Tennessee man asks people on the street what their car payments are and there's a common trend
Published on Jan 11, 2026 at 11:48 AM (UTC+4)
by Henry Kelsall
Last updated on Feb 20, 2026 at 5:10 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
A man from Tennessee asked a bunch of people what their car payments are and found a common trend amongst all of them.
There are a variety of ways in which people can buy a car: be it paying outright, getting a second-hand car, or making monthly payments.
YouTuber George Kamel hit the streets of Franklin, Tennessee, to see what buying habits people had when it came to the cars they were buying.
During the video, he noticed one common trend that cropped up more than anything else.
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The average car payments people make
According to Kamel, Americans spend at least $700 a month on their brand-new cars.
That is a lot of money, but did everyone pay that much?
Well, the first person Kamel spoke to owned a 2004 Toyota Highlander and paid just $100 a month for it.
It cost $11,000, but he only had a few months left to pay the car off.
The next two people, though, own their cars outright and don’t pay a monthly amount.
Next, he spoke to a woman who paid $450 a month for her Tesla Model Y.
However, before that, she had a 2005 Toyota Prius and did not pay any monthly amount for the hybrid.
We can see the trend already playing out.
More people owned their cars outright
The next woman Kamel spoke to had bought a 2025 Ford Expedition SUV.
This cost her $80,000, but she paid for it in cash, fully, upfront, so she had no monthly payments.
The trend shown is that a lot more people seem to own a car outright than those who pay a monthly fee.
Even the lady with the Tesla owned her previous Toyota outright.
Another lady owned a 2018 Honda CR-V and had paid for this second-hand car in 2023 outright, with no monthly payment.
Next was a lady with a 2007 Toyota Highlander, and again, she had no monthly payments.
Given the average monthly spend Americans pay on their cars, it was impressive to see how many own the car outright.
Buying second-hand and being savvy with your money definitely looks to be the way to go.
It’s smart, you save money overall, and you don’t need to worry about monthly payments all the time.
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Henry joined the Supercar Blondie team in February 2025, and since then has covered a wide array of topics ranging from EVs, American barn finds, and the odd Cold War jet. He’s combined his passion for cars with his keen interest in motorsport and his side hustle as a volunteer steam locomotive fireman at a leading heritage steam railway in England.
