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

AdrianC

Grumpy_chap said:

thegentleway said:

Anyway, have you driven one? If not why don’t you hire one for a few days? Should help you decide how much pleasure you’ll get out of it and if it’s worth the running costs/depreciation. 

Can you hire a Maserati?
It is not the average car available from the local Avis or Hertz.

Plenty of supercar hire places.

Sandtree

GSDMum said:

I'm looking at the practicality though, could you leave the car in an airport or station car park while you caught a plane or train? Where would you leave it while you went out for a meal, or visited a shopping centre? Would you feel the need to buy a common or garden runabout as well?

I can understand from a practical point of view that you may need a second vehicle, some of these types of cars don't exactly have the biggest boot for transporting family holiday luggage to the airport etc but never really understood the concerns of leaving it in carparks or outside restaurants etc. 

When we had ours the only downside was the occasional comment from strangers and most the time that was just a "nice car" or "fancy doing a swap?" etc when outside London. It certainly didn't change our parking habits nor did we even think of getting a second car.

neilmcl

Why does this thread remind me of the Lamborghini "Galliardo" thread a little while back 😉

TimSynths

neilmcl said:

Why does this thread remind me of the Lamborghini "Galliardo" thread a little while back 😉

Bring back Dark Matter!

Ted1990

BOWFER said:

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.

Thanks for your reply Bowfer. The Titanic statement is brilliant! haha

Ted1990

Stubod said:

..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...

Thanks for your input Stubod. I can see your point. It's definitely a luxury purchase. I plan to use the car a lot though, so it wouldn't be a garage queen at all. I can understand what you're saying about a cheaper car, and that's still an option. None grab me like this though.

Ted1990

Ebe_Scrooge said:

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.

Thanks, Ebe. I didn't realize that my credit score had no bearing. What's the point of it if not loan approval?

I do yes. I know servicing is very expensive too and needs to be done properly to retain a lot of the car's value.

That's a very sensible way to do it. I've always been of the mindset that if I can't comfortably pay for something I won't buy it. Yes, I think saving for another 6 -12 months would be a great option. A lot can change in that time. Thanks.

Ted1990

AdrianC said:

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.

Hi Adrian. Yeah, I totally agree. Servicing costs seem to be a very high cost, especially from Maserati themselves.

I understand what you're saying about depreciation. From looking at Autotrader the past 18 months, they seem to drop to around £50k and don't really drop below that. I'm sure a very high mileage example would probably go a lot lower than that, but even early 2011 cars are stopping at £50k ish. Thanks for your time and input, I really appreciate it.

AdrianC

Ted1990 said:
I didn't realize that my credit score had no bearing. What's the point of it if not loan approval?

Your credit history affects loan approval.
Your credit score is just a marketing tool to sell you credit-monitoring services.

Ted1990

GeordieGeorge said:

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.

Thanks for your response and insight George.

I totally agree with you. I'd definitely want a great example with a full service history.

That's good advice on putting money aside for the car. I do that now, but my current car isn't too expensive to run, although petrol can run high sometimes. I'm under no illusion the Maserati will be worse haha. Cheers.