The owner of said cars might well be still living at his mum and dad’s house – my brother did, with a series of high end cars and vanity plates, until his mid thirties.

NO offence but why are you asking this? 😯

The owner of said cars might well be still living at his mum and dad’s house – my brother did, with a series of high end cars and vanity plates, until his mid thirties.

There is that too – a senior art director at a place I used to work at bought a Ferrari – but he’d sold his house and moved back in with his parents.

But (and this is relevant to the OP) the big bosses told him not to park it in the office car park because it’d make clients think they were being overcharged.

Have you considered that they may have other more lucrative business interests other than the car wash….

binners

Have you considered that they may have other more lucrative business interests other than the car wash….

Considering the part of town they’re in it might be more along the lines of

a carwash along with other cash based activities where services not products are sold is a handy business to own if you want to launder money.

MrSmith

along with other cash based activities where services not products are sold

There’s a rumour going about that leaving a £20 note on the dashboard will get you a hand finish of another variety but I can’t confirm this.

An anonymous tip to your local VAT man will sort this out one way or another. Keep an eye out for a Bentley and Audi going cheap shortly afterwards.

…and be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your days

Not so much the Audi, but whether you agree with it or not, a Bentley parked up wearing a dickhead plate connecting it to the business is going to make a statement.

There’s a Vet near me that parks his DB9 outside the surgery, perhaps it’s because I’m working class scum, I always assumed he’d be very expensive compared to the non-Aston owning Vet down the road, but when push came to shove and I had to use him, he wasn’t – they were very good, well priced and the service was good. Seems he’s build a business using that old fashioned approach of ‘being good’.

As for the OPs Eastern European Carwash and it’s Bentley driving owner – I think it’s easy to look at these rough looking carwashes using on a disused Petrol Station forecourt and the like with the tired looking workers etc and assume there’s something dodgy about it all, but there’s no reason why it should be, they tend to use cheap materials, the use the cheapest land they can find and assume pay their staff minimum wage, the overheads are pretty small – punters pay them £10 for a few minutes work.

If the owner is fiddling the VAT, underpaying his staff or employing illegals he’s going to be pretty stupid to paint a big target on his back and park a Bentley outside.

As for taste, I think most Bentley are in bad taste, big ugly vulgar things, but that’s up to him – They say when the Americans see someone driving a big flash Car they think “Wowzers, I sure wish I could drive a swell Car like that – How can I make more money” whereas Brits think “Look at that flash prick, how can I get him out of that”. No idea how former Eastern Block People feel about it, are they all in the gutter looking at the stars and dreaming about the day they own a string of car washes, or are they planning to eat him and drive his Bentley back home to escape British Drizzle.

As Toast would say-
“Dry your eyes Bono!”

In a similar vein – how much do you care about builder’s vans? I used to do a bit of labouring for a guy who had a run of the mill couple of year old transit and then some gas fitters turned up in their brand new top of the line T5 with all the bells and whistles and a personalised plate. The guy I worked for was pretty condescending say that he wouldn’t trust a builder who turned up in such a flash van.

I strangely quite often think about this whenever I see a really nice or really tatty work van. You can argue it both ways IMO, a really nice van could be someone who charges too much or someone that takes pride in his business (and by extension work) so invests heavily in it. Ergo someone in a tatty van could be someone just happy doing an honest days work for an honest days pay kind of thing or a cowboy that couldn’t give a crap about his business/reputation or by extension the standard of work he does. So somewhere in the middle is probably the answer

The best van around our way is an old fella (a sparky in his 60s) who drives a retro (but beautifully maintained) van.

He’s great and fortunately he’s training up a pair of young lads so I am hoping his great quality of work is going to be passed into safe hands.

A garage I used to use back in Leeds had an old Sierra pickup that didn’t seem to age outside it. They were very good with anything that didn’t involve electronics, and were very reasonably priced.

In terms of the flash car, I don’t really see it as a bad thing, the guy may well have bought it second hand and if not, so what, he’s managed to make a load of money in one way or another and as long as he’s not harming anyone it’s up to him how he spends it. If it was an Overfinch modified Range Rover, I would however have to avoid all his car washes on the grounds of good taste.

