There is an enterprising guy who lives a few miles down the road from where I live who is trying to make a living selling used cars he picks up from I don’t-know-where (probably auctions) and parks them with For Sale signs on his front yard, which is directly in front of the main road that bisects the rural county I live in. He can do this because my county is one of the few counties in the entire country that does not have zoning laws prohibiting such things.
Imagine that!
But the thing that struck me as I drove past his informal used car lot the other day wasn’t that he was free to try to sell used cars without having to buy a zoned-commercial space to do it – but rather whether he’ll be able to sell many cars.
Even beaters. Like the old Ford Taurus advertised for $3,500. There were several specimens like it, in similar condition. None looked too healthy.
How many people do you suppose have $3,500 – in cash – available to buy a used car with? I mean as opposed to financing one. This guy doesn’t do that. He probably has a dealer’s license – necessary in my state to buy used vehicles at wholesale auctions (the government won’t permit just anyone to buy a used vehicle at an auction; that would impinge upon the special privileges government sells for a pretty penny) but he probably does not have an F&I guy living in his house to finagle a monthly payment for the people who might want to buy (finance) one of his front-lawn treasures.
Rock meets hard place.
You have probably heard that the average transaction price paid for a new vehicle is now more than $50,000. You may already know that it is difficult to find a new vehicle of any kind for less than about $28,000 – which has become the new floor for what is styled “entry level.”
Economy cars have ceased to exist.
This has priced a lot of people out of the new or even the newish car market. How many people can afford the second-mortgage equivalent payment on a new or even newish vehicle? Some, of course. But more and more have tapped out.
That has created a market for the older stuff, such as the stuff on offer on the guy-down-the-road’s front yard lot. The old beaters on offer are affordable, in a relative sense. But the reality sense is another thing.
I remember when it was possible to buy a beater car for $700 or so. I did exactly that back in the early ’90s. Granted, that was 30-something years ago and – yes – inflation. But inflation does not account for all of it. I do not think I am dreaming when I remember that – back in the ’90s – it wasn’t a big stretch to save up $700 or so and buy an old beater car, like the ’74 Beetle I drove around in back then. Supposedly – according to the government – that $700 back then is the equivalent, “adjusted” for “inflation” (which really means the diminished buying power of money) of about $1,700 today.
Two problems with this that I see. The first is that I do not believe what the government says. That is to say, I do not believe that $700 back then was the same – in terms of buying power – as $1,700 is today. I strongly suspect that $700 had more buying buyer back then than $1,700 does now. I believe that what the government and amen-chorus lackeys style “inflation” is much-worse-than-advertised. Evidence in support of this contention being that finding a beater car today for $1,700 is – to understate the matter – difficult.
The beaters on the guy down-the-road’s lawn lot start at $3,500 on the low end. Most are advertised in the $5k-ish range. Granted, these beaters are “nicer” – if you want to use that word – than the ’74 Beetle I was driving back in the ’90s, in the sense that they have (probably) working heaters and maybe AC, too. But the point stands that you need a lot more money to buy a beater today than I did, back then.
And it is not nearly as easy to save up $3,500 in cash to buy one, either. Not anymore. For most people, that is a lot of money. Too much money, to have available in one lump sum. According to some sources, about 40 percent of Americans haven’t got $400 in cash available for an emergency – such as needing a new car, pronto (because their old one croaked or because they can’t afford a needed repair).
Maybe that’s why the guy down the road’s lawn lot hasn’t got a lot of turnover. The beaters aren’t cheap anymore.
. . .
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Regarding ‘inflation’ – at least as expressed by the ‘consumer price index’:
A retired statistician, John Williams, has been calculating ‘CPI’ using the methodology the government itself used in the 90s and/or 80s.
The site, Shadowstats dot com, was forced to go subscriber-only in 2023, but even the graphs up to that point are quite revelatory:
https://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts
Spoiler: The real price increases are much, much higher than what the ‘modern’ methodology, with all its fancy ‘hedonic adjustments’, says now.
