Shno's House of Z

[JoeP@TeamBeckyD]

......in my thoughts and prayers.....

[2cnd chance]

Research finds median-income households can afford the average-priced new car in only one in 25 U.S. metropolitan areas.


See all those people driving around in new vehicles? It may compel you to splurge on a new car. Or perhaps your neighbor just bought a cool new ride and now you want to keep up with the Joneses. But before you sign on the dotted line and enjoy that new-car smell -- and get stuck with a payment that sucks up a big chunk of your monthly income -- you should consider whether you’re buying more car than you can afford, advises Interest.com. Its 2014 Car Affordability Study, in fact, found that median-income families in only one major city -- Washington, D.C. -- can afford the average-priced new car or light truck. “Too many families are spending way too much on new cars and trucks,” Mike Sante, managing editor of Interest.com, said in a statement. “Just because you can manage the monthly payment doesn't mean you should let a $30,000 or $40,000 ride gobble up such a huge share of your paycheck.”

Interest.com considered three factors in calculating how much a household can afford to spend on a new vehicle. Referred to as the “20/4/10” rule, it includes a down payment of at least 20 percent; financing lasting no longer than four years; and principal, interest and insurance not exceeding 10 percent of a household's gross income.

To come up with its affordability ratings, Interest.com calculated 10 percent of the monthly median gross household income for each U.S. major metropolitan area using information from the U.S. Census Bureau. It then subtracted the average monthly insurance premium to determine the maximum amount that the median-income household should spend on monthly car payments, including principal and interest. Insurance costs are 2011 statewide averages from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, while average 48-month new car loan rates are according to Bankrate.com. Sales tax rates were obtained from local governments and car dealers. For comparison purposes, Interest.com used the Kelley Blue Book average price of a new car or light truck in 2013, which was $32,086. This equates to a monthly payment of approximately $633. Interest.com used its auto loan calculator to determine how much the median-income household can afford to borrow using the 20/4/10 rule.

Washington, D.C., led the list of metropolitan areas with the highest degree of affordability for the second year in a row, followed by San Francisco and Boston. The Florida cities of Tampa and Miami ranked at the bottom of the list and were also the only two cities where car affordability declined over the past year. According to Interest.com, San Antonio saw the biggest jump in affordability over the past year (7 percent), followed by Phoenix (6 percent) and San Francisco and Atlanta (both 5 percent). The full list is below, and it also shows the maximum amounts that Interest.com recommends that median-income households spend on vehicle payments, including principal and interest. “You can get a great car for much less and use the savings to invest in yourself,” said Interest.com’s Sante. “Here's where the money for your retirement or kids' college can come from."


Metro area

Affordable

purchase price

Maximum monthly payment

1. Washington, D.C.

$32,531

$641


2. San Francisco

$28,009

$563


3. Boston

$26,669

$520


4. Minneapolis

$24,846

$494


5. Baltimore

$24,591

$479


6. Seattle

$23,600

$480


7. Portland, Ore.

$22,905

$415


8. Denver

$22,775

$452


9. San Diego

$22,175

$442


10. New York City

$21,907

$441


11. Philadelphia

$21,775

$434


12. Chicago

$21,409

$434


13. Dallas

$20,731

$405


14. Los Angeles

$20,637

$416


15. Sacramento

$20,554

$412


16. Houston

$20,271

$396


17. Milwaukee

$20,013

$388


18. Atlanta

$20,000

$393


19. St. Louis

$19,016

$379


20. San Antonio

$18,376

$359


21. Phoenix

$18,199

$364


22. Pittsburgh

$17,965

$354


23. Detroit

$17,352

$338


24. Miami

$15,174

$299


25. Tampa

$14,209

$280

[2cnd chance]

Originally Posted by ShnOmac

My friends of the Houz.... I seek no empathy but I need to vent. If you have a child or a close loved one please tell them that you love them and give them a hug. Today I lost a young nephew (who recently became a father) due to unknown circumstances. He was sick for the last month but the Doc's couldn't figure out what was wrong..... RIP JJ Mac. I'm sorry I couldn't be around more lately...... Love uncle Mac.

Very sorry to hear that.
You are right life is fragile, unfortunately we don't recognize that as we should.

[LOWDOWN]

SchnO, my condolences.

