New vehicles have been simply as inexpensive in March as they have been in February. That’s exceptional information after a yr during which they steadily grew harder to afford.
Affordability isn’t simply measured by worth. The Cox Automotive/Moody’s Analytics Car Affordability Index measures the variety of weeks the common earner would want to work to repay the common new automotive. (Cox Automotive is the father or mother firm of Kelley Blue E book.)
The common American would have wanted to work 42.9 weeks to repay the common new automotive in March.
Automobile costs fell barely in March, with the common new automotive promoting for $45,927 – down from a peak of over $47,000 in December.
However different components labored towards consumers. Rates of interest elevated. Incentives fell. These mixed to lift the common month-to-month fee to a document $691.
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New-vehicle affordability in March was a lot worse than a yr in the past, when costs have been decrease and incentives have been greater. The estimated variety of weeks of median earnings wanted to buy the common new automobile in March was up 18% from final yr.
This story initially ran on KBB.com.
