Depreciation vs Maintenance.

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The thing with a fancy car is that is (generally) a very 'in your face' statement of one's financial status. More so than jewellery, watches or anything else. It is mobile & you are seen in it.
Why oh why would you want someone else to know your financial status, I can think of nothing worse!

The only exception perhaps a job where you need to be seen to be wealthy.

I once had a financial adviser call to try and sell me something, he drove something way too expensive, and I just thought “the only one getting rich from this is you.....”
 

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Couple of years ago, he came into a decent sum of money from his grandmother.........guess what his first purchase was.

People do change their thinking when it comes to windfalls or having a lot of money.

I get that. Thing is there's those who will see that as 'free' money etc.

Big difference between having money handed to you, or getting lucky in many ways (be it a lotto win or having doors opened at work etc) and then accumulating it through calculated sacrifices and having to work so much harder than the in crowd to open the same doors. I'm in the latter.
 
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I would see a small win like that (maybe 50-100,000) as a huge leg up, pay off some small debts, deposit on a moderate house and a small slush fund.

I wouldn’t buy a car or whatever with it.

But £1,000,000 that’s another ball game!

Still would invest most, but yes, a nice £15-20k car would definitely be an option if I decided to give up work.
 
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The thing with a fancy car is that is (generally) a very 'in your face' statement of one's financial status.
The other thing there is, what do you mean “fancy”? To me, a three year old S-class coupe is a much fancier car than a new C-class or similar. In fact, I often look at a moderate brand new car, and think “oh god, just think what you COULD have bought for that money if you’d had any sense.”

So to me - a brand new Fiesta (16k or so) is nowhere near as fancy as a 3 or 4 year old Merc, or a 6 or 7 year old really nice car....
 

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The other thing there is, what do you mean “fancy”? To me, a three year old S-class coupe is a much fancier car than a new C-class or similar. In fact, I often look at a moderate brand new car, and think “oh god, just think what you COULD have bought for that money if you’d had any sense.”

So to me - a brand new Fiesta (16k or so) is nowhere near as fancy as a 3 or 4 year old Merc, or a 6 or 7 year old really nice car....
But some are not prepared to run the flash/fancy car and are quite happy with the 'cheap' runabout eg I can buy four tyres for my Smart for the price of one on my ML. Some go out & buy Brabus G Wagons ... you couldn't give me one ;)
 
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malcolm E53 AMG

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I remember watching a TV interview with a wealthy American couple and the husband was really into expensive cars and showing off his collection, when his wife appeared she said she tolerated his indulgence but she bought assets (houses in this case) and not depreciating liabilities like hubby - says it all really.

Regarding the subject of the thread my view (unless you are rich of course or a CEO) is buy right and maintain it properly and run it until it costs more to maintain than it’s worth there is no other way

- S124 kept for 12 years
- S210 kept for 15 years
 
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But £1,000,000 that’s another ball game!

Still would invest most, but yes, a nice £15-20k car would definitely be an option if I decided to give up work.
I realise we are all different...but this is something I just can't get my head around. :confused:
You are I assume at a stage in your life where you are settled and fairly comfortable, so for example a £1 Million lottery win would be massive (as it would be for me and the majority of people), but you would only spend a tiny £15 - £20k of it on a car which from reading your previous posts would likely not be brand new? :shock:

If I won £1 Million I would be retiring straight away and upgrading my car for a brand new one probably in the £60k bracket.
I am not one of these people who say a lottery win would not change me then continue to work in my current job.
**** that!! The only reason I do the lottery is to potentially change my life for the better. :D
 

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......

If I won £1 Million I would be retiring straight away and upgrading my car for a brand new one probably in the £60k bracket.
I am not one of these people who say a lottery win would not change me then continue to work in my current job.
**** that!! The only reason I do the lottery is to potentially change my life for the better. :D
it depends on how old you are .... investment aside ... £1million divided by a fairly generous (compared to national average wage) of £50k is only 20 years. And buying a hand full of £60k cars will soon whittle the capital down somewhat ..... just ask Viv Nicholson (if you still could) ;) So, while it's a huge amount of money, it could easily be spent.
Michael Winner said towards the end of his life, to live the Millionare lifestyle now, you'd need £5 or £6million :)
 
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it depends on how old you are .... investment aside ... £1million divided by a fairly generous (compared to national average wage) of £50k is only 20 years. And buying a hand full of £60k cars will soon whittle the capital down somewhat
I totally appreciate this, although dont forget the £1 Million is tax free so would actually work out to more than the 20 years you quoted if having to earn it - about 25 years for a £50k annual wage.
My post was directed at MBDevotee who I believe to be around the same age as myself or older, and quite probably financially more secure.
I would not go crazy with the money if I won it, but delving into the figures a £60k car right now would probably not even cost me half that amount in cash terms, then even if I continued to renew in that price bracket every couple of years or so it would again only cost me around half or less.

Yes I could comfortably retire on £1 Million thank you very much. :D

P.S. I forgot to add that in the not too distant future I will have the income from state and private pensions, so yes very comfortable. :cool:
 
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rorywquin

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Why oh why would you want someone else to know your financial status, I can think of nothing worse!