Indeed, John –
We all know this intuitively – those of us who are old enough to remember the Before Time. I do not believe I am hallucinating my memories of the ’80s and ’90s. I bought half a dozen cars during those years – as guy in his late teens/early 20s. These included several used Camaros/Firebirds. I bought the Trans-Am I own today back in ’92 or ’93 (I can’t remember exactly) for a sum that would not buy a very shabby, ragged-out old Corolla today. I could not afford to buy my Trans-A, today – 30 years later. Nor the house I live in now. Nor the one I used to live in, back in the ’90s. My parents could not afford that house today; the one I bought when I was a young guy in my ’20s, back in the day.
Who are you going to believe, Eric?
The government, or your lying eyes?
(H/T Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx)
I bought my first car (a 1972 Dodge Demon with the slant 6) in 1975 for $1500. It had less than 5k miles on it. It was owned by a retired lady who literally only drove it on Sunday. It was in like new condition. Good luck doing that now.
I remember getting a 1965 Buick Electra 225 for $50 from a neighbor in need of a fix back around 1978. When new, I guess it was more of a ‘luxurious’ car, not so much when I bought it. I drove that land yacht for four years all through college (300 miles away). It looked liked hell, the interior was all torn up and the paint had faded into a dishwater brown color, but the big V8 in it would just burble along as I took it down the highway. Fun to remember those days…
I just sold a TW200 and there were a few people ready with cash. I think low side is still viable for cash-and-drive private transactions. I imagine the market really is that widely segregated between few high end sales over $50k and everyone else is a couple of thousand in cash. It’s why Ford and Toyota are struggling, the substantive middle class is wiped out so anyone working and not willing to drown in debt is competing for anything they can find under $10k. Cash for Clunkers took a lot of viable cars that if they’d have survived would now be $1k and turned them in to $2K and $3k just due to supply and demand. I’m holding on to most everything I can because soon there will be simply nothing old left. The TW was superfluous to my needs, fun bike but too unique and overlapping with other street-legal dirt bikes that I have. So it was just thinning the herd to have targeted solutions.
It’s not that nobody has $3500. But those that have it ain’t buying those kinds of cars.
The buying power (worth) of money has gone to crap since Nixon.
You want the dollar to mean something again, tie it back to gold. That will never happen.
New series required:
How to spot a used car scam
So Pinnochio Govco says $700 in the 90’s is equivalent to $1700 today. Wow, amazing how they can massage the numbers, of course taking out the biggest expenses that you can’t do without – food and energy – makes it easier. If you live in a cave in the forest and forage for berries maybe it adds up but every normal person is screwed. Like the guy in Queens said to the Fed official “you can’t eat an iPad”.
I remember when 2500 bought a nice older car now it’s more like 10000 or more I bought my old land Rover for 2400 about 5000 later and over 100 hours it’s a nice rust free truck but I’m thinking about selling it the most expensive car you will ever own is a cheap car .
Somehow this discussion reminded me of the movie “Used Cars” with Kurt Russell.
A “must watch” classic.
Maybe he’s actually Eric’s neighbor.
I remember the days of cheap and janky, but serviceable, used cars for a few C notes or a G note or two for a nicer one.
They weren’t much to look at, and often were on the verge of falling apart, but what was wrong with them could be easily fixed, and often fixed by you. And if you couldn’t fix them, your local shop could do it for not much expense or work. And for enough work or money, they could be kept going almost forever, barring frame rust or major accidents.
That’s sadly not true today. Today’s cars look and run great for 10-15 years and 200,000 miles. But after that, they’re pretty much done for.
That’s true. I remember when people thought a car was clapped out by 80-100k miles. You could buy one cheap. Plugs, wires, brakes and a few other odds and ends and you’d have it running.
Now people have 100k powertrain warranties and 100k spark plug change intervals. By the time people get rid of cars, they trade them to a dealer if they have any value, and if they sell them privately it’s because it’s 200k+ miles and so roached the dealer won’t take it on a trade-in.