If it was an Overfinch modified Range Rover, I would however have to avoid all his car washes on the grounds of good taste.

Oh please, that’s positively restrained. Now an Onyx Porsche Cayenne…..

I thought their prices were extortionate and their fleet of luxury cars confirmed that they were doing extremely well out of ithad a lot of cars on finance.

You do know that approx 90% of cars on the road are financed?

whereas Brits think “Look at that flash prick, how can I get him out of that”.

It is a shame Brits don’t more often think “wow he must pay for a whole load of nurses and teachers each year”.

sharkbait

You do know that approx 90% of cars on the road are financed?

I didn’t know it was exactly 90%, but I know it’s a high number. Saying that, can you tell me how much a 911 Turbo S costs per month? I’m guessing it’s considerable.

sharkbait – Member

I thought their prices were extortionate and their fleet of luxury cars confirmed that they were doing extremely well out of ithad a lot of cars on finance.

You do know that approx 90% of cars on the road are financed?

No they’re not, not even close.

85% of new cars are bought with some sort of finance deal, by the time they’re 3-4 years old and find their second owner this drops to about 60%, most finance companies don’t want to fund car older than 6 years old at all – some will fall into the hands of the log book loans sharks, but it’s a small %.

I would estimate that less than 30% of the cars on the road in the UK are financed.

FuzzyWuzzy – Member

I strangely quite often think about this whenever I see a really nice or really tatty work van. You can argue it both ways IMO, a really nice van could be someone who charges too much or someone that takes pride in his business (and by extension work) so invests heavily in it. Ergo someone in a tatty van could be someone just happy doing an honest days work for an honest days pay kind of thing or a cowboy that couldn’t give a crap about his business/reputation or by extension the standard of work he does. So somewhere in the middle is probably the answer

I think that was the solution we came to – not a T5 (T6 now I suppose) with all the chrome trim and 22″ alloys, but something that is rust and dent free, a couple of years old and still looks fairly smart is what’s required.

The guy is an arse. Simple. Gloating, arrogant, tasteless.

You release how many money grabbing, flash, arsehole capitalists are on STW.

It’s also a social and cultural thing.

To me flash cars (of the big Bentley or Rolls variety – I quite like sports cars which for some reason don’t ‘feel’ the same to me) look tasteless. I associate them with the sort of folk that would want gold taps in the bathroom and that means I think (a lot) less of them. But in other cultures it’s not the same – flashing the cash is culturally acceptable and actually makes you more trustworthy and capable looking.

It’s not the same, but I go out to Swaziland every year and I’ve learnt that my typical British self deprecation just doesn’t work there. They genuinely take it that you don’t think much of yourself and therefore must be properly crap at what you do. A flash car there would make you trusted and capable looking and not a throbber as it does here.

Well, when I see twenty Romanians swarming round a car in the freezing cold, and the owners £250,000 Bentley parked out front it makes me think I’ll get my car washed somewhere else as it seems like a pretty tasteless juxtaposition.

agreed

Its all about perception innit?

My cousin has been board level at a few of the biggest multinationals. He’s absolutely minted. He’s had a succession of very flash cars for as long as I can remember – brand spanking new Porches, Massarati’s etc.

A while back he took the plunge and started his own business. The first thing he did was sell the 911 he had at the time, and bought a bog standard Beemer rep-mobile. His logic being that if you’re a start-up trying to drum up business, then pulling into the car park in a really flash sports car creates the ultimate bad impression that you’re unlikely to recover from.

His business is now doing really well so he recently took delivery of a lovely black F Type, which i personally think of as quite classy, rather than flash. He also wouldn’t be seen dead with a **** private plate

a handy business to own if you want to launder money

^ this

You do know that approx 90% of cars on the road are financed?

Don’t you mean 90% of facts used in STW threads are picked from thin air?

