Another inflation indicator

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While renting cars I've driven the Nissan Versa and other very small bottom of the line cars and my feeling is to avoid them and get at least, the next size up. Nissan Sentras are pretty decent small cars along with the Hyundai Elantra and they are pretty reasonably priced on the used market. They are much more refined than their smaller relatives and are quieter, smoother, and more powerful without much of a hit on gas mileage. The Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla are excellent as well but their new and used prices are much higher.
 
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Didn't the auto workers get a 25% raise over 4 years?? Not sure if that includes benefits. SSOOOO you hesitate to buy a new car now and in 4 years it will be 25% more plus. Am I seeing this correctly?

Will the prices go down on groceries or will they remain the same over time or higher?? Do prices go down when inflation gets better? Larry
 
Jebus35745 said:
Didn't the auto workers get a 25% raise over 4 years?? Not sure if that includes benefits. SSOOOO you hesitate to buy a new car now and in 4 years it will be 25% more plus. Am I seeing this correctly?

Will the prices go down on groceries or will they remain the same over time or higher?? Do prices go down when inflation gets better? Larry
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I'm pretty sure that the cost of labor is less than the cost of materials.. In any case, 6 1/4% is not keeping up with inflation.
 
Jebus35745 said:
Didn't the auto workers get a 25% raise over 4 years?? Not sure if that includes benefits. SSOOOO you hesitate to buy a new car now and in 4 years it will be 25% more plus. Am I seeing this correctly?

Will the prices go down on groceries or will they remain the same over time or higher?? Do prices go down when inflation gets better? Larry
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Your car price model only works if the manufacturer's cost of a car is 100% labor.

I worked in manufacturing my whole life and if I had to guess, direct labor is maybe 15%? It probably varies all over the place. It should be between 10% and 20%. There's a lot of expensive materials and components in a car. Labor should be a smaller piece. I'd have to dig through Ford's financials to get the right number and that's too much work.

Allowing for that, if it is 15%, a 25% wage increase would add 3.75% to the price. Plus that's over four years.

As far as prices going down, they aren't and I actually hope they don't. A decline in inflation just means the pace of increases as moderated. Prices actually going down is deflation. You don't actually want that. Well I guess we all do but we won't like what comes with it.
 
I bought my 2019 Nissan Versa Note used in the midst of the Covid used car shortage. It was the only basic compact on the lot, and I needed a car "now" as my paid-for car was totaled by a negligent driver who ran a stop sign. These were built in Mexico at the Nissan factory there. Don't think it was a UAW house.
 
Rudi said:
Only very wealthy people believe inflation is going down. It is out of control.
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I just read a long article on this. The rate that inflation is increasing is going down. The rate of the increase. From 9.1 percent in June 2022 to 2.9 percent in July 2024.

So, yes, we still have inflation. Prices are still rising, but the rate of the increase is down.



The article, "The Number" in today's WaPo — which perhaps touches on politics so I will not link to it — points out that food at home is up 28% over the past five years, and while this category only makes up 8% of the CPI it something we notice daily and hence has a disproportionate effect on how we feel about inflation.
 
Farmer17 said:
While renting cars I've driven the Nissan Versa and other very small bottom of the line cars and my feeling is to avoid them and get at least, the next size up. Nissan Sentras are pretty decent small cars along with the Hyundai Elantra and they are pretty reasonably priced on the used market. They are much more refined than their smaller relatives and are quieter, smoother, more, and more powerful without much of a hit on gas mileage. The Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla are excellent as well but their new and used prices are much higher.
Click to expand...

I was forced to use a rental car when someone ran a stop sign that nearly totaled by Toyota Highlander. It was some kind of Hundai, the first thing I noticed was how noisy it was to just ride in the thing...I heard everything around me, engine, tires, everything. The only bonus was it had Sirius radio...what a pop can of a car.
 
dockmurgw said:
5' 11', 220 lbs, and I like my Ford F250! Something about small cars...they just never appealed to me. But that's probably a lifestyle thing, always owned nothing but pickups and used them as such.
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Having been raised in England and learning to drive there, I am OK with smaller cars. I am also 5' 11" and weigh about 180 lbs. Even so, I have found the seats in a Versa rather narrow across the shoulders. The Sentra is far more comfortable, much more refined, and with very little gas mileage penalty for these improvements.
 
pasound said:
I bought my 2019 Nissan Versa Note used in the midst of the Covid used car shortage. It was the only basic compact on the lot, and I needed a car "now" as my paid-for car was totaled by a negligent driver who ran a stop sign. These were built in Mexico at the Nissan factory there. Don't think it was a UAW house.
Click to expand...

Had a Versa Note as a rental on Maui. It was the right size of vehicle for the road to Hana. I felt a little sorry for those who had come as a larger group requiring a minivan or large SUV.
 
Looks like mine only increased about 12% in 6 years so not too much.

I bought a 2019 Corolla Hatchback SE manual transmission (1st year of total redesign) with the only option being $120 rubber floor mats. MSRP with freight was $21,150. (CVT was a $1,000 option).

2025 is the same body design, motor, etc., with the manual no longer offered. A 2025 SE with CVT including freight is $24,765 or an increase of only 12% (over $22,150) in 6 years.
 
LVSteve said:
There is now only one 2025 model year car you can buy new with a list price of under $20k, the base Nissan Versa. SMH.

(Don't worry about the access message, the link works)

Access to this page has been denied
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Pffft. I see inflation, but at my house it's working out well.

44 years ago I bought a brand spanking new Pontiac Bonneville. $7,100 cash out the door. I've kept it in pristine condition all these years and it only been a second car.

Just had it appraised and its value is now $12,000. I had an offer for it earlier in the Summer.

OTOH, if milk prices keep increasing I may just have to sell it to eat.....
 
LVSteve said:
A nice thought, but the realities of both business and government finances since the 1980s is that accountants have been largely employed to provide the picture their employers require, not record what has actually happened.
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The ethical ones refuse to falsify records.
 
Three years ago I bought 4 all terrain tires for My F150. Less than 800 bucks out the door. Yesterday I bought the exact same make tire size and all 1,286.00 out the door. Yep that is real inflation a couple of places quoted prices closer to 500 a tire.
Best economy ever.... in a pigs eye.
 
Anything manufactured with oil chemicals in it are off the scale of inflation. Can only wonder about corporate profit taking.

10 years ago I had $500 in new tires go onto a wrecker after my Taurus was towed away, hit by a trash truck while parked. 3 years ago, I had $1,000 in new tires go away after my also parked Lincoln was totaled, hit by a neighbor with a phone in her face running a stop sign. Four good new tires for my Nissan will cost me $400. Luckily they were nearly new when I bought it.

Premium tires were $80-90 a decade ago. Big truck tires, $100-120.
 
GypsmJim said:
Pffft. I see inflation, but at my house it's working out well.

44 years ago I bought a brand spanking new Pontiac Bonneville. $7,100 cash out the door. I've kept it in pristine condition all these years and it only been a second car.

Just had it appraised and its value is now $12,000. I had an offer for it earlier in the Summer.

OTOH, if milk prices keep increasing I may just have to sell it to eat.....
Click to expand...


On the other hand,

 
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