Cars Cost $50K Now; Not Luxury, Just... Cars

The average price of a new car is over $50,000 now — yeah, fifty grand, not just the fancy stuff. Full-size pickups are sitting near $67,500 and the average monthly payment is about $776, so this ain’t your grandpa’s car loan. Folks have been trading down to smaller SUVs and cheaper trims, but the baseline cost still won’t budge — wild. Dealers are getting desperate and weird: a local Lincoln Mercury ad actually touted a “Firstborn Sales Event,” offering discounts for “well-qualified babies” and straight-up telling you to “surrender your firstborn.” We crack up about it on the show because $2,000 off feels like pocket change next to a birth certificate — tune in for the audio, the ad is hilariously awful.

Takeaways:

• I freaked out when I learned the average new car now tops fifty grand—wild, right?
• We talk monthly payments climbing near $776 and how that feels more like paying rent than a car loan.
• Even buyers downsizing into compact SUVs and cheaper trims haven't budged the record average price, shockingly.
• I joked dealerships might need crazy promos — like that over-the-top 'surrender your firstborn' sales stunt we aired — to get attention.
• Bottom line: baseline vehicle costs are shockingly high, and typical $2,000 incentives barely move the needle; we're in full-on sticker shock era.