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

Perhaps they also make their clients shitloads of money in the pension funds and the 7 Series is a fraction of a percent in terms of that generated income.

They actually make shit loads of money by transferring their clients funds to the pension company paying the largest kickback. This is how the whole industry ran for years. The last thing IFAs cared about was the return for their clients!

Most people buy their houses on “finance”. It costs a lot more than saving up and buying outright, and if you lose your job you might lose the house. And so on.

Frankly it’s up to the individual to make the “save or borrow” call according to their circumstances and perception of risk.

They actually make shit loads of money by transferring their clients funds to the pension company paying the largest kickback. This is how the whole industry ran for years. The last thing IFAs cared about was the return for their clients!

I agree they are overpaid scumabags, but that’s not the issue. The idea of negative discrimination based the type of car someone drives doesn’t sound too bright.

The point I am making is taking your kids to school by car should not be seen as the norm, it isnt.

I think that depends on the town actually. In Cardiff I rarely see school busses, I think many people drive. The traffic’s really not that bad so people don’t mind so much.

You get a choice of schools across the city, so some people have chosen ones that are a few miles away. You also have people moving around the city, so their kids may start in their local school but they move for whatever reason and then they have a 4 mile drive or something to school. Then the school catchement is so spread out busses become non viable.

There are still plenty of walkers mind.

johndoh – Member
Perhaps they also make their clients shitloads of money in the pension funds and the 7 Series is a fraction of a percent in terms of that generated income.

Perhaps his car is not indicative of his income and therefore he shouldnt be judged? This is why you never assume how people obtain things. A friend of mine has all most people could ever want, I later found out that his credit payments were with 10p, yes 10p of his salary. Personally I wouldn’t want to live my life by repayment to that much debt

In the context of IFAs at the time, I’d say it is relevant. The whole industry was completely corrupt with IFAs just moving clients money to maximise kickbacks (which were paid for by higher management fees on the funds and thus lower returns for their clients). Thankfully the industry has finally been reformed, which will mean that IFAs will almost cease to exist.

Even in the dark days of IFA’s being mandatory, they clearly display whet commission they take. Why not look and compare the figures?

Seems to be a lot of sour grapes on this thread. I choose to buy a cheap car simply because I’m not so flush that a 30k car is a realistic option, I can’t afford the losses.

Judging people for the car they have implies a knowledge of that person that you don’t have and is pure jealousy. I have a lovely neighbour who is the worst driver I know, she has a Q8 and is simply over car’d. She wants a mini but her husband wants his kids safe from her driving. They are both lovely, unpretentious, good people who have the money to buy the things they like – What? (I did suggest a driving skills course)

If it’s sackcloth shirts all round, I’m out thanks.

I do however make judgements on peoples driving skills and parking choices, not much makes me more angry than a Surrey wife parked in a disabled spot getting out of the car in her gym clothes.

Judging people for the car they have implies a knowledge of that person that you don’t have and is pure jealousy.

A massive +1 for this. It’s astounding how many people on these types of threads are oblivious to blatant jealousy.

I was in the pub with work colleagues last week and my ‘new’ car became the topic of conversation.

Some people ridiculed it. Others defended it and said it’s awesome. All of them, whilst knowing me well, had made judgements about me as a direct result of my choice of car. I was really surprised.

The main factor in my purchase decision was not how it looked, how fast it goes, how it “connects to my soul” (whatever that means) but whether it will fit on my drive next to my wife’s sensible family car.

It’s a 2006 Smart car. And it’s ace.

Judging people for the car they have implies a knowledge of that person that you don’t have and is pure jealousy.

A massive +1 for this. It’s astounding how many people on these types of threads are oblivious to blatant jealousy.

I said this earlier and go poo-poo’d by the very people who were oblivious to the jealousy haha

this post made me laugh:

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.

This guy doesn’t sound bitter at all!

