Sandy, I was just reading an article about this Friday. (
http://www.usatoday.com/story/driveo...rable/1949385/) Apparently, the only US city out of the 25 major cities they looked at with the median income to afford current new car prices is Washington DC. I just went back to work in the car business, for a dealership that carries both a luxury line and a non-luxury line from the same manufacturer. As of Friday, we were 15 new vehicle sales away from the manufacturer's March 15th goal that is an indicator of a "good" year. That's makable, but they offered an extra $1000 rebate to employees and their immediate families through today as an added push to help with it. I see way more sales on the luxury side than I do on the non-luxury side. It seems that people who aren't buying from the luxury line are mostly buying used. People are also willing to drive a further distance to buy their cars, even used ones. We see lots of sales from 100+ miles away as a result of our internet sales program. I'll have another new car. I'd just like to get out from under my student loans first if I can.
It's funny, my ex thought nothing of trading cars every year or two. My boyfriend of 7 years bought his vehicle 6 months after we started dating & isn't close to thinking about a new one yet and thinks I shouldn't be either since there's nothing wrong with mine.