Share of car buyers with a monthly payment of more than $1k hits record high

Inflation rescaled money, so you'd expect new records for everything with "RECORD PRICE IS X!" stories. This is nearly a non-effect since wages also increase (with lag) to follow inflation, and, as the story notes, the increase in car prices is below general inflation. So to get a better number you'd need to inflation adjust the claims (which this did not).

Then, Fed rates increased higher than in a long time, which changes interest rates on loans. Since rates have been low, over a long time worth of slow inflation, this adds on top of the rates for new car purchases. This is more of a real effect in nominal costs, but anything requiring loans will see this raise, not just cars. And the rates are more in line with most of history - it's only young people that have not lived long enough to realize rates will change many times in a lifetime that are amazed by it.

For example, here [1] is historical finance rates for 48 month loans for new cars. The current rate, ~7%, was not seen since around 2008, and it was higher than 7% from 2008 all the way back through the entire chart (to 1972), with significant time above 10%, peaking around 17% in the early 1980s.

[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TERMCBAUTO48NS

I wonder if EVs contribute to this at all. Apart from being more expensive than ICE equivalents, the fact a large percentage of the vehicle cost (the battery) is a non replaceable consumable, would seem to make renting the most sane way of purchasing one.

Amazing.. I bought my current car for less than $4k.. I guess people like fancy cars a lot more than not drowning in debt.

Living below ones means is very unfashionable.