Transcript
A (0:00)
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Business and the Becker Private Equity Podcast. Today's discussion is auto loan defaults rise. So, so here's what's going on and the reason why this is important, at least some people think it's important, is that auto loans and car buying sort of serve as a barometer of health for, you know, American households, for the economy and so forth. What you've got now is stats on auto loans rising significantly over the last couple years. And there's a couple reasons for this. There's the staticness in income of, of people that own cars, that the income's not going up as much as they'd like it to. But two people are buying much more car than they should be buying, and car prices have gone up tremendously since the start of the pandemic. So what you've got is car prices are really high. People are buying cars at much higher prices. They're taking out much bigger loans for them, and their income is not keeping up. And in fact, the job market's more fragile than it's been in some time. So when I look at these auto loan delinquenties, part of it is, of course, on the buyer. You know, I don't blame the carmakers. I do buy buyers for buying things they can't afford or shouldn't, shouldn't put themselves at risk. We're obviously a huge proponent of a no debt. You know, people talk about this no Kings Day. I don't want to comment on that one way or the other, but I am a believer in a no debt day that people should be very careful in the amount of debt they take on. That debt kills countries, it kills families, it kills companies, it kills individuals. And at the end of the day, you've got more and more people that have $1,000 a month car payment, which to me is just absolutely ludicrous and crazy. I think it's crazy. You got a $50 a month phone payment. Release the phone you use in a certain way every single day, 24 hours. 7. We're on the car payment. This concept of thousand dollar a month car payments I think is beyond ridiculous. In any event, car defaults, loan delinquencies are rising significantly. Let's hope that's not a bad sign for the American consumer, where the American economy is going. Thank you for listening to the Becker Business and the Becker Private Equity Podcast. Thank you very, very much.
