Car buyer's remorse has reached record levels in 2026 because Americans are increasingly trapped in negative equity loans where they owe more on their vehicles than the cars are worth, with new cars losing 20% of their value in the first year and 10% in the first month, while lenders stretch loans to 7-8 years to make payments appear affordable, creating a financial burden that affects over one in five new car buyers who are locked into $1,000+ monthly payments without sufficient savings to handle unexpected repairs or insurance costs.
Deep Dive
Prerequisite Knowledge
- No data available.
Where to go next
- No data available.
Deep Dive
Car Buyer’s Remorse Is EXPLODING in 2026 | Americans Regret Buying VehiclesAdded:
Welcome back to Edwards Economics. My name is Kayn and Americans now owe a record $1.68 trillion on their cars and a lot of them regret every single payment. Buyers remorse used to mean you wish you could pick a different color, but in 2026 it means that you're underwater on a loan that you can't escape making payments the size of a mortgage on a car that's already worth thousands of dollars less than what you owe. So, did all of these people just make bad decisions, or did the math on owning a car finally break for the average buyer? Let's find out.
>> I bought a car last week from a Facebook Marketplace dealership. And I already know you guys are going to be like, "Why would you buy it from a Facebook Marketplace dealership? I can't afford a real car right now." So, I bought it from a Facebook Marketplace dealership.
And when I went and tested out the car, it was fine. And I asked him if it would pass inspection cuz it didn't have the inspection sticker on it. And he said yes, it would. I drove one mile down the road. One mile down the road. Tell me why the check engine light turned on. So I messaged him immediately. Literally.
>> No, this is a case of she should have went there with somebody who knew about cars. Like you can't ask the person who's selling you the car if the car is good. Oh, is everything fine? Is everything check out? They want to take your money. They want to get your money.
You need to go with somebody who knows something about cars so they can get up under the hood, get up under the car and check out what's wrong. You know, you could probably pay for a mechanic's time, go on an off day and say, "Hey, will you come with me to XYZ? If you got anybody in your family, a cousin, a nephew, an uncle to go with you."
>> Pulled over to the side and messaged him. And I was like, "Hey, the check engine light turned on. I'm going to get it inspected to let you know what it actually is, like so they can figure out what the code is, but I just wanted to let you know." thinking he's going to fix the check engine light because I just bought the car just then.
Literally, I'm not even joking, a mile down the road, a mile. And then the blizzard hit so I couldn't get it inspected and the car was sitting there for like 3 days without me driving it because of the blizzard. So then yesterday when I went to start it, it didn't start and I was like, "Okay, it's probably because of the weather." So I called JA and they came and started my car and it started just fine and I left it on for an hour. I drove a loop around the parking lot and then left it on for an hour and 40 minutes. I didn't have to work until 2:30, so I turned off the car and I came back in. After I turned off the car, I tried again to turn it on to make sure that it would actually turn on and it turned on. Then at 2:00, I go down to start my car so I could go to work and the car didn't start again. So, I messaged the stupid guy. First of all, I had to miss work. I messaged the stupid guy and I was like, "Hey, I think something might be wrong with the battery. Like, are you able to replace it?"
>> You're messaging the wrong person. As soon as as soon as you accept delivery of the car, they don't care. He's not gonna just keep on listening to the lemon that he know he sold you. No, he's out of there. Especially if you met up at a location and you don't know where his or her address is, you're cooked. He basically told me, "No, he's not going to [ __ ] replace it." He says, "Sorry, I don't I don't do anything. That's like regular maintenance. I don't do that."
This man told me it would pass inspection and he told me that this car would run and everything. He didn't tell me there's a problem with the battery.
So, we go back and forth a little bit about this stupid battery. He sends me a screenshot of Chad G. Hold on. He sends me a screenshot of Chad GBT saying, "Does winter time affect batteries?" I know it does. IF I JUMP my car this morning and left it on for an hour and a half, it should not turn off and not turn back on 4 hours later. That's not normal. I'm sorry. That's not normal.
Anyways, basically, he says he's not going to fix it. And then I mentioned the check engine light again because I'm like, "Okay, if he's not going to fix this, I hope he's going to fix the [ __ ] check engine light." He tells me he only fixed engines and transmissions.
