Even moderately expensive cars..how do people afford them?

If you know where to look and fit the criteria, people are desperate to get you into something big new and shiny.

Audi Q5? – suit you sir http://www.contracthireandleasing.com/car-leasing-companies/independent-brokers/all-vehicle-contracts/audi/q5/16306319/

And all for less than the cost of the depreciation if you bought it for cash.

I’m surprised that people feel so strongly about this – but then it is STW…

Let people spend their money on what they want.

A couple of amusing “declines” from my youth:

Being kicked out by a disappointed guy onto the hard shoulder on the autoroute near Chambery. It was getting dark and there was nothing for miles around. A long hike to the road.

A truck driver (in the days when professional drivers were allowed to pick up hitchers) got very insistent and indicated off down a deserted slip road which wasn’t on the route he’d told me. At that point I grabbed the air-brake lever and steering wheel, and told him we’d have a big accident if he didn’t continue to the next services.

A delightful German lady in an open-top BMW picked me up near Nice and took me to Munich. We bounced up the stairs to her flat, she opened up and was confronted with her boyfriend who was back early from a business trip. I saved her life by asking where the phone was and rang my parents for what must have been a very strange conversation (no mobiles back then) while she went down for her bags. Thanking her for the use of the phone I waved goodbye.

As for those I didn’t decline, Madame sometimes reads this forum.

Edit: could be Dickyboy, My pic is on the mugshots thread for comparison.

I drive an A6 2.0TDI SLine Avant Le Mans Edition. Costs me a small deposit (£900ish) and £289 a month. I obviously don’t own it – it’s a 2 year lease through my business (so tax deductible and makes even more of a saving).

In October I am upgrading to a 3.0l V6 Quattro version – £390 a month on a 4 year lease.

There is no way I would buy a car that expensive and the ‘family’ car is 7 years old – bought new for £15k on a 3 year finance plan and will be kept until it falls apart.

What I don’t get is really how can people afford to run these cars, with the price of petrol the thought of having a Range Rover drinking all that would make me sell it.

A friend of mine who lives in South Devon owns and drives a Range Rover Sport, the V8 petrol model. Cost him £75k.
Last year he was mulling over how good the new RR was going to be, with regards to changing his.
He often drives up to London, and if he’s been abroad he has a bloke who chauffeurs him.
How the other half lives…
…he runs his own business, which has dealings all over the world, which has involved him visiting Afghanistan, among various interesting locations. Midway being another. He can actually afford to run it. I can only dream of the lottery win… 😐

Edit: could be Dickyboy, My pic is on the mugshots thread for comparison.

I’ve seen that thread and can confirm that Educators face does indeed look like an arse.

Why do people want nice cars? 2 words: Buttertubs Pass (between Swaledale and Wensleydale). Fantastic drive!

Having said that, there’s a difference between “nice” and “expensive”.

I also don’t get the point of buying brand new, and wouldn’t be happy with finance. My “new” car is ten years old, but it’s still a nice drive, and I have the security of owning it outright (although I do owe Mr Mule senior some money…).

*crosses fingers and hopes there isn’t a massive repair bill just round the corner…*

8 years ago my wife an I were a professional couple with low rent having good times, and I bought a nearly new BMW330i to mess about around the motorways with using an “Options” type scheme. Buy 2009 we saved enough money to buy a nearly new Ford Kuga outright (minus depreciation) when we got married as we expected KJ01 at least was coming.

Now, 8 years later I have 2 kids, one about to start school, one about to start nursery and a mortgage. There’s no way I can consider buying a new motor until at least the Nursery time has ended. Therefore;

My “new” car is ten years old, but it’s still a nice drive, and I have the security of owning it outright

what she said ^^

Now, another view is this – 2 colleagues at work did very well in the boom times and now have 4/5 bedroom houses, 2 newish BMW / Audi’s each and grown up (well, 9-10yo) kids.

