At least auto loan debt isn’t enshrined into law as “life debt” like student loans are.
no. they won’t. not under the present system. unlike student loans, auto loans can be discharged during bankruptcy (it is difficult to do with student loans) and you can easily sell the asset to pay off all or part of the balance (can’t sell your transcript or degree, just yourself to an employer).
But don’t cars depreciate a lot? I get that this article is clickbaity. But I think with the elevated cost of cars the autoloan debt is still something to take seriously. Even the response of “its not a big deal, you can always go bankrupt” is pretty wild.
Right? This is the stupidest fucking article. Like you can even have the car repossessed and the loan terminated.
Auto loans may legit be one of the safest type of loans available to students.
Federal student loans are not just difficult to discharge, they’re practically impossible to discharge. There are so little valid cases for it, you could count them on one hand. And that does not even take into account the fact that the sitting President and their cabinet can just say, “No, **** you.” Even after you qualify and a court agrees with you.
Edit: Just gonna point out that the only guaranteed way to discharge student loans without the federal government possibly overturning the ruling is to simply die. Its an excellent system perfectly designed to ensure that both the public sector and private sector can continue reaping the benefits of social mobility while preying on the most vulnerable segments of the population.
Discharging student debt in bankruptcy is so hard, it made the national news, https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamminsky/2020/01/22/a-judge-just-wiped-out-this-mans-221000-in-student-debt/amp/
Certainly car loans can be predatory, and it is worth improving oversight, limiting what loan providers are allowed to offer. While I’ve seen plenty of people in trouble with car loans, it was always predictable/likely and my first thought had been how could a loan provider have approved that. I’m sorry if people are desperate for transportation and short of options but it’s not helpful to offer rates like credit cards, nor roll over previous loans, nor offer loans at high percentages of people’s incomes
What, thats crazy. I bought my car certified pre-owned, fully paid it off, and have been driving it for 8 years with hopefully another 8 more to go. I know car prices have been going out of control though, whats going on?
Near the start of the pandemic, all the car rental agencies sold off a bunch of their cars because the cars weren’t making money. And with the pandemic in swing, car companies were making less cars, because of health restrictions as well as supply chain issues. As the pandemic slowed down, car manufacturers weren’t able to keep up with demand for new cars, and prices on used cars soared. Now manufacturers have decided they like the money flowing in like that and they’ve hiked their prices and are making fewer of the entry-level cars many people bought.
Damn, it’s almost as if making a country almost entirely car dependent is a terrible fucking idea.
I wish automakers were able to/would actually import some of their cheaper electric vehicles from east asian markets.
The Honda N-Van e would suit the needs of the vast majority of people. 124mi of range and only ~$8,000.
i would love them here, too… but kei cars would not fair well on u.s. roads vs all the heavy, oversized pickups and suv.
they would also not be nearly as economical, in terms of purchase cost or efficiency, when built for the u.s. market.
Can I say I love that derpy little thing and I hope they sell it here?
It wouldn’t meet the safety standards. A substantial portion of the cost in a modern vehicle is the safety systems and then the emissions systems.
It wouldn’t meet the safety standards.
This may partly be because basically all of them are legal for highway use, so even if all you need is a car that is safe to drive a couple of miles to the grocery store at 35MPH, the safety features and engines (and thus emissions system capabilities) have to be designed with the expectation that the vehicle will be used at 80MPH beside all the other vehicles out there.
It might help to have a wider variety of vehicle licensing options to allow for low-speed, lower-spec ‘city cars’. Though enforcement would probably be an issue, and the safety standards would still need to be robust enough that people in small cars wouldn’t be too badly killed by the gigantic pickup trucks they have to share the road with.
then the emissions systems
It’s an EV.
Only 124mi? Isn’t that like the average American’s commute to work one-way?
The average American drives 33 miles per day total.
didnt think id need an /s to joke about how car dependent we are :p
At least you can declare bankruptcy on an auto loan…
Auto loans are terrible and I always pay them off as soon as I can, but they will never really be that big a threat because you CAN sell your car and buy a substantially cheaper one, in most cases. Sometimes you can sell your car and just use public transit or bike/walk.
When I was a kid auto loans would be for 2 years or 4 years maybe, now. They’ll give you a 10-year loan on a car.
I just looked up, the median commute distance in the US is 10 miles and time is ~25 minutes. You can get a vehicle that will get you 10 miles away in about that time for ~$600. Ebikes are great. Regular bikes can be found for the cost of a fast food meal, if not free. As much as people say “cars are mandatory”, that might be an untrue assumption to start from. However, the car-focused layout of American cities has made it less safe to use bikes, which would be great to push back against.
Just gonna hop on my ebike to make the 10 mile journey in -40° weather… brb
Ah yes, the one theoretical counter-example that completely nullifies my argument. You’re right, all hail Cars. What percent of Americans experience -40 degree weather again?
There’s a reason my car is old enough to drink 👍
Mine’s almost old enough to vote!
