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

motorguy

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

Check average wages on google. I was surprised how few people make more than £40,000. Very few make serious money of £100,000 - under 1%.

But thats applying average wage to everyone who happens to drive a nice car?

And as has been said already, most homes these days have 2 incomes. Even on £30,000 a year, thats £1900 odd home with you, multiply that by two for two incomes theres over £3,500 net.

You can lease a £30,000 car for £200 odd a month, so that 6% of take home pay. Doesnt seem like much of a struggle?

motorguy

Stoke wrote: »

I'm generalising, but I always associate FIAT 500's with youngsters (primarily my generation ish) financed up to their teeth, paying way more than they should be, probably leaving themselves with years of debt and regret.

When I see an Audi A1, I always think that's the next logical step. Once you can comfortably afford the 500, you move up to the A1 and get financed up to the teeth again.

And from chatting to people at my work, it seems to be the modus operandi for the most part.

You can PCP a new Fiat 500 for £129 a month with £499 deposit.

http://www.stoneacre.co.uk/special-offers/offer/fiat/500-hatchback-12-pop-3dr/1421

Doesnt seem like a lot? Would you be "financed up to your teeth" paying out £129 a month? Maybe they just earn more than you?

motorguy

rudekid48 wrote: »

Which just goes to show that leasing only works on certain cars if the deal is right. For £6 a month more and a slightly higher deposit there are 2 year lease deals for a new Audi A6 Ultra S-Line with 20k miles per year. That's just one example, there are loads of deals out there to be had.

My approach is to set a monthly budget and see what deals are available rather than choose a model first. Doesn't always work if you've got your mind set on a particular car though.

It does seem to follow that the better lease deals are on higher OTR price cars. Maybe they depreciate less, I don't know.

Thats exactly it. Mondeos arent cheap to lease because they lose so much in the first couple of years.

If i was looking to lease a biggish hatchback I'd run with an Octavia or similar, but ultimately just whatever happened to work out cheapest for the spec i wanted.

PLUS, ultimately you cant really compare new with used anyway.

Leasing brand new isnt suitable for everyone, however neither is eking out a life driving around in a 17 year old car. Most people find the balance that works for them.

motorguy

fred246 wrote: »

It makes sense to spend big money on appreciating assets. Big houses are great when you are bringing up a family. I am going to retire very early soon. If we ran out of money the worst thing that would happen is that we would have to downsize. The kids would probably have left home by then. We could downsize to a 4 bed detached and free up £300k.

That seems to be some sort of attempt at willy waving, and smells a bit of the "I'm considerably richer than ewe" Harry Enfield sketches (as do a lot of your posts)

Yet you seem to have missed out the pertinent point that you're upcoming retiring early plans seem to correlate very closely to your hope for a big windfall payment from an elderly relative.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5608882

I would have thought someone who has told us hes been on £100,000+ per year this past 14 years, would have had a better retirement plan than that.

[Deleted User]

Funny that, I know a chap who's on £150k+ and his retirement plans are terrible. His goal is to basically keep increasing his salary and progressing his career to the point he'll just have some clever plan and a big pot of money.

qwert_yuiop

motorguy wrote: »

But thats applying average wage to everyone who happens to drive a nice car?

And as has been said already, most homes these days have 2 incomes. Even on £30,000 a year, thats £1900 odd home with you, multiply that by two for two incomes theres over £3,500 net.

You can lease a £30,000 car for £200 odd a month, so that 6% of take home pay. Doesnt seem like much of a struggle?

Indeed, but most two income households will have two cars.

qwert_yuiop

motorguy wrote: »

That seems to be some sort of attempt at willy waving, and smells a bit of the "I'm considerably richer than ewe" Harry Enfield sketches (as do a lot of your posts)

Yet you seem to have missed out the pertinent point that you're upcoming retiring early plans seem to correlate very closely to your hope for a big windfall payment from an elderly relative.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5608882

I would have thought someone who has told us hes been on £100,000+ per year this past 14 years, would have had a better retirement plan than that.

I wouldn't like to be relying on a big inheritance if mr C ever gets to be pm. Inheritance tax could be a tad higher with a socialist in number 10.

motorguy

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Funny that, I know a chap who's on £150k+ and his retirement plans are terrible. His goal is to basically keep increasing his salary and progressing his career to the point he'll just have some clever plan and a big pot of money.

Oh yes, there are people who earn a lot and spend a lot too.

However Fred is constantly telling us how lives an incredibly frugal lifestyle of driving a 14 year old car, maintaining it himself, doing his own servicing, cycles to work on a bike he bought off ebay 10 years ago, holidays in a caravan on a site somewhere, which is all very noble yet has to constantly tell everyone how much hes on with his 6 figure salary this past 14 years, how much more he earns than work colleagues, how much more he earns than his wife, etc.

It just seems odd that someone who supposedly has that much money yet doesnt spend it but likes to brag so much about it.

If i'd as much money as Fred professes, not one !!!! would i give what co-workers or the neighbours thought, yet it seems to bother him.

If it was coming across on here as "i lead a frugal lifestyle and heres the benefits of that so why not do some of these things too" (this being Money Saving Expert i would imagine that approach would be well received), but it all comes across as a smug "i'm considerably richer than ewe" attitude.

And yet the "oh yes well im doing so well in life i'm going to retire early, downgrade the house to a mere four bed detached and live smugly ever after" statement seems to correlate very closely to the upcoming death of a rich relative whos going to leave him £300,000?

It all doesn't stack up frankly.

JustAnotherSaver

We looked in to leasing, finance, whatever it's called as we didn't want to just instantly say no.

Saw the monthly repayments of about £120 per month & then instantly said no

Was talking about it to some workmates saying how expensive it was and they just laughed at me. I said i don't know how folk can afford that and they laughed even harder.

I can't wrap my head around it though. These deals can be like 3-5 years or whatever. That's like buying a £1400 car every year for 5 years.

I bought my car for £1400 9 years ago & it has served me very well. Barely cost me anything in maintenance.

It really was an eye opener for the phrase - each to their own.

My priority is getting money in the bank & putting aside for later life so i'm comfortable when my body maybe wont be able to do the physical job any more so that i wont NEED to work, it'll be a choice.

Other people prefer to have luxury cars because that's their enjoyment.

And some do it for the look at me status. Sad as it is.

I like cars & i'd love a brand new one but the flip side really isn't worth it to me.

motorguy

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

Indeed, but most two income households will have two cars.

Quite possibly.

Yes, some people do over stretch themselves to drive a nice car when they dont need to, but likewise a lot of people are earning a decent living and chose to drive a nice car out of a small percentage of their net pay.

Clearly theres a balance to be had however thats up to each individual to find, its not up to any of us to set ourselves up as judge on other peoples lives.

I've ran older cars before - up to 6 months ago 2 of our 3 cars were 2004 however personally it was too much hassle for me so i chopped in two of them for something younger and less hassle. I work away from home a lot so wallying about after an old car holds no appeal and i value my free time far too highly.

Other people have different circumstances and different needs.

Each to their own. Its not up to me to judge if someone is "worthy" of that shiny new car at their door.