How do lots of people afford the brand new luxury cars ?

I have to have epilepsy to get mine as it’s a motability car 🙄 🙄

Things aren’t always as they seem.

@noworklifebalance

Generally speaking there is no point in owning a car outright as it will depreciate in value

If you're planning on holding the car for the longer term rather than constantly renting a new one every 2/3 years, then leasing costs a lot more. If you buy, then you can probably keep the car several years longer meaning years of not paying the monthly cost, hence why it's cheaper to buy and keep. Obviously, if you plan to replace every 2/3 years then leasing is probably similar to buying/selling every 2/3 years in terms of cost.

We tend to buy new and keep, we have one that's 15 years old and another that's 8 years old. Neither are costing us much at all, just a few hundred per year to service/MOT them and replace tyres, brake pads and other consumables.

I'm guessing a new even basic car costs a lot.

Dacia Sandero: £12,595

Top 10 cheapest cars on sale 2023

We have 2 company cars (Tesla and Mercedes) and 2 cars we own outright (Range rover and Land rover). Obviously we pay nothing for the company cars but they are brand new, the rovers we bought with cash. We have a high income, no monthly payments here

For anyone doing
"I got my banger years ago for 600"
This is the cheapest drivable car on Autotrader around Manchester
www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202301313789649?advertising-location=at_cars&metropolitan=manchester&postcode=M25DB&sort=price-asc&page=1&price-from=500&radius=20&year-to=2023&onesearchad=Used

I know someone who bought similar for dirty job and it lasted a fucking month.
Used cars are not cheap anymore ESPECIALLY if you want reliable one for a job

PCP and lease.

It actually makes it fairly cheap. I got an A class for about £250 a month.

People prefer to lease than brake down coughing up service charges

Lease cars break down. They're not magic. Yes the repair charges will be covered, but in 20+ years of car ownership (2nd hand, usually 5-15 year old cars bought for 2-5K each) I've only broken down once (clutch).

I think people are scared of 3+ year old cars; there's no reason to be.

I spend nowhere near the thousands of pounds it costs to keep a lease car on the road.

We are retired and could afford a new posh car but we would prefer to spend our money otherwise and buy cars about 3 years old

They usually go on the dealerships’ forecourt and that’s where people who like owning second hand cars buy them. The unused warranty goes with them.

Ethically sourced lithium and cobalt?

I have a bicycle, I'm not interested in driving a car with blood on the steering wheel. I have standards too.

They get picked up by a national auction house and sold on to end up on second hand car dealers forecourt.

People prefer to lease than brake down coughing up service charges. Just as the car is about to cause problems, they get a new one. I think those that pay 50k in full for a new car is bonkers and that's a basic mini suv price. Try the bigger ones it will easily go over 100k, so imagine paying that in one chunk just because you don't want to pay in instalments and want to own it outright lol.

Yes. When we trade in our current one they’re actually giving us £2k back because the trade in value exceeds the maximum allowable deposit on the new one. We’ll pay it back into our pcp account a few months in.

Does it matter whether a car is bought or leased? Neither is a mark of superiority. People who lease still have to demonstrate they can afford the repayments, so it’s not like they’re they’re broke yet trying to show off.

for what it’s worth we bought ours outright because that suited us. People can afford it because despite the cost of living crisis, there are people still living comfortably.

Nothing wrong with it at all but I don’t look at people with brand new cars and wonder how on earth they afford it, that’s what I mean. A brand new car meaning you are very wealthy is something a lot of us still assume because it was that way when we were younger.

I know someone who earns about 35k a year and has a Range Rover… I think as far as he sees it, it’s not a long term commitment - he’s only committed for the short period and at this point in his life, that’s what he wants to spend his money on more than anything else. So there are no holidays, he rents a small 1 bed but he has the car he wants. It may be unaffordable when the leasing period ends, but he doesn’t care and he’ll lease what he can afford then. For some people they love that they can think of cars as a shorter term commitment now and their needs / wants may change every few years anyway. It’s not for me but it’s how it works now for a lot of people.

Oh and calling petrol cars polluting pieces of shit is naive at best.
look at how your electric car is mined.

the greenest car you can drive is the one you already own. The constant consumption of new is a much much bigger issue. New cars are not designed for longevity, they are becoming consumable subscription service. And that is an issue for tomorrow

What works for one doesn’t another
neither is wrong.

Leasing. My daughter (23) drives a big Merc but when the lease is up, she's chipping it in for one that isn't so fuel guzzling. BIL has a new Tesla but it's a company car. He's retiring soon and says he can't afford to buy the same car.

Yes exactly.

The way I see it - if you’re leasing or taking a loan for a car then there is an extra layer of middle men making money from you. The Finance department at these car companies are there to make money, they aren’t loaning you a car and making a loss on you. I did once spend a day making an excel sheet of all the different financing options available on a number or cars and adding up the total cost over day 5,10 years. I tried every option I could and paying cash was always the best option.

Only exception is sometimes tax efficient cars like Teslas seem to be currently.

And what’s the problem with that? There is so much snobbery aimed at people who lease cars. It suits us. We have no interest in car ownership whatsoever, it’s too much hassle.

On finance or company car. I doubt very many are owned outright!

So u can prob get a Tesla with 1 month upfront as deposit then monthly payment about £600-£700 a month. It's still a huge monthly payment.

By and large the people I know with very average incomes or less lease or PCP cars and those with higher incomes buy cars for cash and wouldn’t dream of changing them every 2 years. 🤷‍♀️