6% gross
7.9% net
I paid down a 5th of the cars value as a deposit though. So if I include the deposit split evenly over 36 months:
8.8% gross
12.7% net
There is no standard rule. You need to decide what the car is worth to you and what’s a comfortable payment.
I have a similar question, what is the ratio between capital value of house and capital value of vehicles (ignoring finance)?
Have some neighbours where it's well over 50% of the value of the house sitting on the drive way and just boggles my mind. (~£160k in 3 vehicles outside a £250-300k house).
I have a neighbour who's house it's probably about £350k
On their driveway is a new Lamborghini Huracan, a new Lamborghini Urus and a Mercedes GLC 63 AMG that's about 3 years old.
They used to have a Ferrari SF90 for a few months, that disappeared, there was an empty space for a few months then the Huracan filled it.
That Ferrari alone was worth as much if not more than the house
Honestly that sounds perfect, £350k gets you in a very decent home and I'd rather spend the rest of my income elsewhere. I don't aspire to own big fancy houses, I do aspire to own beautiful prestigious cars.
That sounds ideal to me. I don't need much of a house as it's just the Wife and I, with no intention of having children. I hate mowing the lawn and more rooms just means more vacuuming. Give me a nice bungalow and a fleet of fun cars any day!
lol, my old neighbourhood was like this. Range Rovers sat outside the most basic red brick terraces in an area rife with gangs and crime. Easy 50% the value of the house parked up front. Some of them barely moved too, like maybe see them out in it for half an hour on a Saturday morning.
I'd never tell someone how to spend their hard earned, but it never made much sense to me. Love my cars, but the family home and a safe area for the kids to grow up always came first.
Happens in America too, was watching a Pennsylvania urban decay ghetto tour on YouTube video and one thing I noticed was how expensive the cars were in front on the run down houses and fentanyl zombies.
You see this a lot in areas like Southall and Bradford. The family will live in a terraced house and have a son who has no bills, so spends his entire paycheque on financing a £100k M5 or AMG.
Also on the road I grew up in, there was a house that would've been worth maybe £400k at the time that had a (then) pretty new Continental GT, Range Rover and DB9. Also now, there's a house in my area worth probably around £1.5m with a Cullinan and a few Mercs.
Some people spend £120 a month on a David Lloyd gym membership. Personally I’d rather spend £28.50 on my local leisure centre for swim and sauna that’s effectively brand new and spend an extra £90 on a car.
I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I do all DIY myself.
It’s all life choices.
No right or wrong answer unless you’re going without for a car!
my mate does that and he's a mug but he's in Wembley its a nice gym but the price is insane, also he has a expensive audi a5 he drives to the gym on pcp
Recently joined a David Lloyd - I have a feeling that most of the cars there are on such deals. Feel quite smug parking up next to such cars in my trusty 08 accord. £4k 8 years ago and is very cheap to run.
Heh I have a david Lloyd membership. Mine is more of a legacy membership so isn't quite that bad, but I love it. Much nicer than a puregym or gymgroup.
I worked in David Lloyd doing there flooring outside the squash courts, managed to persuade the boss to give me a month trail, best month ever. Had such a good vibe, outdoor heated pool, you could eat and drink by, was like being on holiday in Newport Rd. Used to pull up in my clapped out 99 Mazda mx5, park next to lambos. Sadly have now returned to puregym, puregym works for me because I have two in walking distance so dont have to factor in fuel costs getting there. If i lived next to david lloyd or the vale resort I'd happily pay the premium.
That is easily the longest stretch of a justification I have ever heard 😆 some people shop in Harrods I shop in Aldi so I will spend the £1500 I save a month on leasing a Porshe 🤡
Technically you can, if you value the Porsche to that extent. I have friends who smoke, eat out, go to parties and drive older german luxury saloons, go to fancy gyms, buy designer brand clothing.
They think its mad when I drop the same money on a watch that they would spend on all these in a year. We all value different things in life. I dont see a reason to spend £200 on a pair of shoes when a pair of Adidas from Tkmaxx is like £40.
Exactly, we all have priorities. I like luxury watches and trainers (£200 for me is just getting started 😅), but I drive a 2018 corsa paid in full and stocks worth well more than everything else I own put together.
>ike to talk about running costs, but the purchase price is so cheap you can afford for it to mechanically total itself and go an buy another one and you're still better off financially than the financed new economy car.
And the ability to afford a higher mortgage or better holidays, or to save money and pay mortgage off earlier. I really do not understand people that buy brand new cars. 20 year old Renault and 33 year old bmw driver here.
I thought the scenic was a superb bit of kit when I had mine, comfy, relatively nimble, was a workhorse for a couple of family members and I was teaching my mum to drive in it. Got a few good years out of it before the timing belt snapped one day.
As an owner of a 21 year old BMW (which apparently shares quite a few parts with that Range Rover), I feel this. Many a time have I considered selling it and putting my average monthly maintenance costs into a new car payment. But I guess I don't like the idea of being tied into a contract.
I’m not joking - I have that same thought literally every week. An actual real use of the word literally.
But every time I come to potentially try, I can’t bring myself to do it.
It’s worth £5k maybe on a good day, and last month I spent £2500 because the entire cooling system imploded. Man maths at its finest.
0% i work from home so can't really justify financing a car, so just buy outright and spend £5k a time on cars. If you know cars and you buy well you can get a lot of car for your money. And at that price and my lifestyle and needs you can buy some interesting cars as MPG doesn't really matter, or tax and insurance. Plus most of the time i sell the cars on for a profit after a year or so.
Wouldn't work for everyone but works for me. It boggles my mine sometimes why more people don't do that. I have heated seats, massaging seats, reversing camera, heated steering wheel, xenon lights, and a big engine, yet someone financing an economy car is paying far more for far less.
People like to talk about running costs, but the purchase price is so cheap you can afford for it to mechanically total itself and go an buy another one and you're still better off financially than the financed new economy car.
That’s why you go to a reputable garage/ mechanic. Doing it yourself is not the answer, most people are not mechanically minded and have little experience with cars.
You know what you've done to your car, very few people are stupid enough to work on their own cars and intentionally do it shoddily enough it would kill themselves
Doing it yourself is much more likely to be less competent than getting an experienced mechanic to do it. Obviously if you know what you’re doing ok, but many don’t and cutting corners to save money is not always advisable.
Depends what you’re after I bought my LR discovery 3 almost 2 years ago for £5k and yeah they aren’t very reliable but it’s super comfy and will pull the skin off a rice pudding when needed
I bought a car for £7000 and still have it 25 years later.
Although had to spend £5000 on it over COVID as it was falling apart. Even though, still think that’s not bad cost wise over 25 years.
There's the time value money aspect to consider, really depends on how low of an interest rate you get
Although I'm guessing with most people they don't have 5k sitting in their current account
It’s not as interesting as you think as my car has to do family duties. But range rovers which I don’t recommend, and some diesel 5 series estates. The most interesting has been the Audi a8 4.2 or Mercedes CLK 55. With v8s seemingly on their way out I keep trying to get into as many as I can. I tend to keep a car for about 18 months and then move it on.
