Do you 'own' your own car

KwackerJack

My grandad was down today, while I am in the middle of trying to pull out an engine he was standing right beside me asking me how all the people in Dublin can afford their new cars!!

And it got me thinking, how many people actually 'own' their own car!

As in have you a car loan from a bank, finance from a dealer or finance from an independent finance company!

Or how many are driving company cars?

Some people may have 2 cars but I am talking about the main car you would use on a daily basis.

Multiple choice answers

BNMC

Credit Union loan, it's paid off so yes I do own my own car.

Ded_Zebra

I own my car. I think it is pure nonsense to borrow money for a car and can't see myself ever doing it.

KwackerJack

BNMC wrote: »

Credit Union loan, it's paid off so yes I do own my own car.

Good man...forgot to put that one in the poll but i suppose its paid for so

zetecescort

Drive a 2000 reg Corolla bought for €1200 4 years ago, 200k on the clock and will buy another if/when the time comes. Utter madness imo spending anything over a couple of grand for a car.

KwackerJack

zetecescort wrote: »

Drive a 2000 reg Corolla bought for €1200 4 years ago, 200k on the clock and will buy another if/when the time comes. Utter madness imo spending anything over a couple of grand for a car.

Spending a few K's is OK depending on the car but a loan for a car is madness, well i think it is anyway!

HondaiDTEC

zetecescort wrote: »

Utter madness imo spending anything over a couple of grand for a car.

Why is it madness?

Do you own a house?

BuffyBot

Own, but then again it's an 01 and cost just 2k :P

BNMC

KwackerJack wrote: »

Spending a few K's is OK depending on the car but a loan for a car is madness, well i think it is anyway!

How so? I think if the person can meet the repayments of the loan there's no problem. There's not many folk who have 6 or 7K lying around to pay for a car up front.

KwackerJack

HondaiDTEC wrote: »

Why is it madness?

Do you own a house?

You pay say 10,000 for a car. You get a loan or finance and they basically own the car.

You drive out the gate and get hit by a bus, cars is a right off and the insurance will only pay 7000 for the car. Your now left with no car and 10K loan to pay back or 4K and still have to fork out for another car!

No I don't own a house, Just yet! But a house is a bit more expensive and an investment.

Cars are money pits, I like my cars but you will never get back what you put into a car!

Bpmull

KwackerJack wrote: »

Spending a few K's is OK depending on the car but a loan for a car is madness, well i think it is anyway!

I own my own car. Although I think car loans can be madness it really depends on how much of a loan you have on the car. Taking out a 90 percent loan when you can bearly afford the repayments is mad. But talking out say a 40/50 percent loan I think makes sense.

Also just because someone gets a car loan doesn't necessarily mean they can't afford to buy the car without a loan. There's loads of people who take out car loans so they don't have there money tied up in a car and it's not such a big upfront investment and then also with certain low interest and interest free loans when buying new cars it would be madness not to take out the loan regardless of whether you need it or not.

Boom__Boom

HondaiDTEC wrote: »

Why is it madness?

Do you own a house?

A car is an asset that will depreciate, a house is "supposedly" an asset that will appreciate.[Obviously the house thing isn't always true, but as against that at least there is a chance with a house, compared to zero chance for a car]

There's also the difference in interest rates - compare the interest rate on a mortgage versus a car loan.

There's also the fact that it's relatively easy to trade up when it comes to cars as opposed to houses.

Compare how much someone would have to save up to pay cash for a starter home versus for a starter car.

It would be very instructive to compare how much extra people who borrow to purchase a car would pay over their lifetime compared to people who never borrow. I wouldn't be surprised if the figure was somewhere in the region of €50k

Overall though what seals the deal for me is the owner of a car dealership who is a neighbour who told me that that they far prefer customers looking for car finance as they are by far their most profitable customers.

power pants

Own my car, looking at a replacing shortly with a budget off anything up to 12k in my own cash

Cleveland Hot Pocket

CU loan, not tied to car title

So technically I owe someone money but the car is mine. (It is an unsecured loan)

L-M

Company car.

Always owned my own cars, hence why I've never had anything spectacular

Scortho

Own my own car!:D
the difference between a house and a car, is that a house generally out lives you whereas a car doesn't.

