Bockaaarck Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 (edited) It's tempting to "keep up with the Jones's", although you may not consciously think you're doing it. I suspect we are all guilty of occasionally getting tempted even in a small way. Our circumstances are much like Commanders, although we have no horses or kids etc. Our current transport is a 2003 JDM Zed with 113,000 on the clock (worth £4500 maybe?) and an 02 plate Seat Toledo (£1600 I think?). Both cars do exactly what we need and I enjoy driving both. But like Commander and better half we like to travel, go to see comedy / gigs / theatre and we like to eat out etc. So we just tailor our expenditure by income and outgoings aligned to what we want to do, like most folks I guess. I do get tempted to buy nice cars all the time and at some point I will, but only when I can really justify it Edited January 11, 2014 by Bockaaarck 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 It's tempting to "keep up with the Jones's", although you may not consciously think you're doing it. I suspect we are all guilty of occasionally getting tempted even in a small way. Yep - just check out how much more popular the current 'nearly beaten by a VXR' and 'what league is the Zed in' threads are! It's all about oneupmanship... and really all that boils down to is money and willy-waggling... I just hope people don't get in to debt and ruin their lives pursuing it. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyleR Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Different people have different priorities for spending their money. I'm sure Commander lives in a beautiful house and takes proper holidays, not just a week in Spain and horses cost a bloody fortune to keep. However, if me and my other half made £100 between us, i'd 100% have a second hand GTR35 in a heartbeat and i'd still have money left over for proper holidays and modding But, probably wouldn't have quite as nice a house and certainly no horses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gangzoom Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 (edited) Lease hire/PCP is very popular now, I can see why, drive around in a brand new M135i for £300 a month. Sounds great, but remember most will require a upfront payment, and at the end of 2-3 years your have no car so will be forced into another lease deal, pay another lot of up front payment, and in 2-3 years time the cycle continues. Where as if you buy the car outright at the start you have the option not to change cars at 2-3 years, therefore saving quite a large sum of money. If you have any intent on getting on the housing ladder spend some time looking at the property market and work out your finances around the house before anything else. Remember mortgage Interest rates at the moment are unbelievable. If you got a big enough deposit 2-3% fixed!! Compared to 5-6% just before the market crashed or nearly 10% back in the early 1990s. Monthly repayment on £180k mortgage at: 2%= £760 ish 6% = £1200 ish 10% = £1600 ish That's nearly £10k extra per year on mortgage payments alone if interest rates were to go from 2% to 10%...but hopefully that will never happen. I got burnt by the last housing market crash (and it will happen again), the value of my first house dropped and I lost £20k overnight, luckily for me things worked out OK in the end, but I know quite a few people who are still stuck with houses in negative equality even now. These days I watch the property/mortgage market like a hawk, we're likely to move again in a few years and am doing everything possible to make sure I don't get caught out by the changing house market again. So for me spending 1/2 of your total post tax income on a depreciating asset like a car is crazy, unless you have a massive income. House and family comes first, a fancy car is a luxury, and certainly not something worth getting into debut for. The Z is the still the most expensive purchase I've made after houses, it's the only thing I bought on finance (apart from houses) and it's a mistake I'll never repeat (buying on fianance that is). Edited January 11, 2014 by gangzoom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldel Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 I remember a friend of my younger brother bought an M3 on finance for nearly 20k when he was probably earning that a year working in Pizza Hut, he got the car, parked it outside his house then next morning it was gone. And he hadn't insured it! Lease/PCP is ok to get a new car, not something I would do, but I am glad people do otherwise there would be less demand for new cars, more demand for used cars (which pushes up prices) and if there is less demand for new cars, less are built and less money for manufacturers to create new cars that no doubt in a few years I will want to buy used...etc etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sipar69 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 (edited) Wow, £500 for rent and bills, must be out in zone 6 somewhere which is quite a small place? We own a flat in north London for instance, 1 bed, rent is £700 a month before bills. Then you have council tax (circa £100-£200 a month), water rates, leccy, gas which is another £150 a month I would say. Then the smaller stuff like TV licence, monthly travel costs to work, lunch at work, etc. Clothes top ups generally set me back £50 a month on average ie new shoes, work clothes etc. Then you start buying food...this is all before you have even stepped out the door to have a beer with your mates! I am sure there are many other costs which I have missed as well. What bank you with? Most now do a cost of living calculator which outlines all the possible bills per month and if you fill it in with a worst case scenario in mind (whereas most people are inclined to put best case) then it should give you a good idea of what your disposable income is. We're in Zone 5. £1500 PCM for a two bed terrace. Not to mention the bills and the £2k+ each per year to commute into Central London. You kinda get used to it though, as everyone in the area is in pretty much the same boat. Edited January 12, 2014 by sipar69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldel Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Our rent is a bit more than that - have to say I have been thinking lately about what other things I could spend the money on other than rent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sipar69 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 (edited) Our rent is a bit more than that - have to say I have been thinking lately about what other things I could spend the money on other than rent! I know the feeling. Been looking at moving somewhere a bit more rural recently such as Sussex - Petworth area is very nice, but what you save on the rent you lose on the commuting costs. Probably have to run a second car just to get to the station as well. Not moaning really though. I do like it round 'ere. Edited January 12, 2014 by sipar69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouthwash Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 How to judge what car you can afford? 1) Work out how much spare money you have at the end of the month 2) look at the price of the car you want 3) work out how long it would take with your spare money to save up and buy or if you can afford loan repayments... 4) ????? 5) Profit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 10 Long term partner? GOTO 30 20 Single or casual relationship? GOTO 40 30 Pick practical car that's as quick as she'll let you have, without spending so much it means she can't go on holiday this year. GOTO 50 40 Pick fastest, bestest, most impractical car and sod everything else. Money for food is optional. GOTO 60 50 Drive in a reasonably rapid way, but with an eye on fuel economy 60 Drive like you stole it Covers 99% of the population, I believe. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldel Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 10 Long term partner? GOTO 30 20 Single or casual relationship? GOTO 40 30 Pick practical car that's as quick as she'll let you have, without spending so much it means she can't go on holiday this year. GOTO 50 40 Pick fastest, bestest, most impractical car and sod everything else. Money for food is optional. GOTO 60 50 Drive in a reasonably rapid way, but with an eye on fuel economy 60 Drive like you stole it Covers 99% of the population, I believe. My wife let me buy a VX220 - does that put me in the 1% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Mine let me buy the VXR220, so I'd definitely say that's a yes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldel Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Whilst we had a 1 year old Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulletMagnet Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Mine told me not to sell the Zed before we got married, the same year I proposed, lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bems Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Mine let me buy a zed as my toy 4 months before we had our first baba. Not so sure she'd have let me buy it 4 months after though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davedutch Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Surely if not financing this is as easy as how much cash have I saved up to purchase, insure, tax and mot at start of ownership followed by can I afford mpg and repairs etc ongoing. If financing can I afford the repayments and ongoing. Any formula will be personal according to other spend and priorities I.e. mortgage, family, holidays, bills. There is no sensible way you could simply pick a % of income. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 For me, it's a straightforward case of this: 1. What are the monthly repayments? Are they affordable? 2. Does it have vaguely normal servicing requirements (i.e. not like Ferrari where it's £3K every 5000 miles)? 3. Do I really, really want it? That's all. I don't look any further than that, which means ignoring anything about depreciation or fuel costs or insurance. Driving is my hobby, my passion, and I have no qualms about spending obscene sums of cash on something that gives me so much fun. Some folks have nice houses and luxurious holidays: Me, I have my cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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