Car ownership is now a luxury

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yup....avg price of new car this year at $50K. If you live in Fairfax County, you will pay 6% car tax, the crazy insurance rates, etc which essentially has made new car purchases for the wealth. No different now vs homes, and other high price items where MC "realistic and best value" route is purchasing a used car. Hoping EVs will lower new car price, but EV prices likely contributing to the inflation here.

Or you could get a used Altima for $7k and pay the VA DMV a $500 fee for permission to drive without insurance. The working class can still manage to have a car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This entire premise is how the concept of car sharing came about.

Kind of...the issue is I don't think you can technically say share an owned vehicle like you can share ownership of a house. I am not sure if insurance will put two different people on a policy, though perhaps one person could buy the car and then put in on a car-sharing site like Turo and only rent it to their friend and maybe achieve 50/50 that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My perspective on cars has changed. I always thought that when I got older, I’d get an expensive luxury car. Now that I’m older, and can afford it, I no longer want that. I really just want a solid reliable car with maybe a little creature comfort (leather seats and warmers).

Leather seats, heated seats, and a heated steering wheel are all that matter to me now, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My perspective on cars has changed. I always thought that when I got older, I’d get an expensive luxury car. Now that I’m older, and can afford it, I no longer want that. I really just want a solid reliable car with maybe a little creature comfort (leather seats and warmers).

Leather seats, heated seats, and a heated steering wheel are all that matter to me now, too.

Adaptive cruise control and automatic front and rear-breaking are also important, though standard nowadays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My perspective on cars has changed. I always thought that when I got older, I’d get an expensive luxury car. Now that I’m older, and can afford it, I no longer want that. I really just want a solid reliable car with maybe a little creature comfort (leather seats and warmers).

Leather seats, heated seats, and a heated steering wheel are all that matter to me now, too.

Adaptive cruise control and automatic front and rear-breaking are also important, though standard nowadays.

I've never used cruise control once in 30 years of driving.

[Anonymous]

The PP who said that the over engineered electronics are the problem is right. Everything is too complex. We don't need smart cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The PP who said that the over engineered electronics are the problem is right. Everything is too complex. We don't need smart cars.

They aren’t cars. They are computers with software as a service. That is the Tesla model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't be shocked that if one really did the math of owning a car vs. taking reasonable public transport/ubers/zip cars/Turo...that car ownership would lose for many/most people.

The issue is that rural areas are not well served by any of the alternatives above.

+1

We have three kids and no car, and it's a delight. We rent a car probably 3-4 times a year for 4-10 days (vacations, mostly), and then we have a zipcar membership, and we probably rent a zip car a month. And we probably take an average of... 5? Round trip cab/uber rides a month. We both have a pre-tax employer match on our SmarTrip money, so that cost is almost nothing. We pay an absolute fraction of the costs of most people on transportation. That's less than $5k a year total for a family of five. Unbeatable. Plus never worrying about repairs, parking, saving for a new car... when we first went car free we thought it'd be a headache worth the savings but it's actually also a headache saver. And we walk a ton, which is fabulous exercise - good for mental and physical health. It's really been such an awesome switch (and we sold the last car before the birth of the first kid).

And we're not poor either - HHI roughly $250k.

[Anonymous]

I cycle to work. It’s free, except for a few dollars on oil for the chain and occasional tune-ups. And it’s free exercise too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My perspective on cars has changed. I always thought that when I got older, I’d get an expensive luxury car. Now that I’m older, and can afford it, I no longer want that. I really just want a solid reliable car with maybe a little creature comfort (leather seats and warmers).

Leather seats, heated seats, and a heated steering wheel are all that matter to me now, too.

Adaptive cruise control and automatic front and rear-breaking are also important, though standard nowadays.

I've never used cruise control once in 30 years of driving.

Not me. I used it once. 😀

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yup....avg price of new car this year at $50K. If you live in Fairfax County, you will pay 6% car tax, the crazy insurance rates, etc which essentially has made new car purchases for the wealth. No different now vs homes, and other high price items where MC "realistic and best value" route is purchasing a used car. Hoping EVs will lower new car price, but EV prices likely contributing to the inflation here.

Or you could get a used Altima for $7k and pay the VA DMV a $500 fee for permission to drive without insurance. The working class can still manage to have a car.

YES..the working class will "options" but will not be "owners" of future new cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PP who said that the over engineered electronics are the problem is right. Everything is too complex. We don't need smart cars.

They aren’t cars. They are computers with software as a service. That is the Tesla model.

Yeah. Pass on the new data aggregators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My perspective on cars has changed. I always thought that when I got older, I’d get an expensive luxury car. Now that I’m older, and can afford it, I no longer want that. I really just want a solid reliable car with maybe a little creature comfort (leather seats and warmers).

Leather seats, heated seats, and a heated steering wheel are all that matter to me now, too.

Adaptive cruise control and automatic front and rear-breaking are also important, though standard nowadays.

I've never used cruise control once in 30 years of driving.

Great...that's not a flex...adaptive cruise control is a safety feature that will automatically break and accelerate you at an appropriate distance to the car in front of you, up to a maximum speed you set. Regular cruise control is fine driving on open highways with little traffic, but somewhat dangerous if you are an easily distracted driver.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't be shocked that if one really did the math of owning a car vs. taking reasonable public transport/ubers/zip cars/Turo...that car ownership would lose for many/most people.

The issue is that rural areas are not well served by any of the alternatives above.

+1

We have three kids and no car, and it's a delight. We rent a car probably 3-4 times a year for 4-10 days (vacations, mostly), and then we have a zipcar membership, and we probably rent a zip car a month. And we probably take an average of... 5? Round trip cab/uber rides a month. We both have a pre-tax employer match on our SmarTrip money, so that cost is almost nothing. We pay an absolute fraction of the costs of most people on transportation. That's less than $5k a year total for a family of five. Unbeatable. Plus never worrying about repairs, parking, saving for a new car... when we first went car free we thought it'd be a headache worth the savings but it's actually also a headache saver. And we walk a ton, which is fabulous exercise - good for mental and physical health. It's really been such an awesome switch (and we sold the last car before the birth of the first kid).

And we're not poor either - HHI roughly $250k.

I actually can't wait for the day that the futurists claim is coming where you just subscribe to a driverless car and have it come get you whenever you need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My perspective on cars has changed. I always thought that when I got older, I’d get an expensive luxury car. Now that I’m older, and can afford it, I no longer want that. I really just want a solid reliable car with maybe a little creature comfort (leather seats and warmers).

Leather seats, heated seats, and a heated steering wheel are all that matter to me now, too.

Adaptive cruise control and automatic front and rear-breaking are also important, though standard nowadays.

I've never used cruise control once in 30 years of driving.

Great...that's not a flex...adaptive cruise control is a safety feature that will automatically break and accelerate you at an appropriate distance to the car in front of you, up to a maximum speed you set. Regular cruise control is fine driving on open highways with little traffic, but somewhat dangerous if you are an easily distracted driver.

Why can’t you do this yourself? It’s basically giving you a reason to not pay attention.