I have a loan right now that is at like 3%. I can pay it off now if I wanted to, but it's so low that I can easily make more money by putting it away and collect interest on it. It would be kinda nice to get a new car, but where this country is headed, it's not worth it. I feel bad for the younger generations and what lies ahead for them.

considering that you likely live in the US, just wait 6 months and this loan would be below monthly inflation

You pay for the ability to access capital you do not currently have. Nobody owes you thousands of dollars with which to but a car. If you want to buy a car with money you don't have, then you have to give the bank something in return. That something almost always is "more money than we initially lent you, over the course of the loan period" and if you shut that down, banks just won't give loans anymore. Suddenly poor and middle class people have lost their biggest tool for accessing capital.

Lack of public transport is a separate problem. The US has dropped the ball across the board there. Only a handful of cities have any reasonable public transport and even those systems are old and often shitty.

Education being so expensive that it needs to be financed, is a separate problem. Education is too important to leave to the free market, letting our system metastacize to this extent is the result of decades of compounding failures.

16.9% interest is predatory, but "interest above inflation" is necessary if you want banks to do anything besides hoard money.

I did this in my younger years and the cars I got always had some hidden fucked up problem.

The most notable was cemented in spark plugs, rip that Honda Civic I drove it till it couldn't hold on anymore lmao it ended up sitting for a long while then someone stole the catalytic converter lmao

Definitely shop around, but sometimes the dealership does have an actual competitive offer. Especially if you threaten to use external financing (and have the pre approval in hand), they might knock down their interest rate to save the deal, as the loan is where the money actually is.

And maybe buying something that isnt sold by a dealer....

We got rid or public transit because of racism so we are totally dependent on driving to go anywhere

The so-called "wealth" you see in the American middle-class is mostly just debt. We have the shiniest toys and the biggest houses here, but it's a giant gilded-cage. Most of us die in debt.

how are you buying cars? Because I'm in Europe and they're expensive here too.

I have a three year loan at 1.9%. Why would I cough up an additional $20k now, when I could hang on to my cash and, at the very least, leave it in an account that earns twice that (and then some) in interest?

Cars are expensive and necessary in areas without good public transit (read: basically everywhere except a couple of areas in specific cities). Most of us don't have a year's salary just sitting in the bank, especially when you're young.

If you need a car to get to work, you'll pay what you have to because the alternative is no job which means no home, no healthcare, and no food.

A lot of us wage slaves live in areas that are too spread out to bike, have no public transportation, and we can't afford to move to a higher COL area that has those amenities. For example, my commute to work is typically 70ish miles, one way. There aren't better job prospects within my niche industry that are available to me. I'm working towards moving closer to work, but I'll be moving to a smaller town that is even less bike-able/walk-able. IMO, your position requires an amount of privilege I don't have.

Yes, let's ban the single most common form of transportation in the country because you've never had to live in an area with zero public transport.

Great line of thinking, there.