That's it. And he says it's a it's under the warranty. So I have to pay $150 for him to even look at it. What? I told you about this literally at when it happened. When it happened, I took a picture of it and I told him about it.
When I saw this check engine, like I should have turned around and gave him that damn car back and demanded my money back. And he keeps on saying, "A used battery is only like 50 bucks. Just go get a used battery is only like 50 bucks. I don't have 50 bucks. I don't have it." Then I called AAA again to see if they could come back and don't start my car again. When I called, they told me I only have two free service things a year. Since when is this a thing? First of all, I would have to pay $150 for them to come back and start my stupid car. Nobody in my apartment complex has jumper cables. Nobody. Oh, now I have no car, no battery. The beans. Get the beans. Don't get the beans. Cuz what is this? What is this? Why? Why?
Somebody tell me where do I go to fix this? Where do I go to fix this? I looked into it I want to say I looked into it a couple months ago because it was not like this. Like this was not it it was not like this. Like you can't even pull it back. Like I don't understand.
And then you got to keep on doing this just to get it back. Like, no. That's the problem with these new luxury cars.
You know, you got people that are trying to look like they're doing a little bit better than they are. You know, I don't get on nobody. If you can afford it, you can get it. But sometimes we run towards luxury so that we can keep up an image and then you can't really afford the maintenance on that or you don't even know where to take it to get it fixed or you do know where to take it to get it fixed. You take it there and they tell you how much it's going to cost because you're not fixing some Honda Civic. You're fixing a Mercedes bins and that comes with high maintenance costs. It's just the name of the game. It's always been that way.
It's always been that way. The only way to avoid it is to drive your little hoopty. You going to be you going to need some service on it, but it ain't you going to be able to find somebody on the side of the street that can fix it.
>> How do I fix this? When I looked into it, it was like $7,000.
Having a Benz is just so much maintenance. Like, it's just a car.
Like, it's a car like any other car. The maintenance is the problem. That's the problem. The maintenance, the A and B, they have a A and a B maintenance. like you you go for your your A service, you go for your B service, and if you don't have a package plan with Mercedes, like I be paying $1,200.
That's ridiculous for oil changes and >> Yeah. No, see, you're not going to like this.
This is a prime person that should just go get themselves a little 1920 $20,000 used Tesla Model 3. Lowmaintenance little electric car. Just plug it in.
You don't got to worry about nothing.
Change some tires, change some windshield wiper fluid. But no, no, y'all want to go out and be flexing and get in these super expensive German engineered cars and y'all don't got a clue how to fix them. And people who do going to charge you a premium, >> whatever else they think I need. And now I'm to the point like I don't need nothing but a oil change. So that better come up to $300, $400. And even that's a lot.
>> Yeah.
>> How do I fix this? How do somebody come in the comments and tell me like, where do I go to fix this? This is a Mercedes.
>> I mean, think about it. I'm not gonna pay $7,000 to get that little shade fixed when I can just cut it, go get a little tent for1 $200 and just call it a day.
Honestly, I mean, what would you do at this point? I'm not paying $7,000 for that.
>> I just turned 30 and this is for all the young women in their 20s. Most important piece of advice I could ever give you.
Do not do not buy a new car. Don't do it. It is a scam. Don't even buy a new or used car. In fact, don't get a car that's over $25,000 unless you can pay for at least half of it out of pocket. I had a 2020 Subaru Forester Premium with about 80,000 m on it. Unfortunately, it was totaled. I was paying a disgusting amount of money every month for that car. I just got an email from the car dealership that I bought that Subaru from saying, "Oh, hey, we'd be interested in buying your Subaru. If it has about 90,000 miles and it's in excellent condition, we'll buy it from you for $7,000.
Three years ago, a mere three years ago, they sold me that car for $30,000.
$30,000 and 3 years later, it's only worth seven. Hot girls are smart with their money. They buy reliable brands like Toyota, like Lexus, like Honda.
They take care of their cars and they have them forever and they save a bunch.
>> That's an insane amount of depreciation.
Like what is that? 75% depreciation in 3 years from Nope.
This is why some of y'all need to follow the Dave Ramsey plan. Buy a three or fouryear-old used car where the largest depreciation hit is already taken. I literally just did this. Just did this.
I've only ever done this actually.
