Tiggs

next year i will be 30

now, looking back the thing i would like to change the most is buying expensive cars and motorbikes when i was 17-25, it was foolish and cost me loads in insurance, etc, etc. had i been sensible i would have had a cheap car and been loaded today with a nicer house, more savings, etc.

no doubt ppl will dive in here and say "u only live once", "life isnt a rehearsal" etc, etc but i think there is a balance to be struck.

the thing that promted this post was a few threads i have seen this morning like "i earn £1500pm and am saving £X so i can spend £30+ on a car next year" and "£3,000- for the insurance- sounds ok to me"

i wonder if in 10 years time these ppl will not look back and think "was it worth it" maybe they will, and i hope so but i do wonder?

anyone else have slight regrets that they went a bit mad when they were younger? (and i know every does to an extent)

Tiggs

ps- i earn well into 6 figs yet i could never justify spending more than £25k on a car yet when i earnt £10k i ran an £8k car and an £8k bike????? mad! (i think, but then maybe im just getting old!)

zoog

I don't regret spending a fortune on cars and running costs in my twenties - it was more fun then.

In fact it is now I am nearly 35 that I'm beginning to think it is becoming a mugs game and although i can afford it now I resent the gratuitous costs involved which seem to bring less smiles per mile. Hence Ive ditched my integrale and gone for a Merc. I just want reliable swift comfort with minimal hassle. (I may also get a pure track car eg Caterham though )

Also, as you mature, there are other areas of life that become interesting, aside from fast cars. Pipes and slippers beckon us all in the end....



[Edited by zoog - 3/27/2002 8:06:47 AM]

Tiggs

"I'm beginning to think it is becoming a mugs game"

is it becoming a mugs game or are you realising it always was?

which i think is my point, i think, errr..is it- im not sure anymore- need more coffee!

Tiggs

fast bloke

Tiggs - similar story. When I was earning 12k I had an 8k bike and a 16k car. Never quite figured out how I did that. Turned 30 last year, now have a 5 series BM, a 106 as 'the minger' and no bike. If I had to do it again I don't think I would do anything different. I was talking about this to one of the lads in work last week and we started totting up. Since I started to drive (13 years) I have spent 140k on cars and bikes including insurance, but no petrol etc. I've made back 75k selling or trading these, so the actual cost is 65k, which is near enough 500 a month, every month for 13 years. I now have no car finance, I live in my ideal house in a good location, have a 100k mortgage and earn more that I could have wished for 5 years ago. On paper I should be loaded, but strangely enough I have developed expensive taste in electronic toys, good food, fine wine etc. Would you rather look back from your death bed at your early twenties and say, 'I developed a good investment portfolio and enjoyed some fine wine. The taxman can now benefit from all the money I didn't spend' or look back and say 'I was a loon - 150 MPH cars, 180 MPH bikes, no responsibilities and I lived'

Jen

I'm 23 and I work in Local Government (not for long! ). Chris earns a bit in IT, but we're not loaded by any means!

Currently pay 1,500 in insurance and 250 a month on paying the Scoob back. We still save but won't be going on any fancy hols' and have to be careful with money. But would I be without it? Is it worth it?

YES! Took the "extra long" way to work this morning, loved the looks on the salesmans faces as I got out the car at the petrol station (Girl? Scoob? Girl?! Scoob?! ), got a wave from an Evo driver and blasted past a BMW...had a great time. I'd honestly consider selling the house before the car (sorry Chris!). After all, you only live once...and we'll all be driving electric milk float types before long...

Jen

P.S I love my Scoob...

Phill

I'm 24 running a car costs me 2k a year to insure, and the only thing that bothers me about it is that i could be getting more "bang for me buck" with a scoob.

Thinking about it the fuel economy is also ****e, and can easily spend £100 plus a week on petrol average around £90 p/w

But know i would not change it (apart from a scoob shortly), and as soon as i have my bike back the world will be a better place.