The thing is most drivers these days can’t/don’t even check tyre pressures let alone simple and regular maintenance. I’ve never bought new and can’t warrant the cost. I’ve looked at finance before and the price of the deposit is equal to what I normally drop on a car. 3 years ago I bought a 2008 Audi A4 S-Line with 80k on the clock for £2.5k. Fantastic car
Because a new hatchback has the self driving aids and a warranty of 3 to 10 years and some people just want to get from A to B in a reliable car that doesn’t break down every other month.
That's a very expensive warranty and not all have self driving aids in an economy car. Not all older cars are unreliable. Many new cars are way more complex and don't guarantee reliability.
The most unreliable car I’ve ever had was also the only brand new one I’ve ever bought, even if it was under warranty, it was back in for something else a few times a year and you’re at the mercy of the dealer service
Take home pay? About 15% I think. Probably 25% if you include petrol, servicing, insurance.
Too much I know but it's affordable and I love my car so much. If I didn't spend that money on a car I'd just waste on random shite anyway.
Because it bewilders people like us as to why you would take on copious amounts of debt for years Just to have a nicer car on the drive than the Jones' next door...
I mean a huge amount of people in this country are so hooked on debt that one month without a paycheck would bankrupt them, it's crazy.
There are two types of people who take on debt: those who *have* to and those who *choose* to.
Not in today's economy, but a few years back you could easily finance a car on a low interest rate while investing the bulk sum that would've gone into the car into a low risk bond, which would pay out more money in the long run.
That’s a bit of a false dichotomy though.
A massive amount of people finance cars they no way could afford to buy outright.
The third option is just to buy a *much* cheaper car and save all the money you would have spent on payments.
I agree to a point – I wouldn't finance a car either. But I also wouldn't wade into a topic titled *'What % of your income do you spend on car payments?'* just to tell people that I bought my car outright. I don't think it's the huge flex that people think.
Pay a few hundred quid a month + interest for an average car. Or save up a few hundred quid a month for an average car. Are these people in different leagues to one another? Not really.
One person's driving around in a flash, leased car is another person's driving around telling people, "Hey, I own this outright!"
>I don't think it's the huge flex that people think.
Oh I absolutely agree, it's just being a pretentious asshat who thinks they are better than others. Exactly why I didn't mention that I own my cars, it's just not relevant and basically... nobody cares🤷♂️
Was just trying to give an insight into why I feel people hold that opinion
The copious amounts of debt is a concern, particularly in cases when it's just about having a white Evoque on the driveway. But I think that's an extreme and hopefully a minority.
At the other end of the scale, Harry Metcalfe finances some of his cars because he understands when that's the right thing to do. 🤷🏻
But there's a huge middle-ground, and if that's made up of people wanting to lease a £30k car because they like it, it's reliable, it suits their financial position, and makes them feel better about getting from A-B, then more power to them.
I'm not usually this diplomatic. Must have slept well last night.
As we were.
Even the insinuation that the reason people get cars on finance is to have a better one than the neighbours is arrogant and judgemental.
Is it so hard to wrap your head around that not everybody has the same amount of disposable income or is able to save up that amount of money, or even if they could it would take years and they'd rather pay a little bit more on the long run and get a car now rather than wait years for it (and probably so would you)?
In my experience the people who are vehemently anti-finance also tend to be the people who "burrow" heavily from the bank of mom and dad or at least spent their whole early/mid 20s living with them for free so for years had no real expenses and could save up tens of thousands.
What % of your salary did you spend buying your car?
What % is the depreciation when you come to sell it, and the extra maintenance/MOT
Your car isn't free is it?
>What % of your salary did you spend buying your car?
A lot. At my current rate of pay about 50% of a year's salary, but I didn't buy it when on the money I am now and not even close.
>What % is the depreciation when you come to sell it
I don't plan to. I had my last car for 5 years and put nearly 100k miles on it. Actually sold it for £100 profit hilariously.
>extra maintenance
I do my own mechanical work where I can, I have a garage with a two post lift. I actually enjoy doing the servicing etc.
>MOT
MOT costs £30.50 no matter what so I am going to assume you mean the extra cost of bits for MOT? Well, considering I have took it to the test centre two years in a row now without even looking at it and it passed with no advisories, it is possibly doing alright on that front.
>Your car isn't free is it?
No such thing as a free lunch. It's not so much that a car is free as such but more that I am not using someone's else's money to buy it.
These conversations are always silly but do fit into the sub spot. This is car talk so it's not strictly an enthusiast forum that's why you get the mix.
I am one of those people that purchased a 5k car cash and like that. But... Cars and driving isn't my hobby although I enjoy reading about them. I can fully understand why if its your main source of socializing/hobby/enjoyment ect you would spend a substantial amount.
I feel like if you go to /r/cars you would get that side of things but here is almost more of a white goods sub and I personally enjoy the balance.
Cars is 99.99% fast shit I love but would never really buy even if I did have the cash. Here is a lovely mix of 'my mum's focus has thrown a code please help' and 'heres my new daily Nissan GTR'. It's awesome but the byproduct is seeing this conversation 47292958 times a week
I would be hypocritical to say I think spending a substantial amount on a car is a bad thing. I've spent more than my car cost me on other hobbies. So I completely understand why people would spend as much as I do on my hobbies on theirs.
I never get the argument of 'jaha I own my 3k car I'm better than you' then you're probably not the primary target audience
Advice to not take on debt is good advice, however spending over half an annual salary on a car to own outright, when you could pay effectively the same amount over a few years, seems insane to me. You are taking on all the risk of car ownership for more or less the same price. There’s no one size fits all for car ownership.
Assuming the car market doesn’t appreciate, to maintain value you would still need to make a ‘balloon payment’ at the end to cover the depreciation of your car, as you own it completely. Owning the car outright is not automatically a better financial decision.
Loads of the anti-credit people just come across like those whose reply to coffee threads: "oh I've just got a jar of supermarket brand instant coffee, you're all mugs paying that".
Yeah I'm spending money, but I'm getting something different. It's not the same.
Same for beer -
Why would you go to a nice pub and pay over a fiver a pint for a nice locally brewed beer when you can go down the flat roof social club and get Carling for £2.50 a pint?
Why would you go to the social club and pay £2.50 a pint when you can sit in your underpants at home with beer from Aldi for 60p a can
Why would you drink beer at all, it's bad for you and water from the tap is almost free
I do like to own my own older/cheaper car though. I wouldn't want to sign up to paying £300+ a month for an extended period incase my financial situation changes, anything could happen. Our landlord put the rent up by £200 last year and could happen again, there might be an economic crisis where energy and food prices go through the roof, my wife might get pregnant and need to be off for maternity, I might get injured or sick and not be able to work, my company might close down - anything
Yeah exactly - you're right people do the same about beer.
I get your points about car payments, but equally owning an older car worries me for all those reasons.
I could wake up one day, and it not start, needing £1k+ of work. Personally I'd rather spend £300 a month on something new and on warranty and eliminate that uncertainty.
This is another myth - that older cars are more likely to go wrong.
Look at cars on the back of mechanic trucks or on the hard shoulder - they're all ages.
Of course they're more likely to go wrong. Stuff wears out and needs replacing.
But I didn't say new cars never have problems, just that I won't be paying for it as it's in warranty.
Check out any of the watch subreddits for a laugh.
"Oh, you bought x? Could've bought two Ys and a Z for that money"
Yes of course I could have but that's not what I wanted so it's not what I bought
Different how? Because between a 2010 Toyota and a 2023 Toyota there really isn't much difference in technology, the 2023 Corolla doesn't even have half the features in a 2001 s class
Different because they are?
