Stop Telling Poor People to ‘Just Buy a Cheap Car’. It’s a Financial Trap.
We tell poor people to ‘just buy a cheap car.’ But a $1,000 beater comes with a $1,500 repair bill, and banks won’t underwrite the $3,000 loan that could actually buy reliability. Poverty isn’t just a lack of money—it’s a punishing surcharge on survival. Here is why the used car market is a structural trap.