Guest Post by Eric Peters
New cars can do all kinds of things – even drive themselves. But there were all kinds of things you could do in the cars of the past that you can’t do in new cars.
Like snuggle up with your sweetheart, for instance.
Continue reading “Things You Can’t Do in a New Car”
Guest Post by Eric Peters
There’s one very persuasive reason arguing against the purchase of any new car – regardless of make or model:
The property tax you’ll be forced to pay . . . forever.
Ot at least, for as long as you “own” your car. Which (like your home) you don’t really – because you’ll never stop making payments on it. Not to the bank – but to the government.
In the Netflix era, many Americans are managing their finances based on their monthly subscription payments, often with little regard to the total they’ll pay in the long run.
That paradigm benefits the automotive industry and the lenders that finance car loans, as auto sales remain near record levels.
The average price of vehicles hit an all-time high of more than $36,000 in 2018, according to Kelley Blue Book – and with interest rates rising, car shoppers are now borrowing more than ever and extending their loans to record lengths.
New-car buyers agreed to pay an average of $551 per month for 69 months in January, according to car-buying advice site Edmunds. That’s nearly 10 percent more per month than three years earlier.
Continue reading “Why Americans are suddenly paying $550 per month for new cars”
Guest Post by Eric Peters
People worried about how much money they spend on gas ought to consider how much they spend on their cars.
Gas is among their smallest expenses – especially vs. the cost of a new car. Even vs. a super-economical new car.
If saving money is the issue – rather than spending money on gas – it’s worth doing some math.
Guest Post by Eric Peters
This is the time of year when we’re forced to reset our clocks – Daylight Savings Time. There’s something else that needs re-setting, too.
Our frames of reference for cars.
Let me explain – using some specifics:
There is no longer much amenity difference between “luxury” cars and other cars . . .
There is more price difference than there has ever been.
Guest Post by Eric Peters
Just like our marriages, nothing’s perfect about cars – whether they are new cars or old cars. Here are a few things about new cars that are both good and bad:
Guest Post by Eric Peters
Whatever you do, don’t buy new. It no longer makes sense – and can be very bad for your wallet. I advise this as an automotive journalist, a guy who writes about new cars for a living. This is probably not a good idea. I am not supposed to advise people against buying the new cars I write about. But I do – and here’s why:
In the first place, new cars have become disproportionately expensive.
Meaning, relative to what most people – most families – earn. Last year, the average price paid for a new car (this is called the “transaction price” within the industry) was in excess of $30,000. A record high. But the average family income in the United States is only in the neighborhood of $54,000 – and has not increased significantly in more than a decade.
The purchase of a $30,000 car is disproportionate relative to the average family’s ability to pay for it. This is why the length of the average new car loan has been extended to six years – and is headed toward seven (and then probably eight). Stringing out the payments over a longer period makes the car seem more affordable, but it’s not. You are still paying an amount that’s disproportionate relative to income.
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/06/2015 21:00 -0400
Having recently detailed the automakers’ worst nightmare – surging new car inventories – supply; amid rapidly declining growth around the world (EM and China) – demand;
Automakers just unleashed a massive production surge to keep the dream alive…
With inventories at record highs (having risen for 61 straight months)…
Continue reading “Why The New Car Bubble’s Days Are Numbered”
The government released their monthly CPI report this week. Even though it came in at an annualized rate of 3.6%, they and their mouthpieces in the corporate mainstream media dutifully downplayed the uptrend. They can’t let the plebs know the truth. That might upend their economic recovery storyline and put a crimp into their artificial free money, zero interest rate, stock market rally. If they were to admit inflation is rising, the Fed would be forced to raise rates. That is unacceptable in our rigged .01% economy. There are banker bonuses, CEO stock options, corporate stock buyback earnings per share goals and captured politician elections at stake.
The corporate MSM immediately shifted the focus to the annual CPI figure of 0.1%. That’s right. Your government keepers expect you to believe the prices you pay to live your everyday life have been essentially flat in the last year. Anyone who lives in the real world, not the BLS Bizarro world of models, seasonal adjustments, hedonic adjustments, and substitution adjustments, knows this is a lie. The original concept of CPI was to measure the true cost of maintaining a constant standard of living. It should reflect your true inflation of out of pocket costs to live a daily existence in this country.