75% is absolutely insane. And the craziest thing is if she has to get rid of it, maybe not her, but other people who are in this situation, the people who buy it after it's done with the lease, who who buy it after it's three or four years old are getting the best deal. And the crazy thing is, you was just driving the car. Now they get to drive the car that you have to drive, but they got a better price for it. your money. Since my Subaru is totaled, I bought a 13-year-old car. It is a very reliable brand, very reliable model. Um, I've had it for a few months and it has caused me no issues whatsoever.
>> Piece of mind right there.
>> Biggest piece of advice, do your research on the brand.
>> Buy something that you can pretty much afford outright or at least half at the bare minimum and save your money. Save your money. Do not buy a new car. That is a scam.
Okay, so I bought a 2023 Kia Sarrento two years ago. Yesterday was exactly two years. And Haley, I bought my Kia in August of this year, a 2025.
>> Don't do it.
>> What's wrong with >> And my car has been in the shop multiple times. Um, where I even began, fuel pumps went out. Um, windows were not working. Um, my door could not lock. Um, my seatelt came out of the wall. Um, and yeah, so we've been in the shop a million times already. It's just one thing after the other. Okay. And then Sunday, Monday, yesterday, we were driving home from Dallas.
>> And all of a sudden, I could not accelerate. My gas pedal did not work >> on Dallas North tollway.
>> Yeah, on the tollway. Life at risk and I cannot accelerate on the tollway. and my car slowly starts slowing down. So, I put my hazards on and I got to get over to get off the tollway. And as soon as I get off the tollway, my engine sets on fire.
>> Whoa.
>> Smoke.
>> Not the Kia.
>> No.
>> Flames, everything. So, the fire trucks pulled up, the cops pulled up. We caused the whole scene. We were blocking traffic. Um, the cop literally looked at me and my sister and told us to run run down the street and get away from the car because there were flames.
>> So yeah, now my car is at Kia again for the hundth time and I'm told that I have to get a whole new engine, Cadillac converter, brake, >> no >> something. Keep it.
>> I don't even know. But yeah, so Kia sucks.
>> Uh, mine I got mine in August. We can barely >> in September I was driving it and every time I press on the gas it would slam on the brakes. So like kind of the same thing. Then take it in. They say they fixed it. I don't remember exactly what the they said the reason was, but they say they fix it. November comes around.
Same thing happens again. Goes back into Kia and apparently there's some external leak somewhere and I have to get a whole new transmission.
>> Oh no.
>> 4 months old.
>> Yeah.
>> The car is 4 months old. Brand new.
>> Who told who told both? They look like sisters. Who told the sisters? Who told this family to go get Kia? You know, maybe it just it ran in the family. Kia had always been reliable for them. I liked Kia. I got some friends that just got Kia. They look all futuristic and stuff now. But maybe that's the problem.
They're over here exploding on tollways.
What?
>> Transmission. Okay. my car 2 years old, 35,000 mi, new engine because my was on fire.
So then we just saw a commercial, Kia commercial, and their lovely uh motto was Kia movement that inspires.
>> So we're changing it to >> Kia movement that sets on fire, >> that explodes.
>> So moral of the story, do not buy a Kia.
No, we got a 2-year-old Kia getting a new transmission, new engine because it was on fire, and we have a 4-month-old brand new Kia who already had to get a new transmission.
>> Everybody needs to get out to work.
Everybody needs to haul their kids to sports practices or school. Reliable car is not a luxury. It's a thing that makes the paycheck possible. And a newer vehicle under a warranty means that you're not gambling on a surprise repair every month. So, when it's framed that way, financing a dependable car sounds less like a mistake and more like buying peace of mind. And that's exactly the trap that most people are falling into because the car didn't get worse. It's the financing that did. The average new car buyer in 2026 is financing a record $43,700.
And to make that number actually look survivable, lenders stretched out the loan. So more than one in five new cars are bought with 84month loans. That's seven years of car payments, guys. And people aren't doing this they can get the lower monthly payment and then accelerate the payoff. No, they're doing it so they can actually afford it for literally 7 years. And the moment you drive it off the lot, this is what the problem actually starts. The clock starts working against you. A new car loses around 20% of its value in the first year, more than 10% in the first month. So, you are holding a seven-year loan against an asset that does most of its dying in its first year. That gap between what you owe and what the car is worth has a name. It's called negative equity, and we should get very familiar with it because most people who have car loans have it. Right now, 30 and a half% of buyers trading in a car owe more on it than it's actually worth. The average new car payment hit a record $767 a month. Y'all, for most people in America who don't even have $1,000 saved up, who are living paycheck to paycheck, there is absolutely no way they can make $1,000 in car payments every single month cuz we're not even talking about the insurance yet. When you do that, then you have over one in five Americans that are locked into $1,000 a month in payments. So, if you guys thought that there was a recession coming, I think that it's already here. It's just quiet.
