[amtak]

Wise decision

Thanks!

Well, choose it, if you like. But remember, if you wait patiently, the best will come to you.

Well, I don't as it doesn't even offer basic creature comforts that my current car offers. I was mentioning that as my current family size is 5; in case my brother plans to extend his family, we may need a people mover as I strictly follow the seatbelt rule!

Till then, be sensible, live a debt free life (may be for a month or so!) and get back to the ant's life

[sammyboy]

I believe that you should also look at the kind of loans you are taking.

For example, when I bought my car i was a follower of the Car price not over annual salary, but the car loan I had gave me an option of increasing installments so only for very short durations did the EMI ever go over 15-17 % of my monthly take home and never over 20%.

It might not be the ideal percentage but it was extremely comfortable for me at all times.

Then after marriage, the living costs go slightly higher but so does the combined income.
Note: I am not saying that one should factor the increase in double income when selecting the car .

I am in the post emi period now and wont change for another 3 years atleast. I also believe in making do with one car only (just the two of us), if its needed by both we plan that ways or i take the bike or a taxi. Much cheaper than a 2nd car for me.

Anyways I am a pre owned car convert now so will only buy whats comfortable depending on cost at hand

[SDP]

Originally Posted by vasoo

The income percentage calculations for buying car and home does not make sense across income levels. If I have a take home salary of 2 lacs per month, why should I restrict my home loan EMI to 30% and car loan to 10% ? I still will have 1.2 lacs at my disposal every month. I can easily live on about 25k per month average and save/invest another 50k and still have about 40k remaining. Why not buy a C class with 60k EMI ?. However things are different at lower income levels.

Brilliant Point! The living expenses need not increase in the same proportion as your salary. So beyond a threshold, any increase in salary contributes to almost equivalent increase in disposable income. So applying a %ge may not make sense.
A counter argument could be - just like air expands to occupies all the space (vacuum) available to it, expenses tend to expand to match the income.

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by SDP

Brilliant Point! The living expenses need not increase in the same proportion as your salary. So beyond a threshold, any increase in salary contributes to almost equivalent increase in disposable income. So applying a %ge may not make sense.
A counter argument could be - just like air expands to occupies all the space (vacuum) available to it, expenses tend to expand to match the income.

It is not dependent on the expenses - the figure of 20% or 30% is the loan amount that can be serviced with the income a person earns. Am no financial whiz, but what the whizs say is that normally loans beyond this percentage cannot be serviced with your income whatever your expenditure may be.

[mkh]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

....

7. Even if you are buying a second hand car, make sure that you are still not violating rule 1 above (considering market price of brand new car). It may sound tempting to buy a used sedan at the price of a new hatch, but remember that a bigger car would also have higher fuel, spares and service costs (especially because it is a used car)

8. It makes sense to buy a car which has good resale value.

Rohan

Generally people think about used cars as 3-4 years or more older. I have seen that if one can get deals like a year or most 2 year old car which is less run, you get a super deal and about 30% lesser at times.

As for 8, unfortunately the cars that enthusiasts prefer (read most TBHP members) have poor resale value in our car markets so far, the average buyer surely looks for this big time (hence the high sales of Maruti cars).

[ManKar]

Hi

I went through the stresses of calculating my ability to pay when I was looking to trade in my Getz.

Then I put it all out of mind, test drove a few cars, and selected the car that I really liked. And guess what, everything else fell into place. I had picked a car that was not too expensive, provided me an upgrade to a sedan and did not make a big hole in my pocket!

My point is similar to what Malcolm Gladwell made in his book Blink! Intuitive decisions (not impulsive ones, mind you) often point you in the right direction. And this intuition is an outcome of knowing a thing or two about cars (which I am sure all of you enthusiasts are).

Of course, buying decisions of this nature are major ones, so we should consider the purpose itself (why am I buying/upgrading a car). This by itself should be more important that asking or figuring out what we can afford.

Once this is clear, we can apply our knowledge of our financial and social situation, and chances are, an appropriate choice will be made.

I know I did!

Regards

[vasanthn21]

Well, it depends on a lot of factors to even to start talking about it, and it is moreover a very personal opinion. So, my opinion (most might not agree with this) in the format you asked for (as I see no one answered in this format):

Assumption - the amounts mentioned below is the range of take-home salary and not CTC!

1) 5-10 Lakh Per annum - Swift/Getz

2) 10-15 Lakh Per annum - Jazz/i20/Dzire/Linea

3) 15-20 Lakh Per annum - ANHC/Innova?

4) 20-25 Lakh Per annum - Civic/Skodas?/

5) 25-30 Lakh Per annum - Accord/Fortuner/Corolla

6) 30 + Lakh - Camry/Accord/Benz

[krish82]

I already feel very LOAN - LY after going through this thread. My loans are like multiple Threads in a process.
Loan 1 - EMI1 Loan 2 - EMI2 ... Loan N - EMI N.

they all run in parallel, and should run probably throughout until i kill the desire's within me.

Enjoy the 21st century, live the day this day. Who knows we may be someday born as an ancient primitive men in some other world without cars.

After a certain age may be the crazyness will fade off. CARS are my 1st ohh no 2nd Love..!

[blackasta]

My take home salary in India is wayyy less than the minimum posted in this thread.

