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!

By having epilepsy and getting a car on motability. I’d give up the car in an instant if it meant I wasn’t stuck with this horrible condition. People often look at others and are jealous of what they have but don’t consider that sometimes they have to go through really horrible things to get it.

I'm often confused by this. I live in a low socioeconomic area, very low wages around here, and I see £30,000 plus cars all over the place.

We are getting a joint car in next few months (have a 2015 mini which is payed off). We are looking at cars around £40,000. We have a combined income of about £100,000

I drive a Hyundai jeep that’s £400 per month! We really struggled to find a jeep with a big enough boot for less. The prices all shot up in the last few years

According to Dave Ramsey you have too much car for your income lol

OP, is your DS only interested in new cars?

I live with a Petrol Head OP who has built his career around a nice car

He got a job (skilled) which would these days command a c.45k plus salary. Instead of taking a salary increase to move jobs, he asked for his new co to guarantee him X car. They had to do him a special contract as normally your company car is a % of your salary.

He’s a genuine petrol head tho, so he would similarly appreciate a subtle car, rather than a swanky BMW or Merc.

we have a combined household income of £90k and run…
a Audi s4 avant (owned outright, as its older. Used for long runs)
Modern Fiesta ST (company car, used for short runs only, super sporty and high spec)
Range Rover Sport (owned, unsecured loan of £10k, daily family car cos we love it)

The vast majority of 22 year olds have no car or a cr@p car! This is 100% normal! There are plenty of high earners who buy nice cars outright and plenty more with cars on the maximum lease they can afford.

Myself and DH have the same conversation regularly! We are on a very very good wage with a v decent household income and there is no way we could afford the monthly outgoings on flashy cars. It baffles me!
We used to live on a modest street of houses, and we worked out that the majority were paying at least £2 K a month per household for their cars (£1k each - new range rovers etc)
I know a few people who have cars they spend thousands a year on and I genuinely have no idea where they get the money. Some are self employed so I don't know how they get the credit, some don't even have a job (!) and others with mid level manager jobs on £30-40K spending £12K a year plus on just a car.
And that's without considering that they don't own it, plus the fact these cars are depreciating so much. Plus everyone I know who's had one of these cars, when they've gone to take it back after 3 years they've received an ENORMOUS bill for "damage", like a "scratch" that costs hundreds to repair, or new alloys etc.

It just seems a crazy financial decision to me! Especially for my friends who are in rented houses - I don't know why they don't get a cheaper car and put the money towards a house deposit but maybe I'm just an old fuddy duddy 😂

We're the reverse - have a very reasonable house with a lot of desirable features, but drive sheds on wheels. My car is to get from A-B safely, my home is where I spend my money as it's where I spend my time.

DBro drives a 72 plate Aldi on lease, earns £200K plus in pharmaceutical sales

In my part of London a lot of phone shop princes who still live at home spend all their money on a flash car. Lame!

Dh was motor trade (Mercedes) for 24 years, I can answer this one!

1. Loads of people fail finance. Loads, deals fall out of bed regularly.

2. Company car with fuel card. I have two relatives with these.

3. Footballers et al get vip rates so yes they have a G Wagon worth 120k but it’s costing them £400 a month. They get a new one every year. There’s an actress I see on tv who trashed her car, It looked 10 years old. You don’t even have to be that famous.

4. Good job, high income, want a nice car 🤷🏻‍♀️

5. Unbelievably wealthy, old money, the Mercedes E class estate is the weekend car to tow the horse box.

6. Dodgy fuckers, pro grifters who regularly go bankrupt but still manage to keep their house aka “entrepreneurs” leaving a trail of debts.

7. Staff. We got a nice car every year for literally pennies.

I think that covers it.

DH has an E class Mercedes but it's a company car. It is quite terrifying - like Kit but German with a perfume squirter in the glove compartment. I have a 12 yo Seat Ibiza which I love. Easy to drive and park. I could also have a company car but take the money instead.

Same here.

advice to your DS is don’t be impatient. Loads of debt/payments/pcp when you can’t really afford it is storing up trouble

wait. Then buy a bit older but a lot more interesting. I have a sports car and a luxury car, both used so much cheaper than a new ordinary car.

think about this. For 30k you can have a new bmw 3 series, or a used 911. In 3 years guess which will have been the most fun and still worth what you paid.

I drive Volvo estates but buy high spec ones 3 years old that have come off company schemes, pay cash and keep them for years and years as I can't be bothered to keep getting different cars and rather like high end (eventually quite elderly) Volvos. In fact, we don't want to get very new cars because we think the electrics and gadgets would be liable to go expensively wrong.