So, we can't necessarily hear the breaking, but it's happening. Serious autoong delinquencies just hit 5.2% almost exactly where they sat at the bottom of the 2009 recession, and repossessions are running at levels that we haven't seen since then. A payment you can afford is a budgeting problem.
Negative equity is a freedom problem.
And scripture is blunt about this, y'all. In Proverbs 22:7, it says that the borrower is slave to the lender.
When $916 of your money is already committed before you've even bought a single gallon of gas, you don't own the car. The car owns you. So, what do we do about this? I don't want to just scream doom and gloom and talk about the negativity. I want to give you guys a blueprint so that you don't make the mistakes that most Americans are making.
So, step number one, put at least 20% down when you're buying a car. I say don't even finance it if you don't have to. Maybe buy a hoopy a used car and buy it cash and just drive it until the wheels fall off. But I understand, you know, people, they want new things. But if you're going to get something new like a car, put at least 20% down.
Finance it for no more than four years.
And if you can't afford the 4-year payment, you can't afford the car at all. Keep everything the car costs you, the payment, the insurance, the gas, under 10% of your monthly take-home pay.
Buy a car that is 2 to four years old and let the first owner eat all of that depreciation. If you're already underwater, do not roll it forward into the next loan. Pay it down or drive it down until you're free from it. A car is a tool. The minute it turns into a $916 monthly identity statement, it stops serving your life and it starts running it. But as always, I want to hear from you. What is your car payment right now?
If you have one, be honest. Drop in the comments below. We will not judge you.
>> We bought our new Jeep Grand Cherokee 16 months ago, and in that time, it's been in the shop for 146 days to date, which is over 30% of the time that we've owned it. The rear air suspension failed on it six times now. We filed a lemon law case with an attorney, but unfortunately, it could take up to a year to get resolved.
Even though our car far exceeds all the requirements of a lemon law claim, it's a waiting game for Stalantis to respond.
This most recent time, our Jeep has been in the shop for over 10 weeks, and this has been the worst experience of all the previous repairs. When we first took it in, the dealership notified us that a special technician from Stalantis was coming out to assess our vehicle. Upon inspection, they noted there was a crack in the subframe. They mentioned that this is normal wear and tear and our warranty would not cover any of the repairs. We went to the dealership to inspect it ourselves and took lots of photos and videos. The dealership was actually on our side, noting that this is not normal wear and tear and that the subframe on a vehicle with under 15,000 m on it should not have these structural issues when there's no sign of abuse to the vehicle itself. We had to battle with Stalantis for well over a month as they kept telling us this would not be covered by the warranty. I sent our case manager the photos and videos and we threatened more legal action against them. They all of a sudden decided to reverse their decision and cover the repairs. The total cost for a new subframe and to replace the rear air suspension again was over $13,000 just in part.
>> See, I don't even want it anymore. I don't even want it anymore. When they start making you jump through all these hoops with certain brands, I mean, I've been reading about Stellantis. I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee as well. Um, I'm about to go sell that thing cuz this worries me. You know, it it's got 67,000 miles on it. I mean, all the kids are going to laugh, but uh I I see these videos and I'm like, you know what? I don't want to go through that. I don't want to go through that. Now, we did buy it three years used 2017. I've driven it this entire time. It's been our main family car. We don't drive that many miles, but uh it's starting to get to that point as we inch closer to a 100,000 miles. It's not going to be worth much if we try and sell it again.
And then I'm hearing again things like this, it any repair that's over $1,000, it's gone. I don't even want it anymore.
Right now, it's running good. It might be a good time to get rid of it. But $13,000 on a Jeep Ranch, no thank you. No thank you.
