Nearly 30% of all trade-ins are underwater
How do you trade in an underwater car??? Applied the balance to the next loan?
Yes, they literally put the remainder of the old loan on the new one. That's been a thing for a long time and it's stupid as hell. The car dealers are implicit in this by pushing "You deserve a new car!" all the time.
We used to have one of those slow credit dealers that would specifically advertise to that crowd, talking about how they could put you in a "nicer, newer car - even if you were underwater on your old one." Same thing the banks did, get that quick profit hit and hope you can survive the coming sudden death tournament (hint: you can't.)
I didn’t believe people could be that stupid as I was writing the question. I know I should’ve known better….but…. Maybe delusional optimism is still in there somewhere, though it dies off a bit more each day.
Many consumers are really that stupid. They live on credit. If you're paying today, what does it matter that you're still paying tomorrow? You have the newest shiny!