to ask how you afford your posh car?

[SteveHarringtonsChestHair]

My DS (22) is becoming increasingly frustrated by the disparity between the life he aspires to and the one he thinks is possible!

As a car enthusiast on a good wage, he is constantly surprised by the number of brand new premium brand cars (BMW, Mercedes, Volvo etc) that he sees on the roads, which he feels he has no hope of ever affording.

He’s asked my to ask you all, if you drive a premium brand car, paying presumably £400-500 a month to buy or lease, what type of job do you and (if it’s not too rude to ask, what sort of salary are you on?) And if your spouse also drives a similar car, what do they do/earn?!

I know there are lots of factors here including whether you’re paying a bit mortgage, is it a company car etc? But just a snapshot of who is driving these expensive new cars might help him put it all in perspective. TIA

btw I earn NMW and drive a 10 year old car so I’m no help here!

Car allowance mine is 7k a year

Thanks all. Yes I think the company car thing (as well as £100k+ salary of course!) must account for lots of them.

He is saving for a house but as fast as he’s saving, house prices have continued to go up. So even with a decent chunk of deposit his mortgage payments will be pretty high.

He currently has a very sensible (Vauxhall) car and doesn’t necessarily WANT a brand new car, but is just baffled by the way the economy generally is working at the moment, wondering how anyone is affording to live (aren’t we all?!)

DH and I both drive new AMGs, both work for an investment consultancy. The cars are owned outright, however we are fortunate to not have a mortgage. Don't think we would do that if we had a big mortgage.

Company cars and PCP upgrading every few years is most likely. My sister is a store manager and gets an audi A3 as her company car. Her actual wage is below average.

Had a severely disabled child.

I would sell my soul and yours to not need the car.

At 22 you’re meant to be driving a shitty car!! Why is he aspiring to be driving some wildly expensive car? Even if he could afford to buy or lease one the insurance would be astronomical.

We have two cars, around 50k for one and 10k for the other and they were bought outright from savings.

Alot on high incomes and NHS do salary sacrifice

DH has a car allowance. I don’t. You can tell when you look at our vehicles!

When I was 22 I had a Mazda 2. I'm 30 now and I have an Audi. It's a 19 plate and I got it last year so not brand new, but I pay £275 a month for it.
My partner is 28 and has a Jaguar. Paid outright but only due to money left to him after his gran passed away.

Someone I know has got a Tesla. He works at a picture-framing factory, gets minimum wage, and is up to his eye in debt (he tells people). He's not known locally as Soft Lad for nothing.

Bought my car outright 8 years ago when it was already nine years old.
Considering my parking mishaps over the years I am not keen to replace it as I will only scratch the new one 🤷‍♀️

So with a car allowance, so you have to spend that amount on the car? Or can you spend less and take the rest as part of your salary? Sorry if that’s a daft question!

We have two cars, one from your list and one electric run around. We own them both outright and actually did well earlier this year when our second hand was worth more than brand new.

but, we are both distinctly middle age, in professional services and both 6 fig earners. My first car was a micra and DH had a ford fiesta.

might make it far less cool if he knew that most people who drive these kind of cars are his parents age (sorry op)

DH works for a car manufacturer and it is a company car. If you live near a big Merc/Audi/BMW office you probably will see a disproportionate number of those cars!

@SteveHarringtonsChestHair i think DH could have a cheaper car and keep that part of his salary. But he is a MN anomaly and I’m afraid loves cars.

My Dad used to have a decent car allowance, plus the option to purchase the car at the end of the lease for far less than the car’s true value, which he did, just before he retired

If you invest £500/mo for 5 years and leave it invested for 20 years you'd have a 100k based on a very conservative estimate.

Or you could spend it on a depreciating asset. Most people who drive fancy cars live beyond their means, and don't know much about building wealth, they just want to showcase it.

DH is about to get one on NHS salary sacrifice - the monthly car price is also a lot cheaper than if he did it independently through a dealer.

I have a very nice BMW on a PCP deal. I am not a high earner (divorced SAHM who has never had a penny in spousal/child maintenance and has never been employed by anyone), so I have no idea why they let me have it! I've been doing this for some years, though, and have never failed to pay. But if it were a choice between PCP car and house deposit, I'd choose the latter a million times over.

Just to balance this a bit. You would be amazed at the amount of negative equity some people get themselves into just to have the newest car. I think the most I've seen was £23000.
Also loads of company cars nowadays.

OP I've always thought the same.

DH and I earn comfortably between us but still not comfortably enough to pay 5 figures for a newish 'nice' car.

The most expensive car I've owned was £8k and bought outright when I'd inherited some money; It's a Fiat and I still have it 5 years on (it's now 10 years old).

I remember a very young colleague of mine on probably £18k a year buying a brand new Audi off the forecourt and thinking she was MAD. She lived with her parents, paid no rent and spent her entire salary on car payments and designer handbags

First things first. If he’s 22 he shouldn’t even be thinking of buying / leasing a ‘posh’ car until he has saved for a deposit & bought a property. I’m a car enthusiast, too, but I didn’t buy my first decent car until my mid 30s, at which point I had already owned my first house for several years.
Now, I’m in my 50s and I drive a Mercedes Benz convertible which I bought nearly new with cash. I’m a higher rate taxpayer.

My nana died. I wanted a good car that we wouldn’t spend a fortune on in maintenance. I also wanted one I felt safe in driving round country lanes on ice in winter. I’m very grateful we did!

so sorry to hear that. I know money isn’t everything and in the grand scheme of things what car you drive is not important.

Thanks for all the replies. I think his issue is the disparity between the average income (allegedly about £30k) and the average car (more difficult to quantify, but he sees a lot of very nice cars around!)

I’m also in my forties. I spent years driving round in rust buckets.