saving for a car, how do you do it?

[laam999]

After reading the "cars you apsire to" thread it made me remeber how much I want a GTR 34, and started me looking at them. They seem to be around £25k and I figured "I earn about £22.5k surely I could afford one in 2 years?" but then as I'm saving half my wages a month as a deposit on a house and I have my AW11 project car and I'm renting a 8 car lockup for £120 a month to store and work on it in I think that I can't do everything I want, with the little cash I have free a month saving it all would take around 10 years to afford a GTR, by which time I'm going to assume they will cost more therfore I will have to save longer.

What I'm asking is how have the people who have bought themselves some ncie metal managed to save this amount, I mean I'm only 23 so I'm sure I have a lot of time to get an expensive car to enjoy which is why I have my project atm, but I'm just wondering how you who have the car you dreamed of managed to get it, did you have to sacrifice other things for it? Or if you're currently saving how are you finding the motivation?

Liam

[TheEnd]

If you factor in the sale price of the previous car, and the car before that, it turns out that you've been saving for years!

[laam999]

I don't think my current garage will get me anything, the C2 is not worth much now and the AW11 was bought for £250 and will likely cost close to it's resale value, not to mention the cost of toolage, but I suppose that there is about £3-4k there to knock off the price, not sure I could part with the C2 tho, I truely love that car, despite it being too small, underpowered, rolly, unreliable, riddled with electical faults and with a whole ocean of stone chips, I love that car so much, it was my first car and I have enjoyed it too much to thin kabout selling.

I didn't think of sale of current cars as a method of saving tho, I like that.

Liam

[CarbonXKR]

To be honest, I would concentrate on the house first and treat the car as a luxury item when you're settled in and meeting all your commitments. £22.5K won't let you have a house, run it and have a £25K car I'm afraid. In 10 years time you will understand how this all works .............

[laam999]

I don't expect to have it all now, I wish I could but this is my first perminant job so it's allowing me to save for my future. Saving for a house is deffo top of the list of what I want seconded by finishing my project. after that it's all just pipe dreams.

I'm more curious as to how the people who acheived these dreams went about it. Maybe I'm being too nosey but I figured asking can't hurt.

Liam

[BAKS42]

Hello mate,
In a similar posistion but only 21, trying to save for a house and my next car! and trying not to be a tight ass and stil live a life! Im almost there and will have my vx220 turbo and a MK5 R32 for everyday use! keep saving and im sure it will be worth the wait!

Cheers

Simon

[JonX2C]

CarbonXKR said:

To be honest, I would concentrate on the house first and treat the car as a luxury item when you're settled in and meeting all your commitments. £22.5K won't let you have a house, run it and have a £25K car I'm afraid. In 10 years time you will understand how this all works .............

I learnt this the hard way and im still only 26, it will come you just to move up the corporate ladder, earn more money and make sure you get the things that matter first, and the car is nowadays at the bottom of the ladder.

[terzo]

Make sure the house you buy has a double garage or space to put one up so thats £120/month saved. Then convert the mortgage to interest-only rather than repayment, will save you 100's per month (not advisable but if needs must!) Dont have a girlfriend, stick to more economical one night stands, if you must drink alcohol make it 'Basics' cider, similar for food only purchase the cheapest possible, acquaint yourself with a bar or indian takeaway that has nuts/bombay mix on the counter and stock up.

[kambites]

It took me about three years to save up for the Elise. I just put aside what I easily could without compromising the rest of my life until I had enough money to buy it and have some spare in case I needed it.

I could have saved it up in half that time, but not without compromising the rest of my life.

Edited by kambites on Sunday 19th December 21:38

[adycav]

terzo said:

Dont have a girlfriend

Or have one that earns a good wage and loves cars as much as you do!

[k-ink]

Do what half the country does. Buy a house then remortgage it every time you buy a new car on finance.

Or do it the old fashioned way - save up by not spending it all out left and right. Might have to get a second job or business on the side if your income is low.

[Chapppers]

Yeah avoid girlfriends, drinking, smoking, buying nice things (fashionable clothes) then try to earn more than you spend by a largeish margin, then get bored and get a loan.

[frosted]

Your obviously not earning enough money to have the life you want ,I would invest in that first before thinking of buying cars .

[Diablos-666]

I was in the same position a year ago. I was saving for s house big then thought fk it, I'll get my dream car instead.

Didn't wanna put all that coin in as a deposit on a house at the moment due to our little predicament were all in at the moment.

You only live once so may as well live it right.

Have no regrets so far, I'll enjoy the car now whilst having no commitments and im saving for the house and will buy when it suits ms best.

Good luck

[g3org3y]

Depends on one's priorities.

Plenty of people out there who hae epic metal on the drive. Unfortunately, that drive belongs to their parents.

I used to be very car orientated and would consider spending every available penny in that regard. Now, that's not the case. As much as I love my cars, I wouldn't let them compromise other parts of my life - I like nice resturants, I like nice clothes, I like travelling (luckily I also like OLD BMWs!).

All my money now is going towards a house deposit which in the SE is £££+++.

Edit to add - it's all about what makes YOU happy. If you really really want something and are prepared to work your arse off (and sacrifice other things), you can get it. Don't lose heart!

Edited by g3org3y on Sunday 19th December 22:52

[AndyT77]

Am i missing something? I don't want to pry into the OP's private life, but how can you earn £22.5k a year and think that in 2 years you'd be able to afford a £25k car? Assuming after tax that would be about £1400 per month, you have to save about 70% of that every month.

If it can be done, excellent, but they must spend fk all on living costs.

[Blue Oval84]

I spend more on motoring each month at the moment than I do on housing, much more. It's worth it though as my car is my little baby and I love her, although this means my house is rented it's much nicer than I could ever dream of buying on my own even if I didn't have a decent car.

Now once the current car is paid off I will have some really tough decisions on my hands, start saving a lot of cash, or buy a second car to play with.

Now where'd I put my Autotrader link...

[TRUENOSAM]

By the time your old enough to insure one for less than 5k you could have saved enough

[jimbobsimmonds]

I'm only 20 so on the younger end of the scale but on a similar wage with a similar problem. I come on here and see all the lovely cars the people here have, and the ridiculous amount most of my mates blow on st, and think "fk it, ive got xxxxx in the bank, let's get me another car". But then sense kicks in, I remember i'm only 20 and think i've got the rest of my life to get my dream cars...

Im playing the long game and if I can get myself a house in the 5 years (SE ) there will be more kicking about when I'm 40; by which time V12 Vantages should have depreciated nicely

[Diablos-666]

Hoddo said:

Non-Sensible Option -
Use the old 'you only live once' argument and buy the motor now.

that's me!

Plenty of time to be sensible later, by which time the banks might be a little more generous! Ahem 95% LTV ahem