[Closed] How do people afford BMWs?

😀 Did you really need a Capital letter their?

Im guesing your an English teacher!

I assume you're one as well 😀

Thread going fine. Then TSY turns up.

/interestinthread

flashy's grammar has bean shocking lately.

SOZDRCYLULZ

Sorry, I'll play nice, I don't really think you're jealous. The actual answer is finance or company car or both.

I was having a similar thought when I saw an early 20's in a soft top 60 plate 3 series this evening. I concluded Daddy's car.

All though if you live in Oxfordshire say (where BMW have a plant) you'll see more as a result of employee ownership schemes.

\interestinthread 😀

Commuting along the M4. Maybe it's a self selecting group....

So in conclusion:

- Most people don't own them but lease them
- A lot are company cars brought by fleets
- The rest are 2nd hand

some people - and i'm sure it is a small minority will work very hard to afford a car well beyond their means. I have known several people who pay £5-7000 insurance and/or work full time jobs around full time study to run nice cars at young age.

when i was 18 a few of my mates were knocking around in old 7 series. dirt cheap to buy & after taking a knock on the insurance for the first year the decrease was huge bringing it in cheaper than most of the rest of us running around in puntos clios etc. 18/ skinhead/ 735i means getting pulled a lot though!!

Commuting along the M4

Company car heaven.

dave56 - I spent 2 weeks in france recently. Every time I go there, I'm reminded of the British obsession with personal debt and material status: the French tend to drive much less flashy cars.

Immediately on return to Britain, the road was littered with very expensive cars.

I earn pretty well (by average income standards). No way would I spend the sort of money others do on cars.

As the great sage Colombo says: it's just for driving round in.

I bought my £32000 330i at 3 years old with 26k on the clock for less than half price, financed at 2.9% at the time or £174 per month.

Thats was in 2005. I now own it with 94k on the clock. As the nature of my work changes and I only drive 2500 miles per year, it has all the toys, moderately good performance and (with a K&N filter) does 30mpg with a bike on the roof and so will be kept.

Its worth about £4.5k now, doesn't rattle and the only thing I've done to it is service it, get new brake pads and tyres when needed.

Its now the "second car" used primary for bike trips and the odd work appointment.

Before you say it, buying a more economic/spacious TDI costs more than the extra fuel/tax the minute I make more than one monthly payment on a loan for a new car.

For those of you that haven't, the USP of a BMW is the driver experience - probably less of a gap now to other manufacturers but very noticable as little as four or more years ago and beyond. They are very driver orientated.

I run a 2006 Astra for work. I park it next to big flash beemers and mercs in motorway services and business park carparks feeling rather smug with the knowledge that I own it and that its a damn sight cheaper to fix when it does go wrong.

A lot of people I know who run beemers do it under a lease deal. knew a guy who ran an Audi TT that way.

Cars a car. If somebody wants to waste money to look flash good luck to them. BMWs are nice cars, don't get me wrong but for work? Nope, I'd rather have something cheap, a beemer will wear out all the same as something thats lower in value.I'd rather spend £250 a month on sorting the house out.

Plenty are on lease these days. Like you say, definitely seem to be more of them - and similar - marques around these days. I also think a fair few folk made a mint on equity (late 90's to mid 00's) and as such went and splashed the cash because they could.

I bought a 4yr old M3 a while back followed by a brand new 320D Sport the following summer. But that was at a time when I swapped cars every year or so. Have different priorities now and have stuck with my A4 since 05. Depreciation is scary.

I drive a Skoda and a Seat. I could afford a BMW but figured that the difference would be better invested in appreciating assets and people might actually let me out of junctions.

3 series saloons must be one of the most popular cars in the UK, ie top 10 surely

given the average salary is 25k how on earth are so many people affording them?

Statistics fail.

The mean salary being £25k doesn't mean that most people are on that figure... there are easily enough people earning more to afford fancy cars.

Bear in mind that you only need two people working on £35k to bring in a fair old chunk of cash.

What I don't understand is how anyone can afford a decent sized house in the South East. £800k anyone? 😯

I agree with Kryton - many models of BMW (and Audi and Merc) are IMO incredibly driver-oriented. Sure, not everyone's gonna like them, but each of the ones I've owned or driven are considerably better 'on the road' than cheaper or comparative marques. Not being snobbish, just being honest. And the customer care I've received from all (post-purchase) has been top notch with the exception of one warranty incident that went to HQ and got resolved within days. Having said that, I think a lot of main dealers - and indies - are upping their CS game. Still plenty of cowboys about though.

I assume they brought a house in the SE when they didn't cost 800k, then sold it when it shot up in value, and used that as a deposit.

BTW:

[img] [/img]

It would seem the modal group is less than the mean of 25k... not sure i see your point.

What I don't understand is how anyone can afford a decent sized house in the South East. £800k anyone?

There was a 3 bed terraced in our road that was recently up for £545k! There's a shocking amount of anti-value in property these days.

I 'bought' a new 1 series a couple of years ago. It was really purchased via a lease scheme mainly paid for by my employer. With the lease I pay a monthly payment and then hand the car back after four years - I actually never got to hand it back as it was stolen off the drive before the lease was up, so maybe that is how some afford them!

As the residuals on BMWs are better than other brands like Ford and Vauxhall they make more sense as a lease car, especially if the car is likely to do high mileage. I had a Skoda before the BMW, now drive a VW.

