Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
Is there a compelling reason why it needs to? Perhaps a pause is in order until the vehicular future sorts out a bit?
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With the declining middle class in the USA I do wonder if here we'll end up like many other countries where a small upper class ends up being the main new car buyers, which puts a higher demand on used cars and makes all cars in general too expensive for the vast majority. If that happens there'll need to be vast restructuring and building out of public transportation. Otherwise people will have to be spending huge percentages of their income on transportation just to make it to work.
I know I make a little less than a median wage, but not by much. In my case, owning a single, fuel efficient $15,000 car has equated to 17.2% of my income. If my next car option were to be $30,000 then that could nearly double that. If rent is 50% of one's income and the car is over 30%, that's not going to leave much on the table for food on the table. And that is with owning only one working vehicle.
The days of finding a running car at basically any price point that's repairable are over.