Appropriate salary to buy a Supercar

[Kent Border Kenny]

PrinceRupert said:

Absolutely, if you don't buy breakfast and lunch you can easily afford a supercar on 30k.

The £25 per day mentioned is over £6,000 per year. That’s not Bugatti money, but it’ll definitely cover a DB9, or an R8.

[Kent Border Kenny]

I’d not thought of it that way. I suppose I’ve been there or thereabouts in recent years.

[Kent Border Kenny]

Billwoledge said:

First timer and probably last timer.

Two threads , this one and ‘Who has the best Garage on Pistonheads????‘

I mean , is mine bigger than yours??

1. If someone on £27k wants a Ferrari bad enough they will eventually full-fill their dream, and good luck to them.

2. If you want to have more garage’s than brain cells go ahead and fill it with cars you’ll only gaze at in their Carcoon’s and fill with Snap’s you’ll less likely use than Strap On’s.

FFS.

More garage’s than brain cells? What’s that even supposed to mean?

And you can’t really insult the intelligence of others if you’re an adult that thinks that an apostrophe means “look out, here comes the letter s.”

It’s clearly not a type either, as you’ve made the same error multiple times.

[Kent Border Kenny]

SuperBaaaad said:

Massive discounts and PCP.

You can get a McLaren 570s for £20k down and £999 a month.

That’s £19k per year, which is still quite a chunk on a take-home wage of £67k per year.

Doable, but I expect few people on that wage will choose to spend £56k to rent a car for three years.

[Kent Border Kenny]

gangzoom said:

Given how few Supercars I see on the roads (ie McLaren/Lambos etc), I would say most people see things the same way as me.

As side from millionaires row, there are few streets in the UK lined with Supercars. Most people see Supercars as a waste of money, and very few people can afford that much waste even with very high incomes.

I suppose it depends on the street, and remember, many supercar owners don’t choose to use them every day, they’ll have other cars for that.

[Kent Border Kenny]

gangzoom said:

That's not passion, that's poor/non existent financial planning. Anyone even thinking of doing the above is never going get themselves in to a position of true wealth.

But so what? Maybe they aren’t aiming to be a position of true wealth. Maybe they want to drive an amazing car in their twenties, and then in their thirties get a three bedroom semi near their parents and friends, and do a job that they enjoy before coming home to their family.

I’m in a position of true wealth, and still have no idea if the sacrifices that I’ve made are worth it.

[Kent Border Kenny]

gangzoom said:

Wheres their house deposit coming from if they have wasted all their disposal income on a car for the previous decade? Or maybe they will just carry on living with mum and dad till they are 40.

And maybe they expect to earn enough in their later twenties to get the deposit together then.

You seem determined to paint people who make different choices than you as fools. Don’t you mind if people whose choices made them better off than you are doing the same?

Are you maybe at exactly the sweet spot where you get to say anyone else is in the wrong?

[Kent Border Kenny]

Thankyou4calling said:

When I had my Ferrari ( only a 360) I never experienced any derision from people with a better car.

Only those with worse.

That’s the behaviour your seeing here.

Don’t waste your time mate.

I’ve a guy on another thread taking the piss out of me for driving a McLaren, as apparently his Skoda is more reliable. This following him trying to paint me as boring for having a Tesla.

It’s just bizarre, and makes me wonder what their issues are at home to be like this.

[Kent Border Kenny]

gangzoom said:

Spending 2/3 of your income on a car......thats just not even close to been foolish.

No, it’s not foolish at all.

Accumulating wealth may be the right thing for you, but it’s not for everyone.

By your measure, me spending all of my supermarket wages on beer and crisps would have been idiotic, but I don’t regret it at all.

May I ask, how much extra wealth have you accumulated through not having nicer cars, and what do you plan to do with it?

Are you certain that as the light starts to fade at the end of your life that you’ll think the same way, that your share portfolio is the better investment than having a memory of driving in your twenties with a beautiful woman to Nice in a Ferrari via the Alps, when you have the stamina and the body to enjoy every moment properly?

Perhaps you’re right, but I suspect that there’s also a chance that you aren’t.

Edited to add, me posting this made me think of the Ballad of Lucy Jordan, which I’m listening to now, and reminded me that when I was properly wiped out in 2009, and found myself divorced, unemployed and with less money to my name than I thought possible given where I’d been in 2007 that I called McLaren on the morning that the Frankfurt motor show opened, and placed an order for a McLaren MP4-12C, deciding that it was a far better idea to have a year touring Europe in it staying in the best hotels than to have a slightly nicer kitchen than I’d otherwise have, for the rest of my life.

Edited by Kent Border Kenny on Monday 2nd November 14:37

[Kent Border Kenny]

Badda said:

I think many can really sympathise and indeed empathise with you my friend. At our lowest points, we’ve all had the dilemma of a brand new Mclaren or a new kitchen. Your struggle sounds real.