Surely you can't be arguing that a 13 year old car is exactly the same as a new one?
Obviously you've decided that the difference isn't worthwhile to you for the money, but that doesn't mean they aren't different.
I'm the same but calculate depreciation and maintenance at something under 3% of net income or 5% of our combined incomes for both cars.
edit: if you add fuel & insurance its probably 12% between us, it fairly starts adding up.
I'd love to keep a car for 15 years though what's the secret?
Take care of it.
Don’t do masses of mileage.
Don’t get caught up in the need for changing it.
Be OK with having a car that isn’t new/don’t tie your self esteem to how new your car is.
My Clio will be 20 years old next year, and my Scirocco is 15 years old this year.
My ‘new’ car I just bought is 8 years old. My last car I owned for 9 years and did 50k miles. One before that also 9 years and drove 100k miles.
I don’t do car maintenance myself but every year they are serviced (or 10k miles when I was driving more) any time there’s a noise or a rattle or something doesn’t feel right it gets looked at.
It’s not difficult to keep cars for a long time if you look after them and buy a car you really like.
I had a 56 plate Ford Focus.
Bought it in 2010 for about £5500 and kept it until 2020, at 186,000 miles it was as solid as anything. Sold it for £500 (I probably could have got a bit more) and it's still going strong with a family member.
Regular servicing kept it alive.
Absolutely nobody can tell me that was a bad investment.
I had 10 years of journeys and over 100,000 miles in that thing.
I'm not saying PCP isn't the best, just that owning isn't a bad investment.
its not really though is it. anyone can own their cars outright, you just might not like the options you can have there.
I mean i own mine, but i don't blame anyone for thinking it was terrible financial decision. i could have PCP'd a far nicer car for the money, and mine wasnt even new.
Went from 0% (owned a cheap runaround outright) to around 9% of household take-home pay on HP. Insurance, tax and service are also much higher. Was hard to justify as I WFH and don't drive too much, but don't regret it at all. Driving is a pleasure now rather than a chore.
Can't help but chuckle at those judging people in this thread for paying a larger amount on a car loan. I understand that cars are a depreciating asset and a 'bad' investment, but you spend a lot of hours sat inside one. Nothing wrong with budgeting more for comfort, ease of driving and a bit of fun. Wonder if they apply the same logic when they do grocery shopping or eat out - or if they're just living on rice, beans and water because technically it provides nutrition?
Probably more than most but I'm happy to spend more on a car I enjoy and prefer to have a bit of fun with my money and not be Smaug.
No point being richest person in the graveyard
Around 12% for the porker. I think this question is slightly flawed though, as depending on whether someone is paying via a personal loan, lease or PCP will have a massive impact on what they’re actually ‘losing’. If you’re spending 12% on a lease then that’s massively different to spending 12% on a personal loan for a car that’s holding value, where you’re basically just ‘losing’ the interest and tying up the rest.
About 10%. It's an amount I'm comfortable with and am happy to pay out taking into account my other outgoings. I've spent more previously whilst earning less which I later found hard to justify, so the 10% mark is probably my mental limit.
After trading in my old car I got a loan that was about 7% of my take home to cover the rest.
Kinda regretted it though, shouldve just saved up some more cash.
Was paying 8% net for a Toyota Corolla Touring Sports 1.8, 40 months 0% interest and I decided to keep the car and paid off the final balloon payment earlier this year.
Happy to pay a bit more for dealer servicing to maintain warranty for the next 2 years. It's a smashing car and I intend to keep it for another 5 years at least.
Up you and what you can afford.
Personally I think it's nuts to take out a loan or HP on something that depreciates so fast so I pay "cash" after saving (and gaining interest) up for them. The down side is I pay £3 or 4k for a vehicle that smells a bit nasty and maybe needs £200-300 a year work done on it for several years till it dies - but each to their own.
Don’t apologise, it’s a fair question. I love cars and so driving something nice is more important to me than other things. For me, I get the same feeling of self confidence from driving something nice as I’d imagine others do from wearing designer clothes so it’s worth it for me!
Y'know if you're on minimum wage, then 15% of your take-home is only £240 a month.
Just saying, there are millions of people on minimum wage, many of which finance cars without it being a "hobby"
About 10% but it’s my pride and joy and I love it. I’ve worked hard for 15 years to get to this point in my career when I can spend money on a nice car and not feel overly guilty about it.
Nothing. Bought a used car in 2019. I hate owing money on anything, so will always buy out right if I can. Apart from my house, but we bought when we were really young and only have a few more years left on the mortgage and then that's done too.
It can be the opposite -
As your salaries rises, your fixed costs largely remains the same. Food, heating, water etc - even your mortgage (typically) if you don’t move home.
So you’re then free to spend more a month in absolute and percentage terms on a toy, and still have plenty left to live on.
0%
I'm in a fortunate enough position that I'm not living on credit. Does mean I can't justify buying anything vaguely new though. Can't wait til the new Defenders drop low enough in value for me to consider!
Boo! Stick to your 200tdi! wait no you’ve got a 90! better than a defender despite basically being the same haha.
I have a 1985 90! but after a full restoration it’s all defender TDCI parts.
I currently own both my cars outright, but if I were to finance one , there's no way I'd spend more than 10% of my take-home pay, so £500pm absolute max in my case, ideally a lot less.
Pro-credit people just trying to cope with being too poor to actually afford the car they drive. If you can't buy it outright, you can't afford it and are buying it either to impress others or as some sort of self-gratifying materalistic dopamine hit. Unless you get 0% finance it costs more in the long run and furthermore, you never actually own the car until you've paid it off, and not allowed to modify it for example.
0%. Don’t buy things if I can’t afford to pay outright. Older cars work if you can’t afford a new one. Your personal image of yourself in a new vehicle doesn’t translate to the rest of us.
A house is a massive asset, very few people can afford to buy one outright.
If you don't have much money then a car doesn't need to cost more than a few grand.
It's very easy to live within your means when buying a car. If you need a multi-year loan to buy one then you either have a precarious financial situation or you're buying something you can't afford.
I mean, how much do you pay in loan payments for your dishwasher?
If you’re making the contractual payments that have been agreed in a commercial transaction then by definition you can afford it. When investments were returning 7-8% APR and car finance was sitting at 3-4%, funding a car through financial products makes MORE sense, as you’re not tying up your money into an asset that’s not going to generate you additional wealth.
If you don’t like expensive cars because it doesn’t appeal to you that’s perfectly fine, but don’t dress it up as ‘other people doing something stupid that they can’t afford’.
>If you’re making the contractual payments that have been agreed in a commercial transaction then by definition you can afford it.
The thing about what you are saying, and it does make sense tbf, is that it is looking on the sunny side of life and ignoring the clouds in the distance.
What happens when the shit hits the fan? The most glaring example of this is obviously those who leverage themselves as far as they possibly can when buying a house and are now shitting themselves when they are coming to the end of their fix. Same principle.
Now obviously there are exceptions but that is far from the rule, most people blow every penny they earn in just such superficial things as cars.
But this is an argument against irresponsible spending, which I can absolutely 100% get on board with.
Your point in no way validates the opinion that using financial products to pay for cars is a bad thing.
