Because dealerships around bases pray on young kids that have a little bit of money for the first time but no financial knowledge. They don’t understand what 30% APR means they just know they can buy the hellcat they’ve always wanted.
And they are also living on their own for the first time
Not all military. Recently enlisted military. Because of reasons already stated. Tbh it wasn’t all of us, but a lot of us. I bought a 93 Silverado when I got out of basic. My three friends I kept in touch with bought a Challenger, a Mustang, and a WRX.
The military can be a young bro culture, which may lean more towards those cars.
First hand experience. Young men getting some money for the first time, especially the pay that builds up while deployed. That lends itself to rash financial decisions. Lots of boats and flashy cars/trucks suddenly when the unit returns home 😂
They’re very young men with money for the first time in their lives and all of their basic life costs are covered by the military. So they spend it on dumb cool shit.
As to why it’s true, it’s because your average Private is freshly out of high school and thus has a desire to look cool combined with poor financial skills. Car dealers will deliberately set up outside of military bases and are well aware of how much money a Private makes (and therefore, exactly how much they can finance).
Go to any Army post and there will be a car dealer, a strip club, a tattoo place, and a Korean seamstress right out front. I guarantee it.
It is a stupid stereotype. There’s a minority of young military members that blow their pay on cars. But each branch makes a concerted effort to teach financial responsibility. My experience, with 23 years in, is that there are overwhelmingly more financially responsible members than not. If you are poor with money, it is difficult to maintain a security clearance.
A lot of times it’s because many people join the military at 18 to either build a career or just to escape poverty or some undesirable living situation where there’s little opportunity. This means in all instances that most of the younger guys who join get their first taste of freedom combined with their first actual paycheck that isn’t being eaten up by living costs. So what do they do? They buy a fast car, but because they only have a steady paycheck and little to no savings and credit history, they get terrible loan terms so they can swing the payments on that car.
To note, not all military guys that join are like that, but there are a notable chunk. That notable chunk is also very visible because they’re driving around a bright yellow Camaro/Challenger/Mustang
Statistically most military recruits come from low income backgrounds and are quite young.
They don’t have any money and don’t know how to use money intelligently.
They get a sign-on bonus and dump it on the down payment for a Camaro.
Military pay isn’t amazing but they have very little living expenses and I don’t think they pay taxes, not 100% on that. I’ve heard it B4 and Google has both yes and no answers so🤷♂️.
Because young servicemembers often have no fucking idea how money works, so they start getting a paycheck that looks like a lot of money even though it isn’t and they go out to buy their dream car.
There are shady car dealers who know this, so they set up their shady car dealerships near military bases. The serviceman – who typically has bad credit or no credit – qualifies for a loan with a high interest rate he doesn’t understand, and the dealer knows he’ll get paid because the servicemember is definitely getting checks for 4-6 years that he can get garnished if the serviceman doesn’t pay.
So some dumbass buys a Mustang at 20% interest and a trope is born.
– The average recruit is a 18-19 year old kid with no financial education
– Once they join the military, this might be the first time they had a full time job that just gave them the most money they ever made. Regardless of what the paycheck is, it’s the biggest paycheck they probably ever had, not including bonus money they might have received, which is probably also on average the most money they ever had in bulk, and they think they can afford the most ridiculous purchases.
– Because their basic necessities are taken care of (housing/food/health insurance), combined with the lack of financial education, they don’t take budgeting or fiscal responsibility into consideration. They could spend their whole check on payday, and technically still be fine until the next one.
– With being young, cool cars are the go to. No 18 year old kid goes ” I can’t wait to buy a used Toyota Corolla”
– There are predatory car dealerships outside every military base who capitalize on the points above and will target these kids with no remorse.
Because a lot of military personnel come from poor, poorly educated backgrounds and don’t make great financial decisions. If you’re young and have steady income for the first time in your life, splashing out on a muscle car seems like a solid idea, the terms of the loan are a secondary concern.
