It’s tough to know how long the rise in used car prices will last.
definitely wait until tax season is over - if there's any chance for some price drops it won't be until then
How true is this with the standard deduction changes? Are people really so bad at filling out their w2 forms? Was nearly sure the average refund was at like 40 year lows. It's so low it's impacting hr block bottom line as they make loans on those.
For too many people, overpaying taxes is their savings plan. Then they use their “found free money” to buy as car or whatever.
My wife and I were this way back when we had little to no money. Our tax return every year was enough to pay for our family vacation we take every year in June. We never tried to do "tax return planning" because we were fearful of making a mistake of not being able to take that trip.
It was the only one our family with little kids could afford. We only took one vacation a year. And we really couldn't save for it all year: we were living off of a contractors income and my wife working part time so she could be home with the kids.
So yeah, I know a lot of people do this. It's a little bit of a safety net for them. I've been there - it sucks to have to live that way. But it's reality for a lot of people.
I know you aren't poo-pooing that thought process - just sharing the experience of one family that had to rely on it.