Do you drive a banger of a car?

BeenThroughItAll

palgrave wrote: »

Really shows how outdated you are. Graduates start on around 28-29k with the Big Four. On completing the graduate scheme, depending which route you take (ACA or CIMA) you jump to 45k. I did not want to do ACA, so I took the advisory route and have fully completed my CIMA exams and I am now a senior associate, which is typical for successful graduates after 3 years of starting.

Things changed in the last couple of months since I interviewed candidates for our own graduate scheme, have they? Our starting salaries compared very favourably with those Deloitte were offering then, and they were less than you're quoting.


If you were in your 20s, mind, I guess 45K would seem a lot. At your age it's probably not that much.

qwert_yuiop

Herzlos wrote: »

Could be they just don't care about cars.

Yes, indeed. And why should they? It's not compulsory, although some seem to think it is.
An accountant friend maintains that no one's wealth can be judged by their car.

supermassive

2004 citroen C3 in 'invisible' green (aka people love to pull out in front of me)

156k on the clock, the doors make an almighty clang when they're half way open (hinges going), new clutch, gear box sticks and grinds, handbrake going, tracking is fixed on a regular basis and flies off again, drivers side electric window doesn't work, no reverse lights, radio doesn't work properly, the stick controls near the steering wheel all operate at random, exhaust has been replaced 3 times with different garages (I only drive a short distance and carefully so I have no idea why).. Regularly has a hissy fit and decides to stop working for 10 minutes on occasional journeys.

It's the definition of a banger haha

Livelongandprosper

Got to ask, what's the custard test?

BeenThroughItAll

Livelongandprosper wrote: »

Got to ask, what's the custard test?

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=674508

fred246

My 13 year old car with 145k on the clock works perfectly as it did when it was bought. If anything didn't work properly I would fix it.

bertiewhite

Livelongandprosper wrote: »

Got to ask, what's the custard test?

"Custard proof" means that if you make a claim (such as owning a particular car or knowing a famous person) then you can prove it by taking a photo with a tin of custard with the item or person claimed in the picture (plus any other stipulations - like the speedo in this case).

Basically it stops any fakery eg photoshop

Herzlos

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

An accountant friend maintains that no one's wealth can be judged by their car.

It definitely can't. How do you differentiate between someone spending 50% of their take home salary on a car payment, and someone who bought outright in cash after saving up for a month?

You might be able to get some idea from the driveway it's parked on, but not the car itself.

Jackmydad

supermassive wrote: »

2004 citroen C3 in 'invisible' green (aka people love to pull out in front of me)

156k on the clock, the doors make an almighty clang when they're half way open (hinges going), new clutch, gear box sticks and grinds, handbrake going, tracking is fixed on a regular basis and flies off again, drivers side electric window doesn't work, no reverse lights, radio doesn't work properly, the stick controls near the steering wheel all operate at random, exhaust has been replaced 3 times with different garages (I only drive a short distance and carefully so I have no idea why).. Regularly has a hissy fit and decides to stop working for 10 minutes on occasional journeys.

It's the definition of a banger haha

Just to say; it's not the plates on the door check stop / strap "banging" is it? Some of these French cars seem prone to the screws coming loose. (And other stuff. I know!)

qwert_yuiop

Herzlos wrote: »

It definitely can't. How do you differentiate between someone spending 50% of their take home salary on a car payment, and someone who bought outright in cash after saving up for a month?

You might be able to get some idea from the driveway it's parked on, but not the car itself.

Yes, but they could be rich and choose to live in a tiny house - easy to clean, nowhere to lose stuff.

Have you heard of an American book "The millionaire next door"? The authors show that most rich people are rich because they don't spend, rather than because of earning a lot. Therefore your neighbour next door in a modest house with a rubbish car may be richer than, for instance, a high flying lawyer who drives a jag f type on credit and pays a whopping mortgage. In the USA of course, property tax on a big house is huge. They also point out that the richest ethnic group in the USA is the Scots.