As mentioned elsewhere here, one thing that will hit you when you go on base is just how young a good chunk of the servicemembers are. Many will have housing covered and allowances for other living expenses. Many will be financially illiterate, but this will be the first time many will have disposable income to blow on things like their dream car.
Imagine being 18 with free healthcare (an alien concept for most Americans), free housing, free food, and it’s your first time without parental supervision. Oh, and you just got your personal image squashed and remolded a bit. Perfect recipe for making a bold statement like buying a flashy car. Also popular is falling in love with a stripper and buying her a car. Strip clubs and car dealerships ABOUND just off most bases. Along with tattoo parlors, pawn shops, bars, restaurants, and payday/title loan places. Businesses that all depend on a steady supply of impulse buyers with expendable income.
In all seriousness, it really is common. I think argueably poor decisions like this it would be common in any group of young people who are isolated from their traditional mentors (parents, teachers, etc) and have a new income source. As an example, professional athletes are also stereotypes as making expensive and gaudy purchases.
Another factor is that its fairly normalized in the military (see above reason) so people aren’t so likely to think they are making an unusual decision. When they buy a Camero or a Wrangler at 21 they are like the 5th person at work to have done that, how bad could it be? (Narrator: “pretty bad”)
Because every dude I knew who fell for the recruiter pitch straight out of high school immediately went and spent his signing bonus on a muscle car or a jacked up truck.
Because it’s often a bunch of young guys with relatively high pay for their age and experience level, especially also considering their living expenses are lower than average usually, but they’re still young with little to no credit history. So combine testosterone, not-fully-developed brains, a little extra money, and no one to tell them “hey, don’t sign that 29% apr loan” and boom, you’ve got some of Dodge’s best customers.
I don’t want to disparage anyone who wants to serve their country, but the guys who went right to the military from high school that I knew were generally not what I would call “highly intelligent” or “good at making decisions”
Hand the dumbest person you know $10,000 cash and see what happens.
I’ve seen far more gaudy trucks than muscle cars. But it’s a real thing. One of my Soldiers was struggling financially, and I pulled him in to figure it out. Buddy had nearly $1000 a month locked up in his car payment alone.
Because they’re kids straight out of highschool who’ve often just been given the largest amount of money they’ve ever seen in their lives and being impulsive 19yo kids they buy something they’ve always dreamed of having. Not helped by all the predatory dealerships near bases that intentionally prey on that desire.
2 things could happen. One is that you have impulsive kids directly out of high school who haven’t learned financial responsibility yet ot they are from impoverished backgrounds and go nuts the first chance they have a disposable income.
2nd is that many military billets, most notably drill instructors, will not have the opportunity, time or energy to spend money consistently, so they end up accumulating alot of it for larger purchases.
I feel like many Americans are in that position, not just military.
The terrible loan terms is probably because they are too young to know better. Also not helping is…uh…how can I put this…in most of the US, the best high school students in terms of rank and GPA are not joining the military right after graduation.
They closed the loophole but in the past you could buy a car at terrible terms. Roll all the negative equity into a lease and then when you deployed use your deployment orders to cancel the lease with no penalties.
Reminds me of this one dude in Korea, he was planning on taking a trip up to Seoul over the weekend with his buddies since we got paid on Wednesday. He walked into the shop Thursday morning and said he had no money, he spent all $800 on juicy bars Wednesday night.
He was also the same jackass who got a Jeep Compass at 17% interest. His grand idea was to get it before going on deployment and getting the rate lowered by law to 6% or whatever. 2 issues though: the interest rate reduction only applies to debts taken out before joining, and he was pulled of the deployment because he was a moron.
Because it’s the first time a lot of them have spending $ and, if they live in the barracks, there is no rent/food bill. Although a lot of times it’s enlisted people subject to the stereotype, it happens with new officers too. We use to call those cars ‘LT mobiles’ since the butterbars would often buy them.
Because they frequently do have gaudy American muscle cars(really any expensive car) on terrible loan terms. Some are getting massive bonuses on enlistment($70k for 6 years of service) right out of high school with no other entanglements.
