Just stick with the car you have
Automakers used to rely on drivers buying a new car every three years. But these days, upkeep is king, even for the most hardcore new-car enthusiasts. Mitchell Hartman reports.
Cars manufactured by General Motors, which include Cadillacs, Pontiacs, GMC and Saab's, wait for buyers at a dealership in Los Angeles. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)
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Bill Radke: Auto SALES came back up a little last month, after the carmakers slashed prices. But will sales ever really be like they were in the good times? That's what Marketplace's Mitchell Hartman wanted to know.
Mitchell Hartman: Twenty-nine-year-old Kenneth McNay is the kind of consumer who makes auto companies dream of better times to come.
Kenneth McNay: I've actually switched cars quite a bit and I kind of like getting in a new car every year.
But a certain "iffiness" creeps into McNay's voice when I ask if he and his wife are ready to buy right now.
McNay: Mostly it's just been the cost associated with putting down and then knowing I'm going to have to keep paying. For me, it's just too much to think I could actually make that decision and know I'd be happy for a good five to seven years.
What about every three years? That's what automakers used to count on.
Gary Chaison: I think the days of buying a new car every three years are over.
Gary Chaison studies the auto industry at Clark University:
Gary Chaison: I think the days of investing in a car to keep it running are just starting now. Cars are more expensive, consumers are more wary, and as a result they're going to be very hesitant.
That hesitation has partly to do with finances. It's harder to get a loan these days -- especially one that stretches over six years and offers lower monthly payments.
Consumers like Kenneth McNay are also waiting to buy because they want to see what new green cars come down the road.
McNay: We want to see the technology develop where hybrids are much more common or even electric vehicles are becoming common.
And when he does plunge in, McNay says it won't necessarily be for a GM brand. He currently drives a Chevy Tracker. He wants to hold off at least a year to see how the company is doing.
I'm Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.
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From CA, 06/05/2009
It's not just financial concerns that are changing car buying habits. Surveys from Japan last year and Nissan recently show young people don't place cars high on their priority list. Cell phones, iPods, laptops/netbooks, and games top their lists of preferred toys.
That's the long term problem!
From Plano, TX, 06/04/2009
Our household has one car with 150,000 and another with 235,000 miles on them. She can't buy a new car because she cannot make the payments on even a modest car. I hesitate to buy a new car because good paying tech jobs like mine are going overseas, I'm over 50 and into the group that is in the employment "no man's land". and the then there is the recession. Many similar age fellow co-workers around me have lost their jobs, and cannot find jobs that replace their incomes, even before the recession hit.
This is the new reality for America. Taking on car payments is a hardship getting increasinbly harder. Supply and demand. The supply of family income for making car payments is going away. That means that the $150 a month car payments advertised on TV cannot be a promotional fine print thing only available to people who don't need it to afford a car. That $150/month has to be offerred to all with bad credit, risky incomes and has to be for the life of the loan, not for just the first 3 payments.
And if I stretch my finances to buy a new car, it has to have low payments, and be a plug in hybrid that gets such good milage and can be run on lower cost electicity so that the monthly budget that used to be for gas can be switched over to offset the car payment.
And when I finally take on the burden
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