Wow, some folk here really don’t like people with money do they?! 😯 Personally I take the view that if i’ve never met the person i’ll reserve judgement as I’ve no idea of the story that person and where they are in life. But i suppose for a lot of people its easier to allow an easy prejudice to take over. My builder changed vans part way through the build to a brand new liveried one, he gave the old one to a couple of his subcontractor brickies that were just starting out. He was a really good guy and very honest (and cheaper than the other quotes i had). Using the logic of some on here i should have told him to do one…. 😕

Wow, some folk here really don’t like people with money do they?

Only those who spend it on tat showing off rather than doing something good with it.

Why?. If they earned it they can spend it on what they like. They could spend it on an over engineered shed to keep their toys in or donate the money to charity perhaps and do without? 😉

Just ask yourself what would Jeremy Corbin use to get to work? Bicycle, walk or public transport, surely anything else is just pure capitalist greed and oneupmanship!

Only those who spend it on tat showing off rather than doing something good with it.

What, like £6k mountain bikes that get used a couple of times a month if they’re lucky?

Wow, some folk here really don’t like people with money do they?!

I think they see the poor people whose labour makes the money and feel empathy with them rather than admire the owner. Some folk just dont care/have no empathy and like/admire greed.

Interesting reading..also works the other way,if someone is gonna judge me on what van I drive for my plumbing business I wouldn’t even entertain doing work for them. Tend to let work quality do the talking.Personally could never afford a spanking new T5/6 and certainly wouldn’t use it for work if I could.

I think they see the poor people whose labour makes the money and feel empathy with them rather than admire the owner. Some folk just dont care/have no empathy and like/admire greed.

But as has already been said on this thread – do these people have the same dislike of the bosses of big companies such as Tesco and Sports Direct etc etc that pay derisory wages are very wealthy (and I expect much more wealthy than the OP’s Bently-driving car wash operator)? And on top will probably have a much better set of perks such as pensions, health care, golden handcuffs etc etc etc

One of the reasons I left my old employer of 6 years was that after year 5 of all of the staff being told that yet again no pay rise was due, despite maintaining a steady increase in business and profits, the boss and directors had new cars and private MAV****** number plates… It stunk so I fired my boss and left to start my own business. Before anyone says anything my company motor is 18 years old, German and doesn’t have a private plate.

Do they ? I dont know ask them

TBH I cannot be arsed as folk try to see hypocrisy/attack others views rather than defend their own view

so much angst about other peoples wealth.
nothing better to worry about?

85% of new cars are bought with some sort of finance deal

Sorry should have said ‘new’ cars and when I last looked 85% is close to 90%. You can almost guarantee that a 90% of ‘flash’ new cars are on finance as they can be put through the company.

Anyway, what I’m saying is that just because someone has an expensive car doesn’t mean they actually own it or have loads of money.

sharkbait

Anyway, what I’m saying is that just because someone has an expensive car doesn’t mean they actually own it or have loads of money.

Yes I get that Sharkbait but again, what does a 911 Turbo S cost monthly on finance? I have no idea. At a guess I’d say £1000 per month at least. Am I in the ball park? If you can afford those kinds of monthly repayments on a toy then you’re doing very well. And for five or six members of staff to be able to afford the same, then the business must be quite lucrative.

marcus7

Wow, some folk here really don’t like people with money do they?! Personally I take the view that if i’ve never met the person i’ll reserve judgement as I’ve no idea of the story that person and where they are in life. But i suppose for a lot of people its easier to allow an easy prejudice to take over.

I actually like money marcus. It might be prejudicial of me to jump to conclusions about the owner of this car wash but if I ask myself if I owned the car wash would I do the same and and I absolutely would not as I think it would be pretty cruel to the staff and in my mind at least, might drive away customers.

My original post wasn’t about wealth, so much as whether flaunting it outside of a business is a good idea, and I had a personal experience of feeling ripped off/over charged by people who were being less than subtle about their money.

Seems about right. But who says it’s a toy? Some people love cars and for them it’s their aim in life so they get ‘the’ car and don’t spend the money on something else such as house, holidays, track days, etc.

We are straying OT though – in business there’s def a fine line between having a nice car and taking the pish.