Wholesale Used-Vehicle Prices Decline in October
The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index (MUVVI) dropped to 202.9, reflecting a 2.0% decline in October’s wholesale used-vehicle prices (adjusted for mix, mileage, and seasonality) compared to September. Unadjusted wholesale vehicle prices fell 3.7% from September. — Cox Automotive, Nov. 7, 2025 Chart:
https://tinyurl.com/bd6kdzcv
House prices (Case-Shiller index) peaked in February 2025 and are slowly receding. Is it any wonder that the peeps aren’t feeling flush? Bubble Baloney is losing its potency.
My late wife’s brother-in-law & his family ran a couple buy-here-pay-here lots in Walker County, Alabama. They’d go to the auctions in Alabama & Mississippi with a suitcase of cash.
Their best business was when “tax refunds” were mailed. Anyway, it was a high-risk / high-reward venture for them. They’d buy a $2000 heap, sell it for $2500, but do so at an exhortante interest rate. Many times, they’d repo the car, re-sell it and start the cycle again.
‘Business was not booming’ — Raider Girl
A healthy economy can absorb occasional shocks. But with his constant policy uncertainty and fiscal shocks, Trump is testing the limits of its resiliency. Trump brags about how tariffs have brought in over $200 billion of revenue, reducing the deficit. But in mirror-image fashion, the corporate sector’s surplus declines.
Now we have a record-long gov shutdown. Forty-two million SNAP recipients have been put on a diet, like the Jizzraelis put Gazans on a diet. Furloughed federal employees aren’t getting paid. Air traffic controllers are staying away. Business and vacation flyers face delays and cancelled flights.
Consumer confidence surveys are in the tank. The Conference’s Board’s index has sunk almost back to pandemic levels:
https://www.conference-board.org/images/cci-oct-2025-1.png
Usually the NBER doesn’t confirm a recession until it’s been underway for a year. They want all of their four main data series — employment, industrial production, personal income, and manufacturing sales — trending downward together.
We could well be in the early months of recession now — just what the D-party needs to take back both houses of Clowngress. People vote their pocketbooks. And despite his orangutan chest-pounding, the Orange One isn’t making us any money — though the Fed’s ready to start printing it again.
QE, baby — it’s the only way for TSLA to hit that $8.5 trillion market cap to make Elon the world’s first trillionaire. But the dark side is that his million humanoid robots are programmed to kill us. 🙁
Hi Jim,
I wonder how long the government employees and contractors are willing to hold out before one goes “Screw this, I need to eat.” I am no fan of the Elephants, but the shutdown really can’t be blamed on them. They are using the same CR that was set up under the Biden Administration which the Asses had no problem passing four times while Uncle Joe was President.
One can actually see the lack of survival skills in today’s generations. Government employees need to start sending in their resignation letters and the “essential” employees need to stop showing up. One day of no air traffic controllers reporting to work would fix things pretty quick.
Not sure why all the airlines can’t just pay the air traffic controllers to come to work. Learned helplessness.
The lack of air traffic controllers doesn’t slow down them spraying us like bugs.
Well, they DO have priorities, after all, Horst. The flow of goods and services for us plebs? Meh. But spraying us plebs into compliance (or kill us trying)? Now that is a plan they can get behind and pay with money that someone can be found from under a rock.
It’s possible he doesn’t have a dealers license to buy at the auction? Maybe just becomes word of mouth that he buys cars.
I did in the 70’s-80’s. Honda’s were very popular in suburbia at the time. I owned one too and they were not the reliable cars they are today. They had lots of problems that I found out the hard way and had to learn how to fix them myself. Then my neighbors figured it out which became “will you fix my honda?” The local honda dealer was a big scammer, telling people they needed new engines when it was just a head gasket. I learned how to do head gaskets, etc…
A small biz was formed in under a year, and many just sold me the car. I would have 3-5 cars in my moms driveway and street, but no one complained, cause I was the fixer… 😉
Even had a self made engine hoist out of wood in the driveway that was ugly as sin.
And yes, same cars were on the suburban street for sale where no one usually parked. Helped put me through college. Then a local mech shop hired me (right next to the scammer honda dealer) and I made big bucks to work all weekend on his honda’s when I wasn’t in school. I was printing money for a skill that I learned and helped people.
