yeah, i've been out of the used car market for about 13 years at this point. sometimes i look up stuff in my LCOL area and the broader region and it's been real fucked for the last few years. the big lots snapped up a ton of used car inventory and, as you say, want a king's ransom for everything. if my car got totalled i would probably see about repairing anyway, or do some fleet vehicle surplus / salvage title bullshit and end up with some $500 deathtrap. or prowling the obituaries to find and old lady/old man car and offer to pay cash like a vulture. there's a clear pinch going on right now with the transition to EVs, because the logic is to not buy a new ICE vehicle right now and try to limp along with something until the EVs really start rolling out. not to mention, buying a new car has always been a dogshit value proposition... and with interest rates/prices so high and wages so crappy, more people are incentivized to scrutinize the entire notion.
I feel like EVs are never going to get down to a price point, and the goal is to just price half of people out of the auto market just like they've been priced out of housing and everything else.
manufacturers et al do seem to be in the "price discovery" phase, where they are imperceptibly turning the price dial down on EVs to find what is the highest price people will pay, so that when gas prices go up to $12/gallon during the next major military conflict, they will harvest as much money as possible.
yeah, i've been out of the used car market for about 13 years at this point. sometimes i look up stuff in my LCOL area and the broader region and it's been real fucked for the last few years. the big lots snapped up a ton of used car inventory and, as you say, want a king's ransom for everything. if my car got totalled i would probably see about repairing anyway, or do some fleet vehicle surplus / salvage title bullshit and end up with some $500 deathtrap. or prowling the obituaries to find and old lady/old man car and offer to pay cash like a vulture. there's a clear pinch going on right now with the transition to EVs, because the logic is to not buy a new ICE vehicle right now and try to limp along with something until the EVs really start rolling out. not to mention, buying a new car has always been a dogshit value proposition... and with interest rates/prices so high and wages so crappy, more people are incentivized to scrutinize the entire notion.
I feel like EVs are never going to get down to a price point, and the goal is to just price half of people out of the auto market just like they've been priced out of housing and everything else.
manufacturers et al do seem to be in the "price discovery" phase, where they are imperceptibly turning the price dial down on EVs to find what is the highest price people will pay, so that when gas prices go up to $12/gallon during the next major military conflict, they will harvest as much money as possible.
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