Some Of Jeep's Best Customers Simply Can't Afford A Jeep Anymore

[High Alextude]

I traded my loaded '22 Mojave this past April for 19% less than msrp (10% less than what I paid respectively). I owned it for 14 months and logged 7,000 miles. I thought that I did well at the time.

Now in October the trade value equates to 34% less than msrp (27% less than what I paid respectively).

The market has corrected itself and with discounts to 12K on new 2023's, the resale values are not in our favor.

The market will continue swinging on the pendulum. This still is not the “forever market”. That’s good you didn’t take a huge loss. I bought used, put about 10k miles on it so far and according to Carvana and KBB, I haven’t lost a thing!

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[LouisvEarlleJT]

Not sure the "rear locker" is part of this package. At least not on mine.

trak-lok is what they mean. Limited slip

 

[TheDerb]

Capitalism is your answer. Companies figured out that Wrangler consumers WILL indeed pay that premium price on top of the inflated number. So they charge it. Simple as that…free market rules

EXACTLY.

This ties a bow around my comment that using "inflation" as some sort of apologetic answer ("simpin' for the manufacturers", as the young folks would say) is hogwash.

Inflation has nothing to do with it. It's bean counters at corporations determining that they are leaving money on the table by not raising prices.

Inflation has ZERO to do with this. It's capitalism, and nothing more.

 

[TheDerb]

Based on what? Why a dealer has x or y on the lot is a big ball of wax to unravel. It also doesn't mean you can't buy one.

For what it’s worth, recall 19A prevents we Wrangler or Gladiator fans from purchasing any Wrangler or Gladiator with a manual. That means the actual lowest price you can drive out of a dealership for is $36,490 for the base 2-door Wrangler and $42,670 for a Gladiator until the manual stop sale is lifted. That’s crank windows and manual locks with a Soft top.

 

[Rahkmalla]

I also see a lot of younger people doing this with mobile deflvices. They are just basically renting the device until a new comes out and there current one back.

Mobile devices are heavily subsidized and should be a completely separate argument from car ownership vs leasing. They jack the prices up double then give them to you "free" for a contract term.

If the MSRP of every vehicle doubled but leasing prices /month remained the same, i wouldn't own my jeep outright either.

-signed: a "younger people" with financed cell phones and a jeep i bought cash

 

[Digster]

I like my gladiator

https://jalopnik.com/some-of-jeeps-best-customers-simply-cant-afford-the-bra-1850937694

The comments are always the best part!

I can afford anything they make, but won’t spend the money on a new Jeep with the pricing so high and gas prices headed higher.

 

[ttn333]

Mobile devices are heavily subsidized and should be a completely separate argument from car ownership vs leasing. They jack the prices up double then give them to you "free" for a contract term.

If the MSRP of every vehicle doubled but leasing prices /month remained the same, i wouldn't own my jeep outright either.

-signed: a "younger people" with financed cell phones and a jeep i bought cash

I think you missed the point. The point isn't the financing of the device, it's the never ending debt with the annual "upgrades".

Signed older dude.

 

[Raven65]

I think you missed the point. The point isn't the financing of the device, it's the never ending debt with the annual "upgrades".

Signed older dude.

You don't have to "upgrade" every year. You could continue using an old phone for many years - or at least as long as its technology is supported by your carrier. The only time I can remember people being forced to upgrade was back when the carriers upgraded their networks to 4G and shut down 3G. Everyone who was still using an old 3G phone had to upgrade to a new one that supported 4G - but they gave everyone plenty of warning (like a year or more) that this was going to happen.

Most times, those "free" or heavily discounted phones provided by the carriers come with significant strings attached - like you have to subscribe to one of their much more expensive plans - while being locked into a 2-year contract. If you try to leave during your contract term, they will refuse to unlock your phone so that it can be used with another carrier until you pay a substantial fee. They WILL recoup their money for that phone one way or another.

I buy my unlocked iPhones directly from Apple so that I'm not locked into a contract with my carrier and can change carriers anytime I choose. I take very good care of my phones and trade them back in to Apple every year... sometimes every other year... so the true net cost of the new iPhone is actually roughly half the advertised price. I could get even more for my old phone if I sold it directly to someone else on Swappa.com, but there is value in the convenience of trading it in to Apple. Zero hassle/chance of being ripped off... and immediate payment (or discount on the new phone). They also provide 0% financing on your Apple card if you have one (I do) and wish to spread the payment out.

-Signed: another older dude

 

[sharpsicle]

It's like you're just now figuring out how this disposable economy works. A long time ago it shifted away from total purchase cost and towards monthly cost with financing, and here we are. Your average consumer is encouraged to operate in the red via financing incentives.

More financing = more buying power = more cost. Basic economics, and why interest rates are doing exactly what they should by slowing the financing to control costs. And anyone saying inflation is unrelated to all this doesn't know what they're talking about.

