Quote:
Originally Posted by Robbie
And they spend a few BILLION each year on retirement benefits too.
It's the reason that cars now cost as much as houses. When I was a kid, a brand new car was $1500 to $5000 (I'm talking chevy's and ford's...not Rolls Royces)
But the unsustainable union contracts these car companies have signed over the years has raised the price of vehicles so high that the average person HAS to finance a vehicle because only the top incomes in the country can really afford to just walk in and pay cash.
But boy..when you do pay cash it is SO sweet! During the 2000's I financed my Prowler, corvette, 2 harley trucks, and a Hummer. And of course it was stacks and stacks of paperwork and the tense negotiations in the Finance office a the dealership.
But I bought my 4 door Jeep Wrangler with cash. I practically named my price, wrote them a check and drove off. Now THAT was cool. I even have video screens, custom wheels, custom sound, etc. But the average person can't just write a $27,000 check
It's just insane.
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Another factor in the prices going up so much is the ease of financing. When I was a kid a car loan was normally 12-24 months. Now 60 and 72 month loans are very common. Back when you had a shorter loan period the average person bought the average car so they made a ton of them and were competitive with the price. In the last 15 or so year the average person became able to have the same size car payment, but buy a car that was twice as expensive because of the longer contracts. The car manufacturers started focusing on those cars and all but forgot the lower priced cars.
When I was a kid the only people you saw driving new trucks or big SUV type vehicles were people who made a good living, needed the truck for work or had a ton of kids (and likely made a good living). No you drive into the suburbs and a $40K SUV is almost standard issue.