The Cost Of Car Ownership Could Change The Face Of America

Or we’re basically screwed on housing, transportation and life in America

The other day I wrote —

America will always be a car culture.

Then I got to thinking about it.

If the runaway American dream of home ownership is dying — and, quite possibly, dead—can’t car culture die for many of the same reasons?

In the first quarter of this year, the average monthly payment on a new vehicle purchase was $725 a month. The typical lease sets you back $586. On used cars and trucks, people were paying, on average, $516 a month.

I just saw where that $725 number has apparently become $733. And demand is strong. I can’t for the life of me comprehend how mere mortals with money are willing to shell out that much cash for a car.

Granted, with inflation easing, these prices should come down. Probably definitely on used vehicles. On new rides, I stress should. Because demand might counteract the overall effects of moderating inflation (or drive further inflation isolated in the new vehicle market). Whatever, it’s complicated and difficult to predict.

We can all probably agree that we have entered a new world of our major expenses — housing, transportation and healthcare — costing more than they ever have before.

We’re likely living through times where we take one step forward and two steps back. Any decrease in prices will not match the prior increase. It’s a vicious cycle.

This is one reason why my partner and I intend to leave America for greener pastures elsewhere.

But we’re here now. And, as I consider it, we have already made adjustments on transportation.

Like this —

We used to have two cars.

Then, my girlfriend’s car started giving her trouble. Instead of dealing with it, she sold the car and banked the proceeds. Our day-to-day is in close enough proximity to home to require only one car. If really necessary, we could get by just fine with zero cars, but, no doubt, in LA that would be limiting and inconvenient.

So we have one car. Mine. It’s a 2018 Hyundai Elantra that I intend to pay off by the end of this year. Or thereabouts.

Back in the days of $199- and $299-a-month leases, I might have ditched this car for a new one. But those days are gone. Thus, my decision to drive this rig into the ground, then sell it just ahead of our move to Spain.

I wonder what other decisions people are making around transportation amid these increased costs.

With housing, we’re seeing everything from people (with a choice in the matter) living in vans to opting for co-housing solutions to taking on a roommate to help cover the mortgage to leaving for another country with a lower cost of living.

We have yet to see collective, long-term, in the public interest solutions on the large scale. Not merely affordable housing programs, but changes to zoning laws that allow for a wide range of housing types across all of America’s cities, suburbs and towns. Until this happens — and happens fast — we’re unlikely to see any meaningful decrease in the cost of housing.

To that end, unless the way we do housing in America changes, we won’t see real changes to transportation. At this point, you pretty much need a car to survive in the United States.

So it all comes down to how we manage the built environment. And one thing we have proven repeatedly in this country is that we’re not really all that interested in building a wide array of housing options, making investments in central cities and fighting back hard against elitist policies in upper-class enclaves, particularly in suburbia.

So, car culture it is!

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