How do people afford £30k-£60k cars with normal jobs?

Cornucopia

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

Sorry if someone's posted this already...

Clearly they use our BudgetBrain

MSE Andrea, your link doesn't seem to be working.

It doesn't seem to want to link from here (gives 404). Here's a Google link that works for now...

Link

Stoke

GazNicki wrote: »

A bit of a narrowminded view to be honest.

My daughter, who is 18, is still in College studying a University Level qualification. She does that 1 day per week and works in a childrens nursery 4 days a week. At minimum wage she brings home over £750 a month in term time, and even more during half term as she can work 5 days per week. Thats a whopping 20% boost to earnings at half term.

Therefore, she has £750 to play with each month. Take off her mobile contract she took out, that's £700 per month.

A Fiat 500 would likely cost around £150 per month, which accounts for 20% of her term-time income. With only Insurance and Fuel to pay for, and the fact she works/studies Monday-Friday, the residual money left over more than covers her remaining expenses which are either pleasure or saving.

When you consider that £750 a month is an annual salary of £9000, and that a Fiat 500 (which is a 10k car) is only 20% of the takings, then if someone is earning £27k (3x as much) then a £30k car on the same format would still be 20% of the salary.

Each person's circumstances are different, but its not illogical to assume someone can afford a relatively nice car on a relatively average salary.

It's just my view from people I work with. Without disclosing my actual salary, I earn more than most at my age (I am 27). I also have a mortgage (boring) and a fiancee.

I don't drive my banger because I can't afford a better car. I prefer to spend my money on the finer things in life..... like following Stoke City away despite pretty much never winning :rotfl: Trust me, you can easily blow a monthly payment on an away day. Funny and a terrible way to spend money..... but that's me.

Anyway, that's not the point. I work with people who are young and earn various amounts, obviously your car is seen as a symbol of status, and trust me, I take a fair bit of stick for my banger, but then many of those same people giving me stick don't own their own houses. They rent. They moan that they can't afford to enjoy a nice meal or two, because they're spending £250 a month on a Citroen + £600 a month on rent, and perhaps another few hundred quid on bills.... then petrol etc. Then of course they insist on having the most expensive contract from Orange, and they buy all their crappy possessions from Brighthouse on finance. Possessions that are next to worthless in 6 months time.

So when I say, they're financed up to their eyeballs, it's not just the car I am talking about.

I earn a good wage for my age, but I am ruthlessly frugal. I have no issues buying second hand and before spending a lot of money, I investigate whether there's a cheaper second hand alternative. Take the radio I just installed in my banger, which is probably better than the majority fitted in many newish cars.

It probably is a narrow mindedness on my part. However, it's solely based on the kind of people I work with..... and there's a few cars that come to mind. The 500 and A1 are just good examples, because they're somewhat feminine and there is perhaps a disproportionate of females at my work who own them and complain. The equivalent male vehicles are usually a 1 series.

scd3scd4

motorguy wrote: »

From his rented house....

No, from the house he probably paid for by the time he was 50...........


Me mum also says....."All fur coat and no knickers"...hope you are wearing your ones today.

motorguy

scd3scd4 wrote: »

No, from the house he probably paid for by the time he was 50...........


Me mum also says....."All fur coat and no knickers"...hope you are wearing your ones today.

Yeah yeah. Easy said on an internet forum. Moreoften the reality is somewhat different.

Haven't heard an attempt at "my dad's richer than yours" since I was at primary school.

bigadaj

Car financing has been raised as a significant systemic risk to credit stability in the uk by the bank of england so it woudo suggests there are concerns over affordability.

I'm not so sure abiut jealousy, I'm happy to get the discounts on the second hand cars where the majority of the depreciation has been suffered by others.

My current car I bought at a year old, and whilst people will argue that either a banger or a brand new purchase are the only viable alternatives then somewhere in between is going to work for most. No point taking the hit on the huge devaluation but wanting a reasonable level of reliability, comfort etc

It's a bit like the Brexit debate, people act as though one side or the other is teh only sensible decision when in reality there are pros and cons and you just decide which are most significant for you.

motorguy

bigadaj wrote: »

I'm not so sure abiut jealousy, I'm happy to get the discounts on the second hand cars where the majority of the depreciation has been suffered by others.

My current car I bought at a year old, and whilst people will argue that either a banger or a brand new purchase are the only viable alternatives then somewhere in between is going to work for most. No point taking the hit on the huge devaluation but wanting a reasonable level of reliability, comfort etc

It's a bit like the Brexit debate, people act as though one side or the other is teh only sensible decision when in reality there are pros and cons and you just decide which are most significant for you.

+1

We got the passat at a year old. Significant saving over new. Even if I just keep it two years of the remaining warranty it will work out quite a it cheaper leasing, likewise running an older car holds no appeal for me.

Each to their own. There's no right or wrong answer.

motorguy

bigadaj wrote: »

Car financing has been raised as a significant systemic risk to credit stability in the uk by the bank of england so it woudo suggests there are concerns over affordability.

.

It's not just about affordablilty. There are concerns that banks are over exposing themselves lending money against cars that they carry the risk with if the market drops significantly.

scd3scd4

motorguy wrote: »

Yeah yeah. Easy said on an internet forum. Moreoften the reality is somewhat different.

Haven't heard an attempt at "my dad's richer than yours" since I was at primary school.

The way I saw it you thought you were being funny at my dads expense but made a bit of a mug of yourself in the process. Sorry if my old mans finances make you a little insecure.


Now if you don't mind I am trying to find a bit of bread and jam for dinner as I spunked all me money or a nearly new Passat. ;-]

Stoke

motorguy wrote: »

+1

We got the passat at a year old. Significant saving over new. Even if I just keep it two years of the remaining warranty it will work out quite a it cheaper leasing, likewise running an older car holds no appeal for me.

Each to their own. There's no right or wrong answer.

Here's the thing.... There is a right answer. That answer is that if you buy a car, you should be able to sustain owning it. When I talk about work colleagues being financed up to their eyeballs, these are people who if they lost their job, would be on the brink of meltdown. They are a redundancy away from being the next victims of "can't pay we'll take it away".

I am not saying that everyone on less than 30 grand should drive a 15 year old Mazda. They shouldn't however be exposing themselves to financial ruin though.

It seems these risks are not being properly explained.

scd3scd4

I work with one person who never seems to go on holiday and drives an average mid range PC. However the house is beautiful with all the latest fittings. Each person decides what's important in their lives and what you may see from the outside could well not be all that it seems or the full story.