Percentage of your salary spent on your car?

[SoliD]

some people spend way too much on their cars. seriously 50% of salary on a car is OTT. better to get a cheaper car and spend your money wisely than fork 50% of salary on a car (I hope that 50% at least covers gas, insurance, parking, etc...). cars depreciate like mad and cost to upkeep. buy what you can afford.

bought my car w/ no borrowing, and it costs me less than 1% of salary annually to maintain, insure, fill up. I realize I may make more, but honestly would never consider spending large portions of salary for a car. To put it in perspective, I wouldn't spend more than 25% of gross income for house repayments. what happens when something unexpeted creaps up?

we wonder why we are in a financial mess when some over-extend on things they clearly cannot afford.

But if you pay it off in one go and have been saving for years, then all you need to pay is insurance/fuel/consumables. So that 50% if you have been saving for 3 years is only 16.6% of your annual salary for the purchase cost.

Also this is a dedicated forum where people love their cars so you more than likely wouldnt understand why these people spend so much on their cars, also the fact that a high proportion of this forum are under 25 and generally tend to live at home so dont have to live with unexpected bills generally!

 

[lunarwolf]

Also this is a dedicated forum where people love their cars so you more than likely wouldnt understand why these people spend so much on their cars, also the fact that a high proportion of this forum are under 25 and generally tend to live at home so dont have to live with unexpected bills generally!

yes I am baffled when I see people live in shacks and in front is a car that costs half or a quarter of the price of the house. why? to look cool? penis envy? to drive an avg 20/30mph? I have lived in a few countries and travelled quite a bit, and tbh the UK is the most ridiculous country (developped) when it comes to cars yet the road infrastructure is one of the worst and congested in western europe.

PS if you want to race, you can get deals where you rent supercars for a day around the track, if you can't afford there is always cart racing which is just as fun

 

[snowdog]

some people spend way too much on their cars. seriously 50% of salary on a car is OTT. better to get a cheaper car and spend your money wisely than fork 50% of salary on a car (I hope that 50% at least covers gas, insurance, parking, etc...). cars depreciate like mad and cost to upkeep. buy what you can afford.

Why OTT, what else should people spend their money on then? Alcohol? Drugs ? If they spend just 50% then they can afford it can't they ?

yes I am baffled when I see people live in shacks and in front is a car that costs half or a quarter of the price of the house. why?

Because why spend money on your home, only thing that matters is what's inside it, any home with a working kitchen, bathroom and a tv, a decent pc and Internet is fine by me. A car is something you have fun in, you want to be comfortable in, and something more interesting than a house.

 

[lunarwolf]

something more interesting than a house.

depends on the house(s) - summer house in the sun is nice too

 

[Muffin`]

10%

 

[Richdog]

I'm looking at a newer car at the moment as percentage it's going to be about 50%, just wondering what the "norm" is..

There is no 'norm', it's whatever you can afford...

And I really don't get all the comments saying "zomg 50% is too much". If someone LOVES cars, and has some savings, then why on earth shouldn't they buy the car they want? As long as they're not financially crippling themselves or getting heavily into debt then there's nothing wrong with spending more than 50% on a car. Life is hard enough without being able to live it.

 

[Django x2]

0%. My expenses covers the monthly cost of my car, and then some

 

[snowdog]

depends on the house(s) - summer house in the sun is nice too

It all depends on the person I guess... I don't see the point of a house in the sun personally.

 

[jellybeard999]

Car bought with cash, so no finance costs. Apportioning petrol, servicing, mot, insurance etc accross the year i probably spend around 12% of what I take home.

 

[Skeeter]

When I find one, purchase cost will be around 25% of salary, but the actual payments will be around 10% per year.

Fuel on the other hand... well, lets just say its cheaper to commute and live at home than it is to rent somewhere closer to work... just.

 

[Housey]

It all depends on the person I guess... I don't see the point of a house in the sun personally.

