How can they live in such Squalor yet have nice new cars...?

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hollydolly

hollydolly

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I'm genuinely perplexed about this...

This is an example... on the video you can see people living in what looks like abject poverty, their houses are falling down,yet they seem to have nice cars...

I'm not singling anywhere out in particular, it's just this video came up in my feed, and it represents everywhere I've ever been in the UK as well that is downtrodden and poverty stricken, people are claiming benefits and food stamps, but somehow they seem to be able to afford nice cars.. it's puzzling to me, and I've always wanted to know how that can be . I;ve been very poor, and the very last thing I could afford was a car

 

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It looks like a rural area where housing is cheap. A good car would be necessary to get to work, the store, the doctor, the pharmacy. No public transportation in those parts.

It's the same where I live. Here gigantic pickup trucks and SUVs are common because our winters are often severe. Most look good, but are really second-hand vehicles.
 

Judycat said:
It looks like a rural area where housing is cheap. A good car would be necessary to get to work, the store, the doctor, the pharmacy. No public transportation in those parts.

It's the same where I live. Here gigantic pickup trucks and SUVs are common because our winters are often severe. Most look good, but are really second-hand vehicles.
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fair enough... I accept that might be the case in a rural area, even if many of them are not actually employed ... but I've seen this in urban areas and cities, time and time again...here in the Uk
 
I think the same thing when I see someone missing half their teeth yet are covered in tatoos, smoking a cigarette and using the latest $1500 cell phone.

I think it comes down to a couple of things. One is simply what a person prioritises in their life, the other is how they use credit. Such as its much easier to get a car loan for $25k and buy that shiney ride than to save $25k to use as a down payment on a home.
 
For me, it goes back to childhood.
Some neighbor kids lived in dumps
Their folks drove heaps
Their clothes were rags

but

They had the best toys

As far as new vehicles;
I think it's a matter of choice
Buy a rig on credit
Pay a few hundred a month
.....for several years
Cruise around....hardly ever home
 
If this is in the U.S., we have car lots here known as “chump change car lots.” You go into their office, pick out a car and then agree (in contract) to stop by once a week and pay $50 or whatever the deal is that you can make with the owner. This is just one possibility.
 
BTW, I do know of a friend of my grandson that bought a car in that manner. He brought the contract to me to read and give him my opinion. I wasn’t in favor of him buying the truck that way, but he had very little to put down, I think maybe $200, so it worked for him.

In the contract, it stated that if the buyer missed three consecutive payments, the vehicle would be repossessed within 24 hours after the third missed payment date. It also stated that his present interest rate was going to be 14.9%, but if he missed even one payment, the rate would jump to 19.9%. I recommended that he check with a banker to find out if that was even legal, but he told me he wasn’t worried about it because he wouldn’t be missing any payments.
 
oldman said:
If this is in the U.S., we have car lots here known as “chump change car lots.” You go into their office, pick out a car and then agree (in contract) to stop by once a week and pay $50 or whatever the deal is that you can make with the owner. This is just one possibility.
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yes but they all seem to be new or ralitvely new. If you can't afford to maintain your house, how can you afford to buy and run a gas guzzling vehicle?
 
hollydolly said:
yes but they all seem to be new or ralitvely new. If you can't afford to maintain your house, how can you afford to buy and run a gas guzzling vehicle?
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It may be very likely that the residents could be receiving welfare payments or subsidized housing.
 
oldman said:
It may be very likely that the residents could be receiving welfare payments or subsidized housing.
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yes .. and so if they are receiving welfare payments then that means they're living below the poverty line.. so that takes me back to the question... How can they afford new vehicles..

At one time during my daughters' childhood I worked 7 pat-time jobs to fit around her school hours, and I could barely afford the one gallon of petrol to put in my moped... a new car would not only have been a dream then.. but even now I would struggle to find the price of a new car, and I'm much better off today than way back then
 
@hollydolly
I too have seen this over and over also ........
it is a priority thing...
even worked with many a person who wanted to stay with others etc had NO home to speak of but had a very nice car and the biggest stereo you could put in the car.

The thing here in the US is there are MANY places who love to finance these things at insane % rates and super long contracts to make payment low ....
But the trick is many will default and then they Resell same fancy ride to yet another person
or jack up finance rate even more. saw a 22% rate on a co-workers Paperwork before.

Poverty is a business ......

that is why legalized loan sharks......... like Payday loans and cash advance places are all over the place.
My Niece worked at one they encouraged rolling loan over and over each time with a "convenience fee" creating a never ending debt.

That is why so many place lure people in with low payments ... no payments for first 6 months and on and on ..... because they Sign up for something not seeing in the end the items will cost 2 x the price when you add fees and large finance %
 
Some of the houses looked decent, some absolute dumps. I was also taken by the trash.

I don't know but I've seen this before. Minus the trash. Up the coast from Santa Cruz, where my stepfather grew up, there were absolute shacks with Cadillac's and I don't know what else big new shiny cars. They must have belonged to the migrant workers. The contrast was startling to see them parked in front of these unpainted, literal dumps. But I see it like this. These souls worked really hard, had no permanent place to live. That car must have been their status, the thing they had and could take with them. A pride in their hard work. It was very sad. I still remember this from the 60's & 70's.
 
I know of a woman who was in a nursing home. I think she was still receiving her benefits in her pocket and went to the car lot and bought a very nice used car cash. It sat in the nursing home parking lot. She eventually died so they government never got their money back. If someone is getting medical to pay for their nursing home stay, all their money should go to the facility. They get under 40 dollars a month. She was also ordering clothes off the shopping channel.

I know she is not the only one who worked the system like this. There have been others in nursing homes, getting their care paid for and still receiving their SS to their bank account. It takes the government some time to catch them it seems even when they are turned in by the facility.
 
This is a third world part of the US. It's poverty. There are strict laws about the condition of vehicles on the road. If you're driving a broken-down car, you'll get pulled over by the cops, and your car will be towed to an impound yard. The fees to get the vehicle are way more than what the vehicle is worth. It's a way to get junk cars off the road.
 
hollydolly said:
I'm genuinely perplexed about this...

This is an example... on the video you can see people living in what looks like abject poverty, their houses are falling down,yet they seem to have nice cars...
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Being from Louisiana originally I find this pretty normal... Just surprised you don't see some even nicer boats.

All a matter of priority I guess.

And in the US in general we have little or no public transport in smaller towns, a car is a necessity.
 
Alligatorob said:
Being from Louisiana originally I find this pretty normal... Just surprised you don't see some even nicer boats.

All a matter of priority I guess.

And in the US in general we have little or no public transport in smaller towns, a car is a necessity.
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..yes a car is a necessity here in the rural shires, but again..if they are poor then there's no money for new cars...
 

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