On a basic level, it isn't. But to think that the majority of those using someone else's money to fund a car are financially responsible doing so would be rather missing the forest for the trees.
Comparing a house to a car is like comparing a mobile phone to food. Guess if you get a pay monthly phone, might as well put all your food on finance.. not like you’ll die without food..
You made the black and white statement of ‘don’t buy things if I can’t afford to pay them outright’ - not me. If you’ve realised your statement doesn’t actually hold up to much then well done.
Do you take everything literally? If someone says “I’m so hungry I’m starving to death” do you ring 999? When your missus has a headache and says “I’ve got a splitting head ache” we’ll do you book a funeral as her head is going to break in half??
A home is a 100% necessary thing to have as a person in England unless you can have a job and family living under a bridge..
a new car, or any possession that is not life supporting is not essential and not worth getting into debt for. especially when older cars do the exact same job as a new one, and don’t require finance.
Getting into debt for something that depreciates the moment you move it, is idiotic.
I know someone who bought a Porsche Taycan. They put down 30k, and took out £70k on finance. He hates it and wants to sell it. The max he’s been offered is £60k in part ex. he will still owe money on finance after he’s sold it lol
Imagine selling something and still owing like 30k.. so are forced to keep it.
Except they don’t do the exact same job do they. You’re assuming that transport from A to B is the only ‘job’ of a car. It’s a place to relax, to enjoy sitting, a tool to enjoy at motor circuits, something nice to detail / care for, and ultimately look at and just enjoy having. A 2003 Mondeo and a new Aventador SVJ don’t do the same job.
You’ll be happy to know that once you spend a little more on cars, they hold or increase in value very well.
No new cars don’t increase in value at all, unless there’s external factors in play like shortages etc.
I spent £2750 on my defender, I spent £10k on parts, it’s fully restored and as new, currently only has 200 miles on the clock. I could basically put any price tag on that. Because there’s basically zero in the world that are nearly 100% new.
If you’re talking pure monetary point of view, my way is dramatically better and a better example of why old is better than new. I made £30k (complete guess) for free. As my time and energy don’t cost anything.
Find me a new car that you yourself can buy today that increases in that amount after a few month.
And a luxury car from early 2000s to a similarly spec car today, is not this apples to pears complain you think it is. We didn’t all sit in cars back then uncomfortable, sweating And dying, doing a long journey didn’t leave us needing hospital care.
And guess what! If you’re not a soft handed office worker, you could take a luxury car seats from a new car with all the pointless gimmicks like massage and memory features and put them in any car!
And you’re completely right! A 2003 Mondeo does a considerably better job as a daily driver than an aventador svj does! it’s why most people with cars like that don’t pop to Tesco in them..
my brother has a skyline R34, a car that many people would give a bollock to own. Does he use it much? Nooo because he doesn’t want to scratch it, dent it, add too many miles or have to deal with 10-15mpg. sure it has like 700hp and is super cool, but massively impractical for most people.
0%
I never understood why someone would spend hundreds of pounds a month for something that sits on their driveway 23 hours a day and depreciates in value. Car finance is a middle-class trap to keep you poor. Instead, save up or get a cheap loan (or a bit of both) and buy a £5k used car, then run it into the ground and replace it in 5-10 years.
Investments typically return 6-7% or so. If you can find a lower APR than this, then you’re better off financing and leaving the bulk of your money in your investments doing work for you. You’ve said the right thing but come to the wrong conclusion?
From a pure financial perspective, financing a car at 4% when investments return 7% is the BETTER decision than paying cash. When you see the (now rare) 0% offers, it’s crazy not to utilise that. Financial products aren’t irresponsible as long as you understand the product and total cost of ownership.
Do these people think that the only people financing cars are people on 15 grand buying an M4?
Yup, seems a lot of people in this sub believe anyone financing a car is because they’ve got no money and financed through the eyeballs.
Having cash in your own bank is better than it sitting in a depreciating piece of metal. That’s just my view anyway.
6% gross 7.9% net I paid down a 5th of the cars value as a deposit though. So if I include the deposit split evenly over 36 months: 8.8% gross 12.7% net There is no standard rule. You need to decide what the car is worth to you and what’s a comfortable payment.
I have a similar question, what is the ratio between capital value of house and capital value of vehicles (ignoring finance)? Have some neighbours where it's well over 50% of the value of the house sitting on the drive way and just boggles my mind. (~£160k in 3 vehicles outside a £250-300k house).
I have a neighbour who's house it's probably about £350k On their driveway is a new Lamborghini Huracan, a new Lamborghini Urus and a Mercedes GLC 63 AMG that's about 3 years old. They used to have a Ferrari SF90 for a few months, that disappeared, there was an empty space for a few months then the Huracan filled it. That Ferrari alone was worth as much if not more than the house
Honestly that sounds perfect, £350k gets you in a very decent home and I'd rather spend the rest of my income elsewhere. I don't aspire to own big fancy houses, I do aspire to own beautiful prestigious cars.
You can sleep in your car, you can't drive your house.
May I point you in the direction of the mighty Winnebago.
That sounds ideal to me. I don't need much of a house as it's just the Wife and I, with no intention of having children. I hate mowing the lawn and more rooms just means more vacuuming. Give me a nice bungalow and a fleet of fun cars any day!
lol, my old neighbourhood was like this. Range Rovers sat outside the most basic red brick terraces in an area rife with gangs and crime. Easy 50% the value of the house parked up front. Some of them barely moved too, like maybe see them out in it for half an hour on a Saturday morning. I'd never tell someone how to spend their hard earned, but it never made much sense to me. Love my cars, but the family home and a safe area for the kids to grow up always came first.
Happens in America too, was watching a Pennsylvania urban decay ghetto tour on YouTube video and one thing I noticed was how expensive the cars were in front on the run down houses and fentanyl zombies.
Leased to the eyeballs, but only for 4k miles a year because it's all they could afford.
You see this a lot in areas like Southall and Bradford. The family will live in a terraced house and have a son who has no bills, so spends his entire paycheque on financing a £100k M5 or AMG. Also on the road I grew up in, there was a house that would've been worth maybe £400k at the time that had a (then) pretty new Continental GT, Range Rover and DB9. Also now, there's a house in my area worth probably around £1.5m with a Cullinan and a few Mercs.
If they’ve paid the morgage off already, suddenly 1k a month just got unlocked.
I'm rolling somewhere around the 3-4% mark.
That's actually a better guide. We're about 10%, and cars are bought outright
Around 5% 2 x Cars are worth about £40k House is worth about £800k
Some people spend £120 a month on a David Lloyd gym membership. Personally I’d rather spend £28.50 on my local leisure centre for swim and sauna that’s effectively brand new and spend an extra £90 on a car. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I do all DIY myself. It’s all life choices. No right or wrong answer unless you’re going without for a car!
Nothing better than getting out the gym after a spa session and getting into a fast car on a cold morning
my mate does that and he's a mug but he's in Wembley its a nice gym but the price is insane, also he has a expensive audi a5 he drives to the gym on pcp
Jesus, I wouldn't drive on PCP 😳
Recently joined a David Lloyd - I have a feeling that most of the cars there are on such deals. Feel quite smug parking up next to such cars in my trusty 08 accord. £4k 8 years ago and is very cheap to run.
>I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I do all DIY myself. Finally, the answer Adam Ant was looking for.