They have a lot of cash (for someone just out of high school) and not much else to spend it on because their living expenses are largely covered. They have terrible loan terms because they have no credit. The muscle car is what they were dreaming of before they enlisted.
because no one in military leadership will make an effort to ban auto dealers who prey on the financially naive teenagers who are their primary targets.
On top of new recruits being young and inexperienced, Automobile dealerships near military bases know that new soldiers are easy targets for predatory sales. so they push hard on marketing to young soldiers.
I think you get a nice enlistment bonus when you sign up. A lot of spend it on a nice car because they are dumb because the military provides a lot for you so you think “I’ll drive this car for the next 10 years, if my bills are being paid before my paycheck i can afford it fine.”
Then life happens and suddenly thwse people are looking for off base housing l, having kids, etc
They get big enlistment bonuses. When I was in the Army there were no enlistment bonuses. There was a draft. You got some benefits for joining, but if you didn’t join you simply got drafted. But there were big bonuses for re-enlistment. There was a sliding scale depending on your military occupation. They were called Variable Re-Enlistment Bonuses. VRB. When a hot new car drove by somebody would say, “That’s a VRB car.”
I was at an air show recently and there was a group of people there to take their enlistment oaths. A sergeant was telling them not to use their enlistment bonus to buy a car.
When I joined not only was there no bonus, but I couldn’t have bought gas anyway. Starting pay was $60 a month. Take home was about $40.
The US military says it tries to recruit people from poorer, possibly less educated backgrounds and offers to pay for a college degree in exchange for their service. It was meant to be a win-win situation. That said, they may not have gone to a high school that taught consumer economics. I had it at mine, but I didn’t realize until well after I graduated how rare that was.
In addition to what most people have pointed out, another factor is that the dealerships know that if the service member stops paying they can go to their command and get their wages garnished. So it’s a much less risky loan for them.
The US Military is very cooperative with garnishing wages if a lender shows that a US Serviceman isn’t making payments on a loan. Ruthless and predatory lenders know this. They like to set up operations near large military bases. They know what kinds of cars appeal to young men and prey on military personnel by offering those kinds of vehicles with outrageous lending terms…knowing they will still get their money.
It’s not that that kind of car appeals specifically to young military men, it’s that kind of car appeals to a broad range of young men, but the fact that they are in the military makes them a target for the predatory lenders.
Other young men just out of high school are a lot less likely to be offered loans because they aren’t guaranteed sources of income.
It’s true. Most enlisted are like 18 when they sign up and haven’t made that much money ever before. They don’t think and end up spending all their money each check paying off a v8 charger with no options.
Because it’s true. Also some divorce sprinkled in there. Here’s how it happens. You’re 18, testosterone surging and you’re given small amounts of downtime and a large signing bonus. Most of these young men use that signing bonus to buy a muscle car, diesel truck or lifted jeep. They marry an attractive girl.
The vehicle depreciates, the young wife is left alone with whatever money is left and typically cheats and spends all the money. After that, the solider returns home, gets a divorce and drives that nice car a few times a month.
The military should provide mandatory classes or something to mitigate this endless cycle. It happens way too much. No disrespect intended here. I’ve had many friends follow this path.
Because they do it. And often it gets repo’d because their leadership goes “WTF? Get rid of it.” So the bank gets a phone call saying either “I’m not pay for this where do you want me to drop it off? (Or come pick this up)” or “Hey I sold this to X”
Young guys in the barracks receive modest salaries but every penny is liquid disposable income so they do the logical thing: buy a charger and look for strippers to marry.
An 18 year old who has zero experience in managing finances is suddenly given a $10k (or more) bonus to enlist. They have no credit history, so their interest rates on any credit card or loan is ridiculous. But they see freedom and status in a shiny new car. So they do what any other 18 year old with a wad of cash does: they blow it.
Many are fresh out of high school, not the best financial education background, many came from very poor households. So they get in, get a paycheck, and just off base are some very enthusiastic and slimy peddlers of freedom in the form of a sports car they used to only dream about being able to afford. Not being as financially literate as they ought to be, they take horrible loans with awful interest rates they’ll never be able to afford on their pay. This is normally a very lower enlisted/fresh out of basic issue, though not exclusively so.
