Car Payments Average $800 Per Month: Report

[Mike Ock]

Back in the early 00s when people my age were getting driver license at 16, broke down but durable whips were as cheap as $800 . Honda and Toyotas back then were affordable.

Them times are long gone man. Nothing's coming down bruh.

 

[phcitywarrior]

This debt bill the US economy is carrying will come due soon. Gonna be nasty when it does. $1K for a car note? Na, at that point, lemme cop the 2027 Legedez Benz.

 

[⠀X ⠀]

I had a $500 payment for like 10 years straight. I sometimes think about all the money I could have saved if I had just gotten a good used car for $5000, and invested that monthly payment.

 

[winb83]

How?

I got a 5 year (3 left) 0.99% loan for 37k. I pay $640 monthly. How much did you put down? I put down $0.

I paid $12K out of pocket and the rest was my trade in. I traded in a year old car and used that $12K to pay the balance down to meet my requirements.

 

[EastsideRio]

My homeboy did a HELOC and paid for a 2026 car in cash. His payments on the HELOC are like $250 a month for like 10 years before the interest kicks in. He’ll have it paid off by then

Why borrow against the house? when you could do a personal loan and not put your home in limbo

 

[EastsideRio]

No interest financing was good, but I would never use my home equity to pay for a depreciating asset personally

Exactly, that’s hustling backwards.

He should’ve bought a rental property instead.

 

[RadaMillz]

i would rather save up and drive a beater with a heater than have a 1K monthly note

 

[phcitywarrior]

I had a $500 payment for like 10 years straight. I sometimes think about all the money I could have saved if I had just gotten a good used car for $5000, and invested that monthly payment.

My only car note was for a Honda a few years ago. About $250 a month and I paid it off in like 18 months. Never again, I was sick paying that, even if it wasn’t that much in truth

 

[Oatmeal]

What a waste.

Once I learned the power of compound interest and how buying one cheap Toyota/Honda lasts for 500k-1 million miles, that was the end for me spending anything over $300 a month for a car. Now I pay things off in full or don’t buy the vehicle.

Folks really replacing their cars every 100k miles too. That’s so much opportunity cost.

My wife’s Honda runs fine on the original power train with 500k miles. Someone out there spent $150k for the same thing.

“Rule number one on the stock market: don’t lose money. Rule number two: don’t forget rule number one.”
- Warren Buffett

Things like paying interest are a violation of that rule. Literally spending money (interest) and you’re not even gaining value like you would investing using margin on NVIDIA and index funds when it’s a buying opportunity. Instead, you’re just giving away money because you’re in debt all to go from point A to point B.

I've mentioned to people before about how I bought my car new only because it was a 0% interest loan and I didn't need a down payment, the money I was gonna spend on that went into CDs / HYSA so effectively giving me a discount on a new car by leveraging loan terms. No reason to pay it off early because of that. The finance department at the dealership peeped game and I was trying to put me on some crypto investments while I was doing the paperwork

Used cars were expensive, limited warranty, and had 7%+ rates at the time

 

[winb83]

What a waste.

Once I learned the power of compound interest and how buying one cheap Toyota/Honda lasts for 500k-1 million miles, that was the end for me spending anything over $300 a month for a car. Now I pay things off in full or don’t buy the vehicle.

Folks really replacing their cars every 100k miles too. That’s so much opportunity cost.

My wife’s Honda runs fine on the original power train with 500k miles. Someone out there spent $150k for the same thing.

“Rule number one on the stock market: don’t lose money. Rule number two: don’t forget rule number one.”
- Warren Buffett

Things like paying interest are a violation of that rule. Literally spending money (interest) and you’re not even gaining value like you would investing using margin on NVIDIA and index funds when it’s a buying opportunity. Instead, you’re just giving away money because you’re in debt all to go from point A to point B.

It's not necessarily a waste but for the average person it likely is.

I bought a brand new $34K car in March 2025 Today it has 5000 miles on it so drastically under the typical miles it should. Some would say I should have bought a cheaper car but I'm pleased with my purchase even if it cost me. I don't go on vacations or really spend money on much so every now and then I spend on something I want even if it's a bad financial decision.

 

[ConPHIdential]

I am a Finance Manager for a group that owns both a Honda and Audi dealership.

I see it all the time customers paying $800+ for a brand new Honda.

 

[BmoreGorilla]

helocs are variable rate loans based on primerate. i don't think ya boy understands what's happening. i would recommend he pay off that car in 5 years. not 10 or he paying way more than a traditional 5 year fixed rate loan.

There is no HELOCs that are interest free. In fact, you are paying compound interest daily on that.

Why borrow against the house? when you could do a personal loan and not put your home in limbo

I questionend it too but from what he told me there’s no interest on the payments for the draw period which is 10 years and he’ll have it paid off before then. He works at a credit union so I’m sure he knows better than me

 

[Turtle]

i would rather save up and drive a beater with a heater than have a 1K monthly note

Brother i rather walk shyt

 

[King Poetic]

It’s really crazy a lot of these people rushed into buying cars with little to no money down and their credit is fukked up ..

Then a lot of car dealerships deal with bad financial lenders who give these people high interest rates and people ignore that shyt until a few months down the line and those payments and their other bills pile up and they realize they fukked up

 

[Strapped]

Folks making themselves broke trying to keep up with the social programming that theyve been conditioned to follow and live around by forces outside of themselves that they arent checking or even aware of. Say what you want but a lot of people are doing this shyt by their own choice. Insecurity, clout chasing, all these low frequency energies and its getting a lot of people caught in "traps". Folks not even getting together to push back collectively against these forces

People have to survive but the government is making it impossible & are not doing anything to help the citizens .