I just read on Bloomberg today that the average new car payment is $777 and the average used car payment is $544. My first thought was that this is insane. My second thought was that I'm not surprised given how much car prices have gone up in recent years. New car prices because manufacturers seem to not be interested in making budget model cars anymore since the margin on those is so thin. And used car prices because supply chain shortages have resulted in, ahem, a shortage of new cars to buy, so more people want to buy used cars.

But wow. I've never had a car payment since the only cars I've owned are my current car, a 21 year old Honda that I inherited from my father 8 years ago, and the one other car I owned, a then 7 year old Datsun that my parents gave me for college graduation in 1990 which I sold about a year later because I decided I'd rather live in the middle of NYC than in the suburbs of NJ. Until SO and I moved to the suburbs 2 1/2 years ago I lived my entire adult life in urban areas where I've not needed a car for daily life so I just never bought one.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/featu...an-afford-them