Also, whilst on a treat trip to Harvester on Saturday I saw some local “youts” chatting through their respective car windows – one in a 130i and the other in an S3, both 2yo cars. I bet they don’t have mortgages to pay eh?

Life’s circumstances are different for everyone, and change.

FWIW my Mrs has drives a car that was about 35K new. (which was 7 years ago.)
A very clean Merc CLK 320 cdi with 63K on the clock & FSH. She paid £8,750 for it 2 months ago.

Why do people want nice cars? 2 words: Buttertubs Pass (between Swaledale and Wensleydale). Fantastic drive!

+1 used to get single figure mpg out of my V6 Golf on that. Committing to the corner at the bottom of the 1 in 4 hill on the way back to Thwaite with just 4 Pilot Sport tyres and a rather small cable crash barrier between you and a 200 foot drop takes some nerve……

Edit you can just see the top of the hill on the horizon here:

[/url]
Buttertubs Pass[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

I never said empty and I never said suitable for cycling on.

But, I commute round Peterborough, down the A1 and then onto the A14. Parts of the A14 get a bit slow, but nothing majorly bad for the stretch I use. Admittedly, other stretches of the A14 are a nightmare if you hit them at the wrong time…..
Prior to that it was the same, but carrying on down the A1 to Letchworth. Again – no real snarl ups, except for a bit slow at Black Cat roundabout and I had quite a few back road routes stored up in case of any major issues.

Not great driving roads, admittedly (quite the opposite in fact) but far removed from binners pic of total gridlock, which was the point I was trying to make….
I have been to Wales many times, Yorkshire, the Peak District, Devon & Cornwall, The South Coast around the New Forest, up to Scotland, Cumbria etc. and there’s been plenty of excellent driving (and cycling) roads almost devoid of traffic….

Has it occurred to you that if they sell all these cars to people then it means that for the majority of people the roads have to have cars in them. Otherwise, where do all the cars go? There are some deserted roads, but that is because nobody is using them. Therefore the depiction in the adverts cannot help but distort the reality of motoring for the majority.

I work for a car manufacturer and they run an employee lease scheme on which I can have 3 cars for myself or friends and family, not quite pick of the entire range but a reasonable selection running from £130 to £250 per month. However this also includes your tax and insurance so this is all you pay.

Bearing in mind any car will cost you around £1k per year (tax, insurance, mot, servicing, repairs, depreciation, interest) for an extra few hundred I get a brand new car every year. Well the girlfriend does anyway (I get to cycle to work or borrow the car sometimes)and as she works late evenings its worth it to have the piece of mind that she’s not going to be left stranded by a breakdown.

she works late evenings its worth it to have the piece of mind that she’s not going to be left stranded by a breakdown.

So you don’t work for Renault then?

I work for a car manufacturer and they run an employee lease scheme on which I can have 3 cars for myself or friends and family, not quite pick of the entire range but a reasonable selection running from £130 to £250 per month. However this also includes your tax and insurance so this is all you pay.

Same here, my OH works for Kia. She has a company car and her parents have one as well. I could get one, but really can’t justify two cars as I only live 3 miles from work!

Now, 8 years later I have 2 kids, one about to start school, one about to start nursery and a mortgage. There’s no way I can consider buying a new motor until at least the Nursery time has ended.

You’re expecting to have more money when kids are in school instead of nursery? 😆

So you don’t work for Renault then?

Lol not quite, they do share many components though.

A car is simply a tool, so you only need to pay enough for it to do the job you need it to do.

The marketers need to sell you something more than that.

The problem is that if you are already the person they depict in their adverts, you don’t need the car to be so, and if being that person is something you aspire to, buying the car won’t make it so.

Prestige is earned, not bought.

