How do new Jeep owners afford them?

[CharlesHS]

Yesterday I went with my wife to look at the 2021 Jeep Wranglers at a Jacksonville, Florida Jeep dealership.
The salesman said they had a small inventory of Wranglers due to availability.
They had 5 new JLs on the lot; (2) 4Xe Rubicon Unlimited at $63K, (2) Sport Altitude at $45K, and the last was a base model at $37K.
While we were looking; one Altitude and Rubicon 4Xe were in the process of being sold.
We test drove the remaining Altitude and sat down to see if we could work a deal.
With 5K down and credit scores of 800+ (interest rate of 2.5%); the payments were almost $900 a month, with $10K down the payments were $730 a month and with $25K down the payments were $500 a month for 84 months.
IF we were to lease the Jeep; the payments were $600 a month.
The last new vehicle we purchased was a 2014 Grand Cherokee Limited 4x4 for $37K and traded in a 2002 Grand Cherokee with mileage of 200K.
The Assistant Manager was quite up front with us; he stated that with limited vehicles available from the manufacturer there are NO specials or incentives like years ago.
We went to a couple other dealerships in the area and found similar results.
In todays climate of businesses closing, college graduates having difficulty finding work, people on government hand outs refusing to work and inflation rates what they are; how do new Jeep owners afford these monthly payments and their automobile insurance?

 

[bromel]

It's not like Jeeps were cheap before the pandemic. People saved a lot of cash during 2020, their stock portfolios ballooned and had nowhere to spend it until this year, and the supply chain was not ready. Hence inflation, hence already ridiculous car prices becoming outright stupid. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of idiots who are going to be screwed over in a few years when the chip shortage eases, car prices come back to earth, and they are miles underwater on their 84-month car loans because they paid $10k over sticker. At least Jeeps keep their value better than just about anything else.

Long story short, they can afford it now because wages are more or less keeping up with inflation, but just wait.

 

[Plumber1]

Well

 

[Just Chillin]

Definitely wait for the auto production to get back up to speed. Toyota has already solved their parts shortages and are expected to hit full production rates this month (800,000 cars per month). I can imagine that the others are not far behind.

 

[MOTORCADE]

I sell used cars here in Mijas Spain, And due to lack of new cars available ( 10 months wait due to parts shortage etc ) Brexit, Covid etc used car prices have shot up at lease 25 % maybe more, And no good stock around to buy either, So no deals available here or any where else in Europe , So I guess the States the same

 

[Jamison C]

I remember last year sitting down at a dealership to potentially buy a 2020 JL Sport S, and after going through credit options and financing with half down, my payments still would have been $500+.

The salesman was very polite but basically said because I was getting a low interest rate (3.5% I think) I could only lock in at 48 months or something like that, and if I were to settle on a higher rate (7% was the breakover I think) that I could extend my payments another 24 months to bring the monthly payments down. This was in April of 2020 so shortages weren’t quite a thing yet.

 

[UKTJ]

Same story in the UK, any used car you bought in the last 2 years is, at worst, worth the same now as you paid for it.

As part of the usual ‘feel good’ service I provide for those living in the US I can happily inform you that a new 2.0 JLU Rubicon (only power train available here) is listed at £54,450 before options, I make that just north of $73,000.

 

[SkylinesSuck]

I just don't understand paying close to $1k a month for any sort of "normal" vehicle. Necessary work truck or a new 'vette because you're rich? Okay, do your thing. A Jeep? Hard pass. I mean, I'm glad somebody is buying them new so I can buy them a few years later used---not that it's a whole lot cheaper to do that in this market either, but it'll calm back down. It's a terrible time to buy a vehicle.

 

[Irun]

People seem to treat their personal finances like the government does budgets. We're in debt? Who cares!

 

[NWPA Jeepy T]

I've got friends who actually say to me, "if I can afford the payments, I can afford it." They're 1 broken leg or illness away from living in a box

 

[TheBoogieman]

My brother always pays cash for all of his new vehicles. I can't pay cash for a 20 year old vehicle. The Ford dealership called my brother last week and offered him $7,000 more than he paid for his new F-150 ecoboost. He thought about it and came to the conclusion that a one year newer one would cost a lot more than the profit gained.

