How much do you outlay (%) on cars?

[Torino101]

Roughly what percentage of your income would / are you be prepared to spend on a car?

i.e if you have an annual income of say £50,000 would you be looking at buying a £10,000 car (20%), or a £50,000 car (100%) or even a £75,000 car (150%)??

I ask this as I think I am only willing to spend a small percentage of my income on cars (19% last time)- even though I love cars and would like a better one!!

I am just wondering if I am in the minority and people spend more on there cars in relation to their wealth then I do??

(Basically I am trying to justify to myself that it is ok to spend more on a new car!! )

I hope this make sense.......

[cruiser647]

Depends upon other outlay I suppose..........

Some people would stretch and struggle, but be proud with a newer bigger car on the drive.

I have only bought 2nd hand, max value was £8K (for some reason ), and I did not have it long, so for me now, I will not spend more than 20% on a car.

[NewNiceMrMe]

Hmm, I think this is a bit misleading.

See, you've taken the approach of what value is your car compared to your 'before tax yearly income'. So I'd fall in around the 25% category if I stay with the rigidity of the question.

However, my monthly outgoing on the car is zero because it's mine and paid for. So, it's a poll that could possibly yield some strange results. Or should I vote ZERO? That couldn't be right could it?

[Torino101]

I was trying to ignore payment methods i.e whether the car is bought straight off or whether it is paid off over 3, 5 10 years etc.

It was just meant to be the current market price of the car at the time you agree to take possesion of it.

I agree though that it could yeild strange results if you inherited all you wealth and now did not work. So your yearly income might be relatively low yet your wealth and cost of car you buy might be very high.

[Thorburn]

Well, lets see, while I was at uni I earned, errrrrrrrrm, nothing and spent £7200 on a car

[Alastair_A3]

well in our household we have just one income as my wife doesnt need to work. So i would say cars were the second largest percentage of my income, property first, 2 mortages can get abit expensive at times.

[gizze]

I put 21-35% but being realistic it could be anywhere from 15% to 40% if we are talking about value, but when you look at monthly payments my cars always float between £300 and £500 a month.

You can buy a 3 year old A4 for say £12k and finance it over 48 months for around £300 a month, or buy a 6 month old 3.0TDi for £30k and finance it over 48 months with a balloon and it costs you £400 a month.

I have given up trying to be too sensible with cars though, trying to save a couple of hundred quid eacch month is silly imho, I always end up changing them too quickly when I am sensible and it costs as much as just buying the more expensive one anyway. I will never buy new though, I am not prepared to loose all that money and pay 25% more each month than a 3 month old car.

[NeilB]

I'll never buy new either, I'll only buy them if they are three years old onward. As I am not going to loose all that money for nothing.

[Pidge]

When buying a car I don't look on it as the actual price of the car, more on what I think it would cost me per year through depreciation and any interest charges. eg I think a good deal on a nearly new boxster is a cheaper buy than a new saab 93 (caveat emptor)

A better poll would have been what % of your income do you think your love of cars costs you annually.

[gizze]

Exactly I would find it hard to justify more than 10% of my take home wage, I would rather buy another property for that sort of money, and I just can't afford any more either. I earn a fairly decent wage, but I am not a saver!!

[JamesB]

Hmm, my current car cost less than 25% of the price of my previous one but I chose to change it. I guess that means that I am willing to spend a reasonably high percentage of my earnings but would prefer to buy the car that suits me at the time.

[Durrsaku]

35-50% for me but then i had it saved so wasn't an issue. I don't think i would borrow that percentage of my salary to fund my car.

[RichTT]

In recent years Ive always let my heart rule my head when buying cars.Though I would never buy new, ive never though about percentage, just whether I could afford it or not.

I bought my Porsche just under 3 years ago for 44k,its still worth 44k,It cost around 100k when new in 1995 so the 55k hit was taken by others and when I pay it off in July I have an asset worth 44k and rising.

When I was younger, I just bought a cheap car and ran it until it was no longer viable to do so,sold it for scrap and bought another.

I once bought a fiat 126 for £30 about 15 yrs ago with no reverse gear!-I drove it until the mot ran out and then sold it for £10 to a scrapyard-cheap motoring!!Mind you i came unstuck when I parked on a slope facing downwards and had to get help to push the car back up the slope, I forgot about the lack of a reverse gear

[5to1]

I'll be the odd one out and say I buy new.

Although I know I'll take a depreciation hit. I know I'll atleast get something back. Also I have a quible free warranty (or atleast as close as I can get). And no hassle.

And I like to know someone else hasn't been abusing my pride and joy.

Rich, to give you another point of view. The person that bought your car new took the biggest depreciation hit. But they probably had a fair idea what they were going to lose. However, when you bought the car, it was well out of warranty. Had the engine blown up, you could have ended up with nothing.