at least…)
Not all of us are 23 years old, work from home, and live in hipster city. I love these alternative forms of transportation, I have a moped when I was a single and decent bicycle. It just wouldn’t be practical for me to deal with highways and picking up my kids from aftercare on an ebike.
Mathematically it was much better to buy with a loan at a low rate. You’re paying less each month on a 2% APR loan when inflation is at 4-8% like it has been the past year.
Inflation doesn’t help you on a loan unless you are actually getting Inflation level raises, otherwise you have the same amount of dollars and everything else is more expensive. Also mathematically cars go down in value, so you are paying interest on money that you lost, making that loss greater.
That’s the whole reason this crisis exists, because Cara with 30k are being repossessed on loans with 40k in principal left.
It does help when you’re comparing it to someone with a big pile of cash to buy outright versus buying with a low interest loan. That cash can be invested and give you great returns while the cost of your loan goes down with inflation.
Even high yield savings accounts are giving ~4% interest right now with zero risk meaning someone with a 2% loan would be earning 2% interest on that cash and driving a new car while the person who bought outright is earning 0% interest while driving the same new car.
To further demonstrate the point using an extreme example, imagine you bought a brand new car 40 years ago for an MSRP of $5,000 with a 50 year low interest loan. You’d currently be paying that $5,000 loan using 2023 dollars which are worth 209% more than they were in 1983 while the loan is fixed at 2% (or whatever). That $5,000 cash you had in 1983 is now $15,000 in your bank account while you still get the benefit of driving the car over all that time.
Car payments are a poverty trap. Save and pay cash for cars, it’s harder now that used prices are absurd, but it doesn’t change the math.
Removed by mod
You don’t need to drive a beater forever. At this level cars are basically worth the same you bought them for. A year of driving a 1k beater and saving 500 a month that is less than an average payment leaves you with 7k for a better car.
Minimum wage in most of the USA is $7.25. Working 40 hours a week, 4 weeks of the month is $1160 dollars before taxes and all the other bullshit. Where exactly is that $500 to save coming from?
Most people aren’t making federal minimum wage.
Less than 1% of Americans make federal minimum wage. However, despite your dumb take on the amount of money Americans generally make, I strongly agree that saving $500 a month is a complete possibility for many working Americans
I don’t see why they don’t just ask their parents for money?
It’s like people don’t even know how to take care of themselves.
deleted by creator
You’re buying bad cars, but that aside there’s a big range between your $500 shitbox and an overpriced $50,000 penis-extension.
Fyi, beaters can usually be sold for what you paid for them. Buy a beater for $1000, save for better car. Sell beater for $1000, and get $5000 good car.
Removed by mod
I’ve driven nothing but beaters and beater-adjacent vehicles all my life. Even though I can afford a nice vehicle now, I don’t waste my money. Good test driving and mechanical skill goes a long way.
Oil in the coolant? Coolant in the oil? White smoke? Run away.
Knock? Walk away. Lifter tick? Ask to knock the price down, flush oil. You won’t throw a rod bearing on a modern car because it was low on oil a year ago. If it somehow does, you bought a car for less than a car payment. If it lasted 2 months you’re still ahead and now you have a parts car, get another.
Always head straight to the scrappers and grab an alternator and starter, put them in the trunk for when one of them eats shit.
Learn to spoon tires or make a friend with a tire machine. Tires are a huge expense and used ones / takeoffs are nearly free. Haven’t bought a new tire in many years. Get a plug kit too.
Learn to recharge AC and identify a working compressor with no charge. Then hard ball on the price. “Broken” AC devalues the car terribly and is a $10 fix.
Standard transmission cars go for a song, especially with slipping clutch they are worthless, learn to change a clutch and you can have one for decades. My favorite beater was a 1985 Corolla I owned from the age of 16 to 26, bought for $400 sold for $600.
Removed by mod
Lol. You’re buying bad cars.
Okay, and your average person doesn’t have the knowledge to buy ‘good’ cars. Google can only take you so far, and RNG will still fuck a significant number of people even with knowledge. If your system requires people to have fairly in-depth knowledge in a field they don’t work in just to not get absolutely fucked, then your system is shit.
Your failures are your own.
deleted by creator
The other answer, from someone who used to buy beaters - you learn real fast what not to buy.
deleted by creator
Definitely they should.
The Magnuson Moss Warranty Act has given people the right to repair cars since the 1970s. Most people just don’t have the skills, time, or tools to fix them on their own.
