Running interesting cars on an average wage
Discussion
There have been a few of these threads recently I think- as interesting as they are it's almost impossible to give any specific advise in regards to if a car is 'financial suicide' without knowing the potential buyers disposable income, and level of interest in keeping the car in good working order.
That aside, as a general rule it really depennds on if the car is a daily driver which you will be putting a lot of miles on every week/month/year or a weekend toy, your driving style, and the condition+age of the car you buy.
If you are buying a m3/boxter to use lightly and get a good example that has never been abused (not easy if your buying at the lower end of the market) and has not only service history but also invoices and bills for the specific work which has been done to it so you can buy with your eyes open there is absolutely no reason why it should be financial suicide.
That aside, as a general rule it really depennds on if the car is a daily driver which you will be putting a lot of miles on every week/month/year or a weekend toy, your driving style, and the condition+age of the car you buy.
If you are buying a m3/boxter to use lightly and get a good example that has never been abused (not easy if your buying at the lower end of the market) and has not only service history but also invoices and bills for the specific work which has been done to it so you can buy with your eyes open there is absolutely no reason why it should be financial suicide.
I take the average wage to be about £26k.
If you earn that, live alone, I can't see how it is possible to do it properly unless you seriously cut back in one area. If you manage it, I only assume it is possible by scraping by and having no reserves or contingency!
If you live with parents or are in a cheap house share/rent a room, it might just about be possible but potentially not advisable, depending on where your priorities lie.
If you live with a 'better half' and pool your income and expenditure, then it is entirely possible.
If you earn that, live alone, I can't see how it is possible to do it properly unless you seriously cut back in one area. If you manage it, I only assume it is possible by scraping by and having no reserves or contingency!
If you live with parents or are in a cheap house share/rent a room, it might just about be possible but potentially not advisable, depending on where your priorities lie.
If you live with a 'better half' and pool your income and expenditure, then it is entirely possible.
Consider an average wage as enough to run a Mondeo/Vectra Non M 3 series with a bit left over, but not enough to run an M5 without sleepless nights.
I'm just trying to establish roughly how much more expensive apparently aspirational cars are to run compared with run of the mill cars. Are they close to M5 levels of lunacy?
I'm just trying to establish roughly how much more expensive apparently aspirational cars are to run compared with run of the mill cars. Are they close to M5 levels of lunacy?
Work it out. What is the take home a month? Call it £1700 (this is the average wage, I think).
What do you spend on everything bar motoring? Call it, I dunno, £1400. Probably about right for a single average bloke.
That gives you £300 pcm to run a car.
How much does a Mondy/Vectra cost to run - work it out - lets call it £175. Affordable. Yay.
How much does an M3 cost to run, lets call it £300. Do-able but no contingency. Hmm.
How much does an M5 cost to run, lets call it £500. Not really affordable. Bugger.
ETA:
Two people living together, pooling income and expenditure. Two average incomes £3,400.
Expenditure increases, but not a great deal - lets call it £1900.
Total to spend on car now £1,500. Excellent.
Answer: Get a girlfriend.
What do you spend on everything bar motoring? Call it, I dunno, £1400. Probably about right for a single average bloke.
That gives you £300 pcm to run a car.
How much does a Mondy/Vectra cost to run - work it out - lets call it £175. Affordable. Yay.
How much does an M3 cost to run, lets call it £300. Do-able but no contingency. Hmm.
How much does an M5 cost to run, lets call it £500. Not really affordable. Bugger.
ETA:
Two people living together, pooling income and expenditure. Two average incomes £3,400.
Expenditure increases, but not a great deal - lets call it £1900.
Total to spend on car now £1,500. Excellent.
Answer: Get a girlfriend.
Edited by DJC on Saturday 30th July 19:06
OP - Do you mean as a 2nd car, or as an every day one?
I would say that running something special as an only car covering average miles could become expensive. On my current wage, I don't think I would be able to run my Tiv as an only car (Fuel + servicing every 6k miles + Insurance costs will go up for high miles/year + business miles). Having said this, I know of other TVR owners that do!
As a weekend car though, you always have the option to not drive it for a while if money is tight that month. If you get something rarer/older, I doubt it will depreciate much being sat in the garage, but a newer car would.
