[nbadg]

This is a really clear picture of things, thanks! I am actually originally from the US, but I've been living in the EU for 5ish years and haven't had a car since I gave the one I had in college back to my parents after I moved to the bay area, where public transit was good enough that I couldn't really justify the ongoing expense for something I was just using for grocery runs. Otherwise, I've just been purchasing motorcycles in cash.

I guess I'd never really seriously considered the availability of loans for used cars (beyond the unsecured personal loans); it makes sense that they would exist, but in the ~30 years I lived in the states, I never once heard mention of them, or talked to anyone who had gotten one. Which is pretty crazy if you think about it. I think that, combined with the complete and total lack of regulation surrounding private sales (ie, no way for banks to de-risk the loan), made me assume they just weren't a thing. So I stand corrected.

But I think your anecdote might offer an even more compelling reason why: to satisfy the conditions to actually get one, you find yourself in territory where, from a short-term month-to-month financial perspective, you might as well just be buying new. And if you're struggling to make ends meet... welp, that's that.

The credit score is another good point; it might also be the case that the people who have a good enough credit score to land a decently-priced financing deal on a used car are almost by definition financially capable of buying new. Where I grew up, there was definitely a stigma against buying used, so that seems like it might also have some explanatory power.