High Costs Have Ended America’s Love Affair With Cars From WSJ

Most of the yelling is about money. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the total cost to own and operate an automobile averaged a frightening $12,296 in 2024, roughly 30% higher than a decade ago. Driving the numbers are new-vehicle prices, now averaging $48,883, according to Cox Automotive’s latest data. With middle-income buyers priced out of new cars, demand for used cars has strengthened, now averaging around $25,500. 

Go ahead, throw a dish. It’ll make you feel better.

Among the major stressors: car insurance. Lexis-Nexis Risk Solutions’ annual report found average insurance costs rose 10% in 2024, after soaring 15% in 2023. Full-coverage policies now average $2,680 annually, up 12% from June 2024, says Bankrate. 

And whatever you do, don’t mention depreciation. In 2024, the AAA calculated the average new vehicle loses an eye-watering $4,680 in value every year, over the first five years. Edmunds reported that in the last quarter 2024, one in four consumers were underwater on a car loan—meaning that they owed more than the vehicle’s market value.

The spike in personal transportation is a budget buster. Many thousands of families face being forced out of their cars and into what is effectively a second-class citizenship. What are we supposed to tell a generational workforce that is going broke just getting to work? Take one of America’s fine new trains?

It’s not just about money, honey. It’s about trust. Doubts start with the mounting complexity of new cars: turbocharged hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains; screen-based displays and controls; and advanced safety systems. Anyone who has ever owned a laptop has reason to question the shelf-life of the technology.

“How long will manufacturers offer replacement modules and software for older cars?” wonders Tom Wilkinson, a former GM employee living in Michigan. In the future, cars might come with a fixed lifespan, perhaps “10 years or 150,000 miles,” Wilkinson said. “After that, the [automaker] would brick them, if for no other reason than to avoid the decades-long liability….”

The acres of plastic under the hoods of new cars isn’t very reassuring. In the early 2000s, automakers stepped up the use of injection molded thermoplastic components, which have the advantage of being lighter, more recyclable and cheaper than metal.

In the past two decades automakers have filled their engine bays with plasticized water pumps, oil filter housings, radiators and hoses. Between 2012 to 2021, the average amount of plastic in automobiles increased by 16%, to 411 pounds, according to the American Chemistry Council. 

Unfortunately, even the strongest plastics degrade in the daily extremes of heat cycling under the hood. It is only a matter of who pays. In 2021 BMW settled a class-action suit over engine failures related to so-called plastic embrittlement of timing chain components. In 2022 Volkswagen Group settled a similar suit involving the use of plastic water pumps. 

Among the more widely loathed current practices is the use of wet timing belts. These toothed, reinforced-rubber belts synchronize an engine’s cam timing with the crankshaft. Commonly, the belt winds around the crank sprocket, partially submerged in hot engine oil. 

A wet belt’s typical lifespan is roughly equivalent to a chain belt’s, but before wet belts break, they erode, spreading a rubbery contamination into the oiling system. If this gunk blocks the oil pickup, it can kill an engine.

Making matters worse—as in more expensive—is the practice of burying such term-limited components deep in the machinery, which often add hours of labor to the bill. In the terse wisdom of the garage: Engineers hate mechanics.

The “gizmo that failed in my Ford Escape that pivots to direct either hot or cold air in the HVAC is plastic,” said David Francis Kiley, a producer and publisher in Michigan. “The cost to replace it was over 2,000 bucks because the geniuses at Ford buried it with no access unless the whole dash was pulled out.”

Delivering value to customers, said Ford spokesperson Mike Levine, “requires a balance in engineering and manufacturing processes. We optimize between efficient assembly—which directly influences the customer’s initial purchase price—and repairability, to minimize a customer’s total cost of ownership over time.”

With garage repair costs up over 43% in six years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the not-worth-fixing threshold is shockingly easy to reach. The average single repair across all types of vehicles was $838 in 2024, according to Cox Automotive. 

“Cars have become disposable because automakers want them to be,” said Eric Evarts, a high-school English teacher from Danbury, Conn. Evarts noted automakers’ ongoing fight against right-to-repair legislation. Among other things, right-to-repair would oblige automakers to make the necessary tools, codes and parts available to owners and independent garages.

It’s surprising how many of the current discontents are the consequences of good intentions. Take, for example, collision repair. 

The cost of fixing damaged cars has skyrocketed 28% since 2021, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The collision-repair industry blames the rising cost of replacement parts; a shortage of trained technicians; and the increasing complexity of new cars, with special scorn directed at Advanced Driver-Assist Systems, or ADAS. 

Designed to reduce accidents and improve safety, ADAS technology—including functions such as automatic lane-keeping, dynamic cruise control and emergency braking—relies on cameras, sensors and transceivers integrated into the bumper trim, grille or windshield. Ultrasonic parking sensors are especially vulnerable.

In the era of ADAS, there is no such thing as a minor fender bender.

“My 2013 BMW X5 rear ended a small car and the damage to my car looked minor,” said Tom Walken, a psychologist in Raleigh, N.C. “But the electronics in the front bumper area pushed the repair cost to more than 75% of the car’s value so North Carolina law required that it be totaled.” (When contacted, BMW had no comment).

Millions of mindful consumers paid premium prices to drive electric cars. And they are still paying. Insurance companies are wary of covering collision repairs that involve battery packs or related systems. The diecast aluminum structural elements that undergird Teslas—“gigacastings”—are lightweight, compact and robust. But when damaged they often can’t be repaired, only replaced, and with great difficulty.

Last year Edmunds had a spot of trouble with the Tesla Cybertruck in its one-year test fleet. While parked on a street in West Hollywood, the huge, steel-paneled  truck was struck in the left rear by a small sedan. The Tesla was totaled. The estimate for repairs— including $4,280 for a new rear casting and $16,584 for labor—came to $57,879.89. Edmunds sold its Cybertruck to a salvage company for $8,000. (When contacted, Tesla did not reply.)

The cost of making modern cars whole again, combined with steep depreciation, sends thousands of lightly damaged, otherwise functional cars and trucks to salvage yards every month. In 2018, adjusters totaled 19% of all vehicles they inspected, one of every five claims (LexisNexis Risk Solutions). By 2023, the ratio had jumped to one of four claims (27%).

No wonder people are having abandonment issues.

My take: If automobility is to remain a defining feature in American society, something has to give. And that’s gasoline. The mounting costs of the automobile enumerated are all associated with a greater disruption: vehicle electrification.

Despite Tesla’s best efforts, EV sales rose globally again in 2024. The global industry has reached the place where it is now nominally cheaper to build an EV than an equivalent ICE vehicle. As the cost of energy storage (batteries) continues to fall, EV’s advantages will accelerate. There is no rollback of rule or regulation that will allow ICE vehicles to again be cost-competitive.

EV technology is not perfect, not yet. But ICE technology is as good as it’s ever going to get.

So I say lean in and move on, America. Let go of the past. You have nothing to lose but your  timing chains.