[inferiorhuman]

  lets knock that down to $250/month

Let's not. Average car payments and loan duration continue to rise. NerdWallet is putting the average new car loan at $700/mo for 70 months and the average used car loan at $525 for 68 months. About half of all Americans can't afford a $1,000 emergency, so it's pretty damn unlikely they'll be paying for even a $5,000 car without a loan. If you're poor not only are you taking out a loan you're getting socked with a high interest rate subprime loan that's going to cost you more than a loan to a wealthier person.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/auto-loans/average-...

[slondr]

Seems like an obvious case of selection bias. Used car loans are going to be a lot higher than average prices people actually pay for cars, because people who take out loans to buy cars are buying more expensive cars than people who don't.

[inferiorhuman]

About half of all Americans can't cover a $1,000 emergency.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/banking/data-2023-savings...

(Used) car prices continue to climb.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2023/05/15/new-use...

Subprime auto loans continue to be fairly popular, Investopedia is claiming about 40% of used car loans are subprime.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/subprime_auto_loans.asp https://www.consumerreports.org/car-financing/many-americans...

So, no, rich people aren't driving these ballooning loans they're going to the working poor. The excruciatingly poor don't own cars. Defaults were ticking up leading into the pandemic, people are simply living beyond their means at this point. Cars are expensive and have been getting more and more expensive.

[HPsquared]

Also, the average is always going to be higher than the median. These things tend to follow a lognormal distribution.