How did you buy your supercar?

[Henry Hawthorne]

Purely out of interest, I was wondering how many own your cars on finance, how many outright purchase, how many on the company and how many something I haven't thought of?

Obviously this is an anonymous poll so you can answer without posting anything in reply if you don't want to!

[Rufus]

Every car I've ever bought I paid cash for, never bought anything on finance, uckily I never had to buy my house!

Edited by Rufus on Friday 27th May 19:35

[birdcage]

Cash, but inflation becomes rampant my next one will be financed

[P101]

Cash, couldn't get finance on an 05 Gallardo.

[ferdi p]

CASH - Which I borrowed from ING at 3.5%

[UH-Matt]

Never taken finance, prefer to wait until I can afford something and then buy cash.

With the cost of maintenance, plus depreciation, plus any unforeseen expenses I would rather not add interest to that list.

Although next year I may buy something silly, and consider a small loan (30-40% of cars value).

[Henry Hawthorne]

Very interesting, was expecting a few more people on finance but it's good to see people who aren't getting themselves deep into debt with extravagantpurchases! (I'm not saying everyone on finance is getting themselves into debt etc etc before anyone kicks off)

[RevHappy]

It depends on what someone thinks is a super car, spending £25k cash on a 348 Is one thing, 220k on a 458 is another. Ironically the bit in the middle in more likely to be financed.

[shanes]

I am looking at either Gallardo Superleggera or Murcielago LP640 not sure which one ill go for as yet , once i test drive them ill decide weather the extra 75 k is worth it .
wanted one for ages but ill only pay cash for cars so its taken a while to have the funds there

[70proof]

difficult to answer correctly....... if i say i am mortage free, then finance, if i ignore the mortgage equation, then cash!!!!

[red_duke]

It would be more interesting to know what proportion of the purchase was financed rather than simply "Cash" OR "Finance".

But that's just me being nosey I guess

[anonymous-user]

My SLK was 50% cash, 50% finance and then my R8 was cash.

[leeGT2]

Quite strange to see that nearly everyone here buys with cash. When I walked in to a Ferrari dealership 3 years ago, I remember the finance man over there telling me that it is very rare to have customers buying their cars out right. Most people buy with finance! I personally prefer to buy cash and have done in the past, but to move up the car ladder, the only way is to take up finance for the extra bit; ie if I had 75k to spend, i'd rather buy a scuderia for 130k, with 75k down and 55k on finance over 2/3 years than to put 75k outright on a brand new carrera S!

[MaxAndRuby]

leeGT2 said:

if I had 75k to spend, i'd rather buy a scuderia for 130k, with 75k down and 55k on finance over 2/3 years than to put 75k outright on a brand new carrera S!

Precisely.

If you've got millions then this is irrelevant, if you have a high paid job I can understand cash purchases, but if you're in business you should be able to make more with capital than sticking it into a depreciating asset. I've always leveraged my cars, and it's allowed me to drive some amazing kit. We're all going to die, live the dream.

The only advice I'd give is don't finance to the point where it's on your mind. It's pointless because you won't enjoy the car. I always want about 25 percent equity to if business turns down it's an easy exit.

[ferdi p]

MaxAndRuby said:

Precisely.

If you've got millions then this is irrelevant, if you have a high paid job I can understand cash purchases, but if you're in business you should be able to make more with capital than sticking it into a depreciating asset. I've always leveraged my cars, and it's allowed me to drive some amazing kit. We're all going to die, live the dream.

The only advice I'd give is don't finance to the point where it's on your mind. It's pointless because you won't enjoy the car. I always want about 25 percent equity to if business turns down it's an easy exit.

Bang on..

[simonspider]

MaxAndRuby said:

Precisely.

If you've got millions then this is irrelevant, if you have a high paid job I can understand cash purchases, but if you're in business you should be able to make more with capital than sticking it into a depreciating asset. I've always leveraged my cars, and it's allowed me to drive some amazing kit. We're all going to die, live the dream.

The only advice I'd give is don't finance to the point where it's on your mind. It's pointless because you won't enjoy the car. I always want about 25 percent equity to if business turns down it's an easy exit.

I was just writing my two penneth worth then this popped up and I couldnt have put it better.
Point is, there's a lot of people on here who must run their own business and probably don't turn a hair borrowing money to expand their company or purchase new assets. In my experience it can be pretty foolhardy expanding a company using cashflow and I view supercar purchases the same.

Putting lumps of cash into a (usually)depreciating asset to me makes little sense. Since interest rates are still low makes sense to borrow for a supercar and use the hard earned for something that makes more money. As the post suggested we're all going to die.
Down to brass tacks I've used many brokerages and finance companies. Nearly all adopt the 'computer says no' mentality. One of the few that don't is Close Asset, superb personal service and they bother meeting you too - jeff Higgs is the man [e-mail] They arent cheap but one doesnt get chicken nuggets at the fat duck

[Magic919]

simonspider said:

I was just writing my two penneth worth

2p worth worth?