The people the military attracts are people that have never had money. Now they have money and it’s time to spend it before someone figures out they aren’t supposed to have it
Joined in 2008, most of us got a bonus for joining a combat mos as it was at the tail end of the surge. 3 of my buddies got a GSXR. 2 got Camaros. 1 got a lifted jeep. Just the way it is when you’re 18 and get handed money and surrounded by a bunch of other 18 year olds lol..
At least by me, they are all getting a signing bonus. The joke is not that they have terrible loan terms at all. They just blew their whole signing bonus on the muscle car.
Picture this: You’re 18, and likely a guy. In America, that means that you want a cool car. Suddenly you have a steady income, and housing and food are provided, and somebody is willing to sell you a new car on credit. What else are you going to do with your money, save it? So you buy a car.
The car dealer knows that you’re not going to run out on the deal, because the military frowns on that kind of thing. When your four year enlistment is up, you still have three years of payments, so maybe you re-enlist. Four more years and you have an 8 year old car that’s finally paid off. That sucks, so you re-enlist and buy another new car.
At some point you might get out and get a decent job based on the training you got from the military. In that case, you’re still going to pay off the car, but you’ll probably be more careful about buying a new one, because now you have rent and stuff.
The other “what do you do with your money?” option for new military members is to get married. A lot of them do that instead. A few do both.
The US military actually pays pretty decently these days, more than most teenagers were making before joining,at least. And with them being provided food and housing in their early career, they tend to have a lot of disposable income.
As a result, a lot of them head down the dealership and buy the “badass” car they’ve always wanted, and don’t care about the interest rate.
It’s exceptionally common, especially among the combat arms jobs.
Because most of us (USMC) were never taught financially responsibility and we’d been devoid of good shit for so long we wanted something nice.
I bought a mustang after discharge and my wife who basically managed all my finances while I was away shut that shit down fast. Couldn’t afford it at all
Imagine an 18-20 something year old man who gets $40000 as a sign on bonus with no context for financial responsibility and a car dealership right off the base he’s assigned to. He gets his dream car (Mustang, Camero, etc) from said dealership from a salesman who knows this guy’s paycheck and knows he has stable employment for years. So he convinces him to sign for a loan that has low monthly payments but is like 6 years and 59% APR.
They’re teenagers who’ve never had to manage money before, they’re given one large sum all at once, and they have no other major expenses. They’ve got more money than they know what to do with and want to buy something cool, and don’t know any better.
As for gaudy, that’s a matter of opinion. Personally, I think American muscle cars are sick. A hellcat? A viper? Fuck yes! They’re not elegant, they’re not clever. They don’t cut through the air or corners. They’re not beautiful. They get where they’re going through sheer brute force, they scream for attention as they get their way, insisting upon their outrageousness against everything that tries to stop them. The outrageous colors aren’t always for me, but they just add to the idea. It’s supposed to be attention getting. It’s supposed to look out of place, it’s supposed to be loud and obnoxious. That’s the draw.
Basically, if you want a sensible car, you’re not joining the army a couple months after you graduate highschool.
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Because they’re stereotyped as being poor and bad with money and they get a bonus for enlisting
Because they are kids out of HS who haven’t been taught fiscal responsibility.
Cause they are 19 when that first check lands.
Because dealerships around bases pray on young kids that have a little bit of money for the first time but no financial knowledge. They don’t understand what 30% APR means they just know they can buy the hellcat they’ve always wanted.
And they are also living on their own for the first time
Not all military. Recently enlisted military. Because of reasons already stated. Tbh it wasn’t all of us, but a lot of us. I bought a 93 Silverado when I got out of basic. My three friends I kept in touch with bought a Challenger, a Mustang, and a WRX.
The military can be a young bro culture, which may lean more towards those cars.
First hand experience. Young men getting some money for the first time, especially the pay that builds up while deployed. That lends itself to rash financial decisions. Lots of boats and flashy cars/trucks suddenly when the unit returns home 😂
They’re very young men with money for the first time in their lives and all of their basic life costs are covered by the military. So they spend it on dumb cool shit.
