Why Cars and Trucks are expensive these days?

[marlinfshr]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

I think what is bolded is what some from the Southeast and California don't realize. In much of the country cars are put through the wringer due to winter and road treatment (I personally believe that the new brine treatment will prove to be really hard on cars).


Cars prior to say the 1990s showed environmental caused issues within a very few years. Today it's maybe 10 years or so (I have an '02 Taurus wagon and an '03 F150 which are both now showing some rust around the rear wheel wells).

I remember the rear wheel wells and the lower part of the tailgate would get eaten pretty bad with rust on my big Broncos in a past life. I even put "cut out flares" to cover up on one. And I considered the Fords the better of the bunch when it came to being rust proof. It just went with the times I guess.

I've had my RAM since 2007 and drive a good bit on the beaches here in MD. I live near the salt water and work on boats so my truck is always at a marina, windy or not. It still doesn't have any rust on the body. The exhaust is still original and other then surface rust I see no need for replacing it yet. The driveshaft has a good rust coating on it though. Yea, I'll see some rust on a few newer vehicles but IMO, they sure last a lot longer now then in the past. Amazing considering the sheet metal seems half the thickness!

[JohnnyMack]

Comparing direct cost of anything using 2015 cost and 1970 cost is meaningless.

What was the average income in 1970? Nominal was about $7,500
What extras were on cars in the 70's ? A/C, cruise control, and tape players were considered LUXURIES in
most cars.

Now you have power windows and locks, cruise control, remote entry, am/fm/cd high end sound systems, sun roofs, A/C, etc..

[louie0406]

Because people keep paying for them. That's why. Supply and demand. So long as people are willing to dish out 50k+ for a new truck, why should manufacturers and dealers stop jacking up the prices?

It's like asking "why is rent so expensive in NYC". It's because people are willing to pay thousands per month to live in a box.

[SAAN]

I think a big problem is that half of Americans make $30K or less a year and many new cars cost close to 25-$30K after some options and taxes/tag/fees. When you make $30K or less, the odds of having $3-5000 for a car is pretty non existent in this country or even $500 for a car repair.

Ive seen many expensive car problems occur after the 60/75/100K powertrain warranty ended, while the person still had 2 to 4 more years of payments on the car. So to go along with the $3-500 car payment is a repair bill for $1000+ for failed AC Compressor or Fuel Pump, $1-2000 for transmission issue or $3-4000 for damaged engine due to broken timing belt/overheating/blown gaskets, although those were more owner neglect than defects.

When working jobs that pay $10-15hr, most of those jobs are the ones that nitpick everything and the type of jobs where employees pretty much must show up to work if its a ice storm, tornado, etc and even when they are sick, out of fear of being fired. Ive worked somewhere like this in the past where the employees could barely make it on their pay and were almost fired for being late or missing work for car problems on their old cars, so in return they bought a new or slightly used car for $350-450 @ 60-72 months of payments for a piece of mind to keep their jobs, but now have something they really cant afford for the next 5years. So they tried the old beater method only to be stranded many times or almost fired and their no debt car was pretty much equaling $200+ a month in repairs.


The issue could also be that quality used cars are also expensive too. I never thought I would be looking for a used backup car with prices of $7-8000 for a 10 year old car.