Thoughts on Cars (subtitle... why you should not buy a Lamborghini)

[RHL]

isn't this common sense?

It's sense, but it aint common.

 

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[YCW]

It all comes down to wanting to live an extravagant lifestyle, but without the means to do so. Todays society rewards those who are extravagant by way of attention, something that Sidewalk/Slowlane people generally want because it is relatively hard to come by. However, once you have been successful in the Fastlane, attention is normally the last thing that you want.

Now when I go to the supermarket, I have to make sure to park as far out in the parking lot as possible to avoid all the unwanted attention closer to the store (i.e kids running up wanting to take a picture. Teenagers asking how fast you've been in it. Adults wondering if you're a drug dealer or just a spoilt kid)

 

[RHL]

Is that your F430?

 

[Shdreams]

Surprised to hear youve had so many problems with the Kia. What year?

2008 2.4L Optima, ecm crapped out some codes, through off the timing and died. Being a Variable valve engine when I started it again I bent the valves and damaged the crank. It leaks somewhere around the windshield you can hear gurgling water at highway speeds. Which leads to a surprise foot soaking out of no where at anytime. Which has fried two heat resistors at $130 a pop. Fu$@ kia, The people who sold me the car, And myself for not researching more.
My Mercury cost me $1500 And always limped home when it had to.For 5 years. The Kia's first problem left me stranded on a highway with a tow bill.
I'm editing to make this more relevant. If I didn't need full coverage insurance and pay $430 car payments a month. It wouldn't enrage me to think about fixing it.

 

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[Shdreams]

(i.e kids running up wanting to take a picture. Teenagers asking how fast you've been in it. Adults wondering if you're a drug dealer or just a spoilt kid)

I would give you a big thumbs up if your beside me in a Ferrari.

 

[Shades]

2008 2.4L Optima, ecm crapped out some codes, through off the timing and died. Being a Variable valve engine when I started it again I bent the valves and damaged the crank. It leaks somewhere around the windshield you can hear gurgling water at highway speeds. Which leads to a surprise foot soaking out of no where at anytime. Which has fried two heat resistors at $130 a pop. Fu$@ kia, The people who sold me the car, And myself for not researching more.
My Mercury cost me $1500 And always limped home when it had to.For 5 years. The Kia's first problem left me stranded on a highway with a tow bill.
I'm editing to make this more relevant. If I didn't need full coverage insurance and pay $430 car payments a month. It wouldn't enrage me to think about fixing it.

Ok so its the older models. Kias are actually pretty nice now especially for the price.

 

[YCW]

Is that your F430?

It is, yes. There are only 90 F430 Spiders throughout the UK, with around 10% of them being black. When taking the car in for a service at the dealership, was looking to trade it in for an F12, but the sales manager told me not to as the Spiders are going up in value at the moment. It's value went up around £6k in the past year since I bought it

 

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[Shdreams]

Ok so its the older models. Kias are actually pretty nice now especially for the price.

My kia is very nice. beautiful interior. heated seats. Doesn't make bells and dings for everything imaginable like some newer cars. I think I bought the one built on a Friday before Christmas Holiday. A co-worker bought a forte shortly after he seen mine. 0 issues! But it Still has a monthly payment.

 

[sQri]

Well, if it would be common sense, and people only drive the cars they could afford, there would be a way higher number of older cars on our streets..

I don't want to sound rude, but isn't this common sense? why would you use debt to buy a depreciating asset, to serve nothing but your ego

 

[SteveO]

It's sense, but it aint common.

love it...

 

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[Trivium iz rC]

Great Post By @Vigilante.

While I've never gone in debt to own a vehicle. I learned a GREAT lesson on car depreciation when I bought my second car when I was 17 my senior year in highschool. Bought an 03 Cadillac DTS In 09 (Always loved and admired Cadillacs) for 15k Cash w/ 38k miles on her. Currently In 2014 I still have that same cadillac with 84k miles on her w/ a blue book value of 4k-4.5k.

Obviously anyone who buys a car knows it will depreciate overtime. I keep my Cadillac In near mint condition and it still amazes me that it's lost 73% of its value within 5 years time & doesn't even have 100k miles on her yet. It's a great reliable car and has never had any problems but maintenance.

But at times I've thought about selling the Cadillac and buying a cheap civic for 1k and just driving that. So i'm not paranoid about "Is someone parking too close" "My car might get scratched" "Some POS is leaning on my vehicle". I fight with myself all the time on if I should just sell it and buy out a cheap civic for 1k. But the cars lost so much value that there's no point of selling a 84k mile cadillac (worth 4k) for a civic w/ 150k+ miles for 1k. Being so busy with my business I rarely drive anyway because I run my business out of home.

As a car guy & a guy with a growing business I find it funny that the older I get the less I want to OWN my dream cars (Cadillac CTS-V & XLR-V) I rather just pay a Premium and have a membership to a private car rental club were I can drive these & many other high Luxury/Exotics for a couple days get the "Car Guy" out of me and bring it back when i'm done.

