Looking to buy a new car, truck or crossover? You may find it more difficult to stretch the household budget than you expected, according to a new study that finds median-income families in only one major U.S. city actually can afford the typical new vehicle.


According to the 2013 Car Affordability Study by Interest.com, only in Washington could the typical household swing the payments, the median income there running $86,680 a year. At the other extreme, Tampa, Fla., was at the bottom of the 25 large cities included in the study, with a median household income of $43,832.

The study looked at a variety of household expenses, such as food and housing, and when it comes to purchasing a new vehicle, it considered more than just the basic purchase price, down payment and monthly note, factoring in such essentials as taxes and insurance.


http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cars-increasingly-reach-many-americans-145957880.html

Well, it is no wonder when vehicle prices have about doubled in 10 years.  My truck, that was bought new in 2002 cost $32,000.  The same truck now, with a much lesser engine which is all that is available, is stickered at around $56,000 depending on the dealership.

A union auto worker make over $75/hr with wages and benefits and them they try to sell the car to a guy making $10 or $12/hr with no benefits.  The math just doesn't work out.  I don't like what the unions have done but we also need to look at the cars, do we really want to pay for all the gadgets.

Before I lose it amoung my workpile I want to quickly interject that somebody thought 'cash for clunkers' was a good idea, so now even used cars are more expensive 

It is a fairly simple answer.  The average auto worker who is semi skilled make about $75/hr with wages and benefits.  They try to sell the car to someone who makes about $10/hr with no benefits.  The math just doesn't add up.

It's been many years since I've even looked at buying a new car. The last one I bought was in the year 2000. It was a Toyota Avalon. Still humming along just like new with no maintenance bills. Now that's a good return on your dollar. They aren't union made either so the quality really shows through.

I've never bought a new car, and never will.

I let other people eat the depreciation, then pick them up cheap.

The last time I bought a new car was right after 9/11/01 when car dealerships were trying to get everyone to buy.  I bought a Mercury Cougar.  Loved that car  , then we decided to have a family and we have bought used vehicles ever since and I don't mind a bit. 

Although this is a Canadian study, auto workers don't make 75 per hour.

http://www.caw.ca/assets/pdf/Whats_YOUR_All-in_Hourly_Labour_Cost.pdf

Business media will tell you it is the union's fault. They have an obvious incentive to do that.

Quote from: redlom xof on March 20, 2013, 07:04:01 PM
Although this is a Canadian study, auto workers don't make 75 per hour.

http://www.caw.ca/assets/pdf/Whats_YOUR_All-in_Hourly_Labour_Cost.pdf

Business media will tell you it is the union's fault. They have an obvious incentive to do that.

Maybe you should have looked at US figures.

The current veteran UAW member at GM today has an average base wage of $28.12 an hour, but the cost of benefits, including pension and future retiree health care costs, nearly triples the cost to GM to $78.21, according to the Center for Automotive Research.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/12/news/companies/gm/index.htm?cnn=yes

Quote from: redlom xof on March 20, 2013, 07:04:01 PM
Although this is a Canadian study, auto workers don't make 75 per hour.

http://www.caw.ca/assets/pdf/Whats_YOUR_All-in_Hourly_Labour_Cost.pdf

Business media will tell you it is the union's fault. They have an obvious incentive to do that.

Yes, they do. It's called "truth."

Yes Solar, But as the link I gave you said, you can't say workers are getting paid 75 $ per hour. They are getting on average 28$ per hour. If GM didn't have to deal with our highly expensive health care system, the cost would be a lot lower.

Another statistic which always sticks in my mind is this one. It cost a company 1000 $ ( depending on the car model etc) less to build a car in Canada than across the river in Detroit, because of the two different health care systems.

Our health care system hurts business. 75 % of business bankruptcy's are due to health care.

QuoteYes, they do. It's called "truth."

Why would a pro-business media company have more incentive to tell the truth ?

Quote from: redlom xof on March 20, 2013, 11:04:51 PM
Yes Solar, But as the link I gave you said, you can't say workers are getting paid 75 $ per hour. They are getting on average 28$ per hour. If GM didn't have to deal with our highly expensive health care system, the cost would be a lot lower.

Another statistic which always sticks in my mind is this one. It cost a company 1000 $ ( depending on the car model etc) less to build a car in Canada than across the river in Detroit, because of the two different health care systems.

Our health care system hurts business. 75 % of business bankruptcy's are due to health care.


Why would a pro-business media company have more incentive to tell the truth ?

I'm assuming that you're talking about how Obamacare is hurting businesses. In reality, it's unions and underfunded pension plans that are hurting US car companies the most.

http://www.openmarket.org/2010/10/18/killed-by-honest-accounting/

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2011/03/08/5_reasons_unions_are_bad_for_america/page/full/

Quote from: redlom xof on March 20, 2013, 11:04:51 PM
Yes Solar, But as the link I gave you said, you can't say workers are getting paid 75 $ per hour. They are getting on average 28$ per hour. If GM didn't have to deal with our highly expensive health care system, the cost would be a lot lower.

Another statistic which always sticks in my mind is this one. It cost a company 1000 $ ( depending on the car model etc) less to build a car in Canada than across the river in Detroit, because of the two different health care systems.

Our health care system hurts business. 75 % of business bankruptcy's are due to health care.


Why would a pro-business media company have more incentive to tell the truth ?

Regardless, how many companies do you know that give unskilled employees pensions?
There's a reason people complain about the $75. an hor price tag, no one on America gets that much in total compensation, it's not real world wage, and Husein bailed them out and left the nonunion worker penniless, literally stole their retirements.

But you complain that HC costs are less in Canada? I challenge you to finally use some critical thinking and investigate the "true cost", the cost we've all been trying to get through to you guys since the beginning.
I'm not even talking about the cost as in loss of jobs, that's a whole other can O worms...

Health care costs are lower in Canada -- maybe -- because you get less health care. The exact same thing is coming here. Obamacare is explicitly designed to end the private health care insurance industry completely and replace it with a single-payer (100% government) system.

There is a very significant amount of travel that goes Canada ---> US for the purpose of getting immediate high-quality medical treatment. There is virtually NO traffic in the other direction. Once Ocare kicks in full force, I'm sure that imbalance will disappear.