At 17 years of age I wouldn't expect you to see the point. Get a family and a stressful job and I suspect the ability to simply get away from it all will become somewhat more compelling as it will when your tastes for the finer things in life such as good food, wine and the company of working friends grows.

For me a nice property or properties always came and comes first and a car is a luxury to be enjoyed if circumstance permit. I bought my first house at 22 years of age which was a 3 bedroom detached with a garage and lived off beans on toast for 3 years. Houses back then were of course somewhat cheaper and I had company cars but I was surrounded by mates with the latest hot hatch and I was in some company Vauxhall which though new was hardly exciting. Now I am able to have both nice houses and nice cars but I still have to prioritise and look at what the world is doing before I spend big on cars.

 

[bobert50]

Well, i prefer not to think of it as total salary.

I tend to have a salary, pay every bill and then have a "disposable fund" to waste on stuff to keep me from getting bored including cars/pc stuff/going out etc etc, and i'd say i justify about 10-20% of that fund on a car depending on how i feel when buying.

So not much really

 

[Rotty]

Payments around 8%
Insurance <1%
Petrol 3%
Maintenance about 2%

 

[VTR]

Alfa 145 -

Purchase Price - 1.8% of yearly salary
Petrol - 10% a month of monthly salary
Insurance - 1% a month of monthly salary

Cheap motoring for a while, dont want to work out the figures for when I had my Evo or Scooby!

 

[IAmATeaf]

0%. My expenses covers the monthly cost of my car, and then some

Forgot about this aspect, I opted out of the company car scheme and also receive a monthly mileage allowance, if I factor these in then over 3 years I spent nil on my car too

 

[GT3]

Purchase Price - 4% of yearly salary
Diesel - 7% a month of monthly salary
Insurance - <2% a month of monthly salary

 

[Lum]

yes I am baffled when I see people live in shacks and in front is a car that costs half or a quarter of the price of the house. why? to look cool? penis envy? to drive an avg 20/30mph? I have lived in a few countries and travelled quite a bit, and tbh the UK is the most ridiculous country (developped) when it comes to cars yet the road infrastructure is one of the worst and congested in western europe.

Since moving to South Wales I see this a lot and it makes sense to me.

In this area there's not really much in the way of big grandiose houses, most of the housing is fairly small but does the job. There's also a ton of good roads, so you can either spend a fortune on one of the few massive houses out there, or you can get a decent enough house for a good price (and cheap council tax) then spend some money on a fun car for blatting around the valleys in.

You also have to consider people's jobs. Back in 2004, due to the nature of my job I was actually spending more time in my car than I was in my own house. Of course I spent a fair chunk of money to make my car as nice as possible for the long trips.

 

[Barks]

yes I am baffled when I see people live in shacks and in front is a car that costs half or a quarter of the price of the house. why? to look cool? penis envy? to drive an avg 20/30mph? I have lived in a few countries and travelled quite a bit, and tbh the UK is the most ridiculous country (developped) when it comes to cars yet the road infrastructure is one of the worst and congested in western europe.

I agree it is a retarded way to live. Also young blokes these days seem to think there's a race over who can have the most expensive/fastest car. Shame people aren't prepared to wait for luxuries which come more easily with success and age.

I mean I know people who don't go on holidays, have horrible houses with Spartan interiors, eat crap food... yet somehow manage to have a £45k car sitting in the drive. I think the psychology behind it is, people don't see your house they see your car and your car is an indicator of your wealth (a distorted one at that!). For people who make the driving enjoyment argument, it's flawed, you can buy cars for £10k which are obscenely quick and do the job nicely in terms of being fun to drive.

 

[Lopéz]

My current car cost 6% of my current base salary.

In the last 12 months (including tax, insurance, fuel (worked out approximately), and all other running costs) it has cost 7.7% of my current base salary.

 

[[TW]Fox]

I agree it is a retarded way to live. Also young blokes these days seem to think there's a race over who can have the most expensive/fastest car. Shame people aren't prepared to wait for luxuries which come more easily with success and age.

Dont worry, everyone grows out of it.