Forbes finally telling it how it is

[TravelJunkyQC]

Finally, someone calls everyone out on the new car purchase: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jrose/2016/10/01/the-one-monthly-payment-killing-your-wealth/?ss=personalfinance#479e56cfbd9e

[nereo]

Nice!  Particularly interesting that it was published in Forbes, a magazine that draws quite a bit of advertising from luxury car makers.

[LivlongnProsper]

Couldn't agree more with the author. I have never had a car payment and never will.

[fattest_foot]

I've got a car payment, and funnily enough it (kind of) falls into a quote from the article;

"I’m not saying all car payments are bad, as there are certain situations where a loan makes sense. Perhaps you really needed a new car under warranty and saved up a large down payment to make it happen. Or maybe you planned on buying a new car with cash, but chose financing to secure a sweet 0% APR financing offer."

I was able to get a .99% interest rate, and all told it amounted to about $325 in interest over the entire course of the loan.

I had planned on paying cash for a car, but it was hard to pass that up.

[RFAAOATB]

Nice!  Particularly interesting that it was published in Forbes, a magazine that draws quite a bit of advertising from luxury car makers.

Even with low rate financing I got a feeling that if too many average people are buying these luxury cars, they won't be luxury much longer.

Perhaps these luxury cars could refuse to offer financing to make sure that only those worthy of affording them can buy them and ensure their brand isn't diluted to the lower market.  Now a days it seems like anyone can get a BMW.

[ketchup]

My current car has a $1000 payment, and my last two were $700 and $1000.

Car payment means what you pay for the car when you buy it and get the title from the owner, right?

EDIT:

Nice!  Particularly interesting that it was published in Forbes, a magazine that draws quite a bit of advertising from luxury car makers.

Even with low rate financing I got a feeling that if too many average people are buying these luxury cars, they won't be luxury much longer.

Perhaps these luxury cars could refuse to offer financing to make sure that only those worthy of affording them can buy them and ensure their brand isn't diluted to the lower market.  Now a days it seems like anyone can get a BMW.

Like how Abercrombie or whoever didn't want their clothes worn by fat people?  Nothing could go wrong with that logic...

[nereo]

Perhaps these luxury cars could refuse to offer financing to make sure that only those worthy of affording them can buy them and ensure their brand isn't diluted to the lower market.  Now a days it seems like anyone can get a BMW.

Our shifting baselines goes a long way towards explaining why so many in the middle class feel "poor".  BMWs today aren't any less luxurious than they were 20 years ago - from a qualitative standpoint they offer even more features.  Problem is so many people have 3-series that it's lost its panache.  Middle-class used to be station-wagons and driving vacations to the beach. Somehow that's no longer acceptable when the wealthy are buying 6-figure cars and renting whole islands.