Because it’s true.
Source: I’m in the Army.
As to why it’s true, it’s because your average Private is freshly out of high school and thus has a desire to look cool combined with poor financial skills. Car dealers will deliberately set up outside of military bases and are well aware of how much money a Private makes (and therefore, exactly how much they can finance).
Go to any Army post and there will be a car dealer, a strip club, a tattoo place, and a Korean seamstress right out front. I guarantee it.
Because stereotypes are often rooted in truth.
because young GI’s get preyed on really heavily by just about every place trying to sell you things.
It is a stupid stereotype. There’s a minority of young military members that blow their pay on cars. But each branch makes a concerted effort to teach financial responsibility. My experience, with 23 years in, is that there are overwhelmingly more financially responsible members than not. If you are poor with money, it is difficult to maintain a security clearance.
To be fair, lot of them have very large, stupid trucks with terrible loan terms
A lot of times it’s because many people join the military at 18 to either build a career or just to escape poverty or some undesirable living situation where there’s little opportunity. This means in all instances that most of the younger guys who join get their first taste of freedom combined with their first actual paycheck that isn’t being eaten up by living costs. So what do they do? They buy a fast car, but because they only have a steady paycheck and little to no savings and credit history, they get terrible loan terms so they can swing the payments on that car.
To note, not all military guys that join are like that, but there are a notable chunk. That notable chunk is also very visible because they’re driving around a bright yellow Camaro/Challenger/Mustang
Statistically most military recruits come from low income backgrounds and are quite young.
They don’t have any money and don’t know how to use money intelligently.
They get a sign-on bonus and dump it on the down payment for a Camaro.
Military pay isn’t amazing but they have very little living expenses and I don’t think they pay taxes, not 100% on that. I’ve heard it B4 and Google has both yes and no answers so🤷♂️.
Because young servicemembers often have no fucking idea how money works, so they start getting a paycheck that looks like a lot of money even though it isn’t and they go out to buy their dream car.
There are shady car dealers who know this, so they set up their shady car dealerships near military bases. The serviceman – who typically has bad credit or no credit – qualifies for a loan with a high interest rate he doesn’t understand, and the dealer knows he’ll get paid because the servicemember is definitely getting checks for 4-6 years that he can get garnished if the serviceman doesn’t pay.
So some dumbass buys a Mustang at 20% interest and a trope is born.
Because of the following points:
– The average recruit is a 18-19 year old kid with no financial education
– Once they join the military, this might be the first time they had a full time job that just gave them the most money they ever made. Regardless of what the paycheck is, it’s the biggest paycheck they probably ever had, not including bonus money they might have received, which is probably also on average the most money they ever had in bulk, and they think they can afford the most ridiculous purchases.
– Because their basic necessities are taken care of (housing/food/health insurance), combined with the lack of financial education, they don’t take budgeting or fiscal responsibility into consideration. They could spend their whole check on payday, and technically still be fine until the next one.
– With being young, cool cars are the go to. No 18 year old kid goes ” I can’t wait to buy a used Toyota Corolla”
– There are predatory car dealerships outside every military base who capitalize on the points above and will target these kids with no remorse.
They leave the military with a car payment a ring and a kid.
A lot of young males with more money than they are used to in a fairly macho career field and typically few financial responsibilities
Everyone I knew leased their cars not many bought them when I was in.
Not all military – just recently enlisted, poor, young recruits that are easily taken advantage of and lack financial literacy.
Because a lot of military personnel come from poor, poorly educated backgrounds and don’t make great financial decisions. If you’re young and have steady income for the first time in your life, splashing out on a muscle car seems like a solid idea, the terms of the loan are a secondary concern.
As mentioned elsewhere here, one thing that will hit you when you go on base is just how young a good chunk of the servicemembers are. Many will have housing covered and allowances for other living expenses. Many will be financially illiterate, but this will be the first time many will have disposable income to blow on things like their dream car.
