New Cars More Affordable Than They've Been Since 2004

Attention, shoppers: new cars are more affordable today than they've been in over five years. According to Comerica Bank's Auto Affordability Index, it now takes the average family 21.9 weeks of income to pay off an average-priced vehicle. Sadly, that's not because household income has risen, but because the average cost of a light vehicle has dropped to $25,500. Comerica's data comes from the third quarter of 2009, which of course included Cash-for-Clunkers; however, while analysts say that C4C did impact prices, auto affordability had been improving long before the federal program kicked in. Customers are now paying less for vehicles than they have since early 2004. [PRNewswire]