Automotive News: "Auto repossessions surge 23% in U.S. during first half of 2024"

Gaius · 2024-07-23T13:35:36.055Z

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. . . .the spike in seizures provides a window into the average consumer’s financial health at a key time for policymakers. . . .

Repos started ticking up last year and have now surpassed pre-pandemic levels, up 14% compared to the first half of 2019. . . .

Vehicle seizures, which are typically triggered after three months of missed car payments, dropped during the pandemic as lenders became more lenient and stimulus checks boosted borrowers’ finances. And while the rate of inflation has cooled, elevated borrowing costs have pushed monthly car payments to near-record highs, according to auto research firm Edmunds. . . .

https://www.autonews.com/finance-insurance/us-repos-surge-23-car-buyers-fall-behind-payments

Gaius · 2024-07-23T13:41:46.824Z

Some guy on Twitter makes a respectable point:

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I follow his account. He exudes too much class-envy/corporation-bashing to be my favorite person, but he makes a decent point here.

What happens when Jethro and Peggysue form the trailer park hit the million dollar jackpot? They lose it all a few years later and in many cases are worse off.

The same thing certainly happens with economic schemes to improve the economy with “free money.”

Smyrna · 2024-07-23T13:47:46.438Z

In 2021, I watched a 2018 truck go through the auction with 30,000 miles on it and it brought $3,000.00 over the original MSRP. The prices used vehicle brought during this COVID craziness was just more insanity. Now imagine…the dealer then has to pay the auction fee, get it back to his store, spend the money to service it and pass state inspections, any cosmetic needs fixed and lastly…add a profit. Who ever purchased that truck owns it for over $20,000.00 of what it’s actually worth. There will be many more repossessions as the general public realizes how much they owe, vs what their vehicle is actually worth.

Gaius · 2024-07-23T13:58:42.503Z

Key lines from the article:

“up 14% compared with the same period in 2019, according to the data.”
That data suggests that defaults are up 11% during the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2019

and

"Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest quarterly tracking of American households’ levels of indebtedness, also revealed that 4.4% of Americans’ outstanding auto loan debt is in “serious delinquency.”

Auto loans are just a symptom. There are similar symptoms in business, housing etc. etc…

Smyrna · 2024-07-23T14:09:28.213Z

Gaius:

Auto loans are just a symptom. There are similar symptoms in business, housing etc. etc…

Consider that our government concluded many businesses as not “essential” during COVID. Employees were either sent home or worked from home vs coming into the office. That commercial real estate was empty and many businesses stopped paying their rent. That’s another financial bubble that’s exacerbating and may pop?

Gaius · 2024-07-23T14:31:55.637Z

I am not sure that commercial real estate is (still) in any sort of bubble.

Many classes of it are already in full-on crash mode.
Office towers are already being auctioned off for pennies on the dollar.
The downtowns of many small cities are already half-empty.

The biggest hit of “work from home” is yet to come though, as companies are discovering that remote work done from India is the same quality as remote work done from an NY suburbs.

e7alr · 2024-07-23T14:37:03.418Z

When money gets tight, food on the table, gas in that car with a delinquent payment, and the roof over the family’s head become higher priorities. If it gets really tight, food and daily transportation become more important than the house bill also.

TheRedComet · 2024-07-23T14:46:14.493Z

You can live in a car. You can’t drive a house.

Gaius · 2024-07-23T14:54:37.713Z

e7alr:

When money gets tight, food on the table, gas in that car with a delinquent payment, and the roof over the family’s head become higher priorities. If it gets really tight, food and daily transportation become more important than the house bill also.

When people
(the media, social networking sites, politicians) convince others “things are great” they had better be right or else people make dumb purchasing decisions.

Falsely saying “things are great” is no better than falsely saying “Tide pods are safe to eat.”

Roxiebelle · 2024-07-23T15:03:05.047Z

Bidenomics for you! My local news this past week reported home foreclosures in my county alone went from about 33,000 in 2021 to over 76,000 currently, that’s a staggering number so I’m not surprised about the car loans. Democrat policies are horrible for the American people.

Smyrna · 2024-07-23T15:08:09.772Z

e7alr:

When money gets tight, food on the table, gas in that car with a delinquent payment, and the roof over the family’s head become higher priorities. If it gets really tight, food and daily transportation become more important than the house bill also.

Yep…wants vs needs…one of the basic lessons of life that many seem to have ignored or flunked?

Smyrna · 2024-07-23T15:09:47.837Z

Roxiebelle:

Bidenomics for you! My local news this past week reported home foreclosures in my county alone went from about 33,000 in 2021 to over 76,000 currently, that’s a staggering number so I’m not surprised about the car loans. Democrat policies are horrible for the American people.

Housing prices skyrocketed and many stretched themselves to the limit. Now add to this the blatant inflationary prices on basic needs and they can no longer afford it.

e7alr · 2024-07-23T15:26:57.963Z

Ignore it at your peril, because the real world is a cruel teacher.

TheRedComet · 2024-07-23T15:27:43.037Z

Things are only good for rich people, who are insulated from this kind of thing anyway. Due to ya know being rich.

But for the average person, this economy blows hard.

e7alr · 2024-07-23T15:28:17.511Z

Yeah, but most people won’t prioritize the car payment over the house payment.
if they have both.

TheRedComet · 2024-07-23T15:28:58.862Z

Depends on if they want to get to work or not.

Truth is that people usually buy way more than they need. I think I spent 18,000 total on my trailer. Yeah it’s small but I only pay like 200 bucks a month for it. And my car has been paid off for over a year now so that’s been nice.

e7alr · 2024-07-23T15:29:54.925Z

Hence why they pay for the fuel, and hope to avoid the repo man.

TheRedComet · 2024-07-23T15:33:20.672Z

And eventually the repo man will find you. I did that for a bit. People would try everything to hide the car from you. I think my favorite (since I was working with a small used car dealer) excuse was that “man the car broke so I ain’t felt like I needed to pay the note on it.”

Which is hilarious that they thought that was how that worked. People had a bad habit of buying the most high maintenance cars. Instead of looking at the Camry in the corner they would buy the 20 year old Benz. And then act surprised when the Benz broke.

And I’ll never forget the time my mom got a car repoed that wasn’t hers. She was doing a favor for our cousin so he let her borrow his truck without telling her that he was way behind one the truck and they were looking for it. She took his daughter to cheer practice. Next thing she walks outside and the truck was getting put on the back of a tow truck. Of course I found this all hilarious.

e7alr · 2024-07-23T15:37:09.603Z

So true. But the easy work around for no car is trade gas money for a car pool ride. a tank of gas a week costs a lot less, even at today’s prices, than gas, plus car payment, plus full coverage for the car with a payment to a lender.

Smyrna · 2024-07-23T15:42:28.777Z

TheRedComet:

Things are only good for rich people, who are insulated from this kind of thing anyway. Due to ya know being rich.

But for the average person, this economy blows hard.

When I got married many decades ago, my rule was…before I spend a penny…if everything goes wrong, will she…and eventually…my family still be ok? There were many opportunities that I deemed to risky and did not take. Therefore…success took a long time. Now because that’s how I matured, there isn’t anything I want to buy because I remember how hard it was to acquire it. The wife doesn’t have that problem. The good news is though, the smile on her face…puts one on mine.