I'd like to purchase an expensive car, but when?

Ted1990

Hi everyone.

This is my first post here, and I'm happy to be part of this community.

I'd like some advice or thoughts on buying a car. Specifically a very expensive car (for me).

A bit of background on myself: I'm a self-employed illustrator of 5 years. I don't have any debts or loans apart from a mortgage. I put money into a personal pension each month and I'm fairly frugal in terms of spendings. I have an excellent score on Experian if that matters.

The thing is I love cars, and I've always wanted to own a sports car. I currently own an Audi TT MK2 that I bought with cash in 2015. It's been well looked after and I've done over 50k miles in it.

My dream car is a Maseratti Gran Turismo MC Stradale. For me, it's one of the best-looking and sounding cars ever made. A good used one is around £55k.

I've never bought anything on a credit card or with a loan, and I intend to keep it that way. I've been tempted, but I always end up watching Dave Ramsay to bring me back down to earth a bit.

I currently have enough saved to buy one outright, but I wouldn't be left with a lot, maybe 6 months of outgoings. As a self-employed illustrator, I always like to have 6-12 months of outgoings in the bank for a parachute if anything happens where I can't work.

My question is how much would I need to save to comfortably afford the car? I've heard sayings like: 'if you can't afford to buy it twice, you can't afford it'. Would this be true for this situation?

Also, even if I have the money in the bank, would it be wise to take a low-interest loan out anyway for roughly half the value of the car, just to help cash flow and credit score?

I'm aware of the high running costs and I've factored that into my monthly outgoings. It's very doable, it's just the initial cost of the car. One good thing is that their value only goes down to ~£50k, so I could sell it after 3-5 years and get a lot of the initial cost back if I wanted/needed to.

I think that's everything for now.

Thank you in advance for any help or insight into this subject.

Cheers,
Tom.

BOWFER

Never heard the "if you can't afford it twice" thing before.
If you can afford it, go for it.
Remember, there were people on the Titanic refused pudding.

Stubod

..I think you are looking for the "money spending" forum rather than money saving forum?

OK, you are a long time dead, but this just seems a complete waste of money unless you have at least 10* the amount saved than you are looking to spend on this rather expensive "luxury".

By all means by another "nice" car, but get something that will leave you with plenty of money to look after it and spend on other life life "essentials".....IMHO...

Ebe_Scrooge

First off, ignore your credit score, it is neither used nor even seen by a lender.

Secondly, a loan - £25k is pretty much towards the upper limit of what anyone would lend on an unsecured basis.  And there's no guarantee that you'd get a "low interest rate", even if you were able to borrow that amount at all.

You say you've considered running costs - you do realise that parts for a Maserati will be somewhat more than for a Mini?

My gut reaction would be - if you can't afford to buy it comfortably outright, then forget about it.  Having a pot of cash set aside for emergencies is eminently sensible, even more so if you're self-employed.  One view is that you use your savings to buy the car, then religiously pay back into your savings account the amount you would have had to be paying on a loan.  The problem with that is, if you find yourself out of work just a few months after buying the car, you're a bit snookered.

Perhaps the most sensible option would be to save hard for another few months, then buy one?  By the figures you've quoted, you'd then be able to buy it outright and still have an emergency buffer available should the worst happen.

BOWFER

Stubod said:

..I think you are looking for the "money spending" forum rather than money saving forum?

It's not the 'don't spend money' forum.
So if the guy is looking for advice on the best way to finance his car, does it matter if it's £55K or £5K?
It's all relative.

AdrianC

With something like a Maserati, the real costs are not in the purchasing, they're in the maintenance.

If you're stretching to buy it, it is going to leave you weeping in VERY short order...

Also - I can't help feeling you're being optimistic on the lack of depreciation.
Just look at the values of other middle-aged Masers to see which way they may head... Vanilla GranTurismos are getting close to £20k already, while slightly older sibs are even cheaper to buy - lower-end 3200GTs are down into four figures. That's awfully close to "cut-your-losses-and-break-for-parts-at-the-first-scary-bill" territory.

Grumpy_chap

Buy the Maserati cash and buy it as soon as you find a nice one.  It's your dream, and dreams are to be fulfilled.
You have a fund to cover the next 6 months and, presumably, income for the immediate present.
Forget any ideas of using a loan, but pay the loan payments back into your savings.
Don't relax for another "spoil yourself" moment until you have enough for 12-months cover.

GeordieGeorge

I normally buy my used cars outright, especially the high-end ones, and you definitely don’t need to be able to afford it twice.

What you do need to do is to buy a very good example, even if that means that it’s not one of the cheaper ones. That means no work needs doing, cosmetically it should be A1, and you expect a full service history.

I’ve bought cars that need something very minor doing in the past but think now that it’s nearly always a sign that the current owner doesn’t really look after it properly.

Once you’ve bought, work on building your savings back up, and possibly put money aside earmarked for the car, as cars do need some money spent on them sometimes.

Be willing to take your time finding the right one, which means not overlooking imperfections, and being OK walking away even if you’ve taken time out and travelled to see it.

dipsomaniac

From a affordability point of view you shouldn't  spend more than 10%/15% of your income on a car. 

However, if you have saved for it and are happy with spending it on a car rather than a mortgage/pension then go for it.

cattom

if you want it and you can afford it, then buy it. There are plenty of good deals around at the moment in the motor trade, high end and bargain basement as well. so its up to you. IMO strike while the irons hot.

Hasbeen

Ted1990 said:

Hi everyone.

This is my first post here, and I'm happy to be part of this community.

I'd like some advice or thoughts on buying a car. Specifically a very expensive car (for me).

A bit of background on myself: I'm a self-employed illustrator of 5 years. I don't have any debts or loans apart from a mortgage. I put money into a personal pension each month and I'm fairly frugal in terms of spendings. I have an excellent score on Experian if that matters.

The thing is I love cars, and I've always wanted to own a sports car. I currently own an Audi TT MK2 that I bought with cash in 2015. It's been well looked after and I've done over 50k miles in it.

My dream car is a Maseratti Gran Turismo MC Stradale. For me, it's one of the best-looking and sounding cars ever made. A good used one is around £55k.

I've never bought anything on a credit card or with a loan, and I intend to keep it that way. I've been tempted, but I always end up watching Dave Ramsay to bring me back down to earth a bit.

I currently have enough saved to buy one outright, but I wouldn't be left with a lot, maybe 6 months of outgoings. As a self-employed illustrator, I always like to have 6-12 months of outgoings in the bank for a parachute if anything happens where I can't work.

My question is how much would I need to save to comfortably afford the car? I've heard sayings like: 'if you can't afford to buy it twice, you can't afford it'. Would this be true for this situation?

Also, even if I have the money in the bank, would it be wise to take a low-interest loan out anyway for roughly half the value of the car, just to help cash flow and credit score?

I'm aware of the high running costs and I've factored that into my monthly outgoings. It's very doable, it's just the initial cost of the car. One good thing is that their value only goes down to ~£50k, so I could sell it after 3-5 years and get a lot of the initial cost back if I wanted/needed to.

I think that's everything for now.

Thank you in advance for any help or insight into this subject.

Cheers,
Tom.

If you have to ask strangers on a internet forum. Then perhaps buying this expensive car and ongoing extremely expensive maintenance / servicing is not for you at this time?


Do you own your own house. Married. Have children. Planned for the future. Bigger house for family. Uni fees. Etc. Etc.


Wait until you have amassed money and then splurge out on your dream.