At first I didn't realize that there was something wrong with this ad for a new Ford Bronco. I know Ford Bronco's sell at a premium but I quickly although grimly accepted the reality that even bone strippers are commanding $97,200 these days. Holy smokes. Upon further review, I found this dealership west of Cleveland, Ohio is selling a Bronco Raptor "Advanced" 4X4 and not the rental-grade one pictured. I take it they wanted to get the ad posted but they don't have it in yet and don't access to stock photos of a late-model Raptor. But I only feel somewhat better.
Here's what a Bronco Raptor "Advanced" 4X4 really looks like. This one stickering for $125,000; good grief! Who's affording these things? By the way, in my opinion, all the charm of the Bronco goes out the sunroof when dressed as a four-door; they're cartoon-like rather than cool. Your mileage may vary, see dealer for details.
I much prefer the two-door Bronco, to me they're a poor-man's Range Rover Defender 90. I wasn't able to find a Raptor "Advanced" two-door on line so this "Wildtrack" will fill in. Such a deal as she stickers $50,000 less than our retina searing orange bomber. Yeah, as if "$75,000 is reasonable.
Granted, I'm the cheap old shmuck who just paid $4,000 ($2,000 net out of pocket!) for a 2009 Toyota RAV4 so I'm not the target buyer but, c'mon, who in their right mine would drop six-figures on a car? Even half that amount is crazy but the cold, hard reality is that the average price of a new vehicle these days is more than $47,000. Here's the rub...people young and old are buying these things and paying that much for them and I think they're insane for doing so because nine-times out of ten, they really can't afford it. Or, at the risk of sounding judgey but I'll do it anyway, they shouldn't.
There must be some visceral thrill I'm missing out on that some people get by saddling themselves with insanely high car payments. I understand house payments but that's (somewhat) understandable given they really have no choice. Not only are monthly car payments high, folks are burying themselves in car-payment-hell for inordinately long terms too. I've seen terms as long as 84-months; is 120-months not that far out of the question? At $1,786-a-month for five-years for a $97,000 Bronco Raptor, or whatever as there are other vehicles out there similarly expensive, that's more than $107,000 spent on a depreciating asset.
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It's said we should buy appreciating assets and lease ones that lose value. Hmm, ok. Lease payments over three-years will be similar to the purchase amounts but at the end of those terms, you'll have nothing. Unless you decide to pay the balloon payment and hold onto it. More and more people are doing that and we're not just talking about folks of modest means either. Still, most people stay on the leasing merry-go-round.
My concern would be, and, yes, perhaps I'm more paranoid than the average bear, what happens if the gravy train gets derailed? Happened to a friend of mine recently. She and her husband are not only leasing an expensive car to the tune of nearly $1,000-a-month, they are leasing two-cars, the other one no cheapie either but more reasonable at some $600-a-month. Thing is, the hubs recently lost his high-paying job that he lucked his way into (he was plucked by a recruiter) and he's having a bear of a time finding not only a job that pays anywhere near what he was making, but any decent paying job in his field. To add insult to injury, she's way over mileage on her lease and has more than a year to go on it. But wait, there's more. She's leasing an electric vehicle. We know how bad resale value is on those turkeys.
The kicker is, they have little to no savings and any prospects for his employment are standing down on taking him on board until after January 1st. When he had that super-high income job, they spent money like the his massive checks were going to keep coming in forever too; they spent nilly-willy like lottery winners purportedly do. And then, poof. Gone. Talking to her about their self-imposed and unfortunate financial strafe is like driving past a horrific car crash on the highway. You're mortified and empathize, you thank god it's not you this time too, but once you're past it, they're out of site, out of mind. Oh, they'll get by and be ok. Maybe. Who knows. I sure hope so.
Granted, if you can swing these payments, more power to you. But, again, most people who can really shouldn't. Meanwhile, how the hell does Ford sell a Bronco, that's really nothing more than a tarted up Ranger, for $97,000?
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