A lot of this thread is highly unpleasant, quite depressing really to think so many of these people are the same as those you might see out on the trails enjoying mountain biking

jambalaya – Member
A lot of this thread is highly unpleasant, quite depressing really to think so many of these people are the same as those you might see out on the trails enjoying mountain biking

…riding Thetford on a brand new 34lb 650b 160mm All Mountain bike complete with 1 x 11 gearing, chain device and dropper.

Some people ridiculed it. Others defended it and said it’s awesome. All of them, whilst knowing me well, had made judgements about me as a direct result of my choice of car. I was really surprised.

Try driving a Prius and admitting it on STW!

Most people buy their houses on “finance”. It costs a lot more than saving up and buying outright, and if you lose your job you might lose the house. And so on.

Except that a car is a rapidly depreciating asset, whereas my house is worth more than I paid for it.

A massive +1 for this. It’s astounding how many people on these types of threads are oblivious to blatant jealousy.

Amazing how many people can’t get their head around “if I wanted a flashier car, I would buy one”.

I have often wondered the same question as the OP. It all comes down to life choices. I could if i wanted, go and buy a nice car with my savings. But then i have no money for holidays, stuff i can buy on a whim and general financial security. I would rather be me, in my current position, who drives an 03 V40 1.9D sport, who enjoys life, rather than many of the people i see , who will have to have made sacrifices to drive round in a new overpriced mediocre car (that is in truth, worse than my volvo)!

molgrips – Member
Some people ridiculed it. Others defended it and said it’s awesome. All of them, whilst knowing me well, had made judgements about me as a direct result of my choice of car. I was really surprised.
Try driving a Prius and admitting it on STW!

Divorcee, finally out of the closet, obviously 😉

Amazing how many people can’t get their head around “if I wanted a flashier car, I would buy one”.

I totally ‘get’ that, just as I ‘get’ people having nice cars, it’s up to them. I don’t ‘get’ people being proud of making business decisions based on someone having a nice car, or assuming someone’s a tool because they have a personalised number plate.

I totally ‘get’ that, just as I ‘get’ people having nice cars, it’s up to them.

Of course it’s up to them. But I don’t “get” why you would drop a fortune on a car when it means having to make significant compromises in other areas of your life. I just don’t see what it gains you.

I too wonder about the OP’s question

Even if I earned a decent wage I don’t know how I’d afford the kind of car I see plenty of people living near me driving around in

They can’t all be earning loads, or at least I don’t think so or they would live somewhere nicer :p

I’m into cars, so if I had the cash I would definitely buy a nicer car, I just don’t know how people have 2 new Audi’s or similar on the drive

[/quote]konabunny – Member

We had a pension company visit us to discuss managing our company pension. They turned up in a BMW 7 series. We turned them down on the basis that if that was their company car, they were taking too much commission.

That’s really stupid.

As a company, we actively discourage our reps from choosing cars too fancy for this very reason. The world is full of naïve irrational fools.

Me, I drive a 10 year old Astra estate. Given that I do about 5k a year and its either got messy bikes or messy kids in the back I’m unwilling to spend more on a newer car – I’ll run this till it dies.

Obviously, if circumstances changed and I was spending more time in it then a ‘nicer’ car becomes more of a priority.

People will always spunk their hard earned on things they think are important to them. Different strokes for different folks innit.

We had a pension company visit us to discuss managing our company pension. They turned up in a BMW 7 series. We turned them down on the basis that if that was their company car, they were taking too much commission.

It’s funny how everybodies perception varies – about 15 years ago I worked at a Telemarketing company. The MD drove a 911 and he would always go to his client meetings in the 911. The 911 was a sales tool. It showed that he had a successful business. As the saying goes if you want to be successful, surround yourself with successful people! He sold the business a few years later for a couple of million.

The truth was he was paying about £600 per month for the 911 on a PCP, but his clients didn’t know that!

I know an ‘eco’ company, of some standing, that has three Aston’s on the books for one of the directors….

