An expert told TikTok that the car market is crumbling and shares the reasons why he thinks it has begun spiraling in a bad direction.
The TikTok account @carquestion.fank frequently and exclusively posts car-related videos. The account’s most recent viral video, titled “The Car Market is CRUMBLING, Here’s What NOBODY is Talking About,” has reached over 1.6 million views and 37,000 likes by Thursday.
In the video, @carquestion.fank took a clip from a creator’s YouTube video and reposted it to their TikTok account.
The creator in the video starts off by saying, “We have seen the new and used vehicle market spiral out of control over the last five, six, seven months.”
“We just saw Vroom shut their virtual doors and closed up shop,” he adds. Vroom, a Houston-based online car buying company “that took over Texas Direct Auto in 2015, is no longer selling cars” as of January 2024.
The creator says that this is a “huge indicator of just how bad things are.”
Next, the creator tells the audience, “If you’ve been on the fence of buying a vehicle in 2024, you may wanna hear some of these stats.”
First, the creator says, “Let me paint a clear picture for you.”
“Over last year, auto payments within the United States are up 11.5%,” he says. “The number of people that have a car payment over $1,000 from last year is up 18%.”
LendingTree states, “The average car payment for a new vehicle is a record $738 monthly, according to fourth-quarter 2023 data from Experian — up 2.5% year over year.”
“The entire American auto-loan debt is currently at $1.6 trillion,” the creator adds. “That is up 89% over the last decade. Let that sink in.”
U.S. auto loan debt, according to YCharts, “is at a current level of 1.607T, up from 1.595T last quarter and up from 1.552T one year ago. This is a change of 0.75% from last quarter and 3.54% from one year ago.”
The creator says, “We are currently seeing the largest year-over-year increase in auto loan debt.”
“So, within the United States, we are up $71 billion in auto loan debt from 2022 to 2023, and we’re actually just over that of an increase of $73 billion from 2023 to 2024,” he adds.
Because of this, the creator says, “We are seeing the largest auto loan delinquency rates, the largest number of repossessions taking place … and we are also seeing the largest supply levels that we have ever seen in this nation.”
Investopedia states, “Delinquency transition rates have pushed past pre-pandemic levels, and the worsening appears to be broad-based.”
“Loans opened during 2022 and 2023 are, so far, performing worse than loans opened in earlier years, perhaps because buyers during these years faced higher car prices and may have been pressed to borrow more, and at higher interest rates,” it continues.
The most recent statistic on car repossessions in the U.S. from Consumer Affairs states, “In 2022, over 1.2 million personal vehicles were repossessed by lenders, a slight increase from the previous year.”
Next, the creator says, “We’re seeing an average lot time of 70 to 80 days currently on dealership lots. They just can’t move their inventory. New and used, they can’t move it.”
Cars.com states that in 2024, “Vehicles are sitting at dealerships longer — an average of 65 days, up 41% from the same time a year prior.”
@carquestion.fank – The Car Market is CRUMBLING Heres What NOBODY is Talking About
♬ original sound – carquestion.fank
Viewers in the comments section left their own opinions about the current car market.
“My car is paid for. I refuse to pay the current ridiculous prices. I’ll drive mine until the wheels fall off,” one said.
A second agreed, writing, “I have no house payment and make 120k, no debt. I could afford to buy but I refuse. I’ll drive my 10 yr old Honda Accord for another 10 years.”
“After how the car market ripped people off all during Covid it serves them well to go out of business…” one opined.
“Car dealerships have been ripping off the public for too long,” another agreed.
The Daily Dot reached out to @carquestion.fank via the TikTok comment section for more information.
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