Cars Are So Expensive That Buyers Need Seven-Year Loans
They make monthly payments manageable but add thousands to the car’s total cost.
A North Carolina couple bought a $45,000 Honda Pilot in 2023 with a seven-year loan they later decided to pay off early.
Photographer: Rachel Jessen/Bloomberg
Shirria McCullough so loved her new, black Honda Pilot SUV that at first, she didn’t pay close attention to the loan terms. It was only after someone online pointed them out that the panic set in.
McCullough, a licensed clinical social worker in North Carolina, has been trying to eliminate debt from her life while documenting the process on TikTok. After she posted about the $45,000 Pilot, bought in 2023, a viewer commented that they’d never heard of Honda Motor Co. offering loans lasting seven years. McCullough hadn’t realized the loan’s length. The thought of her and her husband paying interest for so much time — adding thousands of dollars to the overall cost — made her “feel sick to my stomach,” she said.