I have an Audi Q3 on a lease for about £300 a month and previously had a mini countryman for similar. We decided years ago to only lease cars and never buy them. We like driving nice fairly new cars, keep them for 4 years and then trade in. Can easily afford to buy new cars upfront but no interest

Dp has a company mercedes as he drives for work

having said that my 20 year old drives a 2014 Volkswagen UP we bought outright for £3.5k. He certainly doesn’t need anything better and until he’s working and really earning decent money he will stick with that. Most of the kids I know with nice cars live at home.

I had an inheritance a few years ago and got an brand new car. Got a good deal at the time something like a years free insurance. Would never usually buy brand new as it goes down in value but knew it’d be a once in a lifetime buy. Have traded it for n since.

Rubbish. We lease, makes sense. No interest in tying up capital in a car

A family member (early 40's) and her DH drive very expensive and new (regularly replaced) high end vehicles that are supplied via a contract agreement with her FIL's business that employs her DH (his son) and are not personally owned (so if they separated, she doesn't keep a vehicle although I'm sure her In laws would see her with something safe for the children). Advertising industry.

Her Father, retired not long ago bought something in the range rover range, new.

He (and his siblings) worked their way up in various businesses, not from a wealthy family. He in management (his wife worked for one of the diplomatic communities in the early days) moved his career around the world child free, and moved through UK where they had a family, now based in Europe.

One of the siblings of above has a very nice Bentley and about to upgrade that. His wife drives a 2 door merc (and I get to drive that when I visit) and they also have a little ford fiesta for running about in. He started out as a tow truck driver, invested in commercial real estate businesses and sites inc. shopping centres, a brothel property (not the business) and accommodation for uni students. Not sure what they have now, don't ask them.

Only two people above went onto university education. Only the first couple benefited financially from a set of parents.

But don't get caught up in who drives what (like me driving my Aunt's merc). I remember friends (normal cars) had a photo shoot at their home promoting a certain then actress and a very nice up market car was lent to her for the day, she doesn't have a licence and never drove the car once, but you woulnd't have guessed it from the photos and article.

I bought my 4 year old Range Rover at 28 by doing eyelashes. It’s back breaking but relatively easy money and I have no finance to worry about. DH has been in construction for only 5 years and earns over 100k, maybe this is something your son could look into doing? X

Same here but mine is £380 a month and car is worth 60k. Earn approx 75k. Partner drives Q7 and pays £600, earns £500 a day as a contractor

We have a £50k Merc, which my husband bought cash.
He would never get a car on hire purchase or credit. His motto is if he can't afford to buy it he won't have it.

He works internationally on oil drilling rigs.

Talk with your son about the difference between appreciating assets (those whose values grow, like a house) and depreciating assets (those whose value declines, like a car, fridge/freezer, caravan, fancy wristwatches, etc.).

Focusing on appreciating assets is one way to establish a comfortable life. I drove my cheap little Ford for 16 years and 250,000 miles when I could have "afforded" a newer, more flash car. Replaced it with similar, about 10 years ago, and plan to drive this one as many more years as possible. Meanwhile I put my money into real estate and that has really paid off in terms of security and return on investment.

If he feels at some point in life when he has other needs take care of like old-age savings, a home, education, etc., he should look at used models of the cars he aspires to.

But he might find that the thrill of a steadily growing bank account and pension outweigh the thrills of the flas car.

PoinsettiaPosturing · Today 21:53

DBro drives a 72 plate Aldi

That must be a challenge to park. 😂

Those saying you live in your house, so put all the money into that, I'm a lone parent, and I drive my teens around a huge amount, several times a day sometimes due to difficulties getting places on time/bus service packing in. I want an easy-to-drive nice car these days, I had the old cars that squeaked and crunched gears for decades (probably my driving). Driving a great car has improved my quality of life considerably. If you don't drive too much, I agree it's not worth it. I don't think having a good quality car is irrational in quite the way some people are making out (if you own already, for example).

We have a suv Audi etron which we lease through my DH’s work scheme for approx £400 pcm. It is substantially subsidised by a gov e- car scheme otherwise we would not be able to afford it.

Some of these posts scream resentment. ‘Lease or tick’. How do you know? How has it escaped you that some people have a lot more money than others? Is this not just a recognised fact of life?

We have cars at the highest end of the market. We bought them outright because we can. To finance them would have required huge deposits, & huge monthly payments. That would be impossible to sustain did we not have the money. Anyone who buys such cars ‘on the tick’ must be able to service the loan. They are not average earners with few outgoings or any other suggestion of being chancers on a wing & a prayer.

Some of the cars mentioned aren’t premium. If he’s seeing a disproportionate amount of TTs for example it’s because they’re not luxury vehicles & cost far less than the upwards of 100k that even an entry level Range Rover now costs.