My first car I got a small loan for, hated having a loan so paid it off early. Paid cash for every car since that. The Volvo was a shocking amount of cash to hand over for a car looking back, but I had just come in to money and had always wanted an S60 so I got one!

Scortho

Deleted User wrote: »

My first car I got a small loan for, hated having a loan so paid it off early. Paid cash for every car since that. The Volvo was a shocking amount of cash to hand over for a car looking back, but I had just come in to money and had always wanted an S60 so I got one!

Its ridiculous how cheap one of them (s40 and s80 included) can be picked up for nowadays, so much car for the money:P

Scortho

Scortho wrote: »

Its ridiculous how cheap one of them (s40 and s80 included) can be picked up for nowadays, so much car for the money:P

Indeed. I bought mine in 05 - it was an 03 reg. Bloody loved that thing, still sorry I ever changed cars tbh.

Autosport

Own my car, saved up my money and traded in the other car aswell

Scortho

Deleted User wrote: »

Indeed. I bought mine in 05 - it was an 03 reg. Bloody loved that thing, still sorry I ever changed cars tbh.

You can also pick up mr2 for pennies these days:D

Its something ill never understand, especially about Irish people, borrowing crazy amounts of money for a car that will depreciate by approx 90% in 10 years, but not only that borrowing crazy money and paddy specking it:mad:

I hope they continue to do so, as it allows me to buy great cars cheap:D

bazz26

Own mine outright, just prefer it that way rather than paying interest on a loan for a depreciating asset. The opposite suits other people though which allows them to free up their own money for other things.

As for people thinking it's crazy spending more than a few thousand on a car. Personally I don't agree with that line of thought and believe in different strokes for different folks. I'm a social drinker, I don't smoke or do drugs or gamble, I like my cars and can afford what I consider a nice one, that's what I spend some of my money on but won't get into debt for one. Some people like to go on 2 or 3 holidays a year, I don't but that's their thing.

Scortho

Scortho wrote: »

You can also pick up mr2 for pennies these days:D

I know - but I spent all my MR2 money on a trip to Florida earlier this year >.<

One of these days!!!

bazz26 wrote: »

As for people thinking it's crazy spending more than a few thousand on a car. Personally I don't agree with that line of thought and believe in different strokes for different folks. I'm a social drinker, I don't smoke or do drugs or gamble, I like my cars and can afford what I consider a nice one, that's what I spend some of my money on but won't get into debt for one. Some people like to go on 2 or 3 holidays a year, I don't but that's their thing.

Totally agree.

I was at a hen night last night, there were these "conversation starter" card thingies, and one of the questions was "would you rather have an amazing wardbrobe or an amazing car". I was the only woman at the table to choose the car and got the oddest of looks. As you said, different strokes!

CiniO

KwackerJack wrote: »

My grandad was down today, while I am in the middle of trying to pull out an engine he was standing right beside me asking me how all the people in Dublin can afford their new cars!!

Simple.
Cheapest new cars start at 10k.
For 20k you can get reasonable compact side family car.
For 30k you can already get something quite nice.

Now.

Minimum wage is 8.65ph which gives about 18k annual salary.
Average annual salary is something between 30k - 35k.

So if you are on average salary, you can buy an average brand new car, for only half of your annual pay.

It's just Irish economy is at such high level, that people can easily afford new cars.

looksee

Use savings to buy a car, save at same rate as loan while driving car, keep car as long as it isn't costing money in repairs, get rid/trade in, buy car from savings, rinse and repeat.

Car will be well paid for before it needs to be replaced.

Senecio

My wife and I own both of our cars. My days of financing a car are over. The last car I had was new and a notated lease, salary sacrifice through work. I just can't see myself doing that again.

I'll be letting someone else take the hit on depreciation from now on.

ABajaninCork

I own my car outright. I've also financed cars in the past (in London).

But buying a brand-new car on finance/loan, especially with the poorly-spec'd cars you get here is utter madness IMO. The minute you drive it off the forecourt, that's at least 20% from the value gone. I'd never buy a brand-new car, even if I had the money to do so.

I always go for cars that have low mileage and don't yet need an MoT/NCT. I look after my cars and tend to keep them for years before changing them.

antodeco

I own three. Two of them were cash purchases, while the other was on finance. Fully cleared now though

djimi

Ded_Zebra wrote: »

I own my car. I think it is pure nonsense to borrow money for a car and can't see myself ever doing it.