>> That means all the repairs combined have cost over $30,000, which is half the price of the car. We're not sure if this failure of the subframe is what's been causing all the issues with our air suspension all along or not. But now that we went ahead and had to buy another car, the Jeep will just sit on our driveway of our RV lot until we get a response from Stellantis, which given our experience with them, won't be the outcome we're hoping for. Some financial lessons I've taught the hard way. I just finished paying off my car that no longer works. I bought this car back in 2021 for $23,000 and it stopped started giving me trouble 2 years ago and it officially stopped working a year ago. I took it to every mechanic shop you can think of. every Honda uh I took it to multiple Hondas. I contacted Honda corporate. I changed every part you can think of and nothing was able to fix the car. Our last resort is getting a new engine for it. But they run a little bit expensive. They run from $200 to $3,000.
I think it's expensive because my boyfriend bought me a replacement car after this one broke down for $1,200 on Facebook Marketplace that has given me no issues. The only reason >> like what what's up with this? This is like a an Accord. What do you mean? You bought it in 2021 and it just stopped working.
Th This ain't no little gadget. This is a vehicle.
It can't It should not just stop working after a couple years. Like, what are we talking about? A Honda at that, too.
>> Want to give up on this car yet is because it was $23,000.
Um, so I do want to keep trying. The engines are kind of hard to find because everybody wants the engine for this car.
So, as soon as one is available, it sells really fast. The lesson here was that I will never ever buy a car in payments again. It is not worth it to me. I do believe in having nice cars, but they will just have to be bought cash.
>> Never ever ever buy a BMW, or as I like to call them, big money waste. Look how nice and luxurious. I just love how the glove box does not open and the leather is peeling up and how it's melting on the handlebars. So, anyone that gets in your car gets goop all over them. I just love the sunroof looking like it has mold. Not to mention, it's $90 to fill up.
>> Wow, >> I love it.
But in all seriousness, this is the worst car I've ever drove in my life. A few days ago, we were changing the oil and we had to get the cap off, but my dad dropped it inside the hood and it was dark outside, so we couldn't find it. So, we got a new cap cuz we couldn't find the other one. And then we went to go put it on and my hood wouldn't open.
And I didn't want to drive my car cuz I didn't want oil to go everywhere when I drive it. So, I had to get the car towed and taken somewhere for them to open the latch and put the oil cap back on. Not to mention, I need new shocks and struts because every time I go over a bump, I go like, >> I mean, to be fair, this car is probably older than her. I I I I know that we like older cars, sometimes classic cars, but if you're not prepared to do the maintenance or fix it properly or if you don't want to or find joy in that, just go get something reliable. Like, it's not worth the headache. It's genuinely not worth the headache at all.
>> Well, I've officially seen it all. My oil change was $1,000. Y'all, I'm literally so pissed off. My battery died last week and it was $350 to get my battery changed. I don't know why it was so expensive, but like it was. I also had to buy coolant because my coolant was low. And then today I take my car in to just go get a standard oil change to the Subaru dealership and uh fatal flaw.
Never take it to a dealership. Even though I wanted to take it in because I just changed my own brake pads and I wanted to make sure that everything was fine cuz god forbid.
And they're like it's our 60k check-in.
60k check-in.
I didn't know about any of the like why don't they tell you about it in advance because I don't have the money to be dropping like this like every time I go to try to save money happens. Um I'm pissed. So the 60k check-in includes an oil change, new filters, new spark plugs, a transmission flush and brake flush.
$1,000.
I have no words. It is ungodly expensive to have a car and I like can't not have a car because I have to get to and from work.
>> This is just typical car maintenance though. I mean, yeah, the prices are insane. This is why I'm not a car guy.
This is why I like cars. I don't like anything that depreciates. I don't like anything that breaks and that's everything, right? You can call me Socrates or Plato. I hate change. I wish that there could just be a consist like if imagine if our budgets never changed from 2015.
Whatever you was paying for your entire life in 2015, imagine if it didn't change. But no, we got inflation. We got stuff that degrades. Batteries degrading. We got uh uh just regular depreciation on the houses, things break. I'm I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it.
>> Let me tell you about the worst financial decision I ever made in my adult life. And no, it's not the salon I'm about to demo that I paid $70,000 for. It's the Range Rover I bought that almost crippled me financially. As a 21-year-old business owner and a hairdresser, I had a lot to prove to myself and I think everyone around me, I wanted I didn't want people to think I was stupid and I wasn't capable of owning a business. So, my goal was to work really hard so I could one day afford this. And I was able to.