Young and foolish, but very alive !!

devils_ad69

Tiggs,

Been there, done that, got the T shirt. Souns like we've had very similar experiences.

Would I do it the same again? Err, NO!!! I'd have bought my own home sooner, spent less out on the p*** and not bought car after car losing K's on each one!

I reckon I should have 200k savings in the bank!!!!

Never again!

XRS

Anyone can get old.

A few gain wisdom.

30 years after I bought my first wheels I'm still throwing away money on fast cars.

Not much wisdom down here then!

Jen

Lots of fun though

Jen

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

You can look at all areas of your life and wonder about the money you've spent. Every sunday morning I wake with a hangover, I'll check my wallet and discover very little left knowing full well I had £70 in there the night before. I will pay £3 for a bottle of larger in a bar when I could get the same from a off-licence for £1. Will I be out this weekend and the next.....Of course I will. Life's for living, making friends, having good experiences and doing what you want.

PS I know what you mean though this scoobs costing me a ******* forture

Tiggs

FB,

on my death bed i hope i wont remember my 20's!!!

i will remeber my wife, kids etc and they and me would be a lot better off today if i had been sensible.

did i enjoy it? YES was it worth it? NO

Tiggs

all you 20 somethings can sod off- you're all to young to know what your on about

Alpine

To paraphrase..

Better to have had it and spent it than never to have had it at all.. or something..

I once started the 'how much have I spent on cars calculation'.. When the figure got ridulculous I stopped.. wiped it from my brain and decided to never again be so analytical about something I love..

The trick is to get a partner whos also a car obsessive...

devils_ad69

Tiggs,

Another side of the coin.....

My BIL came within 2 hours od death due to a perforated bowel wall. It took him 15 months but he made a complete recovery.

Now, he couldn't care less about money. He's just bought himself a very nice BMW.

Tiggs

if i nearly die from some illness it wont make any difference to the fact that i have less no becasue of what i did then though?

i think i'll leave this thread 30 years then come back to and see how many of the "lifes to short" folk are working at 60 cause they had a car every year but no pension

Tiggs

Jolly Green Monster 2

Hi Tiggs,

I shall try not to insult you this time!

I think you are right to a certain extent..
I have tried to be fairly reasonable with my car and bike purchases and my current bike is getting old now.. bought it new in 98, so now 3.5years old with about 62,000miles on the clock (Not bad for a Blade). I would have changed it long before now a few years back.. but now I think with the depreciation and the cost of a new one I may as well just keep running it as parts are cheap.

As to cars I spent 8k on a car last year and haven't regretted it,
I shall be running it into the ground (poor scooby) as I don't see wasting my money on updating to the latest.
Most of my mates have older or less powerful cars and or bikes so
it is not too much of a problem. I think when I was younger it was difficult when your mates were on brand new bikes or car and I was in older ones and the pressure I put on myself to keep up made me replace with newer etc...

But on the other hand what is money? we are fixated by it..
why not get a car on finance and just look at it as how much it will cost per month?
I personnally don;t like that idea, but a mate lives like it with everything.. anything he buys is put on tick and he just looks at his monthly cost, don't care about the amount it will cost him once paid for etc.. but then he us the one driving a brand new Jag and has a new telly etc etc...

I have forgotten where I was going now!

You only live one so do as you want to.

That'll do me

JGM

BarryK

Cars.

Bah. They are an illness.

Since I bought my first one I have been pouring money down a hole.

However, I have travelled.

Tiggs is right. Don't save. Buy a house ASAP and kill off that mortgage.

Once you have no mortgage you can do what you want and work where and when you like. You still have an asset behind you.

Get into the renting out property game. Especially to tax dodging students.

Jen

Tiggs - don't get us "twenty somethings" wrong...my car isn't my only important thing in my life, I'd sell like that <some kind of gesture indicating time goin' quickly > if my family were in trouble or needed the money, and I wouldn't do it if I couldn't afford it.

Some of us have been through more than you think...

Jen, 23!