This viewpoint seems to get mentioned on here whenever this topic comes up. Can you explain why you think it is "pure nonsense" to borrow money to buy a car?

Dord

It owns me. What a feckin' money pit.

power pants

djimi wrote: »

This viewpoint seems to get mentioned on here whenever this topic comes up. Can you explain why you think it is "pure nonsense" to borrow money to buy a car?

Indeed, in theory we could say that about almost anything other than food and water

people drink, people eat out, people go on holidays, smoke, drugs, decorate etc

thecomedian

I own mine but I do have a personal loan, which some is probably in the car but also house/furniture.

dgt

Yes. All of them

I chose the car loan option (though i went to my Credit Union, not a bank).

Haven't cleared the loan yet, so I suppose I don't really own it. I will keep up the repayments and have it paid up soon enough though. I don't see myself changing car for a while after though. Very happy with it. Not a moment's trouble (Rav4).

Ded_Zebra

djimi wrote: »

This viewpoint seems to get mentioned on here whenever this topic comes up. Can you explain why you think it is "pure nonsense" to borrow money to buy a car?

Because by the time you have payed off the loan the car is worth nothing. It's like when people say they have invested in a new car. No they haven't, all cars are money pits and you never get back the money you put into them.

I would only borrow money for something that I think it'll be possible to get the money back on. e.g. a house of a wind turbine etc

dnme

I currently run a 98 Corolla 1.3L. Most reliable car I ever owned. I was a mature student a few years back and so it's what I could afford. I bought it for €900 cash.

This poll is interesting. In my opinion it is nowhere near representative of the general population so it may suggest that a certain type of user frequents the boards motor forum. Perhaps people connected to the motor trade in some way, petrol heads, young people not too long in the job market etc. I reckon if you watch the queue's on the M50 every morning, the majority of cars on there are financed. This is just my opinion and I may well be wrong.

I see nothing wrong with financing a car. It can be a great way to get access to assets that would otherwise be out of reach. It can also be prudent in some cases. Say for example people who have savings but don't want to use up all their cash reserves, in this case you can use some of your savings and finance the rest.

Yes cars are very costly. Depreciation is very costly and finance is can be costly. But you are buying an incredible tool. Something that immediately gives you total freedom. You can literally go anywhere whenever you wish. It's such an incredible thought and one that we seem to have become desensitized to.

Then there is the new car. There are few things that are as satisfying as driving a new car. That smell, the freshness and the knowledge that you are driving something that is very unlikely to go wrong. To me anyway, it just gives me years of happiness literally. I've only ever bought one new car, I am now in the position to do it again but this time I think I'll use some of my savings and some finance. It's just such a joy. I will be dead and cold in the ground for a very . . . . very long time. I don't drink, don't smoke and I don't mind spending my cash on a spectacular piece of modern engineering that gives me ultimate freedom and makes me happy for years. I love the window shopping, the banter, the haggling, comparing prices, test drives, high specs, leather, all the toys. Some times it's ok if something actually costs you a few quid IMO.

Mully_2011

I'm saving up for a car at the minute but I reckon I'll be taking out a loan on it instead.I'd rather use the cash for something else and more important in the long run.The car in question would be more of an interest or a hobby then used as an actual car and would cost less then a 20 a day habit in repayments

But I would avoid taking out money on a normal everyday car

djimi

Ded_Zebra wrote: »

Because by the time you have payed off the loan the car is worth nothing. It's like when people say they have invested in a new car. No they haven't, all cars are money pits and you never get back the money you put into them.

I would only borrow money for something that I think it'll be possible to get the money back on. e.g. a house of a wind turbine etc

That logic makes no sense whatsoever. Whether you pay for the car from your own money or from borrowed money it is still going to depreciate in value.

Zcott

Borrowed money from my dad. Paid it back within six months.

B00056718

I own my car but it's only 00' Punto.
If I was on 100k+ salary I would never own another car.
Instead I would lease them and have a new one every couple of years.

