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Comment by d_sem | Hacker News Reader

My source is bankrate.com (top google search hit) which doesn't provide an exact line item breakdown. Here are some parameters they consider:

- Average Insurance ~ $1,771 per year

- Average Car Monthly Loan ~ $700 per month

- Average repair costs ~ $1,425

- Depreciation of initial investment. (google search returns an average new car - cost to be ~$50,000 USD in 2022)

- Gas

- Registration

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Wow, I didn't realize the average price for a new car was so high! Are people mostly buying electrics, full sized pickup trucks and luxury cars these days? Whatever happened to mid-sized and compact cars?

Interestingly just looked and old frumpy minivans are right up there in price too!!

You need the Ultra Denali Tahoe CyberMegatron to ensure that you are unscathed when you evaporate whatever child has the gall to play in the street

They went out of style as companies poured marketing into SUVs and trucks which have higher profit margins (I regularly see $70-90k pickup trucks used for office commutes!), all boosted by unusually low interest rates and 5+ year loans.

Then at the start of the pandemic, the car manufacturers slashed their orders for microprocessors in anticipation of a depression. The fabs sold their capacity to other customers which meant that when car demand didn’t crater as expected there was a massive shortage, and the car companies prioritized what chips they could get to the highest profit models.

If you have a look at the top selling vehicles, you’ve basically got it right:

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g39628015/best-selling-car...

> - Average Insurance ~ $1,771 per year

> - Average Car Monthly Loan ~ $700 per month

Both of these are crazy high. Maybe not for everyone, but 1771 per year for insurance you should be shopping around or using a broker. And a car payment of 700, that is up to the buyer, but IMHO that is absurdly high.

Have you noticed how few sedans are on the road?

I recently considered switching from a sedan to a cross-over... the sticker shock was upsetting. I make 2x as much as most of my friends and I absolutely refused to buy a cross-over, they all have cross-overs or trucks.

Ended up with a Hundai hatchback for 15k less, and bought a roof rack for 1k. When the 4 of us go snowboarding we use my small car instead of their huge expensive cars because I can fit 4 people + 4 snowboards on the roof, while they have to put a seat down for snowboards.

I don't know whats going on with everyone, a all wheel drive hatchback with a roof box is probably cheaper than the average crossover, fits FAR more luggage considering you can actually reach into the box, and if you buy a lift kit its just as good at off-roading as some random crossover is (IE: better than you think, worse than you expect)

Three specific demographics prefer the (from the factory) higher ride height of SUVs:

1) Women

2) The elderly

3) The overweight

Women have a say in over 70% of vehicle purchases in the US. So even if the vehicle is for dad, mom (who is 5’4” on average) preferring the higher ride height of the SUV will influence the purchase if she has to drive it occasionally.

The elderly and the fat have a harder time getting in and out of lower-riding cars/hatches. The country is getting both older and fatter at the same time.

These are the driving forces in crossover dominance.

This whole thread is just hilarious. All sorts of assumptions, rationalizations, and derogatory assessments of why other people don't make exactly the same car buying choice. And of course a very heavy dose of virtue signaling.

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