21 year old - new car & finances advice

[creesteN]

Hi everyone,

I'm here to ask for financial advice on buying my next car. Before I do that, here's some context:

I'm a 21-year-old and in my final year of university. I drive a MK2 Leon and due to my usage (going into Europe 3 times now etc) it's really high mileage. It's also very modified, and I don't expect to get a return on my investment. Breaking the car myself eventually would not be possible due to space+time.

I landed a decent graduate job next year that will bring me around £48-49k pretax in a city that's quite cheap to live in. I have no intentions of buying a house in the near future.

When I start this job later this year - I want to buy myself something more powerful. I did some research into leasing, PCP and HP. As well as just buying cash used and I'm daunted...

I don't have much savings but it would definitely cover any deposit up to around 15-20% value of cars I'm looking at.

Cars I considered were a Golf R, Cupra, or an M140i. The latter has a high insurance quote at the moment.

What would be the best approach in my situation? Or am I just dumb and I shouldn't be thinking above throwing money into a depreciating asset?

Thanks.

[creesteN]

flight147z said:

Buy a house first

Standard answer but it's the right one

I don't plan to stay in one city/country at the moment. I'm expecting to be moving jobs probably around every 24 months. Does this advice still stand?

[creesteN]

Nano2nd said:

not if its a house you're going to live in, buying/selling takes time and is very expensive... not something that fits in with moving every 2 years.

not sure a BTL is such a good idea at the mo, especially as you've not got the money to buy one anyway

for me a striking a balance, by all means buy the car you want but do that along side saving a house deposit and building a pension pit, especially as you'll likely be a higher rate tax payer before long... wise i'd started my pension contribs at 21!

My employer will be matching my private pension contributions up to 10% of my monthly salary pre-tax, so I'm definitely maximising that! I guess I'll have to settle and buy cash for a reasonable amount of money once I get more savings.

[creesteN]

ZX10R NIN said:

How much do you have to out down on a car? If it's a decent amount why not buy a PH worthy car with that money.

I guess it depends how much of my finances I should be putting out on a car. By the time I start working I suspect I'll have around 7-8k to spend.

[creesteN]

CastroSays said:

Can you tell us what first degree gets you a job with a starting salary of £48-49,000 in a city outside London?

Just curious.

Computer Science at a top university. I'm also one of the 'lower' salaries out of my very intelligent peers.

[creesteN]

Strudul said:

Nano2nd said:

creesteN said:

CastroSays said:

Can you tell us what first degree gets you a job with a starting salary of £48-49,000 in a city outside London?

Just curious.

Computer Science at a top university. I'm also one of the 'lower' salaries out of my very intelligent peers.

interesting, whats the job out of interest?

I'd guess at something security based.

For reference though, most grad schemes, including comp sci, are closer to £25k pa, though Aldi is up at £44k if you can handle the hours and st that come with it.

Finance. My internship was >25k last year.

Palantir, Google and a few others are close to 100k or above.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I'll just buy cash, it's a case of choosing what. I like the looks of that 3.4 Cayman, but 95k miles is scary.

Edited by creesteN on Friday 25th January 07:40