That Mech offered me to take over his biz, which was very tempting at 22.
he probably does not have an F&I guy living in his house to finagle a monthly payment…”
If he has a stripe account he has access to financing options. If you’re over a barrel and need a vehicle now, getting a $5,000 limit credit card isn’t all that difficult even if you have a low credit score. Most of us would call it economic suicide to finance that much on credit cards, but if it helps get you past the catch 22 of needing transportation to get to work but not able to work because you don’t have transportation maybe that’s OK. If the borrower has the discipline to pay off the credit card as quickly as possible.
Agreed, Eric. However, have you read the fine print on leasing a vehicle? Most leases have a “downpayment” of 3-5 thousand dollars. Also, you see people being arrested and given bail of high-5 and low-6 figure amounts yet, they can come up with the 10% to cover the bondsman.
On top of that think about NYC. It’s one of the most, if not THE most, expensive places to live and somehow thousands of third world refugees flood the place.
The collapse of Western Civilization, led by the Good ‘Ol U.S. of A., is something to behold. Average new car sales over $50k and people keeping cars longer than ever. This dynamic cannot survive. People with basic skills will survive. Those with little or no skills will wilt in the blazing sun of change. (see Paul Joseph Watson video linked below) It will collapse under the weight of its own contradictions (h/t Ayn Rand)
Atlas is shrugging.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P63oXaR3aug
“ On top of that think about NYC. It’s one of the most, if not THE most, expensive places to live and somehow thousands of third world refugees flood the place.”
Watch what those third world colonizers do. They help each other out. They live as extended family units 25 to a house, some of those cook and care for the internal issues, most of the rest work without a paper trail in cash avoiding the 50% burden of income taxes. They recognize insurance as usury and refuse to practice it, so their medical care is free to them, and the cops won’t bother them because the juice ain’t worth the squeeze. Also several members will be collecting some form of welfare.
White western people used to do these things but allowed themselves to become deracinated. If your family/tribe/society is granite, rulers break themselves on it. If your family/tribe/society is pea gravel, rulers shovel it up and build their roads with it.
Atlas is manipulating gubmint for its $1T salary.
Eric: “None looked too healthy.”
Watching the Flying Wheels YouTube channel you see Craig going to auctions scrutinizing cars trying to find good, cheap cars that don’t need much in the way of repairs that can be sold for under $3,500 and it’s hard because once a car gets old many people drive them into the ground due to lack of repairs and maintenance as it’s hard to justify a $1K repair on a car worth $500. Myself I would rather keep what I have and repair it as needed.
Case in point; about 8 years ago I bought a 15 year old Camry with around 125K miles on it for around $3K and I’m still driving it. Sure I’ve had to do repairs like the brakes, tires, gas tank, struts, starter; you name it but I was able to do most of those repairs myself. About the only repair I don’t try to do myself is body and paint as it looks like crap when I do it (which I had done on it).
So I don’t have any problems buying a beater but I still get them checked out by a mechanic before buying. Amusingly my cars are getting so old now that most wrecking yards don’t even have ones with usable parts on them anymore.
As the economy worsens I suspect people will discover that the neglect they inflicted on their cars will come with a hefty repair bill.
Body and paint are generally not worth doing on anything made in the last 30 years. Maybe replace severely rusted fenders with cheap Chinese repops, or cover up rust with fender flares and running boards. A follow of cheap acrylic enamel over the internet from the cheapest source is $400, I bought one this summer. Modern tin is too thin to work effectively, so hammer/dolly and putty/sand is not worth doing.
Pro tip, rattle can camo can actually look really nice on a beater, and can be done for about $50, my 85 Mercedes 190d looked so good with the camo that I added iron crosses on the doors. Got a ton of laughs and compliments and traded it eventually for another German import, a tricked out H&K.
