For almost three years, those bills have followed Davine Greene, a nursing student who hasn’t missed or been late on a payment since buying her Kia K5 GT in November 2023. But keeping up with the payments has driven up her debt to more than $80,000, not including student loans.

Last week, she filed for bankruptcy to escape the burden, she said.

“This car is the bane of my existence,” said Ms. Greene, 24, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “Probably the worst decision I’ve ever made, like, financially speaking.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/business/car-ownership-prices-interest-rates.html

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49760411)

rent, car, insurance, food, etc. Without anything else is more than most people make.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49765566)

it's all driven by monthly payments. Lower interests are great! now the manufacturer can just jack up the MSRP. higher interest rates? ok let's just offer 10 year loans.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49765576)

Never do a trade in with the dealership. Or maybe have them give you an appraisal and even bring the title and show the salesman, but then at the last minute pull your trade in and be like I'm going to walk from this deal, get me my car back. Then ask if they can match the out-the-door price they gave (assuming trade in) if you make up the difference with cash.

Always be able to walk. And when I say walk, I mean walk.

You can't do this at all with Toyotas or other "in" cars. And certainly not with luxury models or sporty models that are status symbols. You need to find models that aren't as popular and that won't have as strong a resale value if you want to get them down on price. But in the long run, if you're just trying to buy a car, it's always a smarter choice to drive what is decent and boring and NEVER EVER EVER drive what is popular or seen as trendy.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49766068)

you said automakers would just raise msrps to compensate. i disagree. automakers cannot recoup loss from lower interest rates by raising msrp because they cannot force people to finance through them. if two cars cost 30k, one cannot raise the price to 35k so that they can offer low rates to shit borrowers because the majority of the market that is credit worthy will buy the 30k car.

you're basically talking about frontloading interest in the cars principal. automakers couldnt do this. and, if they devised a way, it could be regulated away. charging usurious interest by fraudulently frontloading it in the principal is something that happened when usury was a thing too. it would be like allowing a mortgager to charge customers points to pay down the rate cap and calling it the origination fee. they're still charging the usurious rate, they're just hiding the money somewhere else.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49766964)

Tell us about your monthly payments, dummy. Did you roll in any "negative equity?"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49765667)

Mr. Rhodes has decided to pause his ride-hailing and delivery work and is focusing only on hairstyling.

“I remember being younger, and you could just buy a car outright and keep it rolling,” Mr. Rhodes said. “Now there’s these high payments. It’s just crazy.”

----

NYT is just "Daily Mail for Libs" at this point, pretty solidly disguised ragebait. "Why doesn't this fucking NIG-I mean, down on his luck citizen just sell the Camaro?" the lib wondered to zhimzelf.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49764109)

personal freedom, and this is the part people don't say out loud until it's too late, results in dumbs doing Extremely Dumb Things and then suffering the consequences and also their children suffering the consequences. my question to you is, why is this bad? sufferers of intergenerational trauma driving 2003 pontiac grand ams on their 20th owner.... how the fuck else are you going to find someone who isn't an immigrant to work at a slaughterhouse or a wal mart? the system demands Ruin and Scum as grist for the mill. weird to think that modernity had only really sort of "existed" for a few short decades when we were born, and that the whole perspective was different back then. but today you can look at some Scummy kid building Character and be like "his grandfather got DWIs" or something and nod at yourself approvingly. Caste and Clique are inherited. and the whole thing veers into a totally different Lane based on a few automobile purchases whose consequences reverberate for decades. and my question, again, is why is this bad? Scumbags failing constantly is better for GDP somehow than raising taxes and building Rail imho.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49764200)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49764652)

The rides cost her around $1,000 a month, with her commute taking about two hours round-trip from her apartment in Grand Rapids, Mich., to her job in Saginaw. Ms. Akins picked up extra shifts to keep up with her expenses while saving for a car. But the daily Uber costs added up, and she managed to save only about $2,500 — less than half of what she desired.

“You never know how important things are until you lose them,” she said.

Ms. Akins recently moved back in with her mother, leaving the neighborhood and home she loved to cut back on her $1,400 monthly rent and shorten her commute to 30 minutes, making it easier to share rides in her mother’s car or find cheaper trips.

***

Her: 32. A fucking CNA (like the entry level of nursing). FIVE. CHILDREN.

U: 40. JD. Can't afford a kid yet, maybe in a couple of years.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49764653)

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/fd32a7a5-639f-4006-a1b1-2471c879e4c1/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49765897)

this isn't some controversial thing i'm claiming. it's well documented

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49765932)

https://www.cargurus.com/details/436541688?resultSetId=9cfcd93b-d1c5-40bb-9bfe-6257706ac5b8&searchUuid=ed5fcee4-d6c1-442c-98c2-f1326c8db10e&sourceContext=carGurusHomePageModel&sponsoredType=NONE&srpVariation=DEFAULT_SEARCH&listingIndex=7&inclusionType=DEFAULT&searchZip=10514&searchDistance=50&ourls=SRP&srpc=N4IghgZgxiBcoC8CWAHOICMAGArBgLCADQgC2YA1gKYCyA9gCZUA2AKgE5KkAKYALgAsAznADaZAGzFJAegY4AHAE4QAXRIMkQvmAB2UKnBxYSuuroDKA1CjAAjZlQBCYISyS7DsbAGYlJITp2PgARJHYqKD4kc3QAQQsAYWlA4NYATxQvECcAUQtWAH0aONZEgAlpLRD3ADcqdnTc3XtHBjgIMGY3EnIAD25OAzgMCSxxknrrKEdyrT4g9IB5FGjzEVhxRIAZXLiAOULWAElWXel9pcOLOO2ANTiAcVy1APYUO7BOfhjddBDcgAxOIAVW2RQsewAShUQABfEhRPpwUDMJDtWD4HwSHD4UYKBQkFAAcxGAQAruT0egqPJoFQqPgALQMCRQDBM-D4ABMUCZSgUUG5TIgGB83LZCgYdmwhjeUCR6CgX0e5PY5KE5TopCovGJtEYLGkJLANPSAClyAANc0IBiApwCABa3JBSCWACtcvhtolzQB3ACaAHUGGwkMcJDQPYCVHC4UA

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49765939)

And even then, there are plenty of Craigslist specials to be had. Here's a cool ass Honda Accord for less than $7k. https://newyork.craigslist.org/wch/cto/d/yonkers-2014-honda-accord/7922966981.html

As another poaster said, you are greatly underrating the reliability of more recent cars. Especially mass market vehicles like the Camry, CR-V, RAV4, etc. And age of the vehicle matters less than miles and maintenance. And these cars are not complicated to maintain.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49765977)

Cars from the past 15 years all easily hit 200k even with shitty maintenance. Even the shitty ones.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49765948)

in the 90s and 2000s, it was very easy to get a 5-7 year old vehicle for $3000 that would serve a high school kid, college student, grad student, or someone in their first job very well for a 2-4 years. you could buy one with savings from a summer of fast food work or as a lifeguard or SAT tutoring. that's not possible any more

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49765945)

Youre using retard logic to justify spending too much on cars.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49765955)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49771437)

And they can still be financed for 5+ years at which point the monthly payment could be less than $250.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5848415&forum_id=2).#49765963)