More than 1 in 4 car shoppers in Texas and Wyoming have committed to paying more than $1,000 a month, and experts say it is due to the high volume of large truck purchases in those states, according to a report by auto site Edmunds.
More than 1 in 5 shoppers in seven other states — Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Utah — are also forking over more than $1,000 for their vehicles each month.
The part I don’t understand is when a truck costs more than my mortgage. That’s just nuts!
In my mind, a truck is for getting work done. If I ever get a truck, it probably won’t have a crew cab and it’ll be all about making sure the towing and bed capacity can do the job. That’s it. I’ll probably get something with an MSRP of $30-40k, because that’s all I’ll need to get the job done.
I dislike driving trucks though, so I guess I don’t get it. In fact, I dislike driving in general, I only do it because it’s the most practical way for me to get around. I’ve driven a variety of cars, from trucks (least favorite) to manual transmission sports cars (my favorite), and I’ve settled on a Toyota Prius because it’s so practical. If I could pick anything to drive for fun, it would be a middle tier sport bike (like SV650), but it’s impractical because my area gets a lot of snow in the winter, so I’d only be able to drive for about half of the year.
Maybe it’s a cultural thing. The only person in my family that owns a truck is my brother, and he pretty much only uses it to haul his MTB or skis out to the trails. It’s just big enough to get the job done and not get stuck. My only friend that drives one drives a beater, because hauling mulch and whatnot is a lot easier with a truck.
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To each their own I guess. I find my sedan and minivan are plenty comfortable, so to me it’s a question of efficiency.
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I don’t have anything to tow (I could tow something small), and I rarely see any trucks in my area that actually tow.
If you regularly tow, then a truck makes total sense. But you don’t need a $1k truck payment to tow something.
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And that’s precisely what I’m getting at. A lot of people complain about their car/truck payment, but most of it is 100% a choice.
People point to average car payments like some kind of evidence that owning cars is significantly more expensive today, but prices for new cars have mostly come back to “normal” and average payments are being skewed by these high value vehicles (e.g. high end electric cars, trucks, massive SUVs).
So if your car payment is too high, there are most likely much more affordable options that’ll fit your needs, so average monthly payment is a really silly thing to look at.