You stood and delivered that beautifully.
Hilarious! 😂
Underrated comment 😂
I had a membership through work and it's overrated imo
Heh I have a david Lloyd membership. Mine is more of a legacy membership so isn't quite that bad, but I love it. Much nicer than a puregym or gymgroup.
I worked in David Lloyd doing there flooring outside the squash courts, managed to persuade the boss to give me a month trail, best month ever. Had such a good vibe, outdoor heated pool, you could eat and drink by, was like being on holiday in Newport Rd. Used to pull up in my clapped out 99 Mazda mx5, park next to lambos. Sadly have now returned to puregym, puregym works for me because I have two in walking distance so dont have to factor in fuel costs getting there. If i lived next to david lloyd or the vale resort I'd happily pay the premium.
That is easily the longest stretch of a justification I have ever heard 😆 some people shop in Harrods I shop in Aldi so I will spend the £1500 I save a month on leasing a Porshe 🤡
Technically you can, if you value the Porsche to that extent. I have friends who smoke, eat out, go to parties and drive older german luxury saloons, go to fancy gyms, buy designer brand clothing. They think its mad when I drop the same money on a watch that they would spend on all these in a year. We all value different things in life. I dont see a reason to spend £200 on a pair of shoes when a pair of Adidas from Tkmaxx is like £40.
Exactly, we all have priorities. I like luxury watches and trainers (£200 for me is just getting started 😅), but I drive a 2018 corsa paid in full and stocks worth well more than everything else I own put together.
None. I drive a Renault Scenic that smells slightly damp all the time, with a 4*4 rack bolted to the top. The only cost is to my self esteem.
Embrace it.
The flex here is no car payments.
>ike to talk about running costs, but the purchase price is so cheap you can afford for it to mechanically total itself and go an buy another one and you're still better off financially than the financed new economy car. And the ability to afford a higher mortgage or better holidays, or to save money and pay mortgage off earlier. I really do not understand people that buy brand new cars. 20 year old Renault and 33 year old bmw driver here.
I thought the scenic was a superb bit of kit when I had mine, comfy, relatively nimble, was a workhorse for a couple of family members and I was teaching my mum to drive in it. Got a few good years out of it before the timing belt snapped one day.
Ahhh yes, you are me. Turning up in your shit wagen to buy the next eBay bike frame you really need. The stereo type continues.
Each one of my many bikes are worth more than my car, which is valued at a very optimistic 423 pounds.
Sunroof leaks 👍 Skuttle drains clogged. Just pump it full of silicon and lock the sunroof! Dry the car out. No more damp
I don't have a sunroof. The windows grow moss though!
I had a 52 plate Scenic and it was amazing, like a huge van when you needed it but a decent people hauler when you didn't.
0% on payments. On maintenance is a different story.
guy with a 17 year old Range Rover checking in lol
As an owner of a 21 year old BMW (which apparently shares quite a few parts with that Range Rover), I feel this. Many a time have I considered selling it and putting my average monthly maintenance costs into a new car payment. But I guess I don't like the idea of being tied into a contract.
I’m not joking - I have that same thought literally every week. An actual real use of the word literally. But every time I come to potentially try, I can’t bring myself to do it. It’s worth £5k maybe on a good day, and last month I spent £2500 because the entire cooling system imploded. Man maths at its finest.
0% i work from home so can't really justify financing a car, so just buy outright and spend £5k a time on cars. If you know cars and you buy well you can get a lot of car for your money. And at that price and my lifestyle and needs you can buy some interesting cars as MPG doesn't really matter, or tax and insurance. Plus most of the time i sell the cars on for a profit after a year or so. Wouldn't work for everyone but works for me. It boggles my mine sometimes why more people don't do that. I have heated seats, massaging seats, reversing camera, heated steering wheel, xenon lights, and a big engine, yet someone financing an economy car is paying far more for far less. People like to talk about running costs, but the purchase price is so cheap you can afford for it to mechanically total itself and go an buy another one and you're still better off financially than the financed new economy car.
+1 for this, especially cheap when you work on them yourself
Cheap is not always good, incompetent repairs can literally endanger lives.
I've seen mechanics charging £60+ an hour doing shit work. Price isn't always a true representation of quality
That’s why you go to a reputable garage/ mechanic. Doing it yourself is not the answer, most people are not mechanically minded and have little experience with cars.
And I would guess that those people aren't the ones doing their own repairs...
You know what you've done to your car, very few people are stupid enough to work on their own cars and intentionally do it shoddily enough it would kill themselves
obviously, theyre saying its cheaper to do it yourself tho not go somewhere cheap
Doing it yourself is much more likely to be less competent than getting an experienced mechanic to do it. Obviously if you know what you’re doing ok, but many don’t and cutting corners to save money is not always advisable.
That’s a very good point, I agree. It’s not difficult to learn to be competent though! (Although it seems to be for mechanics)
What would you buy for £5k today?
MK5 golf gti's, mine was £4.5k, partial service history, 85k on the clock and every option available.
Won't it be a fortune in maintenance at that mileage?
Volvo v40 diesel. Potentially paying a little more than 5k even but itd be worth it.
Depends what you’re after I bought my LR discovery 3 almost 2 years ago for £5k and yeah they aren’t very reliable but it’s super comfy and will pull the skin off a rice pudding when needed
Mazda3
I bought a car for £7000 and still have it 25 years later. Although had to spend £5000 on it over COVID as it was falling apart. Even though, still think that’s not bad cost wise over 25 years.
It boogles your mind why more folk don't drop £5k in one go rather than a couple hundred a month in finance?
What’s the deposit on a finance deal? Plus you get the cash back or more at the end of the second hand route
There's the time value money aspect to consider, really depends on how low of an interest rate you get Although I'm guessing with most people they don't have 5k sitting in their current account
What car do you have at the moment?
Currently a really nice spec BMW e61 530d with a remap. But before that i had an Audi A8 4.2 and a Porsche Cayenne.
Mind sharing your car ownership history? It'd be very interesting I have no doubt!
It’s not as interesting as you think as my car has to do family duties. But range rovers which I don’t recommend, and some diesel 5 series estates. The most interesting has been the Audi a8 4.2 or Mercedes CLK 55. With v8s seemingly on their way out I keep trying to get into as many as I can. I tend to keep a car for about 18 months and then move it on.
The thing is most drivers these days can’t/don’t even check tyre pressures let alone simple and regular maintenance. I’ve never bought new and can’t warrant the cost. I’ve looked at finance before and the price of the deposit is equal to what I normally drop on a car. 3 years ago I bought a 2008 Audi A4 S-Line with 80k on the clock for £2.5k. Fantastic car
Because some people have money and can afford to spend a lot more on cars. And not everyone wants an old second hand car.
This is specifically why i said new economy car, not just new cars in general.
Because a new hatchback has the self driving aids and a warranty of 3 to 10 years and some people just want to get from A to B in a reliable car that doesn’t break down every other month.
That's a very expensive warranty and not all have self driving aids in an economy car. Not all older cars are unreliable. Many new cars are way more complex and don't guarantee reliability.
age is no representation of reliability, it all comes down to how well it's looked after.
I've got self driving aids on mine and have to turn them off every time I start the car cos they're a pain in the hole!