Y'all can stop fighting now.

 

[ttn333]

You don't have to "upgrade" every year. You could continue using an old phone for many years - or at least as long as its technology is supported by your carrier. The only time I can remember people being forced to upgrade was back when the carriers upgraded their networks to 4G and shut down 3G. Everyone who was still using an old 3G phone had to upgrade to a new one that supported 4G - but they gave everyone plenty of warning (like a year or more) that this was going to happen.

Most times, those "free" or heavily discounted phones provided by the carriers come with significant strings attached - like you have to subscribe to one of their much more expensive plans - while being locked into a 2-year contract. If you try to leave during your contract term, they will refuse to unlock your phone so that it can be used with another carrier until you pay a substantial fee. They WILL recoup their money for that phone one way or another.

I buy my unlocked iPhones directly from Apple so that I'm not locked into a contract with my carrier and can change carriers anytime I choose. I take very good care of my phones and trade them back in to Apple every year... sometimes every other year... so the true net cost of the new iPhone is actually roughly half the advertised price. I could get even more for my old phone if I sold it directly to someone else on Swappa.com, but there is value in the convenience of trading it in to Apple. Zero hassle/chance of being ripped off... and immediate payment (or discount on the new phone). They also provide 0% financing on your Apple card if you have one (I do) and wish to spread the payment out.

-Signed: another older dude

No, you do not have to upgrade, but a good number of people, especially younger people do. The system is normalizing this behaviour so that forever debts can be normalized. I see this in my industry already. Some cbct manufacturers and digital intra oral scanners are using subscription based retail. You put down a deposit and have a monthly subscription contract for 5 years. After 5 years, they come and pick up the equipment and deliver you the new "upgrade" and restart another contract with another deposit. I remember reading an article about car manufacturers are also looking into this subcription based model. A lot of Disney annual passholders are basically doing this. This is may be our future. At some point, there may not be an option to own things outright.

 

[kb5zcr]

Census.gov
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html
says that the "Real median household income was $74,580 in 2022".
But I doubt that households that are buying a 60k vehicle are earning 75k a year.
I would venture a guess that households that are buying a 60k vehicle are earning twice that, if not a little more. I know a lot of people I used to work with (I'm retired now) have a dual income household of around 200-250k and both husband and wife drive a 50k vehicle.
There are a lot of dual income families that are in the "Upper middle class" category, not rich by any means but not hurting and living comfortably.

 

[Hootbro]

Census.gov
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html
says that the "Real median household income was $74,580 in 2022".
But I doubt that households that are buying a 60k vehicle are earning 75k a year.
I would venture a guess that households that are buying a 60k vehicle are earning twice that, if not a little more. I know a lot of people I used to work with (I'm retired now) have a dual income household of around 200-250k and both husband and wife drive a 50k vehicle.
There are a lot of dual income families that are in the "Upper middle class" category, not rich by any means but not hurting and living comfortably.

Govt. median income is reported as gross before taxes. So lob another 25% average Federal tax rate for $75K and you are now in the $56K net range and even less for those with state income tax.

Couple that with all the other average life expenses like mortgage/rent and utilities and food, that leaves little to be affording a $60K vehicle and be above water.

 

[Raven65]

No, you do not have to upgrade, but a good number of people, especially younger people do. The system is normalizing this behaviour so that forever debts can be normalized. I see this in my industry already. Some cbct manufacturers and digital intra oral scanners are using subscription based retail. You put down a deposit and have a monthly subscription contract for 5 years. After 5 years, they come and pick up the equipment and deliver you the new "upgrade" and restart another contract with another deposit. I remember reading an article about car manufacturers are also looking into this subcription based model. A lot of Disney annual passholders are basically doing this. This is may be our future. At some point, there may not be an option to own things outright.

I agree… all sorts of companies - including (especially?) auto manufacturers - are chasing the steady revenue stream that subscription-based services provide - and I think we should push back against it as much as we can, but at some point that may not be possible.

 

[Deleted member 57233]

Census.gov
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html
says that the "Real median household income was $74,580 in 2022".
But I doubt that households that are buying a 60k vehicle are earning 75k a year.
I would venture a guess that households that are buying a 60k vehicle are earning twice that, if not a little more. I know a lot of people I used to work with (I'm retired now) have a dual income household of around 200-250k and both husband and wife drive a 50k vehicle.
There are a lot of dual income families that are in the "Upper middle class" category, not rich by any means but not hurting and living comfortably.

Well that's exactly what median means, the middle value. So 50% of the households earn more than that. That's a lot of households.

 

[SoK66]

That the sticker on my recently acquired Gladiator Willys Sport was $59,625 was ridiculous, that it had sat in dealer inventory since July was all anyone needed to know about Jeep pricing. I pounced on it when the dealer added some of his factory-to-dealer incentive "trunk money" to the rebate, which had gone from 10% to 15% last week.

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