Imagine being 18 with free healthcare (an alien concept for most Americans), free housing, free food, and it’s your first time without parental supervision. Oh, and you just got your personal image squashed and remolded a bit. Perfect recipe for making a bold statement like buying a flashy car. Also popular is falling in love with a stripper and buying her a car. Strip clubs and car dealerships ABOUND just off most bases. Along with tattoo parlors, pawn shops, bars, restaurants, and payday/title loan places. Businesses that all depend on a steady supply of impulse buyers with expendable income.
It’s a proud tradition.
In all seriousness, it really is common. I think argueably poor decisions like this it would be common in any group of young people who are isolated from their traditional mentors (parents, teachers, etc) and have a new income source. As an example, professional athletes are also stereotypes as making expensive and gaudy purchases.
Another factor is that its fairly normalized in the military (see above reason) so people aren’t so likely to think they are making an unusual decision. When they buy a Camero or a Wrangler at 21 they are like the 5th person at work to have done that, how bad could it be? (Narrator: “pretty bad”)
Because every dude I knew who fell for the recruiter pitch straight out of high school immediately went and spent his signing bonus on a muscle car or a jacked up truck.
Because it’s often a bunch of young guys with relatively high pay for their age and experience level, especially also considering their living expenses are lower than average usually, but they’re still young with little to no credit history. So combine testosterone, not-fully-developed brains, a little extra money, and no one to tell them “hey, don’t sign that 29% apr loan” and boom, you’ve got some of Dodge’s best customers.
I don’t want to disparage anyone who wants to serve their country, but the guys who went right to the military from high school that I knew were generally not what I would call “highly intelligent” or “good at making decisions”
Hand the dumbest person you know $10,000 cash and see what happens.
Young, stupid, a lot of money in a short amount of time, they’re gonna blow it on something stupid
It’s sort of like musicians who get that one big hit and suddenly make millions practically overnight, except those guys can afford the car
I’ve seen far more gaudy trucks than muscle cars. But it’s a real thing. One of my Soldiers was struggling financially, and I pulled him in to figure it out. Buddy had nearly $1000 a month locked up in his car payment alone.
Because they’re kids straight out of highschool who’ve often just been given the largest amount of money they’ve ever seen in their lives and being impulsive 19yo kids they buy something they’ve always dreamed of having. Not helped by all the predatory dealerships near bases that intentionally prey on that desire.
Because young kids get bonuses to join and buy those kinds of cars on those kinds of loans.
2 things could happen. One is that you have impulsive kids directly out of high school who haven’t learned financial responsibility yet ot they are from impoverished backgrounds and go nuts the first chance they have a disposable income.
2nd is that many military billets, most notably drill instructors, will not have the opportunity, time or energy to spend money consistently, so they end up accumulating alot of it for larger purchases.
I feel like many Americans are in that position, not just military.
The terrible loan terms is probably because they are too young to know better. Also not helping is…uh…how can I put this…in most of the US, the best high school students in terms of rank and GPA are not joining the military right after graduation.
Marks get fleeced. It’s American as apple pie.
that’s actually not just limited to the military, many americans remember their 20s as a time of reckless spending.
They closed the loophole but in the past you could buy a car at terrible terms. Roll all the negative equity into a lease and then when you deployed use your deployment orders to cancel the lease with no penalties.
Young+money=questionable choices
Reminds me of this one dude in Korea, he was planning on taking a trip up to Seoul over the weekend with his buddies since we got paid on Wednesday. He walked into the shop Thursday morning and said he had no money, he spent all $800 on juicy bars Wednesday night.
He was also the same jackass who got a Jeep Compass at 17% interest. His grand idea was to get it before going on deployment and getting the rate lowered by law to 6% or whatever. 2 issues though: the interest rate reduction only applies to debts taken out before joining, and he was pulled of the deployment because he was a moron.
Because it’s the first time a lot of them have spending $ and, if they live in the barracks, there is no rent/food bill. Although a lot of times it’s enlisted people subject to the stereotype, it happens with new officers too. We use to call those cars ‘LT mobiles’ since the butterbars would often buy them.
