Cars are one of the remaining ways that people can actually screw themselves on luxury items, because new cars are pretty damned expensive. I know people who buy a new one every year and can't figure out why they can't pay bills.

But you can also get stuck if you don't do this, because repairing broken cars is expensive-- it usually takes skilled professionals to fix them. And not living with a car usually comes at an expensive premium in housing prices and restricted choices.