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

qwert_yuiop

motorguy wrote: »

My accountant tells me no, its better just to claim the mileage, which is what i do. 45p a mile for all business travel from my "office" (which happens to be home!) etc.

Yes, indeed. The inland revenue is unlikely to offer this as an act of generosity, so it's an indication of how expensive they consider motoring to be. There's a lot more to it than the fuel.

qwert_yuiop

Stoke wrote: »

So they're investing in an appreciating asset?

Very smart.

Buying a MacBook Air from Brighthouse?

Dumb.

https://youtu.be/XI7FoCHJ01k

There is no bright house over here, and I had to look that up. A business model based on exploiting the financially inept and naive. Seems to be failing, however, so there maybe aren't enough like that to make it pay.

Yes, we're well off topic.

motorguy

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

Yes, indeed. The inland revenue is unlikely to offer this as an act of generosity, so it's an indication of how expensive they consider motoring to be. There's a lot more to it than the fuel.

Yup. I dont use it as a "nice little earner", its just less tax to pay ultimately as i can effectively pull that out of the business tax free

qwert_yuiop

motorguy wrote: »

Yup. I dont use it as a "nice little earner", its just less tax to pay ultimately as i can effectively pull that out of the business tax free

Yes indeed. As I mentioned earlier, my fairly extreme business mileage has reduced my car to a state of near worthlessness in just a few years. That's what you're being compensated for. My feeling is once you're down at a value of a few hundred as mine must be, I might as well keep paying myself till it dies. It's remarkable how quickly the tyres wear out, especially the front ones with the heavier Diesel engine.

buglawton

motorguy wrote: »

For the record, the Passat is just my means to get me up and down to the airport or to client site - the mileage of which i charge back against my limited company. Our main car is our Mercedes A45 AMG. The Passat is just the grunt that lies at the airport and does dump runs, shopping runs, etc.

That's paradoxical to me. My main car is for exactly those frequent mundane tasks. I don't use a car for much other than transport and any city trip, I prefer the train. Is your Merc for ceremonial occasions?

motorguy

buglawton wrote: »

That's paradoxical to me. My main car is for exactly those frequent mundane tasks. I don't use a car for much other than transport and any city trip, I prefer the train. Is your Merc for ceremonial occasions?

We live out in the country so getting the train anywhere isnt an option. Nor is getting a bus for that matter...:D

The Merc gets driven by my wife all week back and forth to her work mainly, then anything else we do at the weekend, we'd use the Merc for.

The Passat lies at the Airport Monday to Thursday then i use it a fair bit on a Friday.

Overally we do about 25,000 miles between the two cars per year - the Merc 10,000 and the Passat 15,000.

The Merc is the fun car, the Passat is the serious one. The Merc was preceded by a long line of coupes and convertibles - 370Z GT, Boxster, Z4, Z4 3.0Si Coupe, 330Ci, MR2, Celica covering the last 15-20 years or so. The Merc doesnt fit with that vein but we bought it because of the sheer performance and ability of the thing. When it goes it'll be replaced by another coupe though.

Jackmydad

motorguy wrote: »

We live out in the country so getting the train anywhere isnt an option. Nor is getting a bus for that matter...:D

The Merc gets driven by my wife all week back and forth to her work mainly, then anything else we do at the weekend, we'd use the Merc for.

The Passat lies at the Airport Monday to Thursday then i use it a fair bit on a Friday.

Overally we do about 25,000 miles between the two cars per year - the Merc 10,000 and the Passat 15,000.

Sounds like where I live.
Bus to the nearest town on a Thursday morning,.
Next return bus, returning three days later at 22:30.
(Not really but. . .)
Park your car at the nearest town to get a train.
Car broken into. (Really. Friend's son)
Public transport outside major cites is a joke.

motorguy

Jackmydad wrote: »

Sounds like where I live.
Bus to the nearest town on a Thursday morning,.
Next return bus, returning three days later at 22:30.
(Not really but. . .)
Park your car at the nearest town to get a train.
Car broken into. (Really. Friend's son)
Public transport outside major cites is a joke.

Yes i can relate to that.

We joke that if we wanted to go to the nearest shop for a pint of milk you can get the bus no problem, however you'd have to wait to the next day to get the bus back out....

Nearest train station is 12 miles away.

Stoke

Jackmydad wrote: »

Sounds like where I live.
Bus to the nearest town on a Thursday morning,.
Next return bus, returning three days later at 22:30.
(Not really but. . .)
Park your car at the nearest town to get a train.
Car broken into. (Really. Friend's son)
Public transport outside major cites is a joke.

It's worse than a joke.

Jackmydad

motorguy wrote: »

Yes i can relate to that.

We joke that if we wanted to go to the nearest shop for a pint of milk you can get the bus no problem, however you'd have to wait to the next day to get the bus back out....

Nearest train station is 12 miles away.

Trains are 8 miles here.
So is nearest decent Chinese take away!
Nearest shop is a couple of miles these days.
You need a car of some sort living in these places.