But after spending 2 years in US from 2007 to 2009, I had more than enough to purchase a civic outright - and I was set on doing so. If not then a city/verna was a must!!

Only when my dad sternly advised me NOT to splurge and instead get a smaller car for a) I would be the lone person in the car for 90% time b) my low income would require a car easy on the wallet to maintain c) save for future d)parking space inside our compund.

Thats when I went for i10, and now I realize that I have made a great decision (offcourse guided by my dad).

Monthly 5000 for fuel and 1000 for incidentals is in my budget, and as I do not have to support a family, or support my parents in that sense, I can comfotably manage to maintain a car with equivalent salary (read meagre saalry) of any other person who has the mentioned responsibilities.

So buying a car depends on your cash at hand, salary, other loans and your additional responsibilities as a member of the family.

[rohan_iitr]

Originally Posted by mkh

Generally people think about used cars as like 3,4 years or more older. I have seen that if one can get deals like a year or most 2 old car, which is less run, you get a super deal and about 30% lesser t times
As for 8, unfortunately the cars that enthusiasts prefer(read most TBHP members) have poor resale values in our car markets so far, the average buyer surely looks for this big time( hence the high sales of maruti cars)

Yes, you are right that one could get great deals on used cars which are almost as good as a new car. GTO's civic might be a good example.

I am not trying to discourage anyone from buying a used car. I just mean to say that one should not get carried away by a mouth-watering price tag of a used car. We should also give a thought to the fuel and maintenance expenses of an (initially) expensive car before buying it.

Regarding resale value, these thumb rules are applicable only to average car buyers (non-enthusiasts) who make decisions from the brain. People who make decisions from the heart would defy all these thumb rules.

Rohan

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

these thumb rules are applicable only to average car buyers (non-enthusiasts) who make decisions from the brain. People who make decisions from the heart would defy all these thumb rules.

Whether one buys the car from the heart or from the brain, but they have to pay through their noses, and nose pipes are generally narrow

..just kidding.

important aspect here is not just buying the car, but also living it
if the incomes are not sustainable then living is not.

[atrisarkar]

Originally Posted by vasanthn21

Well, it depends on a lot of factors to even to start talking about it, and it is moreover a very personal opinion. So, my opinion (most might not agree with this) in the format you asked for (as I see no one answered in this format):

Assumption - the amounts mentioned below is the range of take-home salary and not CTC!

1) 5-10 Lakh Per annum - Swift/Getz

2) 10-15 Lakh Per annum - Jazz/i20/Dzire/Linea

3) 15-20 Lakh Per annum - ANHC/Innova?

4) 20-25 Lakh Per annum - Civic/Skodas?/

5) 25-30 Lakh Per annum - Accord/Fortuner/Corolla

6) 30 + Lakh - Camry/Accord/Benz

Very well said. I believe you took the mid model of each car as the benchmark. Otherwise some 5-10 guy might go for a Dzire Lxi and 10-15 might go for Swift Zdi. Interesting to see where does Beetle fit in.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Whether one buys the car from the heart or from the brain, but they have to pay through their noses, and nose pipes are generally narrow

LOL !! That is really funny.

Separately, I think its too complicated to decide and varies from person to person depending on the situation.

Personally, I think I would settle for a car where I know I could have bought something slightly more expensive as well had I stretched (this gives me the confidence that I am not overreaching in the upkeep of the vehicle I am choosing). Equally, I would not go too conservative such that the itch to upgrade happens too soon (knowing I'm passionate about what I drive).

For instance, when I bought my civic, I was often tempted to buy the City and save some useful money. I was equally tempted to stretch to TSI Superb / top of line Laura / Accord. I'm so glad I didn't do the City. I would have wanted to upgrade within 6 months. Equally, the Civic, which I was slightly tentative about is now comfortably in my budget from a maintenance standpoint so glad I didn't go any higher. Hit the sweet spot basically from affordability standpoint.

The same happened when I bought my first car, the Swift in 2005. I resisted buying a Zen like hatch coz I knew I wanted more from a first car. Equally, I resisted putting money onto a baleno / base level Honda City so as not to overreach. Again, glad i made the decision.

I guess each one to his own comfort zone. I also think as one goes up the ladder on vehicle / income segment, vehicle should probably not cost you more than 20 - 25% of your gross income. Anything higher is something to re - think.

The percentage spend can be more greater down the ladder I suppose since you probably have lesser outgos on other fronts and you really do need to shell out a higher percentage to buy a hatch (imagine having to earn 20L plus to buy a 5 lakh hatch).

Just my 2 cents.

[Live To Jive]

Originally Posted by atrisarkar

10-15 might go for Swift Zdi.

I don't think the Swift is available in Zdi trim.

[bblost]

I purchased my car from TrueValue.
I paid a lakh rupees lesser for an almost new car. Well as a matter of fact she had done about 14k kms in a lil less than 2 years.

Paid a 1/3 of the price in cash, the remainder via a 2 year personal loan.
Chose a Wagon R, because I needed a 4 seater.

Its 2 years since the loan is over, the car has about 48k on the odo.
Everytime I start her, I smile. She is my car and noone has any claim on her.

Take available cash in hand.
Find the EMI you are most comfortable with.
Tenure not more than 2 or 3 years.

The car that matches it, you BUY that.

IMHO what you are is not defined by what you drive.
Its defined by how you drive it.