Driving ourselves into debt?

My dad was buying a car recently and at every dealership we visited there was a big emphasis to sell these so-called 'PCP' finance plans. They're ultimately a more flexible wave of hire purchase agreements. Firstly an initial deposit is paid, or a car is traded in. Then the owner makes his repayments while keeping the car serviced at the main dealer and keeping the mileage of the vehicle below a specific level per annum.

Usually after 3 years - when most of the payments have been made - the purchaser has a range of choices to make: He can hand back the car with no obligation for him to make any further repayments. He can make a balloon payment or continue to make payments until he owns the car. Or he can trade in the car and enter into a new PCP agreement on another car.

Hyundai: The best-selling car brand in Ireland last year. Also one of the many brands offering PCP deals.

The media are forever using car sales as a barometer of economic activity in Ireland. Increased car sales corresponds to confidence in the economy. According to the SIMI website, car sales as a whole increased 17.52% between 2015 and 2016. Here's a podcast from RTE One's 'The Business' praising the increases in car sales over the past calendar year.

Is it all good news if car sales are rising? Perhaps people wouldn't have bought a new car if there was no PCP deal available for it. It seems that consumers are getting themselves into debt on plans that they can't afford simply for the purposes of fulfilling their want of a new car. This article from the Indo relates to my point: http://www.independent.ie/life/motoring/car-news/beware-one-in-nine-cars-sold-are-not-fully-paid-for-35343172.html

Our consumerist society encourages consumers to fulfil many of their wants, without needing the income to pay for them immediately. And here's a prime example of the era of cheap and easy-accessible credit we live in.

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