You say it like that’s a common thing in the US. Maybe it’s more common here than elsewhere but it’s not typical. Most people who buy cars don’t get new cars.
Solar panel costs range from $16,600 to $20,500 for the average 6.5 kW system, but prices can vary from as little as $7,700 for smaller solar systems to upward of $34,700 for larger systems.
What I’m saying is that a lot of people don’t have the money for new cars period, it’s not like they can just choose to forego one year and pick themselves up some solar panels. Even if they have enough to afford a used car, it’s not typical for people to have five figures of liquid capital just… around for non-necessities. Even if you can get credit for a loan, that’s another monthly note that you might not be able to afford even with the energy bill savings, if your entire paycheck is already insufficient to cover necessities. The people who can afford to burn money on new cars are very much the exception.
Maybe, but when I got quotes for solar it was much higher cost than that, and only to replace half my electricity use
While I live on the north, they estimated based on the rated capacity of the panels, as if the amount of sun doesn’t matter
I’ve been putting something aside for deferred house projects, and I could get solar but for less than that I could do complete bathroom remodel, replace my driveway (all the way down) and maybe paint the house
Not saying that there’s no upfront cost, but in the US people buy 60k dollar cars on credit that lose half their value in the first year or two.
So I think it’s more a problem of priorities, and choosing loss of value over future profit.
You say it like that’s a common thing in the US. Maybe it’s more common here than elsewhere but it’s not typical. Most people who buy cars don’t get new cars.
https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/average-car-price/
https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/solar/cost-of-solar-panels/
Maybe it’s time to buy a cheap car and solar panels.
What I’m saying is that a lot of people don’t have the money for new cars period, it’s not like they can just choose to forego one year and pick themselves up some solar panels. Even if they have enough to afford a used car, it’s not typical for people to have five figures of liquid capital just… around for non-necessities. Even if you can get credit for a loan, that’s another monthly note that you might not be able to afford even with the energy bill savings, if your entire paycheck is already insufficient to cover necessities. The people who can afford to burn money on new cars are very much the exception.
Maybe, but when I got quotes for solar it was much higher cost than that, and only to replace half my electricity use
While I live on the north, they estimated based on the rated capacity of the panels, as if the amount of sun doesn’t matter
I’ve been putting something aside for deferred house projects, and I could get solar but for less than that I could do complete bathroom remodel, replace my driveway (all the way down) and maybe paint the house