I'm sure you know you are the exception. About 85% of all new vehicles are purchased on credit; the US is approaching $1T in auto loan debt.

1.1 trillion, a number that actually surprised me. According to this article, auto loans are "the second-fastest growing consumer debt market" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allan-smith/the-us-auto-loan-d...

There's a lot of places in USA where holding a job is entirely dependent on reliable vehicle.

What can you buy, short of some houses, that isn't a deprecating asset?

Do some research and you can get yourself a really nice watch for a grand that will almost certainly appreciate. :)

Is this really the case? Watches and small mechanical things are an interest of mine so I watch the market pretty carefully but I can't readily think of any $1k and under watches that appreciate.

New watches in that price range will be very unlikely to appreciate, even in the high end segment appreciation is unlikely outside of maybe Rolex or some low production pieces, but those are all significantly over $1k. Prices have gotten pretty high in the vintage market as well, and that is fraught with risk since fakes and partially original watches are so common.

On the lender side: I wonder if somehow auto loans are packaged and resold like some other loans, thereby hiding/moving the risk away from the originating lender and into more unsuspecting hands? Not sure how that might work. If it does get repackaged and resold, that may explain some of the reckless lending, if that can be said to exist.

They are - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-21/this-is-w...

Thanks for the link! Sounds like at least one rating agency has some concern.