Older vehicles—the kind usually sought out by people on a tight budget—are downright expensive, having risen in price almost 75 percent since 2010. (Photo: Shutterstock)
People at the lower end of the payscale are having a tough time making ends meet, regardless of the so-called "booming" economy. And it looks as if they'll be having an even tougher time in months to come, threatening any claim they might otherwise have to financial wellness.
The reason? Their cars, according to a Reuters report.
Older vehicles—the kind usually sought out by people on a tight budget—are downright expensive, having risen in price almost 75 percent since 2010, and the outlook is not bright for that to ease any time soon. The result is a dizzying rise in car loan delinquencies among those with the lowest credit scores, and that can jeopardize not only people's financial wellness but their jobs as well.
The report cites car shopping site Edmunds saying that 10-year-old cars—the vintage commonly driven by people making under $40,000 a year—now average $8,657. That's thanks to a drop in production during the Great Recession—which didn't pick up again till after the Great Recession started to recede.
New cars, in contrast, have risen 25 percent over the same period. And not only are more than 7 million people 90 days or more behind on their car loans, but George Augustaitis, director of automotive industry analytics at CarGurus Inc., is cited in the report saying that the available inventory of vehicles costing less than $10,000 won't approach more normal levels until 2022.
"This is pinching people at the worst point possible," Ivan Drury, Edmunds' senior manager of industry analysis, is quoted saying. "If you need basic A to B transportation, you have to get an older car that needs more repairs and has more wear-and-tear issues."
That means people are being squeezed on both ends—in car payments and in repairs. If either one gives way—an inability to make those "easy monthly payments" or a big repair bill—often a worker can't get to work at all, particularly in areas where there is little or no reliable public transportation. And at that point, financial wellness becomes a joke.
How their employees get to work might be one more factor for employers to consider when they examine financial wellness and programs to improve their workers' financial situations. Otherwise they might not be dealing just with financially stressed employees, but also workers who can no longer get to work to do their jobs.
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
