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If this should be in "automotive", feel free to move it. I wasn't sure.
Lately I've been watching this guy on You-Tube who drives about neighborhoods, commenting on them and showing stats. His poor neighborhood videos are by far the most popular.
What I notice is, in these very worst of neighborhoods, "all" the cars are late-model, nice cars. Not what I would label a "beater" like many of us had growing up until we had more money.
In my less-monied years, I had a VW bug, a $3,000 Saturn, an old Datsun pickup and so forth. Not these guys. I see many full-size new pickups with full backseats, no dented vehicles, no obviously older cars.
What gives? How can these people with no jobs, living in the most run-down of areas, afford these new/newer cars? Is it all drug deals---all of them? Can a person with no job even get a car loan?
I see a lot of sub-$10k vehicles. Many probably have high interest rate buy-here-pay-here "loans".
Cash for Clunkers did away with a lot of 'beaters' (unfortunately).
That said- there are a lot of people who will sacrifice living conditions for a nice car. Enter the $1k/month leased Escalade parked in front of a $900/month apartment in Miami.
I used to live in a very run down area so that I could afford a nice car, more clothes, more spending money. You can't assume we are all unemployed drug dealers. Where I live is not near as important to ME as it may be to YOU. A good dependable late model car is a very good thing in MY life. In these times of unaffordable first homes why throw away rent money on fancy digs that will never be yours?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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When one lives in a poor area, even a ghetto, driving a nice, newer car helps the people feel better about their situation, and to them it's worth the hassle of struggling to make the payments. Car dealers have always been able to give loans to people who can't really afford it, they just go with a high enough interest rate to cover the cost of repossessing it later.
Those are the worst eye soars, branded cars with the huge ghetto rims, or ghetto taillights. I never understood why and how one could take a nice Chevy Tahoe for example and make it look like complete crap. Must be a status symbol to brand one’s car with ghetto fake chrome and hood vents within that community of people.
What I notice is, in these very worst of neighborhoods, "all" the cars are late-model, nice cars. Not what I would label a "beater" like many of us had growing up until we had more money.
Is there a particular time in the video that illustrates this point? I clicked through (about 10 different points total) and didn't see anything out of place. Maybe a Kia, Corolla, 20 year old minivan...stuff I would expect to see. One timeframe I clicked on had a decent Buick SUV going through an intersection but none of the areas I happened to click on would have said that the car belonged to someone living there.
I'm not doubting what you're saying, I'm just saying that from the few pieces I saw it didn't seem like there was the overwhelming number of Escalades or BMWs sitting outside a housing project.
As someone else stated earlier we all prioritize things differently. I live in a upscale neighborhood and drive around a 9 year old car...I like to get my money's worth. I don't prioritize my car as much as I do my house and neighborhood. Different strokes for different folks!
If this should be in "automotive", feel free to move it. I wasn't sure.
Lately I've been watching this guy on You-Tube who drives about neighborhoods, commenting on them and showing stats. His poor neighborhood videos are by far the most popular.
What I notice is, in these very worst of neighborhoods, "all" the cars are late-model, nice cars. Not what I would label a "beater" like many of us had growing up until we had more money.
In my less-monied years, I had a VW bug, a $3,000 Saturn, an old Datsun pickup and so forth. Not these guys. I see many full-size new pickups with full backseats, no dented vehicles, no obviously older cars.
What gives? How can these people with no jobs, living in the most run-down of areas, afford these new/newer cars? Is it all drug deals---all of them? Can a person with no job even get a car loan?
Just because you see a nice late model vehicle "in da hood" does not mean the driver or passengers are from that area.
Did you ever think that maybe they were just passing through, going from point A to point B, and the direct path happens to pass through this neighborhood?
Maybe they were giving a co-worker (who lives in the neighborhood) a ride home or taking them to work.
And yes, a certain number of people who live "in da hood" buy nice cars because *gasp* they want a nice vehicle and they afford it.
Just because someone has a nice vehicle in a rundown area does not make mean they are engaged in criminal behavior, there are other possibilities like the few I listed.
Starbucks, home of the expensive lattes, are opening more stores in urban and poor neighborhoods.
KEY POINTS
Starbucks has a point to prove: There’s more to the company than selling $4 lattes to rich people.
The Seattle-based coffee giant said Thursday it is expanding its effort to put more coffee shops — and create more jobs — in poor neighborhoods.
The effort will bring to 100 the number of “community stores” Starbucks has opened since it announced the program in 2015.
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