 

[chimmike]

Nobody is having trouble finding work. The job market is FLOODED with opportunities. Don't let certain wings of the media fool you. People are paying cash for homes now because prices are so high, they can't finance because the homes won't appraise to asking price. (you should know that being a FL resident)
People have been paying 60k for rubicon unlimiteds for years now. They just finance themselves to their necks.

 

[kameronkales]

Best friend bought one last year for his wife (her car was totaled in accident).

He’s an oral surgeon. That’s how he affords it.

 

[TheBoogieman]

He’s an oral surgeon. That’s how he affords it.

I had an ex GF that had that title too. Her work was free and precision was incredible.

 

[abart]

Could be a million different reasons people can buy these vehicles. Maybe they make a lot of money or they are fine being in huge debt or they sacrifice having other nice things so they can spend their money on nice vehicles they want. I wouldn't buy any new vehicle right now because they are all expensive anyway and not just Jeeps. I do plan on winning the lottery soon though so I won't care how much stuff costs.

 

[TheGanzman]

At a tick shy of 66 years old, *I* have been shaking my head in bewilderment at new car prices for several years now. My wife & I currently have four vehicles - the oldest is a 1998 motorhome, next oldest is my '04 Jeep TJ, then my wife's 2013 Acura ZDX, and finally our "new vehicle" - my 2016 Mazda CX-5 with a whopping 37K miles on the clock. We have NO plans for buying a new vehicle anytime soon; luckily due to Covid and my wife working from home "permanently" it appears, our highest mileage vehicle is my just turned 90K mile TJ. Furthermore, it don't take no rocket surgeon to see where the World is going with respect to ICE vehicles. We tend to keep our vehicles 5-10 years - in 5 years you'll be hard-pressed to even BUY a new ICE vehicle (insert electric "lightning bolt emoji" here)...

 

[CharlesHS]

I had an ex GF that had that title too. Her work was free and precision was incredible.

I believe there are other names for that type of work....
Tonsil stroking technician is another name that comes to mind....

 

[mrblaine]

Yesterday I went with my wife to look at the 2021 Jeep Wranglers at a Jacksonville, Florida Jeep dealership.
The salesman said they had a small inventory of Wranglers due to availability.
They had 5 new JLs on the lot; (2) 4Xe Rubicon Unlimited at $63K, (2) Sport Altitude at $45K, and the last was a base model at $37K.
While we were looking; one Altitude and Rubicon 4Xe were in the process of being sold.
We test drove the remaining Altitude and sat down to see if we could work a deal.
With 5K down and credit scores of 800+ (interest rate of 2.5%); the payments were almost $900 a month, with $10K down the payments were $730 a month and with $25K down the payments were $500 a month for 84 months.
IF we were to lease the Jeep; the payments were $600 a month.
The last new vehicle we purchased was a 2014 Grand Cherokee Limited 4x4 for $37K and traded in a 2002 Grand Cherokee with mileage of 200K.
The Assistant Manager was quite up front with us; he stated that with limited vehicles available from the manufacturer there are NO specials or incentives like years ago.
We went to a couple other dealerships in the area and found similar results.
In todays climate of businesses closing, college graduates having difficulty finding work, people on government hand outs refusing to work and inflation rates what they are; how do new Jeep owners afford these monthly payments and their automobile insurance?

Guessing you missed the sticker on one of the new Jeep Wagoneer Series III then? They've got one Mike saw with a sticker of 111,000. No Jeep ever made is worth that.

 

[Pokahpolice]

The math doesn't add up. $45K with $5K down, 2.5% interest at 84 months would put your payment at $520. $10K down puts your payment at $455. $25K down would puts you at $325. The totals you gave are for a 48 month loan, not 84.

 

[Jezza]

The math doesn't add up. $45K with $5K down, 2.5% interest at 84 months would put your payment at $520. $10K down puts your payment at $455. $25K down would puts you at $325. The totals you gave are for a 48 month loan, not 84.

I was thinking the same thing. I ran the numbers quick and came up with $520 as well. It's $555 with 6% sales tax, roughly.