The older (Currently 23) I get & more my business grows, the more I wanna "Lay Low" and have little to no attention on myself.

It amazes me how my views have changed the older I get. If I was to look back on my younger self @ 17, My younger self would have wanted the attention of "Hey look at the Cadillac I just bought" "Look at me I'm a business owner" "Party at my house" "Chasing after teenage girls".

Now I have no interest in being in the "spotlight" or telling people about what my plans are or how my business is doing, chasing girls around and or hosting parties at my house.

^It's amazing how times have changed in my life.

 

[Excalibur]

Great thread. My first and last financed vehicle was an 8 year old Chevrolet Silverado that had been lowered. At the time I was into lowered/street trucks, so when I saw one for sale locally, I just "had to have it".

Couldn't find a bank to loan me the money, so I ended up taking out a cash advance on a credit card. Ouch!

Never again have I taken a loan to buy a vehicle, and I have bought a lot of vehicles since then. Mainly for flipping.

Current vehicles are an '88 Chevy 4x4 which I paid $800 and haven't had to do any major work other than replacing an AC pump and water pump. Also have a '96 Chevy Astro. I know, driving a soccer mom van doesn't help with the ladies, but I am not here to impress anyone.

Paid $597 for it at auction. Pulled the bench seats, tossed them into the scrap pile and now I have loads of room for my gear. Replaced fuel pump, driver door handle and tires. Both vehicles will get run straight into the ground. One of my ventures is scrap metal recycling, so why get a nice, shiny truck, only to scratch/beat it to hell?

Because I drive cheap cars, it's allowed me to do other things, like pay off my house. Took a 20 year note, and paid it off in 3 years and 4 months.

Haven't figured out my fast lane route yet, but in the mean time I will continue to drive cheap cars, and pile up cash for working capital.

Btw, youtube has a lot of tutorials on car repair. I've also done all my appliance repairs to date from watching youtube videos.

 

[D11FYY]

Its simple people go "oh wow something shiny" some folk also get handed these cars through their work for business use and the neighbours just "have" to get a new car to match it. But more than likely people like their car to accompany their ego...
But also some business owners etc treat it as a treat and dont get sucked in with it.
Its a ridiculous never ending chase one in which your not going to win new cars are pretty much being released daily.

I find it funny when people get new cars its spread wide across their twitter feeds,instagram etc but my real pet hate is photos where their at the wheel but have to make sure they get the steering wheel or dash in it is the biggest face palm I can do.

Pics similar to this

 

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[SJVC]

These sorts of post is why this forum is so valuable.

Not just how to make money but how to be money smart.

Cheers Vig.

 

[Shdreams]

I will have a street terrorizing, Old lady scaring, police attracting hot rod. Just paid in cash!

 

[cautiouscapy]

I don't care much about cars, though I can see they can be sexy.

I love my old Civic - easy to pick up older models with low mileage (old man's car), cheap to insure, cheap to run, reliable as anything, comfortable.
I considered buying an A3 before I bought the Civic, (typical car for a woman or a younger guy here in the UK) but thought, nah, I like not worrying that someone's going to scratch it deliberately, worry about where I park it, don't want higher insurance premiums.

I remember listening to some office colleagues talking about their car finance payments.
Amazed at the couple in their 20s having to live carefully to pay their expensive mortgage and £600 per month between them on car payments, and at the guy who obviously just considered his car payments as a regular expense, because his car was due to be paid off in a few months, but his plan was all about the next car he was going to finance immediately it was paid off.

Highlighted yet again why I don't fit in to the archetypal office environment.

 

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[RHL]

For those who missed it, fastlaner @SteveO just bought an entire, cash-positive, shopping mall for the same amount of free cash you'd need to buy a high-mileage C6 Corvette base model: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/new-purchase.55471/#post-405237

What would you rather get with $25K? This:

Or this?:

 

[SBS.95]

I remember listening to some office colleagues talking about their car finance payments.
Amazed at the couple in their 20s having to live carefully to pay their expensive mortgage and £600 per month between them on car payments, and at the guy who obviously just considered his car payments as a regular expense, because his car was due to be paid off in a few months, but his plan was all about the next car he was going to finance immediately it was paid off.

Highlighted yet again why I don't fit in to the archetypal office environment.

These are the people I really don't get. I've never taken out a car loan or had monthly payments. But I imagine if I did, as soon as it was paid off I would be like "Hell yeah! No bloodsucking month-to-month payments, time to drive this thing into the ground for the next 15 years!"

It just seems completely illogical to me that someone would want to hop right into yet another monthly payment.

 

[MoneyDoc]

As someone who owns a luxury car I can tell you that it gets old quick.

The first few weeks its awesome, but after a while you realize that the car has actually done very little to better your life, yourself or your business. Just gives you an ego boost.

They're expensive to maintain, the full coverage insurance, the gas guzzling 12mpg etc.

Once you start to make lots of money you find that you don't want all of that attention you wanted when you didn't have that kind of money.

Its funny how it tends to work that way, at least for me. When you are broke you have a huge appetite to impress. When you have money you have a huge appetite to stay out of the spotlight.