Instead, it has become a manipulated statistic using academic theories as a cover to systematically under-report the true level of inflation. The purpose has been to cut annual cost of living adjustments to Social Security and other government benefits, while over-estimating the true level of GDP. Artificially low inflation figures allow the mega-corporations who control the country to keep wage increases to workers low. Under-reporting the true level of inflation also allows the Federal Reserve to keep their discount rate far lower than it would be in an honest free market. The Wall Street banks, who own and control the Federal Reserve, are free to charge 18% on credit card balances while paying .25% to savers. The manipulation of the CPI benefits the vested interests, impoverishes the masses, and slowly but surely contributes to the destruction of our economic system.
A deep dive into Table 2 from the BLS reveals some truth and uncovers more lies. Their weighting of everyday living expenditures is warped and purposefully misleading. Let’s look at the annual increases in some food items we might consume in the course of a month, living in this empire of lies:
I’ve always believed the EZ Pass technology would be used by the STATE to generate revenue by debiting your credit card for speeding fines without a policeman ever getting involved. Big Brother will collect the revenue for the ever growing monstrosity we call government. The technology was sold to the masses as improving their lives. Instead it is being used to enslave and control them. It is already here.
Hat tip to JL
Guest Post by Eric Peters
There is a downside to getting these brand-new cars to test drive all the time. I know what’s coming before you do. A hint, the leading edge. The camel’s nose under the tent. It’s just a whiff, sometimes.
But the aroma is unmistakable.
The smell of Uncle. His filthy presence, spoiling all the fun.
It makes me toss and turn; makes it hard to enjoy the cars. Here’s an example:
For about the past year, I’ve noticed that – irrespective of make or model – new cars with factory installed GPS have this creepy little icon on the LCD display screen that reminds you (oh-so-helpfully) of the speed limit on whatever road you happen to be driving on at that particular moment. It’s white with black letters – just like the real (physical) signs. And it updates in real time, as you drive.
Think about that.
What do you suppose it portends?
I’ve long suspected that it’s like Lego. This – a helpful notification about the speed limit – is the first piece. A building block. Onto which the next block will be placed.
Last week, I got to see the next block.
A brand-new (and all-new) 2014 Mazda3 sedan arrived for me to test drive. All the latest bells and whistles. Including an updated take on the oh-so-helpful speed limit “sign.” It now turns angry red in real time whenever and wherever you exceed the speed limit.
It shifts back to black on white once you reduce your speed to within legal parameters.
Now, kiddies, what do you suppose the next piece of electronic Lego will be?
To recap:
Most new cars have GPS, which makes it feasible for the car to “know” at any given moment where it is, where it’s headed – and where it’s been. As well as how fast it’s going. Or gone. The data can be – is – recorded.
It can also be transmitted.
GPS technology is “send and receive.” In order for the car to know its position (and speed) at any given moment, it must be able to communicate with GPS satellites in real time. This communication is not a one-way street. Many factory GPS systems have “concierge” or “emergency” services that are explicitly two-way. Lesser known – but working on the same principle – many new cars (like the 2014 BMW 3 I have this week) can send – and receive – service updates and such like. Wi-fi Internet/e-mail access is becoming a not-uncommon in-car feature.
Cars so equipped “know” exactly what the speed limit is on any given road, at any given moment – just as they know the name/number of the road itself. They also know when you’re “speeding” – as Mazda’s helpful little helper helpfully lets you know. I have no doubt they also know exactly how much you’re “speeding,” too. This is not – yet – displayed.
But bet your bippie it is recorded.
All new cars – by law – are being fitted with Event Data Recorders (EDRs) or “black boxes” that record this data – and many others things besides.
The ’15 Corvette will – reportedly – take video of your driving. And store it. See here.
Here is an interesting preview of what’s in store for the rest of us – not just Corvette drivers.
