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[quote=Anonymous]I was actually shocked at how cheap used cars are now. Our 7 year old car recently was in a small accident and was declared a total loss because its value was only $16,000.  It was a perfectly good car that ran fine with zero maintenance costs and was electric so no gas costs or oil changes either.  I was really tempted to just replace it with exactly the same year/model.

Repairs are ridiculously expensive since everything breaks at the slightest impact — not like the old days when you’d get a small dent and hammer it out.  And insurance, as a result, is also ridiculous.

But given how much inflation has been over my lifetime, I’m actually surprised cars are as cheap as they are.  $1 in 1998 is worth $2 today but I don’t think car prices have doubled since 1998.  (I just looked up a Chrysler minivan and it was 26-35 thousand then and 40-48 now.).

I’ve actually never had a car loan as I bought old used ones until I had the money to buy new. I still take buses or metro most places rather than driving.  I agree that for many people, taking public transportation and the occasional rental/uber is cheaper than car ownership — that’s what I did all through my 20s.  But of course that depends on where your job is.  I finally broke down and got a car when I had a job 40 miles out into the boonies.  [/quote]

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