I find that it can be circumstantial, when i was 21 i couldn’t get a loan so had to go for a new car on finance in order to be able to get one, but in those days the deals were quite good (sub-£200 a month) which meant that 3 years of payments only meant i was paying a couple K over the list price. Now i have a 4 year old Golf and that was less than half the new price and with less that 40k too. From my hunting around when i bought this 8 months ago, there was a world of difference between the quality of car you could get for £12k, some brand new but no spec. list, and some good on paper but were a bag of nails.

Most people do buy their cars as aspirational tools, like people have said, people are happy to spend £4k on a carbon 150mm trail bike that they ride 15-20miles a week, and on that basis cost per mile used, a £50k Porsche/BMW/Audi isn’t too bad really.

A car is simply a tool, so you only need to pay enough for it to do the job you need it to do.

The same could be said for pretty much anything most of us own – your bike, your telly, your clothes, your food, your phone, your house, your etc…

aracer – Member
Now, 8 years later I have 2 kids, one about to start school, one about to start nursery and a mortgage. There’s no way I can consider buying a new motor until at least the Nursery time has ended.
You’re expecting to have more money when kids are in school instead of nursery?

*is nervous of the implication that in 10 years time ill be driving around in a 21yo Beemer :-/ *

I once spent £1750 on a car but try to keep it below a grand if I can

imnotverygood – Member

Has it occurred to you that if they sell all these cars to people then it means that for the majority of people the roads have to have cars in them. Otherwise, where do all the cars go? There are some deserted roads, but that is because nobody is using them. Therefore the depiction in the adverts cannot help but distort the reality of motoring for the majority.

Not really, no. I can’t say I have thought about it all that much.
I just found it funny that people were getting a bee in their bonnet about car manufacturers creating misleading adverts or something along those lines, when most products are sold in misleading ways.

I never mentioned deserted roads, I was responding to binners’ picture of a packed road and his comment that for most people, that was probably driving reality, which I disagree with…..but anyhow…thanks for clearing up for me that if people buy cars there must be cars on the road. I can’t argue with your logic….I will sleep soundly tonight.

johndoh – Member
“A car is simply a tool, so you only need to pay enough for it to do the job you need it to do.”

The same could be said for pretty much anything most of us own – your bike, your telly, your clothes, your food, your phone, your house, your etc…

True, but why be an indentured slave?

I don’t confuse my toys with my transport.

Seriously? Really? I don’t understand how your choices are the correct ones.

The point is that a car isn’t a toy, a bike is. If you think a car is a toy then you’re part of the problem.

I find this quite a funny concept as well and that comes from a dedicated car lover ! I’m always surprised at what cars you see rattling around and how people justify them, never mind afford them. I work in a position where our car park could be full of very flash cars – it isn’t which is weird – manly land rovers, basic subarus and a few audis. Oh there is a c55 AMG but nothing too lairy. I must be getting old and sensible – had 993s, 997 gt3, rs4 and now …. a VW california and a 8 year old megane rs255 which cost peanuts ! Rest of the cash is in the bank as i can’t justify something flash to myself and really I don’t need it.

The point is that a car isn’t a toy, a bike is. If you think a car is a toy then you’re part of the problem

I have a car that is a toy.

One definition of a toy, An object, esp. a gadget or machine, regarded as providing amusement for an adult.

my self and my dad have a hot rod with a flat top v8 in it, It is a car, however is not used for domestic purposes it stored about 300 miles from where i live and doesnt get out too much.

But i assure you its great fun,and deffinatly a toy.

Anyone who thinks a car cannot be a toy is a muppet.

It’s a photograph – how do you know it’s gridlock?

I can’t see the photo in question but gridlock has a specific meaning. It’s not just lots of traffic, it’s where a city with a grid street plan becomes highly immobile and there is neither uptown/downtown nor crosstown traffic volume.

But i assure you its great fun,and deffinatly a toy.

How do you have fun with it?

When we take it out on the track its stored at.

a 5.7lt flat top v8 sitting in a car that, with out the engine can pretty much be lifted on to ramps by one person. kicking out 488bhp (rolling road) just sitting in it with it running is fun.Never mind hitting a corrner at 140mph.