Thanks, it was indeed tough, I’d never been out of work before.

I did try to stay positive and look on the bright side. Having only one home kept life simple, for example, and running only one car (a B7 RS4) did likewise.

So yes, hard times, but a positive attitude went a long way to helping me get through.

Edited by Kent Border Kenny on Monday 2nd November 20:03

[Kent Border Kenny]

bobbysmithy said:

Absolute gold. 'I was at my lowest point with less money than I thought was possible, so I bought a McLaren'

Now now, ordered, not bought, let’s not exaggerate.

As it turned out I found work again, so decided to stop being so nihilistic, and buy a home instead.

[Kent Border Kenny]

jakesmith said:

Incredible - a rags to riches to rags and back to riches story again via the Frankfurt Motor Show.

If nothing else, I hope it serves as an example to others that no matter how bleak things look, there’s always a chance of redemption.

[Kent Border Kenny]

okgo said:

Love to hear more on how people trade up on depreciating assets ??

Whenever I buy a car or a bike, I’m considering the cost per year, all-in. Interest rates are so low now that upfront cost doesn’t really matter, and for some reason, I’ve tended to fixate on £10,000 per year as the all-in cost that I’m happy spending on a “premium” car.

This covers a huge number of quite special things. I ran a brand new 911 GTS for two years for £4,000 per year, an SLK55 for £2,000, and an immaculate R8 for four years for zero, all-in.

A brand new B7 RS4 cost me £4K per year over five years, and, stepping up, a V10 R8 Plus was £8k per year over three years.

This year I bought and modified a Range Rover Sport, it now has 650bhp and I think will cost £3,000 per year.

A far bigger gamble is the 650s that I just bought. It was £90,000, having dropped from something like £250,000 over the last five years. The warranty is £5,000 per year, insurance £700, servicing £500. Will depreciation be under £3,000? I’ve no idea.

[Kent Border Kenny]

gangzoom said:

Actually the conclusion from this thread is the best time to buy a Supercar is when you have just lost your job .

I don’t know if the car that I bought since starting the thread counts as a supercar or not, but the right time this time was definitely when I’d had a bad day at work

[Kent Border Kenny]

Thankyou4calling said:

I was going through a divorce. Was thoroughly depressed about it.

I was driving past the Porsche OPC and swung in.

30 minutes later I left having ordered a 996 Turbo.

I hadn’t planned to buy a car, certainly not a Porsche but it cheered me up - loved that car.

On paper and to most I didn’t have the income to buy it but I found a way as you do. Wife’s lawyer made me sell it as part of the financial settlement.

I loved that car.

A total heart as opposed to head decision and it happens with plenty of people.

Cars really do have the ability to lift you out of a miserable place.

As above, I’d had a really poor day at work when I decided to buy recently. I have been out a few times since after a difficult meeting just to have a look at mine.

[Kent Border Kenny]

djc206 said:

Yep, not a supercar but I was 25 and had just been dumped so bought an RS5 to cheer myself up. Then we got back together several weeks later. That was an expensive year.

Of course you got back together, you had an RS5!

[Kent Border Kenny]

It sounds as though if you sent your children to a state school you’ll be sorted!

[Kent Border Kenny]

vulture1 said:

Yeah safe to assume you are pretty clever so your clever genes will be passed on. I suspect they would do well enough in a good public school to still make it in life... And you can have a ferrari

I’d really have liked to be able to have sent mine to state school, like I did, but I think it’s going to have to be private while I’m out here in the stockbroker belt.

If I ever get home to the North it’ll probably be different.

[Kent Border Kenny]

Thankyou4calling said:

The guy earns well over £250,0000
He has over A MILLION POUNDS of equity
He has a huge pension pot,

He can very comfortably afford it now.

It’s simply a question of want.

A 720 bought right is gonna lose 30k in a year max.

I simply cannot accept the above income and home equity CAN’T comfortably afford it.

Make your choice.

30k a year max. Maybe it doesn’t seem like a lot if you say it quickly, but that’s an awful lot of money to have just slipping away whether you use the car or not.

If I were in what he is, I’d not be buying a 720 either.

One important point to remember too is that salaries such as that are often hard to replace if things go wrong, so a great many people on them know that they’ll very likely regret it a lot later if they don’t save while they can.

[Kent Border Kenny]

bobbysmithy said:

Yes, well some more than others, depending on your industry/connections. So get a 100k 570 or something and worst comes to worst can always take the million plus out of the london pad.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/11003074?c... - plus a haggle - how wrong could it go?

Edited by bobbysmithy on Thursday 12th November 21:07

If that works for you, that’s great, I’m saying though that it wouldn’t work for me. Risking the family home isn’t on the menu for me, it’s where my children are growing up.