In 2012 there were approximately 2,000,000 new cars registered in the UK
1,000.000 were company cars (50%)
800,000 were retail sales (40%) – 80% of these customers borrow the money to buy these cars (ie HP/PCP/bank loan/family loan etc)
200,000 were Motability cars (10%) or 20% of the retail market.

So when you see a new car, remember 5 out of 10 are company cars, 1 out of 10 is a Motability car. Out of the remaining 4 new cars, 3 are funded!

“I’ve lost count of the number of chavvy looking folk I’ve seen driving decent motors. Not saying they’ve not grafted for them, but I reckon a fair few bought council houses on the cheap (discounted) and are sitting on a stack of cash as a result, especially down here in the SE.”

Got an ill or disabled relative? You can be eligible for quite a nice motorbility scheme vehicle.

Yes there are genuine cases but lets say you smoke all your life/eat badly. A relative (using your monthly allowance or paying you it) can get say a 20k new car over 3yrs with free insurance, servicing etc all for say 200 @ month Fancy a nicer car? Just pay a contribution upfront..

Almost nobody buys cars north of 50k with cash, it doesn’t make sense. All about the finance, innit. You can get a new car every couple of years and not worry about depreciation, MOTs, unexpected bills etc as everything is (or more accurately, can be) built into the rental price. The best deal I ever had was an S65 merc, I think it ran at about £155k list, I got it for 9k down and £1500/month – at the time I was one of those dreadful City types so it was hardly a dent in my outgoings.

Over the years I’ve driven some great machinery and not had to worry about disposing of a rapidly depreciating asset – instead I’ve used my cash to invest in other things while treating my vehicles like any other monthly cost, IE phone, TV license, or any other monthly bill.

More reasonably you can pick up a decent Merc or BMW for around £300 /month and replace it with a new one every couple of years. Makes sense to a lot of people.

The absolute best thing about this approach is if you *do* get into financial strife you just hand the car back and take the associated temporary credit hit.

BTW all you lovers of the BMW M3, you can buy a Porsche Cayman for the same money, 2 vs 4 seats but a much better car

I would disagree strongly with this; my last M3 was a far better machine than my last 911 let alone a Gayman. Porsches are overrated in my opinion.

Oh god, this thread’s come back to life.

Ready the orbital cannon!

I have 3 old cars, generally not all go wrong at the same time, but just spent 200quid on a bike for my 3 year old.

Only here can I get away with admitting that.

Really, if noone bought new cars what do people think would happen to the price of used ones? Stop moaning and let people enjoy the cars and then buy it off them once it needs mots and things fixing.

To get back to the OP, the answers are fairly simple –

– company car
– leasing
– having enough money to buy one, or if not a good credit rating
– prioritising spending (and thats the important one)

Look at me – I have two cars, a house, a dog, several bikes, shitloads of camera gear and a golf club membership. I eat well and live well. But I don’t have Sky TV and I don’t take holidays.

Priorities. It’s all about priorities…

Got an ill or disabled relative? You can be eligible for quite a nice motorbility scheme vehicle.

Yes there are genuine cases but lets say you smoke all your life/eat badly. A relative (using your monthly allowance or paying you it) can get say a 20k new car over 3yrs with free insurance, servicing etc all for say 200 @ month Fancy a nicer car? Just pay a contribution upfront.

So you can get a car by having someone else pay for it? 🙄 What a cunning plan. That’s like saying “all you have to do is have a relative who’s a premiership football player, then they can buy you a limo with a jacuzzi in the back.”

You get £55.25 per week in ‘mobility’ DLA if you have “severe walking difficulty”. Not just because you get a headache every now and again. Otherwise it’s £21/week or ~£100 max per month, which might just stretch to a Skoda Citigo 1.0…

You can get more than that. Our neighbour was telling me how much she gets and its double that.

The total DLA might be, but the mobility payment is £55.25 as a maximum, and only if you’ve got “severe” difficulty walking.

edit:https://www.gov.uk/dla-disability-living-allowance-benefit/overview
And the new PIP is exactly the same. Unless you’re saying that the government are secretly paying benefits to disabled people.