............
Peopel do....from the chav buying his first "thick" gold neck chain, knock off designer gear and fake rolex to the footballer with his Brabus G Wagon, tons of genuine designer gear and the biggest flashiest watches and bling they can find.....
 
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I realise we are all different...but this is something I just can't get my head around. :confused:
You are I assume at a stage in your life where you are settled and fairly comfortable, so for example a £1 Million lottery win would be massive (as it would be for me and the majority of people), but you would only spend a tiny £15 - £20k of it on a car which from reading your previous posts would likely not be brand new? :shock:

If I won £1 Million I would be retiring straight away and upgrading my car for a brand new one probably in the £60k bracket.
I am not one of these people who say a lottery win would not change me then continue to work in my current job.
**** that!! The only reason I do the lottery is to potentially change my life for the better. :D
Nope Ron, can almost guarantee I am less financially secure than you.

Without going into too much detail, I lost everything due to a (now ex) wife who I couldn't stop living the millionaire lifestyle on two very average salaries, got us into colossal debt (which I didn't realise I am liable for half of, and I didn't know she'd racked up over £50k of debt just on her own, some of which secured on our house!) and managed to get through all my savings as well.

So that's where the "stupidity" part of my comment earlier came from - I was stupid.


So if I won a million - yes I could buy a £60k car of course I could, but why on earth would you??

I could have an S-Class Coupe - a recent, really nice one for about £80k - https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-de...ption=on&aggregatedTrim=S63 V8 BiTurbo&page=1

Or I could buy a CL-63 - for under £20k - https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-de...delivery-option=on&aggregatedTrim=CL63&page=1

They are both beautiful refined machines that are way faster than anything I'd ever need, comfortable etc etc.... Is the newer one worth 4 times the money?? Of course not - what on earth will it do for me the cheaper one wouldn't?? 99.9999999% of the population couldn't tell the difference, so pop a private plate on if you want to look flash, job done!

If I won a million - after clearing all my debts, I would have say £950,000 left over - yes I could pay myself £50k a year and that would last 19 years..... but it would take some sort of moron to do that!!

I would probably buy myself a really nice house - say £400,000 worth (actually doesn't buy much down here) - but that would then only leave me £550,000 - and then I need an income....... So if I buy 5 houses with a 25% deposit at £300,000 each, that's 5 x £60k deposit's (£300k) - and live off the rentals - about 5 x £500 a month (The rest of the rental would be needed to pay the mortgage and the tax). - So I'd only have an income from that of say £2500......

In order to earn £4000 - £5000 a month (what I'd call a decent salary) you would need to invest around a million pounds I think!!

In reality, if I won a Million on the Lottery, I would still work for a couple of years (I actually love my job) but aim to retire within 5 years - and buy good, very rentable properties as fast as I could. If I didn't use any of the income from the rental, a decent pot would build up very quickly allowing me to buy more and more relatively fast - What I should have done 20 years ago when I already had 3!

Then I could realistically retire with say 10 properties giving me £4-5k a month......

Could I retire on £1m.... yes, but not straight away and have the life I'd like - but I could certainly enjoy myself a lot and do things I'd like to do sooner!

Of course, if I win the £180m tonight - plan B will kick in.....
 
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Peopel do....from the chav buying his first "thick" gold neck chain, knock off designer gear and fake rolex to the footballer with his Brabus G Wagon, tons of genuine designer gear and the biggest flashiest watches and bling they can find.....
I think you've hit the nail on the head - I dont' want to be a Chav or a footballer....... I REALLY don't want to be like that.....
 
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You can't win it.... I'm gonna.....
 

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Well it looks like we are sharing it 3 ways then. :p
 

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This is one very odd thread, revealing a lot about people that should probably be kept private! :shock::eek:
 
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lol - yeh true!
 

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One thing to think about with all these people buying basic/keeping older cars yet having money is maybe, just maybe, they don't actually care that much about cars and if it does the job have better things to do with their time than look, choose, replace, finance etc. There's probably people on Fridge or dishwasher forums who would think some of us are mental for not replacing automatically our 5 year old working dishwashers with something with WIFI capability or wondering why someone who is "set up for life" makes do with a Bosch instead of a Miele.

There may also be people like me who think there is absoutely nothing interesting in new cars and the way they look/drive/you interact with them and as an enthusiast I feel that something old/simple that I can work on myself and have to actually drive is actually far more interesting than some new SL/S class or whatever it is.

Perhaps i've just been in spain too long where 99% of people really couldn't care a less about cars other tham as a tool... Most people drive them 20k miles per year enjoying the great outdoors and big road trips, take them down dirt track lanes, scratch them, bump park them, eat and drink in them, use them to carry oversized stuff and don't spend your life worrying about the appearance of it or it's replacement until you have to...
 

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I don't believe that anyone who could comfortably afford to buy a new car would choose to buy a 2nd hand (as they used to be known) car instead.

I know several that always buy pre owned, maybe a year old. My mothers W204 was 13 months old when she bought it, ex MB fleet with 5k on the clock and £11k off list, what's not to like and it came with a 3 year service pack
 

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