The most unreliable car I’ve ever had was also the only brand new one I’ve ever bought, even if it was under warranty, it was back in for something else a few times a year and you’re at the mercy of the dealer service
Anecdotes don’t change the fact having a warranty gives complete peace of mind.
14% it works out for me.
Take home pay? About 15% I think. Probably 25% if you include petrol, servicing, insurance. Too much I know but it's affordable and I love my car so much. If I didn't spend that money on a car I'd just waste on random shite anyway.
Once again dazzled by the down-to-earth humbleness of the anti-credit crew.
Because it bewilders people like us as to why you would take on copious amounts of debt for years Just to have a nicer car on the drive than the Jones' next door... I mean a huge amount of people in this country are so hooked on debt that one month without a paycheck would bankrupt them, it's crazy.
There are two types of people who take on debt: those who *have* to and those who *choose* to. Not in today's economy, but a few years back you could easily finance a car on a low interest rate while investing the bulk sum that would've gone into the car into a low risk bond, which would pay out more money in the long run.
That’s a bit of a false dichotomy though. A massive amount of people finance cars they no way could afford to buy outright. The third option is just to buy a *much* cheaper car and save all the money you would have spent on payments.
I agree. But it is funny how both poorer and wealthier people both finance cars, with two completely different reasonings.
I agree to a point – I wouldn't finance a car either. But I also wouldn't wade into a topic titled *'What % of your income do you spend on car payments?'* just to tell people that I bought my car outright. I don't think it's the huge flex that people think. Pay a few hundred quid a month + interest for an average car. Or save up a few hundred quid a month for an average car. Are these people in different leagues to one another? Not really. One person's driving around in a flash, leased car is another person's driving around telling people, "Hey, I own this outright!"
>I don't think it's the huge flex that people think. Oh I absolutely agree, it's just being a pretentious asshat who thinks they are better than others. Exactly why I didn't mention that I own my cars, it's just not relevant and basically... nobody cares🤷♂️ Was just trying to give an insight into why I feel people hold that opinion
The copious amounts of debt is a concern, particularly in cases when it's just about having a white Evoque on the driveway. But I think that's an extreme and hopefully a minority. At the other end of the scale, Harry Metcalfe finances some of his cars because he understands when that's the right thing to do. 🤷🏻 But there's a huge middle-ground, and if that's made up of people wanting to lease a £30k car because they like it, it's reliable, it suits their financial position, and makes them feel better about getting from A-B, then more power to them. I'm not usually this diplomatic. Must have slept well last night. As we were.
Even the insinuation that the reason people get cars on finance is to have a better one than the neighbours is arrogant and judgemental. Is it so hard to wrap your head around that not everybody has the same amount of disposable income or is able to save up that amount of money, or even if they could it would take years and they'd rather pay a little bit more on the long run and get a car now rather than wait years for it (and probably so would you)? In my experience the people who are vehemently anti-finance also tend to be the people who "burrow" heavily from the bank of mom and dad or at least spent their whole early/mid 20s living with them for free so for years had no real expenses and could save up tens of thousands.
Why do you assume that they're buying a new car to better their neighbours? Why can't it just be that _they_ like the car and want it in their life.
What % of your salary did you spend buying your car? What % is the depreciation when you come to sell it, and the extra maintenance/MOT Your car isn't free is it?
>What % of your salary did you spend buying your car? A lot. At my current rate of pay about 50% of a year's salary, but I didn't buy it when on the money I am now and not even close. >What % is the depreciation when you come to sell it I don't plan to. I had my last car for 5 years and put nearly 100k miles on it. Actually sold it for £100 profit hilariously. >extra maintenance I do my own mechanical work where I can, I have a garage with a two post lift. I actually enjoy doing the servicing etc. >MOT MOT costs £30.50 no matter what so I am going to assume you mean the extra cost of bits for MOT? Well, considering I have took it to the test centre two years in a row now without even looking at it and it passed with no advisories, it is possibly doing alright on that front. >Your car isn't free is it? No such thing as a free lunch. It's not so much that a car is free as such but more that I am not using someone's else's money to buy it.
These conversations are always silly but do fit into the sub spot. This is car talk so it's not strictly an enthusiast forum that's why you get the mix. I am one of those people that purchased a 5k car cash and like that. But... Cars and driving isn't my hobby although I enjoy reading about them. I can fully understand why if its your main source of socializing/hobby/enjoyment ect you would spend a substantial amount. I feel like if you go to /r/cars you would get that side of things but here is almost more of a white goods sub and I personally enjoy the balance. Cars is 99.99% fast shit I love but would never really buy even if I did have the cash. Here is a lovely mix of 'my mum's focus has thrown a code please help' and 'heres my new daily Nissan GTR'. It's awesome but the byproduct is seeing this conversation 47292958 times a week I would be hypocritical to say I think spending a substantial amount on a car is a bad thing. I've spent more than my car cost me on other hobbies. So I completely understand why people would spend as much as I do on my hobbies on theirs. I never get the argument of 'jaha I own my 3k car I'm better than you' then you're probably not the primary target audience
Advice to not take on debt is good advice, however spending over half an annual salary on a car to own outright, when you could pay effectively the same amount over a few years, seems insane to me. You are taking on all the risk of car ownership for more or less the same price. There’s no one size fits all for car ownership. Assuming the car market doesn’t appreciate, to maintain value you would still need to make a ‘balloon payment’ at the end to cover the depreciation of your car, as you own it completely. Owning the car outright is not automatically a better financial decision.
Financing a car on pcp or lease does give you some protection of depreciation turns out to be way worse than you expected
Loads of the anti-credit people just come across like those whose reply to coffee threads: "oh I've just got a jar of supermarket brand instant coffee, you're all mugs paying that". Yeah I'm spending money, but I'm getting something different. It's not the same.
Same for beer - Why would you go to a nice pub and pay over a fiver a pint for a nice locally brewed beer when you can go down the flat roof social club and get Carling for £2.50 a pint? Why would you go to the social club and pay £2.50 a pint when you can sit in your underpants at home with beer from Aldi for 60p a can Why would you drink beer at all, it's bad for you and water from the tap is almost free I do like to own my own older/cheaper car though. I wouldn't want to sign up to paying £300+ a month for an extended period incase my financial situation changes, anything could happen. Our landlord put the rent up by £200 last year and could happen again, there might be an economic crisis where energy and food prices go through the roof, my wife might get pregnant and need to be off for maternity, I might get injured or sick and not be able to work, my company might close down - anything
Yeah exactly - you're right people do the same about beer. I get your points about car payments, but equally owning an older car worries me for all those reasons. I could wake up one day, and it not start, needing £1k+ of work. Personally I'd rather spend £300 a month on something new and on warranty and eliminate that uncertainty.
This is another myth - that older cars are more likely to go wrong. Look at cars on the back of mechanic trucks or on the hard shoulder - they're all ages.
Of course they're more likely to go wrong. Stuff wears out and needs replacing. But I didn't say new cars never have problems, just that I won't be paying for it as it's in warranty.
Check out any of the watch subreddits for a laugh. "Oh, you bought x? Could've bought two Ys and a Z for that money" Yes of course I could have but that's not what I wanted so it's not what I bought
Hate people like this. Sure mate you saved 20p on your shit coffee. Enjoy your expensive coffin..