“Follow” should be gallon…
Hubby and I went to dinner last night. There is a great little restaurant in Flint Hill that we usually make the drive to 4-5x per year. Small business, upscale, service and food are both excellent. They know us and informed us last night that the business was for up for sale. Besides us there was one other couple and a family of three having a meal. Business was not booming. Business was crashing and burning. I had the same feeling of disappointment when I drove to a local coffee shop that I always stop at on my to Charlottesville a few weeks ago…closed permanently signs on the drive thru and front door. The stores and restaurants are empty. Service sectors are drying up. Businesses are shuttering.
I read an article the other day that cardboard sales are down. Cardboard? One may say, “Who cares?” A drop in cardboard means a drop in boxes which means a drop in merchandise purchased and shipped. That is a signal for a dismal holiday season. Target laying off 1400, UPS laying off 44k, Amazon 31k…all before the holidays. Then ADP has the audacity to tell us that 42k jobs were created in the month of October. No, no they weren’t.
The coming years are going to be a struggle for many. But, thank God, Congress is still getting paid! 🤬
I’m seeing similar, locally, RG –
There’s a “soup shop” about two miles away; a couple bought an old house and converted it to a storefront that sells . . . homemade soup and baked goods; stuff like that. They are selling – because not many people can afford such treats anymore. We haven’t gone out to eat in literally years. Even Chipotle – easily $30 for two people to take out a couple of burrito bowls – is an extravagance now.
This is a reflection on the shift away from physical activity to digital. The gaming market is almost entirely downloads and subscription now. Electronics and hardware lifecycles are much longer than they were 10 years ago. Microsoft tried to force an upgrade cycle with Windows 11 and quickly EOLing Windows 10, but pretty much had to walk it back and keep “security updates” going. Up until this last macOS release supported Intel Macs from 2018, finally ending support for Intel machines but still keeping Rosetta2 running for at least another year.
I just went Linux (Mint) on one of my old computers that ran Windows 10. It’s free an relatively easy to install (step by step instructions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL0UTCV3690).
Very excited to begin my journey of eschewing Windows (on at least one machine so far).
Hi RK,
I can’t get behind this whole digital age. Sitting behind a screen playing video games, watching TikTok, and munching on Cheetos doesn’t sound all that appealing. There is a whole world to explore, restaurants to try, oceans to swim in, stores to walk through, tours to take, and people to converse with, and being trapped in a chair watching life pass one by…nah.
I don’t get it either. Even early on in the late 80s friends my age all gah gah about electronic gaming & the internet in the 90s really sucked them in. Not my bag.
That’s ok by me. Fewer lines at the lift and more parking at the trailhead. Not to mention no jerks playing music on their Blootoof speakers ruining my enjoyment of nature.
I’m seeing the same. I’ve been on here more lately because my biggest customer, a German conglomerate, which has always been a free spender, implemented a worldwide budget freeze. I might add they are agricultural and this is right in the peak of the harvest season when they are busiest, and won’t be again until next year.
Hi Ernie,
Same here on the business squeeze. Hubby’s biggest customer pulled him aside the other day and told him they have his company budgeted in for 2026, but they want him to band aid, not replace. No unit change outs, no new restaurants being built, no renovations, etc. We hadn’t priced in any anticipated revenue for these so we aren’t surprised, but to have to hear it proves this country isn’t doing well.
In truth it’s been extremely tough since 2020, the revenues have been poor, but it’s getting tighter.
How very true, Ernie, and if the revenue tightening and squeezing does not get you, a trip to the grocery store will certainly make you, if not your wallet, cry a river of tears.
Retiree here, not loaded but OK since I was realistic 12 years ago. No motor homes, vacation cabin, world wide cruises etc. My monthly cash flow surplus is disappearing just like I expected. Property tax, insurance, now the Puget Sound Energy bills up up and away. Oh and the zero dollar Medicare advantage plan is now $148 starting in January. I’m fortunate it’s my former employer sponsored plan as the coverage is superior to anything else, however if you leave that plan you can’t come back.
Anyway, going out to eat is rare due to the money and lack of value received. The local places have really gone downhill since the Covid debacle.
That shutdown tsunami rolled over Oregon 5 yrs ago. Some former towns have nothing left but stuffgod vans. We literally buy everything from Amazon because its that or glassed in hassle crap at Wallys 15 miles away. Invest wisely.