There are no viable $1500 beaters anymore. Those vehicles now cost $3000-$4000. More if it says “Honda” or “Toyota” on the front.
deleted by creator
Okay, so two years ago. Currently the cheapest two used cars in my local market are a Civic with 348,000 miles on it for $2000, and a 2010 VW with a blown engine for $3000. Even a clapped out 90’s Blazer is $5000 if it runs. That’s what’s out there on Craigslist and Facebook marketplace. Maybe I can go hang around every shady parking lot in town looking to see who’s got a lower number soaped on a window someplace, but people in the real world tend to have to work during daylight hours.
And then: Okay, so you found one 80’s Chevy Nova that might run. You got extremely lucky. If, as the other poster suggested, you’ll treat it as disposable and plan to ditch it after a few months and “buy another,” can you do it again? That’s even less likely.
Used car prices are still too insane for poor people to be able to count on reliably finding and scraping by with a beater.
deleted by creator
Bold of you to assume that people have an extra $1500 lying around.
deleted by creator
And just cross your fingers that you don’t lose your job because you’ve called in 8 times with car trouble. Buying beaters isn’t the right path for most.
Removed by mod
that’s not the point. the point is that there are people who can’t afford to save money in the long run. not like metaphorically can’t afford, like literally mathematically cannot afford.
they are trapped by their existing financial burdens which they already cannot meet and which are getting larger every month thanks to compound interest.
inflation, which normally has the effect of reducing the value of debts over time, is instead making their financial burdens effectively larger too. as inflation drives up the cost of living, wages stay the same and they have ever less of their income available to make debt payments as a result.
Removed by mod
62% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.
Don’t play this ‘they’re not good with their money’ libertarian bullshit. People aren’t being paid very well and essentials have shot up in price.
Saving even $800 is beyond many people’s reach.
Removed by mod
Its funny how all you have to hear is “someone is broke” and you already have ideas about their moral character.
Removed by mod
How exactly would an engine “throw a cylinder”?
Typically it’s a rod but you’ve either never heard the term before or are being pedantic.
Or I’m literally just asking a question to gain some insight. I’ve heard the term thrown a rod, and I’ve actually worked on cars more than most people. But thanks for the unwarranted hostility.
Easy killer “how exactly would a car throw a piston” wasn’t exactly a non-hostile comment yourself.
some engines have cylinder sleeves that can be pushed out. Although, as another commenter already mentioned, they actually meant “throwing a rod”
You take the paperwork out, take the license plate off, and wave good bye to the car with “well car, I guess you are the local government’s problem now”.
Removed by mod
And? The penalty for abandoning a car is they haul it away.
Removed by mod
Stuff that never happens for $100 Alex. I have done it multiple times.
Congratulations on littering your shitty cars around your city. Do you just go to friends houses and leave a fat shit in the toilet for them to clean up too?
If you were my “friend” I probably would.
Yep, a properly maintained car can last you a long time. Thankfully used car prices in my country that are outside of the top 3 brands have very reasonable prices. My last car lasted me 18 years before we couldn’t use it anymore due to emission regulations.
The best option is to ditch the car entirely… buy an ebike instead for the price of 1 car payment, or move to an area with ample sidewalks/mass transit…
Definitely a big task, but is certainly more viable than buying a car with cash… (it most certainly was for me at least…)
The best option for single digdet percentage of the population
Ftfy
Not all of us are 23 years old, work from home, and live in hipster city. I love these alternative forms of transportation, I have a moped when I was a single and decent bicycle. It just wouldn’t be practical for me to deal with highways and picking up my kids from aftercare on an ebike.
deleted by creator
Mathematically it was much better to buy with a loan at a low rate. You’re paying less each month on a 2% APR loan when inflation is at 4-8% like it has been the past year.
Inflation doesn’t help you on a loan unless you are actually getting Inflation level raises, otherwise you have the same amount of dollars and everything else is more expensive. Also mathematically cars go down in value, so you are paying interest on money that you lost, making that loss greater.
That’s the whole reason this crisis exists, because Cara with 30k are being repossessed on loans with 40k in principal left.
It does help when you’re comparing it to someone with a big pile of cash to buy outright versus buying with a low interest loan. That cash can be invested and give you great returns while the cost of your loan goes down with inflation.
Even high yield savings accounts are giving ~4% interest right now with zero risk meaning someone with a 2% loan would be earning 2% interest on that cash and driving a new car while the person who bought outright is earning 0% interest while driving the same new car.
To further demonstrate the point using an extreme example, imagine you bought a brand new car 40 years ago for an MSRP of $5,000 with a 50 year low interest loan. You’d currently be paying that $5,000 loan using 2023 dollars which are worth 209% more than they were in 1983 while the loan is fixed at 2% (or whatever). That $5,000 cash you had in 1983 is now $15,000 in your bank account while you still get the benefit of driving the car over all that time.