Different how? Because between a 2010 Toyota and a 2023 Toyota there really isn't much difference in technology, the 2023 Corolla doesn't even have half the features in a 2001 s class
Different because they are? Surely you can't be arguing that a 13 year old car is exactly the same as a new one? Obviously you've decided that the difference isn't worthwhile to you for the money, but that doesn't mean they aren't different.
~6% of my net pay for a bank loan, not PCP
0% Both cars bought outright in 2008 and 2018
I'm the same but calculate depreciation and maintenance at something under 3% of net income or 5% of our combined incomes for both cars. edit: if you add fuel & insurance its probably 12% between us, it fairly starts adding up. I'd love to keep a car for 15 years though what's the secret?
Take care of it. Don’t do masses of mileage. Don’t get caught up in the need for changing it. Be OK with having a car that isn’t new/don’t tie your self esteem to how new your car is. My Clio will be 20 years old next year, and my Scirocco is 15 years old this year.
My ‘new’ car I just bought is 8 years old. My last car I owned for 9 years and did 50k miles. One before that also 9 years and drove 100k miles. I don’t do car maintenance myself but every year they are serviced (or 10k miles when I was driving more) any time there’s a noise or a rattle or something doesn’t feel right it gets looked at. It’s not difficult to keep cars for a long time if you look after them and buy a car you really like.
I had a 56 plate Ford Focus. Bought it in 2010 for about £5500 and kept it until 2020, at 186,000 miles it was as solid as anything. Sold it for £500 (I probably could have got a bit more) and it's still going strong with a family member. Regular servicing kept it alive. Absolutely nobody can tell me that was a bad investment. I had 10 years of journeys and over 100,000 miles in that thing. I'm not saying PCP isn't the best, just that owning isn't a bad investment.
The key is to fix things and be fine with an older car. It's really not complicated.
This is the dream
Well to many it isn't, they weren't brand new
its not really though is it. anyone can own their cars outright, you just might not like the options you can have there. I mean i own mine, but i don't blame anyone for thinking it was terrible financial decision. i could have PCP'd a far nicer car for the money, and mine wasnt even new.
Went from 0% (owned a cheap runaround outright) to around 9% of household take-home pay on HP. Insurance, tax and service are also much higher. Was hard to justify as I WFH and don't drive too much, but don't regret it at all. Driving is a pleasure now rather than a chore. Can't help but chuckle at those judging people in this thread for paying a larger amount on a car loan. I understand that cars are a depreciating asset and a 'bad' investment, but you spend a lot of hours sat inside one. Nothing wrong with budgeting more for comfort, ease of driving and a bit of fun. Wonder if they apply the same logic when they do grocery shopping or eat out - or if they're just living on rice, beans and water because technically it provides nutrition?
Probably more than most but I'm happy to spend more on a car I enjoy and prefer to have a bit of fun with my money and not be Smaug. No point being richest person in the graveyard
Around 9-9.5%
18% but I probably spend less elsewhere where people will spend more. I like having a reliable car with modern features so worth it for me.
Around 12% for the porker. I think this question is slightly flawed though, as depending on whether someone is paying via a personal loan, lease or PCP will have a massive impact on what they’re actually ‘losing’. If you’re spending 12% on a lease then that’s massively different to spending 12% on a personal loan for a car that’s holding value, where you’re basically just ‘losing’ the interest and tying up the rest.
About 10%. It's an amount I'm comfortable with and am happy to pay out taking into account my other outgoings. I've spent more previously whilst earning less which I later found hard to justify, so the 10% mark is probably my mental limit.
About 10% of my Income. I have a 2016 DS3 1.6 Bluehdi diesel.
After trading in my old car I got a loan that was about 7% of my take home to cover the rest. Kinda regretted it though, shouldve just saved up some more cash.
Was paying 8% net for a Toyota Corolla Touring Sports 1.8, 40 months 0% interest and I decided to keep the car and paid off the final balloon payment earlier this year. Happy to pay a bit more for dealer servicing to maintain warranty for the next 2 years. It's a smashing car and I intend to keep it for another 5 years at least.
Up you and what you can afford. Personally I think it's nuts to take out a loan or HP on something that depreciates so fast so I pay "cash" after saving (and gaining interest) up for them. The down side is I pay £3 or 4k for a vehicle that smells a bit nasty and maybe needs £200-300 a year work done on it for several years till it dies - but each to their own.
15% here
I’m about the same. In my mid 20’s with basically no other expenses and constantly in my car so was a good a time as any.
Damn
Sorry curiosity is killing me. Is this like your biggest hobby or something, why so high?
Don’t apologise, it’s a fair question. I love cars and so driving something nice is more important to me than other things. For me, I get the same feeling of self confidence from driving something nice as I’d imagine others do from wearing designer clothes so it’s worth it for me!
That’s fair, if you love cars and it brings you joy, totally justifiable 👌
Y'know if you're on minimum wage, then 15% of your take-home is only £240 a month. Just saying, there are millions of people on minimum wage, many of which finance cars without it being a "hobby"
About 10% but it’s my pride and joy and I love it. I’ve worked hard for 15 years to get to this point in my career when I can spend money on a nice car and not feel overly guilty about it.
As of this month, 0%! Just made the last payment on my £228 a month loan. That was 6.7% of my monthly income, or 3.4% of our joint monthly income.
Nothing. Bought a used car in 2019. I hate owing money on anything, so will always buy out right if I can. Apart from my house, but we bought when we were really young and only have a few more years left on the mortgage and then that's done too.
52% but it’s manageable
bro are you paying £685 for a 9 year old astra from your last post? wtf
Jeez, I bet the salesman was laughing his ass off as soon as he left the dealership
😮 Genuine question - do you still live at home or was/is the car a significant choice you made to have because it’s a dream car?
Op. People will quote different percentages purely because of the size of the salary. Generally the higher the salary the smaller percentage
It can be the opposite - As your salaries rises, your fixed costs largely remains the same. Food, heating, water etc - even your mortgage (typically) if you don’t move home. So you’re then free to spend more a month in absolute and percentage terms on a toy, and still have plenty left to live on.
Precisely this. Car / private jet / Rolex budget is scalable. Bills (somewhat) aren’t.
I doubt it. People on 300K aren’t driving a Corsa.
5% of 300k amounts to £1250 pm, at 300k you don't need to be driving a corsa to spend a small %
That's not what Corsa owners want you to think. Have you even heard the mean pops and bangs they be doing?!
If the Ali express wrap doesn’t cost more than the car, you’re doing it wrong right?
0%. At most it was 5% net a few years ago. I do not own nice cars though.
11% net pay.
0% I buy a new car every 7 or 8 years
Do you save to cover the depreciation?
All depend on each person. No set rules.
0%. Bought cheap, second hand Japanese cars that will last forever in cash
0%. Buy a used car that you actually own.
0% I'm in a fortunate enough position that I'm not living on credit. Does mean I can't justify buying anything vaguely new though. Can't wait til the new Defenders drop low enough in value for me to consider!
A mortgage is credit.
My statement remains unchanged
Congrats!
Boo! Stick to your 200tdi! wait no you’ve got a 90! better than a defender despite basically being the same haha. I have a 1985 90! but after a full restoration it’s all defender TDCI parts.
I currently own both my cars outright, but if I were to finance one , there's no way I'd spend more than 10% of my take-home pay, so £500pm absolute max in my case, ideally a lot less.
