Curious to see how much car each person is willing to pay for based on monthly after-tax income
15k monthly for household, model Y long range 😎
Me: ~$13k after taxes, 2022 Nissan Titan Pro-4x.
Wife: ~$11k after taxes, 2017 Lexus RX 350.
Seattle, WA.
$10k/month in Oklahoma.
Model 3 RWD - Bought new, paid all cash.
Model Y LR - Bought used, financed $30k after trade-in.
Between selling my previous car, a work bonus, and buying from discounted inventory, I only had to dip into my savings for $7,500 for the Model 3. I will get that back at tax time.
1997 Geo Metro
After maxed out contributions and tax, a little under 9k a month. Live in Loudoun county, Virginia where the median HHI is 150k. A lot of people around here drive Model Ys. I think almost every temp tag in my neighborhood in the last two years has been on a Tesla
About 5k a month and drive a base 2023 Model 3 (ok, I paid for blue, because I like color)
$6,000. Would pay $300/mo or so, which obviously puts me out of the new EV enthusiast price range.
I drive a rusted-out 2003 Pontiac Vibe GT. Gets close to 30 mpg, but no, it’s not an EV. My wife is in a 2010 Ford Escape. Not the EV either, but both are paid off. When we did have car payments, they were $200/mo. But I’m supporting a whole family on that income, the mortgage is almost paid off, no other debt, and I’m quite a ways ahead on retirement savings.
It would be bonkers to spend on the order of $3000/mo to lease, not even to own, a new car that costs as much as my house. Might spend that much once (Christmas bonus is coming up) to get an electric cargo bike, but that’s the closest I’m coming to today’s crop of electric pickups and hummers and giant luxury vehicles.
Maybe in 5 years or so when the house is paid off I’ll buy a used EV that someone here just bought, anyone have a Bolt they’re looking to unload after a 60-month loan term? A Volt that’s been well taken care of? Where are my plugin-hybrids and midlife-crisis BEV roadsters at?
Most importantly, why do all the current EVs have such a huge dependence on manufacturer warranties? A car is like a house, you buy it planning to sell it someday, right? If it doesn’t have a used market, half the new-car cost (already inflated for the current market of massive SUVs and pickups, and doubly so for massive electric SUVs and pickups) is unjustified.
$5500/mo and driving a Mach-e Select with Tech package. I was only able to afford it because of $7500 federal tax credit and my old Hyundai went for $12k during the 2021 used car craziness (I paid $19k for it in 2012). So about $20k off a $43k car left me with a $23k note.
HCOL area and medium income for this area. Not a lot of money leftover for car payments but am 20+ years through our 30 year mortgage. Between my wife and I we try to have only one car payment at a time. That means 5 years payments for each and try to get 10 years out of a car. My 2013 Volt was on schedule for 10 year replacement in 2023, but in 2020 we decided to bump my wife’s 2018 Pacifica Hybrid to a 2020 so I was going to stretch an extra 2 years from my car. Instead it got totaled this January and I had to replace it. Fortunately it was January and I got a nice year-end bonus, so I took that combined with the insurance payout from my totaled Volt and had just enough to buy a used 2017 Volt, so no payments thankfully and we are pretty much back on schedule. Feels like I wasted my year-end bonus this year though.
So… in 2025 I’ll be in the market for what’s out there, and based on the prices of things and what I can afford I’ll be happy to find whatever is under $40K and will need that $7500 tax credit plus our state’s $2500 rebate. Was really hoping the $30K Equinox EV would exist, I’m tired of squeezing into my Volt. I love it a lot, but I’m tall and it’s small. The Bolt fit my budget but not my person.
I live in Finland.
Really difficult to compare, but I make about 130 000 dollars/year PRE-tax and including employer’s pension payments.
I drive a 2021 Audi Q4 40, which is our only car. For cost of living comparison, our mortgage+maintenance on our 3 bedroom in central Helsinki is about 2500€/2750$ per month.
midwest, made about $75k/yr but am in grad school now. Just traded 2017 bolt for a 2023 this past year for the tax credit. Wife still working and making about $75k/year. Our other car is a 2012 Range Rover.
I am basically the lowest paid person in the company i partely own(second lowest is my business partner)
It’s a remanent of our praksis during covid,
About 3K a month(after taxes in Denmark) and drive a 2022 Kia Soul Ev (39.2kWh)
Wife drives a Fiat 500E la prima and is about 2k a month(after taxes)Both retired and bring $14k Canadian monthly. Have a 2021 Model 3 and a 2017 Prius Prime.
I’ll put it to you this way, those tax credits are NOT fair.
2016 Honda HR-V. $2500 a month after taxes.
I just take what would have been a car payment and put it in a savings account for days I need it.