Because they frequently do have gaudy American muscle cars(really any expensive car) on terrible loan terms. Some are getting massive bonuses on enlistment($70k for 6 years of service) right out of high school with no other entanglements.
Anyone who had the unfortunate luck to grow up with 50 miles of a base knows this.
So easy to spot the idiots
They have a lot of cash (for someone just out of high school) and not much else to spend it on because their living expenses are largely covered. They have terrible loan terms because they have no credit. The muscle car is what they were dreaming of before they enlisted.
Testosterone
because no one in military leadership will make an effort to ban auto dealers who prey on the financially naive teenagers who are their primary targets.
On top of new recruits being young and inexperienced, Automobile dealerships near military bases know that new soldiers are easy targets for predatory sales. so they push hard on marketing to young soldiers.
I’m not sure that’s a common enough stereotype to say it’s typical but an 18 y/o with a decent paycheck is probably not getting a sensible car.
Because you have a lot of people under 22 living together, mostly first time away from parents, and they all get steady paychecks.
I think you get a nice enlistment bonus when you sign up. A lot of spend it on a nice car because they are dumb because the military provides a lot for you so you think “I’ll drive this car for the next 10 years, if my bills are being paid before my paycheck i can afford it fine.”
Then life happens and suddenly thwse people are looking for off base housing l, having kids, etc
They get big enlistment bonuses. When I was in the Army there were no enlistment bonuses. There was a draft. You got some benefits for joining, but if you didn’t join you simply got drafted. But there were big bonuses for re-enlistment. There was a sliding scale depending on your military occupation. They were called Variable Re-Enlistment Bonuses. VRB. When a hot new car drove by somebody would say, “That’s a VRB car.”
I was at an air show recently and there was a group of people there to take their enlistment oaths. A sergeant was telling them not to use their enlistment bonus to buy a car.
When I joined not only was there no bonus, but I couldn’t have bought gas anyway. Starting pay was $60 a month. Take home was about $40.
The US military says it tries to recruit people from poorer, possibly less educated backgrounds and offers to pay for a college degree in exchange for their service. It was meant to be a win-win situation. That said, they may not have gone to a high school that taught consumer economics. I had it at mine, but I didn’t realize until well after I graduated how rare that was.
In addition to what most people have pointed out, another factor is that the dealerships know that if the service member stops paying they can go to their command and get their wages garnished. So it’s a much less risky loan for them.
The US Military is very cooperative with garnishing wages if a lender shows that a US Serviceman isn’t making payments on a loan. Ruthless and predatory lenders know this. They like to set up operations near large military bases. They know what kinds of cars appeal to young men and prey on military personnel by offering those kinds of vehicles with outrageous lending terms…knowing they will still get their money.
It’s not that that kind of car appeals specifically to young military men, it’s that kind of car appeals to a broad range of young men, but the fact that they are in the military makes them a target for the predatory lenders.
Other young men just out of high school are a lot less likely to be offered loans because they aren’t guaranteed sources of income.
It’s true. Most enlisted are like 18 when they sign up and haven’t made that much money ever before. They don’t think and end up spending all their money each check paying off a v8 charger with no options.
The location of the automobile dealerships are within sight distance of the military bases.
Because it’s true. Also some divorce sprinkled in there. Here’s how it happens. You’re 18, testosterone surging and you’re given small amounts of downtime and a large signing bonus. Most of these young men use that signing bonus to buy a muscle car, diesel truck or lifted jeep. They marry an attractive girl.
The vehicle depreciates, the young wife is left alone with whatever money is left and typically cheats and spends all the money. After that, the solider returns home, gets a divorce and drives that nice car a few times a month.
The military should provide mandatory classes or something to mitigate this endless cycle. It happens way too much. No disrespect intended here. I’ve had many friends follow this path.
