I bought a 238K car with 10% downpayment 6 years ago when my salary was RM8K. Still driving it and still can afford a baby and travel overseas (i.e. Japan) every year. Of coz my salary increase over the 6 years period also.

Some times, u need to take the risk and go for it. Then it will be your motivation to work harder....else u need to sell the car and no face.

True Story...

10k wouldnt get u a 260k car. Keep dreaming yo

Buying car rules of thumb

10% of your salary nothing more than that

was it difficult decision to make? u didn’t consider the 12x salary rule and take into consideration true cost of car with maintenance and everything as advice by other forumers?

Purely personal opinion:

I would not buy a RM260K car unless I was pulling in RM300K per year.

And even if I was pulling in RM300K per year, I would buy a Camry, and throw all the "excess" money into stocks or property or land or small business or something like that.

A car is not only a depreciating asset, it is going to bleed you cash in the future. If I am going to lose cash, I'd rather lose it on something that also has a good chance of actually appreciating and may even allow me to pay cash for the RM260K car in the future.

But that's just my thought lar. I am still driving freaking 15 year old Proton whenever I am back in Malaysia, so maybe I shouldn't be talking here. Of course, my one claim to fame or my /k credential would be that I paid RM1.2 million cash for a luxury apartment and have another RM200K set aside for reno and furniture once it is built up. No loans, the bank does not earn 4% interest off of me.

Maybe I will buy a nice car in a year or two.... or maybe not. I find that once I have reached a position where I can afford a really nice car (you know, the cars all youngsters, like we all were once, used to stare gobsmacked at and talk about like it was their second greatest fantasy come true....), I actually lose all urge to buy it. Like when I reach the stage I can afford a 5 series or an E-class, I no longer care about buying one. Or when I reached the income level where I can afford to borrow money to buy a Panamera, suddenly, owning a Porsche has completely lost its luster.

Unless cars are your one and only life hobby, the only thing that would give meaning to your life other than family and work, don't go and blow unnecessary money on a machine that will wring you further dry through its lifetime.

if u r work overseas u don’t need a car haha. buy expensive car will just park at home and rust when u come back malaysia right?

Well, I could buy it and let my old man drive. I once asked him if he wanted me to get a new car to replace his 20 year old Camry. He rejected.

Also, I find a lot of the same disease afflicts people in countries where the public transportation is very efficient. One of my relatives in Singapore.... as his salary climbed higher, he kept changing Audi cars. Now pulling in probably SGD15K to SGD20K a month, driving an RS7, but still staying in HDB. Another friend of mine who was in investment banking in London.... bought a Porsche the moment he got promoted to VP. Yet, networth to networth, my household > their household.

Maybe if all 3 of us died tomorrow, they can claim to have led a better life than me. But if today, something happens to all 3 of us where we are incapacitated and are unable to continue working for the rest of our lives, I am the one who can still survive for another 40 years based on what I have in hand. Decent level of living too, not those super suffering type where you think you are better off dead than living.

Anyway, it depends on your life priorities lar in the end.

This is so true.
See this happening to many of my peers as well

Business ppl buy expensive cars to offset tax since they can claim.
Insurance on 260k car is not cheap and maintenance either.

For me if I make 50k a month I don't mind spending 3k for my car.

The 1 year salary rule is a good rule of thumb. Young people starting out can exceed that a bit, maybe 14-15 months but as u grow older n salary increase u should aim for lower, ideally much lower.

Im in my late 40s n I hv practice this rule in my life and I continue to improve. I'm glad to say that I hv never feel pain or stress to pay for monthly car installment n car insurance. My last car purchase was a second hand car which costs 4 months my gross salary then.

So to answer the Q,, personally, when my salary is more than 50k a month I may buy a 260k car. I know most ppl will buy with much less salary than that, whatever they can get finance approval.

This post has been edited by Cubalagi: May 28 2019, 02:46 AM

I agree, may not be applicable in Malaysia as the scale is really disproportionate. Imagine making 20k per month (240k a year) but only limit yourself to drive a honda civic. i mean i'm ok with that, but not many are

the consumer price value for 2013 was 107.10 and is 121.10 as of April 2019 - that's an increase of nearly 14%. the RM8,000.00 salary you were earning back then was about RM9,000.00 in today's money therefore it make sense if you were able to own a RM238,000.00 car in 2013.

but i agree with you on the motivation part.

honestly, it has nothing to do with whose rule of purchase to live by.

our spending habits are dictated by our culture. asian communities have this notion that they must leave something for their kids and if possible, EVERYTHING they have however this is only applicable when you have matured. younger generations (influenced by all these social media BS) would just splurge whatever they have because majority of them do not need to worry about costs of living because they lived with their parents.

they just YOLO their way through.

americans or westerners for that matter couldn't care less about their children - they kicked them out of the house or start making them pay rent once they reach 18 years old so obviously they will have more monies to spent on themselves and vice versa - if the parents do not provide for them, they in turn will not provide for their parents as well.

if your earnings are not split multiple ways then of course at the end of the day, you'd have a huge chuck of surplus to spent on yourself.

What about from net worth point of view? Like, what is the net worth you should have before u r willing to take 260k cash and buy a car? Net worth means all assets less all liabilities outstanding ....

anything monthly recurring and not necessity, i most reduce it max.

Depends on how much value you want to place on a car inside your own personal balance sheet. Do you allocate 10% of networth to your car? 15%? Calculating what car you can afford based on networth is even more subjective than deriving it off annual income.

Couple of folks I talk to would put car at 20% of networth (but don't forget it depreciates, so you have to write down the value accordingly on annual basis). My own personal ceiling for one car is 10% of networth, two cars would be 15%. No going above that.

Do not forget that "property" like your own home and cars are not "revenue / income generating". In essence they are essentially cost centers, and the only "savings" you can derive from them is whatever you would have saved if you had to spend the alternative renting or leasing or taking public transportation. Property has a leg up because it can appreciate, but that only builds the balance sheet side of your finances, not the P / L or the Cashflow sections.

Depending

Some people do not have study loans

Some people were gifted a home (parents bought)

Some people got a rich wife (or in-laws) (#truestory)

Some people dont have kids

Some people rather to stay in a box but expensive car

Some people ride Kapcai to work but GTR-35 over the weekend (#truestory)

Some people won a jackpot

Some people with a rich mak bapak ayam

Some people eat meggi everyday but a BMW parked outside

Some people dont go holidays

Some people joined politic

Some people conned people

Some people became anak ayam

Some people suck his her boss

it varies.

Pandai hidup, pandai planning, pandai survive - you think yourself

This post has been edited by CommonPeople: May 28 2019, 12:24 PM

Hahahaha...honestly, I never bother about all those rules. i did a simple calculation and I think that I can afford it at that point, then I went for it. Enjoy every single moment I step into the car till today.

One thing I learn in my life - enjoy life at present and buy whatever you want as long as you can effort it. I don't know what is the point of planning your future if you are not living your present. You are living in the present, why plan the future while letting go your present.

You never know that the future you were busy planning all these while has arrived and then you are still planning for the future of this future that has arrived. Then you keep planning and planning...and one day you notice you forgot to plan for your own funeral but it is here already....Stop planning for your future and live the life you have now.


Thanks for the agreement on the motivation part....as I know 99% of the people out there will not buy this. No right and wrong...just diff ppl living life differently.

This post has been edited by PHI_1.618: May 28 2019, 02:50 PM

Depreciating asset. Unless you buy it under a crony company, it's not worth it.