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Car debt piles up as more Americans owe thousands more than vehicles are worth (latimes.com)
13 points by paulpauper on March 26, 2023 | hide | past | favorite | 5 comments



> I don’t want to be paying interest on cars that I don’t even have anymore

Lol what? Imagine if a banker, supposedly the root of all evil, was saying something like “I don’t want to be paying interest on the money I borrowed to buy this financial instrument only to sell it later”, they would, rightfully, be pilloried.

But because it’s a “regular old American dude” saying it, I’m supposed to feel sympathy for them?


>"Feel sympathy for them?"

Perhaps — yes&no.

Yes [feel sympathy for them]: a system which allows you to roll over trade-in debt is `evil`.

No ["he's an idiot American"]: a consumer who would roll over trade-in debt is `ill-informed`.

Neither answer/scenario is optimal. One is less evil.


Gee, why not just say "I don't want to pay interest on money I don't have any more"?

Anything for which you need a loan, which is not collaterized by acquiring an asset, is "under water". E.g. loan for a building repair. The money is gone; the building is only as good as it was before the incident. You know, to hell with paying that back at all, let alone with interest! I'm entitled to free help!

Ya know, I wish someone had told me that cars depreciate, but the loan doesn't. Why do boomers keep all these secrets?


So you are driving around in a "24 thousand dollar" car instead of a "27 thousand dollar" car?

Is the "worth" making the car drive better somehow?

You got a bad price on a car and other people are going to get a lower price, so you should get what exactly? If you're bad at negotiating should the government bail out your bad contractual agreements?

This strikes me as some kind of distorted fear mongering


I am still driving a 20 year old Toyota because it is still running and I refuse to pay these outrageous prices. It's people like those in this article taking loans out at the top of a bubble for vehicles they don't really need that are driving up the prices for everyone else.




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