But even driving down the road at the speed limit or sitting at the traffic lights is fun in it just due to the looks and intrest people give.

But if your not into the engineering behind these things and see cars as the devil you will never understand these things. Just like the average driver will never unders and your love for riding a bike.

My wife wants to trade her 2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee for a 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee as hers is getting “old”… We’re not what you would call “wealthy”, it’s just priorities… We will take a hit from depreciation, so payments will continue more-or-less the same. I imagine she’ll want to change this one too in 2016 ad infinitum… My daily driver is 14 years old and I’m fine with that. I used to change my perfectly good DH bike and race gear every race season, so who am I to judge.

When we take it out on the track its stored at.

So in the context of the discussion it doesn’t count. I’m sure the fun in rolling down the street posing would fairly quickly wear off it that was all you did with it.

Meh.
I like to think that even wedged I would not choose expensive car, would still be second hand. And then go on a nice holiday.
And I could not spend out on a car to be flash or for image.

johndoh – Member
Seriously? Really? I don’t understand how your choices are the correct ones.

OK put it this way. If your car is your toy, then splurge as much as you like on it, but if it is for transport don’t spend a cent more than necessary on it.

(I have a long history of buying toys 🙂 )

I lived in Singapore, cars there are expensive – treble the cost in the UK, cars still sell in large numbers and they have road toll pricing everywhere

Basic car – similar cost to uk, zero discount
Car purchase tax 110% (yes that’s more than the price of the car)
COE – certificate of emissions,masts for 10 years (then you have to buy another), roughly based on pollution calculation, these sell in a fixed number by auction, if you buy a car but don’t get the COE you cannot drive your car. Currently these are selling for £75k for larger engines.

A VW golf there is around £70k, sports cars ( and they sell hundreds) Porsche 911 / Aston approx £300k, Lambourgini (very popular) £500k. Used cars are similarly expensive

This proves to me the demand for cars is totally bizarre, people will pay almost anything

I am happy for people to spend their money as they see fit, but personally struggle with investing (sic) large amounts in an asset that will depreciate as rapidly as most cars. Then I go to my SIL’s (state) school and see the numbers of RR Evoques/Vogues, BMWs, Mercs etc in the car park and struggle with the idea of spending say £70k on a car rather than in a child’s education (althought clearly not as simple a choice as that sounds). But that is the joy of choice – each to their own.

But what do I know? Went into local Evans to get some new inners tubes last night (8 o’clock closing, impressive) and look at the price of MTBs in there and that really did leave me scratching my head. Recession, sorry, flat growth, what flat growth?!?!

The new Norco in lime/yellow did look nice though 😉

Then I go to my SIL’s (state) school and see the numbers of RR Evoques/Vogues, BMWs, Mercs etc in the car park and struggle with the idea of spending say £70k on a car rather than in a child’s education

There’s a lot of similarity between posh cars and private schools.

Anyhow, if anyone wants a free SUV, the trophy wives who park outside my shop while they go to collect their private school kids from the bus stop usually leave their engines running.

Cars and the topic of cars seem to spike a lot of jealousy and envy, this thread is ripe with it!

And anyone who can’t see how a car can be a toy is being deliberately flippant and obtuse. Bikes were invented as a tool first then the toy stage came later.

You only live once, if I had money I’d be spending it on experiences first (like my trip to Aus and NZ start of next year) then once I’ve got that out of the way I’ll be saving for an expensive car.

Life’s too short, let’s all go buy M3’s on PCP tomorrow.

Then I go to my SIL’s (state) school and see the numbers of RR Evoques/Vogues, BMWs, Mercs etc in the car park and struggle with the idea of spending say £70k on a car rather than in a child’s education

Agree.

We did the same and by me running a company Vectra (rather than the 5 series I was ‘entitled’ to) and my wife just having a base Saxo we could afford private school for our son.