Auto mechanic of 56 years warns Americans they're about to find out car prices have gone through the roof

An auto mechanic of 56 years warns Americans they’re about to find out car prices have gone through the roof, and it’s for more reasons than one.

It seems like an insidious combination of people trading in their old cars with negative equity and interest rates on car loans being higher than ever.

A lot of automakers are focusing on manufacturing and selling more expensive models of their cars, like SUVs and luxury cars, which means that even more affordable options are harder to get your hands on.

It seems like the automotive world is in a time of massive change and not all of it looks good for American consumers.

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Car prices have gone through the roof

This auto mechanic of 56 years has issued Americans with a dire warning: car prices have gone through the roof and they’re only going to keep rising.

The first reason that cars are an expensive endeavor in America is that one in four new car buyers still owes money on the car they’re trading in.

The average American has a negative equity of $6,754 on their cars and then they roll their debt into their new cars instead of paying off their old ones.

America can’t afford new cars

As of 2025, the average new car costs $48,799, but the cars aren’t getting fancier and aren’t technically worth more, lots of people have previous debt from their last car loan, causing a bit of a doom spiral.

Automakers are losing money fast due to tariffs on foreign-made vehicles, which leads to non-US-manufactured cars costing more.

Interest rates on cars are skyrocketing, while automakers are focusing on making more expensive models of SUVs and premium vehicles, so all in all, it seems like there’s a distressing combination of factors making American car buyers squirm.