85% Of Americans Have Car Payments

Driving yourself into debt

Destiny S. Harris
Making of a Millionaire

Photo by Barna Bartis on Unsplash

Automobile Statistics

What an interesting find this fact is: “Currently, 85 percent of all new car purchases in the United States are financed, up from 75 percent in 2009 (Source: PIRG). It’s called driving yourself into debt.

But wait, it gets better…

“The average monthly car payment for new cars is $667. The average monthly car payment for used cars is $515. 38.22 percent of consumers financed new vehicles in the second quarter of 2022. 61.78 percent of consumers financed used vehicles in the second quarter of 2022 (Source: Bankrate).”

Quick note: Having a car payment is not bad if you can afford the car payment, don’t have any other debts, have an emergency fund, and are on track for retirement.

What Is Your Car Situation?

Most likely, you have a car loan, but if you don’t, congratulations. You are a part of a small society of people who either own their car or don’t own one because you can’t afford one; the latter is a blessing in disguise.

It is always better to not buy a car if it doesn’t work for your budget instead of being like most people trying to force things to work out financially.

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Responses (2)

What are your thoughts?

So wild!

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Wow, I never realized the percentage of financed cars was that high! I live in Canada, and notice on average, cars are a bit older than in the US. There’s less pressure to have a new car all the time.

Myself, I don’t buy new. I buy a high end…

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