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When rules are suggested, such as the 35% rule, it should be stated clearly if the income is before or after taxes. The largest expense for most people is taxation, it draws down to a much lower usable income. If you earn $250K in BC, you will take in only $161K after taxes, that's a big tax hit, enough to spend $89K on a new car every year, if you earn $150K each year, you will take in only $107K, the tax hit is enough to spend almost $43K on a new car every year.

Realistically, any car under $10k will likely be over 10 years old and at least around 150,000km in mileage. At this point, the worry of costly repairs and losing your car for a week becomes a real possibility.

If you can't buy a house in Vancouver might as well get a nice Porsche. Life is short.

I always buy the cheapest vehicle that has all the things I need like awd etc and then just drive it for 15 years or more. That way I know exactly what mtce was done and can trust it...and saves me even more!

I honestly think you should never borrow to buy a car. If you can't afford to pay for it in cash, you shouldn't get it. The normal costs such as insurance, maintenance, and gas are already alot of money. Furthermore, once you buy a car, keep it. I'm 53 and I have bought 3 used cars, 2 of which were unfortunately totalled in no-fault accidents, and one new car which has lasted me over 18 years. In the rest of my lifetime, I see myself buying either 2 new cars or 4 used ones, all in cash.

When I was in High School back in 1981, our automotive shop teacher said you should be driving a car that is equal to one year of your annual salary.. (anyone remember what Canadian interests rates were in 81)… He drove a new Lincoln.

The funny thing is I don't feel impressed by an expensive car, I actually roll my eyes at how lame it is. The desperation to impress strangers is sad.

In Canada, all the people can afford are e-scooters and e-bikes

You can do so well in used-car hunting if you look for cars where the manufacturer did really well but for one reason or another the market didn't appreciate the vehicle. In especially competitive segments like, say, small- or mid-size crossovers or SUVs, the most popular vehicle usually gets the most sales but is often only slightly better than the competition. This has allowed me to buy cars that I ENJOY DRIVING, and that are very well-equipped for Canadian winters, and so I don't feel like I'm suffering or just getting by. Then you maintain them with all the money you're saving from not making car payments, or at least not such large ones, and you can drive some of these things forever. I still drive my 2009 Acura TL with over 340,000 km on the clock. Aside from consumables (brakes, tires) and service interval items (timing belt, water pump, spark plugs) I've had to replace a wheel bearing and a radiator. At the 300,000 km mark I did a big suspension refresh: shocks/struts, swaybar bushings, and swaybar links which made the car ride like new again. I bought the car in 2013 with 79,000 km for half its new price. It was a one-owner West Coast lease return (I live in Alberta) and had sat on the lot for nearly four months because the "power plenum" grille was very controversial -- the big ugly beak on Acuras of that era caused the TL, a magnificent car, to depreciate rapidly, which was to my advantage. Put all-weather (not all-season) tires on a SH-AWD TL and you are simply unstoppable in Canadian winters. It's unreal. You can find a low-mileage 4th-gen TL now for LESS than I paid in nominal dollars for it 12 years ago, and inflation has made that a very cheap price indeed; in 2012 I paid $24k and I routinely see low-mileage examples under $18k. Three years ago we replaced an end-of-life Volvo with a 2018 Lincoln MKX Reserve 2.7L. Also four years old with 78,000 km. I had been watching a review of the Genesis GV70 and was impressed by all the features: twin-turbo V6 power; great stereo; massaging seats. It started me wondering if there wasn't a less-loved competitor that performed nearly as well. For two generations, Lincoln had been tarting up the Ford Edge and trying to get Lexus money for them. With the 3rd-gen MKX they finally got serious about making good cars again; in 2019 the MKX was rebadged the Nautilus and given a new front fascia and swapped the 6-speed for a newer 8-speed but inside it is the identical car. The Revel Ultima stereo--the best of 3 available sound systems, which even Lincoln dealers sometimes label wrong, so do your homework--is simply the best I've ever heard, and I DJed for 17 years when I was younger and used to run competition car audio in the 90s. I paid $27,900 for what, four years earlier, had been a $74,000 car. My MKX had been traded into a Lexus dealership and came with a full service history; the original owner had had everything, down to every oil change, done at the dealer. And so on. I pointed out to my teenage and young-adult kids that even if I just replaced the Acura every five years with another, four-year-old used car, it would have eaten up money that we instead have spent on family trips to France, Barbados, and Singapore. And the money I've saved compared to buying new? My retirement accounts have earned over $100k in that time on the back of money I didn't spend on new vehicles. All this is just trying to bolster the message of the video with some specific examples. You can get really, really great pricing on vehicles that have top safety ratings from the IIHS, great reliability (with forums full of solutions to common problems), and are a lot of fun to drive in exchange for a few dozens of hours of homework. It can be some of the most financially valuable time you ever spend.