Can you smell it yet?
The ’14 Mazda3, like an ever-expanding roll call of new cars, also offers pre-emptive braking. Mazda calls it something else, of course (“Smart City Brake Support,” to be precise. Yack). But that’s what it does. Pre-emptively brakes. The car decides it’s time to slow – or even stop – and does so. You are second banana. This usurper technology is integral – essential – for the practical implementation of the driver-free (Google calls it driverless, but that’s a misnomer) car. The car has a driver.
It’s just not you.
The premise underlying all of this is: You are (pick one) inept, reckless, addled – and cannot be trusted to drive the car. The computer will drive it for you. More accurately, the people who program the computer will drive “your” (ahem) car for you. It’s not safe for you to drive the car. This is the sickly song of our age:
Saaaaaaaafety, saaaafety – uber alles!
To get back to the speed limit helper thing. Using GPS, the car knows when you’re “speeding” – every single time you “speed.” This is easily done by comparing your velocity at any given moment with the posted limit on that road, which info the car downloads continuously via the GPS. The data about your “speeding” can be recorded – and transmitted.
Add a dash of insurance mafia lust to rifle your pockets – and your legal inability to tell them to piss off. You cannot – by law – say “no” to insurance. You must buy it. And they will tell you how much you’ll pay.
The cherry on top: The government’s increasingly demented but ever-more-turgid insistence that it must know about – and control – literally everything. The Fourth and Fifth Amendments are as inoperative as Hugh Heffner’s penis. They are impotent relics of a sepia-tinted age, receding rapidly in the rearview.
And what’s ahead?
Real-time dunning for every single instance of “speeding.” Perhaps by the insurance mafia – perhaps by the government. From our point of view, it amounts to the same thing.
Driving is about to become a bunch more expensive – and whole lot less fun.
They could of course also make “speeding” impossible – by programming the car to be incapable of going faster than whatever the speed limit happens to be on any given road at any given moment. That would satisfy the Safety Fetish.
But because there’s so much money at stake, probably what will happen is they’ll require that cars be fitted with some updated take on the EZ Pass thing – already in use to automatically debit your account for tolls and such. Why not do the same to “speeders”? They are already seriously talking about tax-by-the-mile.
I’m telling you, it’s coming.
I can smell it.
Can’t you?
Throw it in the Woods?
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I’ve written dozens of posts about the fraudulent figures put out by the propaganda arm of the government – the BLS. Looking at today’s laughable report proves once again how our government desperately needs to convince the clueless masses that inflation is under control. Beef prices hit a 27 year high today, but the BLS says the price didn’t go up because you substituted beef with chicken. The figures below show that new car prices have not risen in the last year. That’s funny because all of the car companies announced 3% to 5% price increases. The BLS says the price didn’t increase because you now have an ass warmer in your seat and a beeper for when you back up.
But the most outrageous lie within the BLS propaganda is the price of gasoline. They have the gall to report a 1.7% DECLINE in March after a 1.7% DECLINE in February. Please see the chart below of actual gasoline prices for February and March.
The price of gasoline on February 1 was $3.27 per gallon. The price on March 31 was $3.54 per gallon. By my calculations, people in the real world paying real money for real gasoline experienced an 8% increase in gasoline costs. How can these government drones blatantly publish false inflation data when anyone with a smattering of research skills can disprove their bullshit propaganda? Am I the only one who gets pissed off by this shit? Maybe some Ivy League educated Wall Street economist or CNBC faux journalist bimbo can explain to me why the BLS figures are accurate and beyond question.
The price of oil rose from $97 per barrel on February 1 to $102 per barrel on March 31, with a spike above $104 during February. That is a 5% increase in two months. Natural gas is up 9% YTD with a huge spike in February. But somehow the BLS reports all energy costs are flat for the year. You’d have to be a shit eating retarded monkey to believe this crap.
It seems gasoline prices have continued higher in April, up another 2% since the end of March. I’m sure the BLS will report a 4% drop in gasoline prices in April. The BLS and our government keepers are a joke, except I’m not laughing.