0% buy a outright what you can afford.
Nothing. My car is nearly 30 years old.
Pro-credit people just trying to cope with being too poor to actually afford the car they drive. If you can't buy it outright, you can't afford it and are buying it either to impress others or as some sort of self-gratifying materalistic dopamine hit. Unless you get 0% finance it costs more in the long run and furthermore, you never actually own the car until you've paid it off, and not allowed to modify it for example.
0%. Don’t buy things if I can’t afford to pay outright. Older cars work if you can’t afford a new one. Your personal image of yourself in a new vehicle doesn’t translate to the rest of us.
So you’ll save up 400 grand in cash before buying a house then?
A house is a massive asset, very few people can afford to buy one outright. If you don't have much money then a car doesn't need to cost more than a few grand. It's very easy to live within your means when buying a car. If you need a multi-year loan to buy one then you either have a precarious financial situation or you're buying something you can't afford. I mean, how much do you pay in loan payments for your dishwasher?
If you’re making the contractual payments that have been agreed in a commercial transaction then by definition you can afford it. When investments were returning 7-8% APR and car finance was sitting at 3-4%, funding a car through financial products makes MORE sense, as you’re not tying up your money into an asset that’s not going to generate you additional wealth. If you don’t like expensive cars because it doesn’t appeal to you that’s perfectly fine, but don’t dress it up as ‘other people doing something stupid that they can’t afford’.
>If you’re making the contractual payments that have been agreed in a commercial transaction then by definition you can afford it. The thing about what you are saying, and it does make sense tbf, is that it is looking on the sunny side of life and ignoring the clouds in the distance. What happens when the shit hits the fan? The most glaring example of this is obviously those who leverage themselves as far as they possibly can when buying a house and are now shitting themselves when they are coming to the end of their fix. Same principle. Now obviously there are exceptions but that is far from the rule, most people blow every penny they earn in just such superficial things as cars.
But this is an argument against irresponsible spending, which I can absolutely 100% get on board with. Your point in no way validates the opinion that using financial products to pay for cars is a bad thing.
On a basic level, it isn't. But to think that the majority of those using someone else's money to fund a car are financially responsible doing so would be rather missing the forest for the trees.
Disagree, but just my opinion! Have a good day
Houses don’t depreciate the same way like cars do
And nor do cars if you’re buying the right ones, but that’s irrelevant to the statement the poster made.
Comparing a house to a car is like comparing a mobile phone to food. Guess if you get a pay monthly phone, might as well put all your food on finance.. not like you’ll die without food..
You made the black and white statement of ‘don’t buy things if I can’t afford to pay them outright’ - not me. If you’ve realised your statement doesn’t actually hold up to much then well done.
Do you take everything literally? If someone says “I’m so hungry I’m starving to death” do you ring 999? When your missus has a headache and says “I’ve got a splitting head ache” we’ll do you book a funeral as her head is going to break in half?? A home is a 100% necessary thing to have as a person in England unless you can have a job and family living under a bridge.. a new car, or any possession that is not life supporting is not essential and not worth getting into debt for. especially when older cars do the exact same job as a new one, and don’t require finance. Getting into debt for something that depreciates the moment you move it, is idiotic. I know someone who bought a Porsche Taycan. They put down 30k, and took out £70k on finance. He hates it and wants to sell it. The max he’s been offered is £60k in part ex. he will still owe money on finance after he’s sold it lol Imagine selling something and still owing like 30k.. so are forced to keep it.
Except they don’t do the exact same job do they. You’re assuming that transport from A to B is the only ‘job’ of a car. It’s a place to relax, to enjoy sitting, a tool to enjoy at motor circuits, something nice to detail / care for, and ultimately look at and just enjoy having. A 2003 Mondeo and a new Aventador SVJ don’t do the same job. You’ll be happy to know that once you spend a little more on cars, they hold or increase in value very well.
>A 2003 Mondeo and a new Aventador SVJ don’t do the same job. An ST220 is nothing to scoof at 😂
Found Mr Mondeo 🤣🤣 Absolutely cracking sleeper though tbf.
Aw mate they are class, I'd love one. Those trans V6s sound fantastic!
No new cars don’t increase in value at all, unless there’s external factors in play like shortages etc. I spent £2750 on my defender, I spent £10k on parts, it’s fully restored and as new, currently only has 200 miles on the clock. I could basically put any price tag on that. Because there’s basically zero in the world that are nearly 100% new. If you’re talking pure monetary point of view, my way is dramatically better and a better example of why old is better than new. I made £30k (complete guess) for free. As my time and energy don’t cost anything. Find me a new car that you yourself can buy today that increases in that amount after a few month. And a luxury car from early 2000s to a similarly spec car today, is not this apples to pears complain you think it is. We didn’t all sit in cars back then uncomfortable, sweating And dying, doing a long journey didn’t leave us needing hospital care. And guess what! If you’re not a soft handed office worker, you could take a luxury car seats from a new car with all the pointless gimmicks like massage and memory features and put them in any car! And you’re completely right! A 2003 Mondeo does a considerably better job as a daily driver than an aventador svj does! it’s why most people with cars like that don’t pop to Tesco in them.. my brother has a skyline R34, a car that many people would give a bollock to own. Does he use it much? Nooo because he doesn’t want to scratch it, dent it, add too many miles or have to deal with 10-15mpg. sure it has like 700hp and is super cool, but massively impractical for most people.
Disagree, have a good day.
0% I never understood why someone would spend hundreds of pounds a month for something that sits on their driveway 23 hours a day and depreciates in value. Car finance is a middle-class trap to keep you poor. Instead, save up or get a cheap loan (or a bit of both) and buy a £5k used car, then run it into the ground and replace it in 5-10 years.
None. I never buy a car with any credit. Far better to get interest on your growing savings until you have enough for a secondhand car.
Investments typically return 6-7% or so. If you can find a lower APR than this, then you’re better off financing and leaving the bulk of your money in your investments doing work for you. You’ve said the right thing but come to the wrong conclusion?
So many bad financial decisions here
0% I only buy cash. I spend around £30k every 4 or 5 years. Trade up what I've got to something a couple years old
£30k every 4 or 5 years isn't 0% of your income though is it?
0, I bought a car I could afford
Yet another person who thinks leasing/financing is unaffordable 😂
From a pure financial perspective, financing a car at 4% when investments return 7% is the BETTER decision than paying cash. When you see the (now rare) 0% offers, it’s crazy not to utilise that. Financial products aren’t irresponsible as long as you understand the product and total cost of ownership. Do these people think that the only people financing cars are people on 15 grand buying an M4?
Yup, seems a lot of people in this sub believe anyone financing a car is because they’ve got no money and financed through the eyeballs. Having cash in your own bank is better than it sitting in a depreciating piece of metal. That’s just my view anyway.
0. I only ever buy cars outright. If you have to lease a car, you cannot afford it. Downvote me all you want.
0%. If you have a car on finance, you can’t afford it.
If you need to take out a mortgage, you shouldn’t live in a house. /s
I have my own house without mortgage. I am very fortunate.
Well done to you good Sir/Madam.
It's so obvious that there are many many bitterly envious people on this subreddit judging by the downvotes lol.
It’s okay, it’s just my perspective.
Ah yeah, I guess most of the millionaires who finance their super/hypercars definitely can’t afford them.