Eventually, I was able to purchase that luxury vehicle. But let me tell you, from the get- go, it was the worst decision I ever made. From 6 weeks of owning it, everything went downhill. In the early days, it was all under warranty. So, every time something went wrong with it, Land Rover would just give me a new one. Every time it failed in the car park at work, they would just tow it off, give me a new one, and I wouldn't see it for a month or so. So, yes, it wasn't ideal, but um while it was under warranty, it was a different story. 1 month out of warranty. The DFP failed on it. And to be able to drive it again, it was $6,000 just to be able to get back in the car.
And that wasn't even the biggest thing that went wrong. So, for all the years I owned this car for, all up, it kind of was in the shop for about 12 months. And I didn't know my rights as a young woman. Um, I probably these days I'd push a little bit harder with the brand um to sort it, but early days um I didn't really understand my own rights and like legal rights. So, I was massively screwed over in this.
Eventually, I did sell the car.
Actually, no, I didn't even sell it. I traded it in because I had such bad guilt over selling it to some poor female that would end up having this absolute lemon of a vehicle. Uh, so I ended up trading it in for pretty much half of what I paid for it. And yeah, now I own a Toyota Parado. I've never had one single issue with it. It's such a great vehicle. I'll never want to own a luxury vehicle again. Yo, I'm I've given up on this car completely.
I've put in $1,500 just in repairs on this car and it's still leaking oil.
This This is triggering me just seeing this. Anybody who's ever Anybody who's ever been I want to say sidelined on the road because you saw smoke literally coming from your hood.
This should trigger you. I cannot stand this. replaced so much stuff like I like we rethreaded the bolts. We re rethreaded three bolts. This bolt, this bolt, and then one inside.
We changed this whole thing, this whole cover, change the spark plugs, replace the catalytic converter, replace the radiator hose, replace some other hoses.
I don't know what else to do. So, this car is going bye-bye. Yeah, you got to get rid of it. And the thing is, she knew. She was pointing out what stuff is. At least better than me. I I don't know nothing going on under there.
Nothing. So, uh, yeah. The one thing you haven't tried to do is just get rid of it. Just bye-bye.
One number to walk away with, not the 767, not the 9116, it's the seven, as in the 7year loan. If the only way the math works is by stretching it across seven years, unfortunately, I have to break some bad news to you. The math doesn't work. Getting a car you can actually afford and driving it to the wheels fall off does the exact same job as that new car with the terrible financing. But you do not have to worry about this because you are one smart cookie because you subscribe at edwardseconomics.com because that's where I go deeper giving different blueprints, advice, and other unfiltered thoughts in biblical application that I can't always get into here. If you guys have a friend or a grown kid that's about to walk into a car lot this month, send them this video before they sign anything. And then tell me in the comments, what is the most you would ever pay for a car in cash? Would you buy a hooptie or would you save up your money and buy a luxury car? I want to know. Thank you guys for watching this video. Y'all pray the Lord blesses you, that he keeps you, that he lifts his face towards you, that he turns his countenance towards you, that he gives you favor and that he gives you peace.
Related Videos
VALORANT's Latest 'Exclusive' Tier Bundle is Rough...
KangaValorant
17K views•2026-05-28
Flight Attendant Mocks Poor Looking Black Woman — Mid Air Announcement Exposes Her Real Power
SkyboundStories-b4r
184 views•2026-05-28
I FIXED My Friend’s Blown Turbo RX-8… Then Sold It
Cameron-RX8
134 views•2026-05-28
NewsWatch 12 at 5: Top Stories
NewsWatch12
1K views•2026-05-28
Simon Jordan & Danny Murphy deliver PREDICTIONS for Arsenal's Champions League FINAL with PSG
talkSPORTArsenal
6K views•2026-05-28
Botting is OUT OF CONTROL in Classic WoW (Again)...
SolheimGaming
108 views•2026-05-28
The "AI Job Apocalypse" is CANCELLED!
WesRoth
9K views•2026-05-28
STREET FIGHTER 6 - INGRID Story Walkthrough @ 4K 60ᶠᵖˢ ✔
RajmanGamingHD
12K views•2026-05-28