Always buy used Japanese cars and once it is paid off (assuming you don't pay cash), keep it for the long haul and just repair it. Wayyyy cheaper annually then a new car with payments.

Have owned 4 cars in the last 40 years. I am more frugal on cars than most people and have always bought lower mileage used under 4 years old. Paid cash every single time. Cars are great if they are your passion but they are never going to build your net worth in 99.9% of cases. Invest that extra cash flow or buy an appreciating asset. First car GM Econobox 4 door hatchback - bought on trade in it was a year old for $5100 used - drove 8 years sold for $1200 Second car Ford Econobox station wagon - off lease bought for $12,000 - drove for 9 years and gave to my mechanic Third car Chrysler upgraded minivan - off lease bought for $17,500 - drove for 8 years and sold for scrap Fourth car Nissan mid-luxury sedan - off lease bought for $18,000 - still driving after 14 years I sometimes think it would be nice to have a new luxury car but I would rather have experiences and spend money on sports and hobbies and travel and help my family. The value of my current car relative to net worth is less than 1/5th of 1%. To replace it new would be 3% of current net worth. I am currently researching cars in the $40,000 to $50,000 range now that I am retired and want to be more comfortable.

I'm riding out my 08 Acura with 190k for as long as possible. Bought it in 2021 before prices went crazy for $6,500 and I could still sell it for more than that 4 years later. I make ~$80k and have no desire for anything newer. I actually don't really like all the tech in newer cars.

Still on my first car 11 years. It is now 17 years old. I would prefer to retire 10 years earlier than than drive a newer car 10 years later. The last 10 years in career i.e. 55 to 65 will be brutal. Save that 10 years will be much more comfortable than anything else.

34 years old here,, make 110K per year. still drive my dad's 2008 Nissan Sentra from when I was 18 years old. Maybe a few hundred dollars in repairs a year. If I were to buy another car when this one breaks down, I would pay in cash for something in the 6-9K range as that gives you the best value in terms of dollars per km driven. Cars are the ultimate wealth killer for the average person and the biggest waste of money. I get it if you love cars, but ohter than that, buy used and pay fully in cash if you can. Hopefully you can squeeze 10+ years out of it. That's 600-900 a year on your car, ofc not include repairs, maintenance, gas and insurance.

You should make a video of the back end on car deals which adding extra's on a car loan is so much worse. The Warranties, insurances, and the Doc fees, etc. I work in the auto business. Some places have two Doc fee's. The first one is the standard doc fee that everyone pays. The second one is a low rate doc fee since they "worked hard" of getting the interest rate below 10 percent. It is insane what I see everyday what I call extra crap.

This is insane. The fact that people are paying thousands of dollars a month for something like a car….It literally is going down in value every day! Plus I’ll just add…. NOBODY is as impressed with your car as YOU are. Nobody is thinking in morning traffic when they see your new beemer… “my god I’m so envious of that persons car”. Nobody thinks that. Not ever. If anything, they think you need driving lessons because you never used your turn indicator and cut them off in the triple turn lane. I won’t get started on that 90 month loan crap! Don’t buy a car and pay it off over 8 + years. You are a moron if you do that. Just know…if you are paying off a stupid car for 8 years? You have lost. You are the loser.

Or hold off buying that car. My first car was at 57 and I've got 35 years of savings and investments to waste on vehicles 😁

So you are saying a car that costs 5% of my net worth is fine? That's reassuring for someone who's trying to decide whether he should buy a car that is 1.5% of said amount...

This isn't actually that realistic. By these standards, the average person should be buying a car for 10 to 15k. As a mechanic, i can tell you cars in that price range are well on their way to worn out. Usually with 200,000 km on the odometer. At that age, repairs will be high. Most modern automatic transmissions die at that point. Suspension will be worn out. On and on. People need reliable transportation and unless you can fix it yourself, a familys only transportation being a vehicle with 200,000+ km on it, isnt a good thing. I make 100k a year and my new diesel 1 ton pickup was 135k. I put 30k down, and i dont care that i have big payments. I dont have a wife or kids to support, and i have no other debts. Vehicles are my passion, i dont have any other hobbies. And whenever the time comes for each of us to depart from this giant spinning marble, it won't matter in the least how much money you die with. You can't spend it in the after life. Whats the prize for dieing with the most money left in the bank? Don't go full stupid with the spending, but don't save every penny, be frugal your entire life and never experience things because you want to save like you will live forever. Im confident when my time comes i'll die with not much money in the bank. But i'll have driven some wicked, bad ass trucks in my life and traveled to alot of cool places. I'd rather have those memories than a high number in a bank account for people to fight over when im gone.