The repo man cometh

[matthew1]

Sell now if you've been thinking about selling. If you've been planning to buy, you might want to wait -- for both lower interest rates and lower sales prices.

Americans are falling behind on their auto loans at the highest rate in nearly three decades. 

With interest rate hikes making newer loans more expensive, millions of car owners are struggling to afford their payments. It’s a clear indication of distress at a time when the economy is sending mixed signals, particularly about the health of consumer spending.

The percent of subprime auto borrowers at least 60 days past due on their loans rose to 6.11% in September, the highest in data going back to 1994, according to Fitch Ratings. In April that figure slipped from a previous high of 5.93% in January. But after burning through tax returns, contending with a shakier job market and grappling with still-elevated inflation, more car owners have become delinquent. 

Behind the surge is both higher car prices and borrowing costs. And with the Federal Reserve indicating it plans to keep rates higher for longer, the problem is likely to persist, especially as millions of Americans recently started paying their federal student loans again. 

“The subprime borrower is getting squeezed,” said Margaret Rowe, senior director with the asset-backed securities group at Fitch. “They can often be a first line of where we start to see the negative effects of macroeconomic headwinds.”

https://stocks.apple.com/AtZnz5u6eQ-elVCtf9P2aKA

[Krons]

I saw that article too. I’m fortunate to be content with vehicles ranging from 40k to 200k miles. My wife give me a hard time occasionally about extra vehicles but it eases the pain of any downtime significantly.

If you are the type that needs a new vehicle with little equity it is a painful time. Fortunately some discounts are starting to pop up if you are patient and not picky.

[foggydogg]

Whether through good fortune or a product of my ill-spent childhood, I've never borrowed to buy a car. I have also never traveled without a tool kit.

[abscate]

Even my dear departed Shagg gave me 3 years and 30,000 miles on a $1000 budget. That’s crazy cheap depreciation. I’ll recover most all of my sunk parts cost harvesting stuff too.

Abby is coming up on tire need , so four alloys plus good rubber just saved her $500

[matthew1]

F9C_3ZQXQAAECkW.jpeg (113.35 KiB) Viewed 226 times

[volvolugnut]

Interesting information. You can track every blip in the economy.
volvolugnut

[abscate]

There’s a very repeatable once per year and three times per year frequency component in that data.

Tax season, holiday season, college season?

[volvolugnut]

The frequency in the data may be the result of some input data frequency. Some of the input might be a quarterly report and others monthly.
Just a guess based on some of the Covid data I have been tracking.
volvolugnut