Ehhh while it is harder to buy things today, it's a bit exaggerated to say you need to spend over 20k to get a drive-able car. You can still find a beater from a private seller for 1-2k, or if you insist on buying from a dealership, you could get a decent car for around 10k.
Beaters often cost another 6-7k in maintenance just to run three more years. Planned obsolescence has been standard in car manufacturing for 20 years now.
Depends on the beater car. If you go the cheap car route, you'll need two cars, because one car will just stop working every once in a while and you'll still need something to drive while it's being repaired, even if you're the person doing the repairs.
While tools aren't expensive, you'll at least need a garage/someplace to work and the time to diagnose and work on whatever car isn't working. Depending on what's happening in your life, that might not be possible. The canbus code readers make finding problems so much easier, cars now are much easier to diagnose and fix than ever.
I've gone the beater route for cars to save money and spent far less than new(er). You can fix most problems with a cheap car, it comes down to having the time to do the work, a place to wrench on your car and having a spare car for when rockauto needs 10 days to deliver your parts.
That's if the parts you buy are a) the right parts and b) last. Just put a whole new front end under my truck. Dealer's parts guy told me that if the parts failed in the first 10k miles, they'd replace them free. The parts they replaced had over 100k miles on them. Still took them three tries to get me the right wheel bearings.
Yes, they do. If you can find a 1k beater that would last 3 years without thousands in repairs you are in a unicorn market. Most beaters that actually run are at least 5k today.
There's youtubers putting out videos claiming car makers are using modern tech to design cars to be even more disposable compared to last decades cars so the situations becoming much worse.
Well when everything is locked down with DRM and everything has to meet strict regulations to be street legal manufacturers can essentially decide to make a line of cars unserviceable.
A car that doesnt require 2k worth of fixes to be drivable is between 3500 and 4500 average now. They destroyed most of the old beaters with cash for clunkers, and the cars that were good at running without maintenance are aging out. The cost of the market has risen because EVERYONE is seeking those 2500 dollar deals so wheb they hit they are gone, and because new cars are so bad they hold on to them.
Ehhh while it is harder to buy things today, it's a bit exaggerated to say you need to spend over 20k to get a drive-able car. You can still find a beater from a private seller for 1-2k, or if you insist on buying from a dealership, you could get a decent car for around 10k.
Beaters often cost another 6-7k in maintenance just to run three more years. Planned obsolescence has been standard in car manufacturing for 20 years now.
That's true. Unless you're doing DIY repairs with junkyard parts then maintaining a beater doesn't really work out in the long-term.
Doing my own car maintenance? In my garage? Attached to the home I bought for 75k in 1983?
Boomers are the worst generation in history, and it’s not close.
A lot harder to do even basic vehicle maintenance when you live in an apartment.
That's even assuming your building provides parking.
See comment my comment below. Having a cheap car means you need to have a place to fix that car/store tools/etc.
The more I think about it, a cheap car in working order is more of a luxury/flex than it looks to be on the surface.
Depends on the beater car. If you go the cheap car route, you'll need two cars, because one car will just stop working every once in a while and you'll still need something to drive while it's being repaired, even if you're the person doing the repairs.
While tools aren't expensive, you'll at least need a garage/someplace to work and the time to diagnose and work on whatever car isn't working. Depending on what's happening in your life, that might not be possible. The canbus code readers make finding problems so much easier, cars now are much easier to diagnose and fix than ever.
I've gone the beater route for cars to save money and spent far less than new(er). You can fix most problems with a cheap car, it comes down to having the time to do the work, a place to wrench on your car and having a spare car for when rockauto needs 10 days to deliver your parts.
That's if the parts you buy are a) the right parts and b) last. Just put a whole new front end under my truck. Dealer's parts guy told me that if the parts failed in the first 10k miles, they'd replace them free. The parts they replaced had over 100k miles on them. Still took them three tries to get me the right wheel bearings.
No they don’t
Yes, they do. If you can find a 1k beater that would last 3 years without thousands in repairs you are in a unicorn market. Most beaters that actually run are at least 5k today.
Learn how to fix it yourself you lazy piece of shit
There's youtubers putting out videos claiming car makers are using modern tech to design cars to be even more disposable compared to last decades cars so the situations becoming much worse.
Well when everything is locked down with DRM and everything has to meet strict regulations to be street legal manufacturers can essentially decide to make a line of cars unserviceable.
The average beater is 4500 now.
And the average new car is 45,000 now.
Yep. Crazy. Thats what the people complaining about younger generations paid for their house.
Is it? I'll admit it's been a while since I bought one but I can still find listings for 1-2k in my area.
A car that doesnt require 2k worth of fixes to be drivable is between 3500 and 4500 average now. They destroyed most of the old beaters with cash for clunkers, and the cars that were good at running without maintenance are aging out. The cost of the market has risen because EVERYONE is seeking those 2500 dollar deals so wheb they hit they are gone, and because new cars are so bad they hold on to them.
My 32 year old car with 180k miles on it would go for double or even triple that on the used market, and it's not a rare car.
In my area every used car has been snapped up by Arabs and central Asian immigrants and is being resold.