Today is the last class in our current four-class set. I received the tuition payment for Dec. We will begin class with a casual conversation. Please complete unit 48 in our purple grammar book. Our reading this week is about unplugging. I have included some listening practice for you. Please listen and follow the transcript.
Click HERE for the reading
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Cars are really expensive these days. The average new vehicle is nearly 50 grand, but that is only one part of the story. As NPR's Camila Domonoske reports, it is not just buying a car that's gotten pricey. It is owning one, too.
CAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE: Sometimes, the cost of driving in America sounds like this.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade.
DOMONOSKE: Other times, it sounds more like this.
LEONELA GARCIA: The only way that I can explain it - it's like, fluttering, like, (imitating fluttering car sound). And I'm just like, OK, well, that doesn't sound good.
DOMONOSKE: That's Leonela Garcia. She's a single mom of two in Southern California, where she drives a 2011 Kia Optima. Or rather, she used to drive that Optima until that moment on the highway, when she learned what a blown head gasket sounds like.
GARCIA: (Imitating fluttering car sound).
DOMONOSKE: The cheapest estimate for repairs is $5,000.
GARCIA: It's just still mind-blowing of how much car parts and labor and, you know, all these little things in between could cost.
DOMONOSKE: Supply chain issues drove car prices sky high - 50 grand new, 30 grand used. That's a big driver of today's inflation. It's also driving lots of people away from the car market entirely. They're hanging onto cars they have for longer and longer. The average American vehicle is now more than 12 years old - even older than Garcia's Kia. Vehicles lasting longer is generally a good thing. But, individually, those older vehicles can pinch pocketbooks, like Garcia discovered. Ivan Drury is the head of insights at Edmunds, and he says when you drive a car until the wheels fall off...
IVAN DRURY: So you're going to come and incur new costs. You're going to find out what it's like to change a timing belt for the second time. You're going to find out that, hey; labor rates have gone up at my local shop or at my dealership. Certain parts are getting harder and harder to find.
DOMONOSKE: Right now, the cost of car repairs are outstripping inflation. Car insurance costs are going up, too. Then there's fuel. All told...
DRURY: Even if you're not buying something new or used, your continued maintenance and your continued, you know, relationship with your car is getting more expensive.
DOMONOSKE: So yeah, vehicle costs are going up everywhere these days, but inflation doesn't feel the same for everyone. At the top of the market, people are paying eye-popping prices for incredible luxury vehicles - big trucks and SUVs packed with sensors and cameras and cutting-edge safety features. At the bottom of the market, people who just need a car to pay the bills are pouring money into beaters because there's not much choice. Greg Bannon (ph) is with AAA, and he says the low end of the used car market is empty.
GREG BRANNON: It was just a few years ago you could buy a decent car for $5,000, probably - you know, something that was, you know, relatively reliable. And now, that same number at 10 is barely possible.
DOMONOSKE: And that means that, even as maintenance costs rise, it's probably still cheaper than buying a replacement vehicle.
BRANNON: And I think, if there's any advice right now, it's that, if you don't have to buy a new car right now, then I would hold off.
DOMONOSKE: Where does that leave Leonela Garcia? She doesn't have five grand for repairs. She doesn't have the credit for a loan, except at an exorbitant 28% interest. What she does have is a 50-mile commute and a car she's borrowed from a friend for now. So what's her plan? Well, it's sitting on her driveway, blown head gasket and all - not moving, but sparkling clean.
GARCIA: I wash it 'cause I don't want the paint to get ruined 'cause, in my head, I'm like, I'm going to get this car going. I'm going to get this car going.
DOMONOSKE: She raised a couple thousand dollars after she launched a GoFundMe to help cover the repair bill. Camila Domonoske, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS SONG, "SCAR TISSUE")