Plus when you are building and growing a business, its just stupid to throw the cash into a brand new BMW instead of the business asset.

The business will change your life not the BMW.

Fastlane= Freedom from jobs, debt, etc. Control. Cash. Value. Ownership.

The Fastlane creed:

I loan not borrow.
I am an employer not an employee.
I own free and clear.
I am in control, I am not controlled by some external institution or entity.
I actively learn not passively live.
I create value not money.

Cheers for the Fastlane! And for a happy, healthy and financially healthy life!

Mind me asking, what car?

 

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[MoneyDoc]

It all comes down to wanting to live an extravagant lifestyle, but without the means to do so. Todays society rewards those who are extravagant by way of attention, something that Sidewalk/Slowlane people generally want because it is relatively hard to come by. However, once you have been successful in the Fastlane, attention is normally the last thing that you want.

Now when I go to the supermarket, I have to make sure to park as far out in the parking lot as possible to avoid all the unwanted attention closer to the store (i.e kids running up wanting to take a picture. Teenagers asking how fast you've been in it. Adults wondering if you're a drug dealer or just a spoilt kid)

Lol I'd want a picture too if that's your car in your avatar. Which model is that?

 

[RHL]

There are only 90 F430 Spiders throughout the UK, with around 10% of them being black.

Real 3-pedal manual F430's are going to be classics, just like the 993 911 is. Last of an era.

 

[YCW]

@MoneyDoc : Yes, that's my car. It's an F430 Spider

Yup, the last Manual Ferrari ever to be produced.

 

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[MoneyDoc]

@MoneyDoc : Yes, that's my car. It's an F430 Spider

Yup, the last Manual Ferrari ever to be produced.

That's badass bro. Yeah, the f430 will truly leave behind a legacy.

 

[daivey]

i bought a new car 2 months ago. 7 years at 0% financing. the only reason that i didn't pay cash for it is because I can earn more with the money invested.

i love it. i didn't buy it to impress other people. I like the way it feels on the road. I like washing it and taking care of it. It has nothing to do with impressing others, just me.

could i have bought something for far far far less? Yes I could have.

 

[DeletedUser394]

i bought a new car 2 months ago. 7 years at 0% financing. the only reason that i didn't pay cash for it is because I can earn more with the money invested.

i love it. i didn't buy it to impress other people. I like the way it feels on the road. I like washing it and taking care of it. It has nothing to do with impressing others, just me.

could i have bought something for far far far less? Yes I could have.

They have 7 year car loans? Cringeworthy.

 

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[G_Alexander]

The last two years I "earned" (slave labor) six-figures......bought a 2002 4Runner with 165k miles for $4k cash. Colleagues and classmates I went to school with were buying Audi S5s and Mercedes making less money as insurance salesman, military, etc. etc. I don't even try explaining the stupidity to them anymore. You get it or you don't. Helped my girlfriend understand this with her ridiculous car payment as well (she now drives $3500 2006 Hyundai, paid cash).

Sold the 4Runner when I quit my job a few months ago, and picked up a "real fancy" 2005 Acura RL with 175k miles for $6800 cash. Will drive it into the ground. Next car is a 2008 Murcielago (I'm a big gear head), and no sister...that ain't a F*ckin' pipe dream.

PS. When I was 16 years old I was BLOWING $450/mo on a 350z busting my a$$ at hourly jobs. Talked about it in my ancient intro thread. I broke even when I sold the Z and left for school. Owned/flipped three cars since the 350z and made money on all of them after driving each for thousands of miles. In my opinion though, it is a waste of time to arbitrage cars. There are WAY bigger fish to fry than making a quick buck that way.

 

[SBS.95]

They have 7 year car loans? Cringeworthy.

Oh, they get much worse than that.

A few weeks ago I read about a 16 year old kid who got his parents to cosign a loan for a 2003 BMW M3. This is a car that will cost approximately $1000-2000 a year just for repairs to keep it roadworthy. The loan- 8 years long- on a car that is 11 years old. It will be 2022 by the time this kid outright owns his 2003 BMW. How this kid ever got approved blows my mind. The fact that his parents helped him is completely inexcusable. What a way to F*ck up your finances going into your 20s.

 

[daivey]

They have 7 year car loans? Cringeworthy.

Oh yes they do. By the first year you owe more than the car is worth lol.

 

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[daivey]

Oh, they get much worse than that.

A few weeks ago I read about a 16 year old kid who got his parents to cosign a loan for a 2003 BMW M3. This is a car that will cost approximately $1000-2000 a year just for repairs to keep it roadworthy. The loan- 8 years long- on a car that is 11 years old. It will be 2022 by the time this kid outright owns his 2003 BMW. How this kid ever got approved blows my mind. The fact that his parents helped him is completely inexcusable. What a way to F*ck up your finances going into your 20s.

smart kid. M3 is a nice car, though i don't like the look of the <2009

 

[RHL]

Haha. They have 144 month car loans on exotics.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/03/say-hello-to-144-month-financing/

As one commentor said, "12 Years A Slave."