Since the couple are still paying down $4,000 in credit card debt and other loans, and Elizabeth is unemployed, they don’t have cash to complete the purchase and would need to take out an auto loan to buy it.
Letting go of the vehicle is also an option. There’s just one problem: “My wife’s very attached to the vehicle and doesn’t really want to consider any cheaper options,” Brent told co-hosts Jade Warshaw and Rachel Cruze.
This story is unfortunately common and highlights how auto loans are the norm and hurting ordinary families financially.
Extraordinary decisions for extraordinary results
The hosts pointed out that the couple’s first decision to lease a car wasn’t smart since that usually works out to be more expensive than getting a traditional car loan. Taking a loan now and paying interest for an asset that’s going to fall in value rapidly, isn’t advisable either, they added.
Auto loans are “one of the dumbest debts you can get into from a financial perspective,” Cruze explained.
Cruze acknowledged that Brett’s situation isn’t unusual. “Y'all are the normal Americans out there,” she told him. “But the problem is, Brett, normal is broke.” She said "normal" in the U.S. is living paycheck to paycheck and if the couple desires a better financial situation they need to make better choices than most Americans. At an annual combined income of just $40,000, Cruze believes the couple cannot afford this $19,000 car.
Warshaw also suggested abandoning the car. “If you have to be a one-car family for a couple of months while you save up, what's the harm in that?” she asked. In fact, that’s precisely the strategy she and her husband used to pay down their own debt and they eventually bought their second car in cash.
Nearly 60% of households have at least two cars, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. A third of households relied on a single vehicle. However, Cruze believes Brett needs to be part of this small cohort, despite his wife’s wishes, to avoid an unsustainable debt burden.
“You have to make different decisions if you want different results,” she said.
Driven to debt
The U.S. has more vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants than every other country except for New Zealand (and a few micronations) and taking out loans to buy cars is the norm. In 2019, 85% of all new car purchases were financed, up from 75% in 2009, said PIRG. Americans were collectively sitting on $1.64 trillion in auto loan debt at the end of the third quarter in 2024, according to the New York Fed, and it is the biggest category of household debt after mortgages.
Households run the risk of stretching their budgets too far and overspending on transportation. In fact, 60% of consumers surveyed by Carvana said they aspire to own their dream car over their dream home, highlighting how unique American car culture is. More than 40% said they would pay north of $100,000 for their dream car if necessary.
Vishesh Raisinghani is a financial journalist covering personal finance, investing and the global economy. He's also the founder of Sharpe Ascension Inc., a content marketing agency focused on investment firms. His work has appeared in Moneywise, Yahoo Finance!, Motley Fool, Seeking Alpha, Mergers & Acquisitions Magazine and Piggybank.