Godspeed, JJ...

[ShnOmac]

Thank you everyone. This is a real tough time for us and your thoughts and prayers mean the world to us.

[wildpaws]

Originally Posted by ShnOmac

My friends of the Houz.... I seek no sympathy but I need to vent. If you have a child or a close loved one please tell them that you love them and give them a hug. Today I lost a young nephew (who recently became a father) due to unknown circumstances. He was sick for the last month but the Doc's couldn't figure out what was wrong..... RIP JJ Mac. I'm sorry I couldn't be around more lately...... Love uncle Mac.

I will keep you and your family in my thoughts and prayers. There absolutely is no schedule that we can go by, a friend, loved one or family can leave us in an instant. We need to make our love known now.
Clyde

[2cnd chance]

"14-month supply of Vipers at dealers blamed on winter; layoffs to follow.

Chrysler has made the decision to suspend production of the SRT Viper for a least two months, citing slow sales. The move is expected to result in layoffs of 91 hourly workers at Chrysler's Conner Avenue Assembly plant in Detroit.
Back in October of 2013, Chrysler cut Viper production by a third, citing slow sales and growing inventories. We always knew the SRT Viper was a bit of a niche automobile, though the nationwide sales figures for the first two months of 2014 gave a glimpse at just how slowly the Viper was trickling out of dealer showrooms. Just 91 examples of the sports car were sold during January and February of this year, and as of March 1, dealers reported an unsold stock of 756 cars -- a 412-day supply.

The pace of sales during the first two months of this year works out to fewer than two cars finding new homes every day, on average. A record winter may be to blame for this, as a parade of snowstorms likely depressed Viper sales across the country. With subzero temperatures persisting throughout the upper half of the country well into the month of March, the slow pace of sales could be a natural result. Chrysler was keen to point that the Viper was never intended as a mass-market automobile, and that a grand total of 29,000 examples have been produced during its 20-year history -- a little more than 1,000 cars per year on average. Still, the current supply of unsold vehicles stretches 14 months, which is a bit too much even for the exclusive Viper.

Some are pointing fingers across town blaming modest SRT Viper sales on the Chevrolet Corvette. The Vette recorded 2,261 sales in January and 2,438 in February, for a total of 4,699 units over that same time period.


Production of the Viper is set to shut down April 14, and will resume on the week of June 23 of this year."

[Zfatuated]

Originally Posted by 2cnd chance

"14-month supply of Vipers at dealers blamed on winter; layoffs to follow.

...

Production of the Viper is set to shut down April 14, and will resume on the week of June 23 of this year."

Interesting.


Wow, tough times across the car industry. Surely 'Vette is taking Viper sales, and rightly so. 'Vette earned the business by offering strong value. Making things worse is Viper dealers- the ones I had contact with a year ago to try and place a deposit on a Viper T/A were worthless a-holes.

I feel bad though because it is going to result in the SRT side of things to go belly-up and I hate to see someone trying to produce enthusiast-oriented product not succeed.

[Mikebrinda]

All things being roughly equal, blame the Viper marketing department.

[2cnd chance]

Originally Posted by Zfatuated

Interesting.


Wow, tough times across the car industry. Surely 'Vette is taking Viper sales, and rightly so. 'Vette earned the business by offering strong value. Making things worse is Viper dealers- the ones I had contact with a year ago to try and place a deposit on a Viper T/A were worthless a-holes.

I feel bad though because it is going to result in the SRT side of things to go belly-up and I hate to see someone trying to produce enthusiast-oriented product not succeed.

I agree. Hopefully GM understands the success of the C7 IS because of the high-value.

[2cnd chance]

Originally Posted by Mikebrinda

All things being roughly equal, blame the Viper marketing department.

I agree they did not do as good of a job as GM did with the C7. However the value of the Viper is no where near the C7.

[Moreno1]

coming soon!!..... monday... "big red vs z/28"



according to Stielow, a lot of z/28 media coming next week

[LOWDOWN]

We'll see how Big Red vs. Z/28 compares to Red Demon vs. ZL1. Two different Reds...

1:39.58 was the time to beat for the Red Demon...





In the immortal words of Artie Johnson, "Veeeery Interesting..."

[2cnd chance]

Cool Stuff!!!