Juan David Ramirez knows that his 2012 Nissan Juke SL is on its last legs. But buying a new carin the Orlandoareathese days reminds him of car buying in his home country in Colombia, where only the wealthy can afford new cars.
Ramirez, 33, and his wife Angelica Castro-Calle really want a new, small SUV with a little space for camping and paddleboarding gear. But despite good jobs in finance and business contracting, the couple’s monthly loan payment would run around $700 for the $35,000 models they are looking at, before dealer markups.
So they plan to patch up the Nissan, which is paid off. He blames the manufacturers and dealers for charging so much for new cars.
“They’re going to price out a certain segment of the market and of the demographic,” Ramirez said. “But that’s something they’re probably okay with.”
Even as inflation is easing and global chip supply shortages are beginning to resolve, more Americans are being priced out of the nation’s new car market, industry and government data suggests. Spending on new cars by the lowest […]
As AI wipes out more and more jobs, families in this situation will become increasingly dire as the powers that be will view them as excess, and a drain on the system. This will become the new normal.