I would say that running something special as an only car covering average miles could become expensive. On my current wage, I don't think I would be able to run my Tiv as an only car (Fuel + servicing every 6k miles + Insurance costs will go up for high miles/year + business miles). Having said this, I know of other TVR owners that do!
As a weekend car though, you always have the option to not drive it for a while if money is tight that month. If you get something rarer/older, I doubt it will depreciate much being sat in the garage, but a newer car would.
HI, 2 years ago i had a bit of a money come my way,
so I went out and bought what I thought I wanted,
it was X5 4.8 sport 2005 in reality I couldnt live with it.
the reason wy paranoid about leaving in a car pk.
depritiation that was scary and if it went wrong out of warrenty
could cost a shed load to put right, and im a mechanic!!
so i sold it took a bit of a pill, an got a silver dax cobra,
there isnt anything i cant do to it, parts are cheep, if I Keep it 10 years and I proberbly will, they hardly loos a thing if they are in good nik, and you can reep the rewards if you better the spec like i have don, it did cost a few bob and if you dont bend it you still got your monney.
so I went out and bought what I thought I wanted,
it was X5 4.8 sport 2005 in reality I couldnt live with it.
the reason wy paranoid about leaving in a car pk.
depritiation that was scary and if it went wrong out of warrenty
could cost a shed load to put right, and im a mechanic!!
so i sold it took a bit of a pill, an got a silver dax cobra,
there isnt anything i cant do to it, parts are cheep, if I Keep it 10 years and I proberbly will, they hardly loos a thing if they are in good nik, and you can reep the rewards if you better the spec like i have don, it did cost a few bob and if you dont bend it you still got your monney.
Edited by dean freeborn on Saturday 30th July 19:32
What is an average wage? Reading the tosh written by many PHers, youd think that they spent much of their time sending care packages to Bill Gates and the Duke of Westminster!
With regards to earning £26,000 PA and only being able to afford a Boxster if you lve in a cardboard box and eat savoury rice; what utter, utter b
ks!
With regards to earning £26,000 PA and only being able to afford a Boxster if you lve in a cardboard box and eat savoury rice; what utter, utter b
ks!
GC8 said:
With regards to earning £26,000 PA and only being able to afford a Boxster if you lve in a cardboard box and eat savoury rice; what utter, utter bks!
You reckon?ks!£26k works out as £1650 after tax assuming no pension contributions or student loans.
Rent/mortgage, council tax, bills for house etc about £1,000.
Food, going out, non essential bills etc £300.
That gives you £350pcm to run a Boxter.
12k miles is about £3000 in fuel, plus say, £600 insurance, tax £250, MOT, £50, Service, £250.
That is £4150/year or £345 a month.
Doable, but no contingency when it goes wrong or no factoring in how to buy it in the first place. Not really 'utter tosh', unless I have missed something?
Well excluding maintence but including insurance, fuel etc it costs me about £280 per month to run my 928.
Add maintence, parts etc (worked out over an 18 month period) this figure jumps to approx £742 a month, this figure however, will drop the longer I own the car as more and more items are brought up to par.
So if it is a 928 you wish to look at, then the answer is no, unless it needs no additional work whatsoever, which when talking about a 928 is rarely true.
Add maintence, parts etc (worked out over an 18 month period) this figure jumps to approx £742 a month, this figure however, will drop the longer I own the car as more and more items are brought up to par.
So if it is a 928 you wish to look at, then the answer is no, unless it needs no additional work whatsoever, which when talking about a 928 is rarely true.
I'm 24 and on a bit less than £20k and run my 528, parts are not bad if you know where to shop, and my Indie charges £35 an hour which is reasonable. I'll be going down to approx £14k for up to 6 months if I pass my medical/fitness and final interview for the Royal Navy (passed the entrance exam in March) Waiting list is 2-3 years though. I'll be keeping it, if not it will be an E39 530/540 or E38 740 by then. I only do around 6000-7000 miles per year.
I wouldn't attempt to run an E39 M5 unless my income was north of £30k. They only look like a 5 Series, almost everything about them is different and considerably more expensive than a standard E39. A builder freind of mine who earns £40k approx has a 523 (cannot sell it, despite its good condition) and 2001 M5. He's single, only outgoings are a mortgage on his flat and the normal phone/gym bills plus food etc. He is thinking about selling it as its costing him approx £3000 per year to run excluding fuel bills, which actually are not too bad at mid 20's mpg (he does longer trips) Awesome car though.
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