These Stories Of Car Finance Mayhem And Terrible Advice Are Hard To Stomach

A sucker walks into a new car dealership every minute. Dealership showroom floors are practically delivery rooms for freshly-born suckers. There are shiny new cars on the floor, and rapacious young sales professionals just waiting to lure you into something you can’t afford, don’t need, or otherwise shouldn’t own. I’ve seen them work their Jedi mind tricks, pushing customers upmarket, beyond budgets, and into longer and worse finance deals. It’s a borderline evil practice, and only the most sociopathic actors in society find employment as car salespeople. But this one takes the fucking cake. - Bradley Brownell Read More

Everything is insanely expensive in the U.S. right now, and I’m a sucker for a good deal, so I figure y’all will be happy to hear that the cheapest lease deal in America right now is on the impressive Hyundai IONIQ 6 SE. Apparently, Hyundai sent an unadvertised bulletin to dealers saying the 2024 IONIQ 6 SE can be leased for $0 down, and $239 per month. This deal is only offered until April 1, 2024, so if you’ve been waiting for a sign to get into a new EV, this is it. - Logan Carter Read More

Your twenties are the perfect time to screw up and try to get your shit figured out. Sometimes it takes getting to the rock bottom before you can dig yourself out of it. For the sake of everyone involved here, I hope this young woman on Caleb Hammer’s Financial Audit show has reached her bottom and will find a way to get her life turned around. Right now, it seems like the best first step would be to sell her car and find her way into something less expensive. At 23-years-old, there’s no reason to owe $31,000 on a Toyota Camry. Especially when you can’t afford it. - Bradley Brownell Read More

I’ve been advising on car buying for over 10 years and have come across some pretty awful and unrealistic tips in my time. I’ve been here so long that it’s not often that I encounter a life hack that blows me away and completely changes my perspective on purchasing an automobile: Just don’t buy one. - Tom McParland Read More

As I approach middle-age, I’m starting to wander from my typical daily driver fare of too-stiff hot hatches and sports cars. I recently bought a big SUV and unfortunately like it more than I expected to. I’ve had a few American luxobarges in my teen years, because they were cheap and easy, but as I inch closer to forty, is it time to get back into luxury sedans? Lately I’ve found myself drawn in by the siren song of big weird Korean lux. I’ve got Equus on the brain. It’s way funkier and more attractive than the cold stoicism of German lux, and quirkier than the sharp boredom of Japanese lux. Maybe it’s the sweet spot. - Bradley Brownell Read More

Robert is the Director of Operations for a major company and travels a lot to various locations. He will put about 50,000 miles per year on his car and wants something comfortable and reliable for the long commutes. What car should he buy? - Tom McParland Read More

We’ve seen some wild things happen to car prices these last few years. Cars both new and used have seen prices and values fluctuate. One thing is forever constant though, and that’s the seller who’s going to remain firm in the believe that they know what they have, so they can ask for plenty of money. Now, someone is doing it with what’s possibly the highest mileage Ford Explorer in the country. - Lawrence Hodge Read More

There are currently 57 electric vehicle models on sale in the U.S., and while Tesla is still the most popular, new players in the electric car market are driving competition and prices keep dropping. EV sales are still growing, though that rate of growth has slowed dramatically over the last year or so. The enthusiastic early adopters have already bought in, and the market hasn’t been very successful at courting traditional gas car buyers. Without a robust infrastructure and mediocre consumer education, EV sales are lagging behind projections, which is also driving pricing down. According to data from Cox Automotive, the price premium for an EV over their gasoline counterparts has shrunk to less than $5,000. That’s down from a $17,000 price gap in 2022. - Bradley Brownell Read More

The original Aston Martin Lagonda sedan is one of the coolest-looking cars of all time. Its iconic shape and weird tech were symbols of the excess of the late 1970s and 1980s. We’d all be lucky to own one at some point in our lives, which is why I’ve got a heavy heart as I say this particular 1985 Aston Martin Lagonda will ruin your life. Any Lagonda will be brutal to maintain, but this one is in a class of its own. - Andy Kalmowitz Read More

Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Pinto Squire has wonderful woodgrain on its sides and hatch. Let’s see if it’s priced to make a buyer say, “Yes, I would.” - Rob Emslie Read More