Anyone in the SE who wasn't on the property ladder 10 years ago is f***ed as far as I can see. Me and my missus dream of a 3 bed!

I often wonder the same about RR Sports - mind you our CEO has a RR, Aston Martin and a Merc SL!

Anyone in the SE who wasn't on the property ladder 10 years ago is f***ed as far as I can see. Me and my missus dream of a 3 bed!

[img] [/img]

As the residuals on BMWs are better than other brands

Only people who use words like 'residuals' can own BMWs. 😛

Anyone in the SE who wasn't on the property ladder 10 years ago is f***ed as far as I can see. Me and my missus dream of a 3 bed!

Come up north, there's actual hills and everything. 🙂

Grum... can you send me down a pigeon with directions please?

Come up north, there's actual hills and everything.

Are there any jobs tho....

Me and my missus dream of a 3 bed!

Grum... can you send me down a pigeon with directions please?

Yup, although of course I'll be down t' pit all day tomorrow so you'll have to wait.

Are there any jobs tho....

See above answer. Probably not the kind of jobs that will allow you to drive a BMW, but my bike has some fancy bits on it. 😀

Sweet jesus, don't you have a boy to do such tasks?

wow. i'm 19 and from the SE so everything just mentioned about being

f****d

Perhaps they work hard and get paid well for it?

CaptainFlashheart - Member

Perhaps they work hard and get paid well for it?

the two do not go hand in hand for most people (see dave's graph). although i used to earn about £800/week on average as a chippy before tax.... assuming i declared it, that is.

some of my friends used to have penismobils, aka BMW 1 series, Audi A4s etc until the finacial crisis hit their dreams on the head and they ad to give them up as they were either no longer earning (got the chop) or had their income slashed.

i used to drive an old Seat Ibiza that i paid for myself with real money. they used to laugh. i laughed when they asked me for a lift anywhere in my crappy car. haha.

the GFs old man's Audi A4 is a nice car to drive. i'm not allowed to drive it anymore after the GF said it was me who who was driving when she dented the bumper whilst parking. ho-hum.

i've got a bike! three, in fact.

Girlie I work with has just spent £560k on a 3 bed maisonette (basically the top floor (and attic) of a terrace..., that needs work.

Nah, I'm taller than him, Juan! I'd boff his wife, though!

The cheapest family car on my company car lease scheme for benefit in kind is the Toyota prius, closely followed by the 318d 3-series beamer. Everyone in theo scheme drives a 3 series pretty much. Their co2 emissions are low so they don't cost a fortune in benefit in kind tax therefore make financial sense. Probably explains a fair few of them on the road

Never mind poxy 3 series bimmers, can someone explain the huge number of Range Rovers (mainly the "cheaper" sports) on the roads?R

I do know enough people whose earnings are well in the six figure category, and even they claim RRs are too expensive..!

I drive a 1999 318i se touring. It only cost £1000 with 12 months mot and lots of the toys.
Bargain!
My bikes cost more! 🙂

@big dave - read mine and the following post again - increased costs is sometimes a myth.

Basically the BMW parts bin is most better sourced parts than the competition. Yes you pay the premium but yes, they last a lot longer. And the customer service is great. Even at the dealer, becuase of the age of the car I get charged max £199 for a Service (inc parts) and max £450 for all brakes and discs. I did lots of research for tyres, including BlackCircles and the like - couldnt beat the dealers price.

Plus. they have a "lifestyle" cafe, so I get my car serviced on a Saturday, on a while you wait basis, while I sit in the cafe and have a free bacon roll and coffee (or two) while i read the paper.

When I chose my company car a BMW would have been about £20 a month less than my Mondeo but to get the same spec in toys etc would have been about £30 more...and I can easily get my bike in the back of my car.

You will find quite a lot are company cars on basic spec for the status symbol of having a BMW. Also to be fair i dont really like german interiors. VW;s are fairly similar as well interior wise.

I was listening to Radio 4 tonight. Apparently, in the last 430 years social mobility amongst the top 10% of earners has increased at 8 times the rate of any other income group.

The rest of us have had to make do with cheap credit instead.

I recently got a 5 Series company car after many years of believing the (negative) BMW hype.

1) The emissions and therefore tax are about as low as you can go among a vast range of manufacturers.
2) The lease cost is very competitive with all the run of the mill shite due to the residual value of the car.
3) It's without doubt the most comfortable best handling (at real world pace) car I've ever had.

Reasons 1and 2 are why they are so popular if you ask me.

£250 a month really isn't a lot of money on a car. I run complete bangers, and I recon that all in its £100 a month for tax, insurance, mot, fixing it, and so on. If I ran a 5 year old car it'd be double that, so why not pay the smidge extra for something brand new?

I am about to take delivery of an A6 SLine SE estate 2.0 tdi - it is costing less on a lease than a medium spec Mondeo or Insignia - £270 a month. Look around and some good deals are available.

£250/month isn't a great deal...

I wouldn't spend it but a bloke at work recently bought a fully loaded Skoda Yeti - only the 1.2tsi. He is paying £350/ month.

He is the sole bread winner, is on about 'average wage', has a young kid & rents a house but deems £350 an acceptable amount to spend on a car!

Just been offered a brand new VW Touran tdi from my old personal lease company for £160/month; (+3?)

I had a SAAB 9-3 Sportwagen for a number of years on personal lease; what I paid didn't even approach depreciation tbh - do the maths, unless you buy and are happy with a banger, why the heck would you buy a vehicle outright or through other forms of finance?