Because they do it. And often it gets repo’d because their leadership goes “WTF? Get rid of it.” So the bank gets a phone call saying either “I’m not pay for this where do you want me to drop it off? (Or come pick this up)” or “Hey I sold this to X”
Young guys in the barracks receive modest salaries but every penny is liquid disposable income so they do the logical thing: buy a charger and look for strippers to marry.
An 18 year old who has zero experience in managing finances is suddenly given a $10k (or more) bonus to enlist. They have no credit history, so their interest rates on any credit card or loan is ridiculous. But they see freedom and status in a shiny new car. So they do what any other 18 year old with a wad of cash does: they blow it.
Many are fresh out of high school, not the best financial education background, many came from very poor households. So they get in, get a paycheck, and just off base are some very enthusiastic and slimy peddlers of freedom in the form of a sports car they used to only dream about being able to afford. Not being as financially literate as they ought to be, they take horrible loans with awful interest rates they’ll never be able to afford on their pay. This is normally a very lower enlisted/fresh out of basic issue, though not exclusively so.
Military towns are filled with dealerships who sell cars to newly minted service personnel at ridiculous rates.
The people the military attracts are people that have never had money. Now they have money and it’s time to spend it before someone figures out they aren’t supposed to have it
Joined in 2008, most of us got a bonus for joining a combat mos as it was at the tail end of the surge. 3 of my buddies got a GSXR. 2 got Camaros. 1 got a lifted jeep. Just the way it is when you’re 18 and get handed money and surrounded by a bunch of other 18 year olds lol..
At least by me, they are all getting a signing bonus. The joke is not that they have terrible loan terms at all. They just blew their whole signing bonus on the muscle car.
Picture this: You’re 18, and likely a guy. In America, that means that you want a cool car. Suddenly you have a steady income, and housing and food are provided, and somebody is willing to sell you a new car on credit. What else are you going to do with your money, save it? So you buy a car.
The car dealer knows that you’re not going to run out on the deal, because the military frowns on that kind of thing. When your four year enlistment is up, you still have three years of payments, so maybe you re-enlist. Four more years and you have an 8 year old car that’s finally paid off. That sucks, so you re-enlist and buy another new car.
At some point you might get out and get a decent job based on the training you got from the military. In that case, you’re still going to pay off the car, but you’ll probably be more careful about buying a new one, because now you have rent and stuff.
The other “what do you do with your money?” option for new military members is to get married. A lot of them do that instead. A few do both.
The US military actually pays pretty decently these days, more than most teenagers were making before joining,at least. And with them being provided food and housing in their early career, they tend to have a lot of disposable income.
As a result, a lot of them head down the dealership and buy the “badass” car they’ve always wanted, and don’t care about the interest rate.
It’s exceptionally common, especially among the combat arms jobs.
Because most of us (USMC) were never taught financially responsibility and we’d been devoid of good shit for so long we wanted something nice.
I bought a mustang after discharge and my wife who basically managed all my finances while I was away shut that shit down fast. Couldn’t afford it at all
Imagine an 18-20 something year old man who gets $40000 as a sign on bonus with no context for financial responsibility and a car dealership right off the base he’s assigned to. He gets his dream car (Mustang, Camero, etc) from said dealership from a salesman who knows this guy’s paycheck and knows he has stable employment for years. So he convinces him to sign for a loan that has low monthly payments but is like 6 years and 59% APR.
Because E2s are dumb.
They’re teenagers who’ve never had to manage money before, they’re given one large sum all at once, and they have no other major expenses. They’ve got more money than they know what to do with and want to buy something cool, and don’t know any better.
As for gaudy, that’s a matter of opinion. Personally, I think American muscle cars are sick. A hellcat? A viper? Fuck yes! They’re not elegant, they’re not clever. They don’t cut through the air or corners. They’re not beautiful. They get where they’re going through sheer brute force, they scream for attention as they get their way, insisting upon their outrageousness against everything that tries to stop them. The outrageous colors aren’t always for me, but they just add to the idea. It’s supposed to be attention getting. It’s supposed to look out of place, it’s supposed to be loud and obnoxious. That’s the draw.
Basically, if you want a sensible car, you’re not joining the army a couple months after you graduate highschool.