The_Honeybadger

Have bought my last two cars outright with cash, they were both used cars and cost less than €10k. I had company cars before that as I changed career path. Would love a really nice car and could probably afford one on finance but worries about job security and looking after a young family mean ill stick to buying a 4-5 year old motor every few years from savings. Interest rates on car loans would also put me off a bit. Can understand people wanting a new car and borrowing for it though, as long as you can afford the repayments comfortably I don't see the problem. I do however know people who have lovely motors and have to routinely go without other things to make their monthly payments, that's insane IMO. Each to their own I guess.

Scortho

djimi wrote: »

That logic makes no sense whatsoever. Whether you pay for the car from your own money or from borrowed money it is still going to depreciate in value.

Unless the interest payments are less than what youd get for the money on deposit, youre going to lose more with borrowing.
Im in the fortunate position of being offered a student loan interest free for two years:D
Borrowing what you can afford is fine. Stretching yourself for the new reg plate etc. isnt.

Ded_Zebra

djimi wrote: »

That logic makes no sense whatsoever. Whether you pay for the car from your own money or from borrowed money it is still going to depreciate in value.

Yes but you pay interest on the borrowed money so you loose even more. Also if you own it you have more freedom to jump ship if you want/need to.

Ded_Zebra

Anyone with a car loan should watch this. Or if you're ever thinking of getting one watch it.

R.O.R

Ded_Zebra wrote: »

Yes but you pay interest on the borrowed money so you loose even more. Also if you own it you have more freedom to jump ship if you want/need to.

If you own it, you have less freedom, as you have a lot of capital tied up in a depreciating asset, which you can't use for something more fun/important.

There is a reason why the only major companies around the world that own their own cars, are ones that loan out money as well. All the others use financing, so capital can be used to fund other things rather than being tied up.

Ded_Zebra

R.O.R wrote: »

If you own it, you have less freedom, as you have a lot of capital tied up in a depreciating asset, which you can't use for something more fun/important.

There is a reason why the only major companies around the world that own their own cars, are ones that loan out money as well. All the others use financing, so capital can be used to fund other things rather than being tied up.

As well as not having a car loan though I would also have a cheaper car. Watch the video

Aineoil

I own my own car. I paid cash for a 03 Almera last August. I didn't have the money to take out a loan for a car at the time.

I got 1,800 euro for my old Almera and paid 2,500 for the "new" one. But the 03 Almera has 4 new tyres, a full service by the garage and tax until April, so I think I have gained. The old car needed 2 new tyres, a full service and the tax would have to be renewed at the end of October.

On the other hand if I won the lotto or euro millions I'd buy a brand new car - the 4C Alfa Romeo, would see me sorted, it's a bit flashy - I know. They are only going to make 3 and a half thousand of them a year.


A girl can dream........

djimi

Ded_Zebra wrote: »

Yes but you pay interest on the borrowed money so you loose even more. Also if you own it you have more freedom to jump ship if you want/need to.

You realise most people take out a car loan because they either cant afford to, or dont want to, spend a large lump sum of their own money at once? I have never had the lump sum available to buy a car outright but I can comfortably afford to pay back a loan over a number of years to cover it. I know I pay interest on that but Im perfectly okay with that.

Ded_Zebra

djimi wrote: »

You realise most people take out a car loan because they either cant afford to, or dont want to, spend a large lump sum of their own money at once? I have never had the lump sum available to buy a car outright but I can comfortably afford to pay back a loan over a number of years to cover it. I know I pay interest on that but Im perfectly okay with that.

So you could say that they take out a car loan because they are buying a car they can't really afford. Did you watch the video? It explains my point much better than I can

O.A.P

Yes I have two an astra and a defender both of them are 14 years old now. The astra is on borrowed time, I will not pay any big bills to keep her on the road, been saying that for 4 years though I keep her serviced and she has not let me down.
The Defender I will keep though, I work it like a horse but I care for it like it is a horse so it will see me out.

djimi

Ded_Zebra wrote: »

So you could say that they take out a car loan because they are buying a car they can't really afford. Did you watch the video? It explains my point much better than I can

You could say that, but it would be a ridiculous thing to say and totally wrong (no sound on laptop atm; wont be watching video!). In my case I can comfortably afford the loan repayments and would be able to no matter what my financial circumstances were.

Either I put €100 a month into a savings account for three years to buy the car in three years time when I have a lump sum, or borrow the money to buy the car now and pay the €100 a month back to the credit union, it amounts to exactly the same thing.