dr914

J J Best is well known for financing classic cars

raspritz

That dictum I agree with completely. But nobody here ever said one shouldn't finance a Porsche per se. My first three Porsche's, I paid cash. My fourth, a TurboS cab daily driver, I paid half cash and financed the rest. In each case i was living within my means, using available resources as seemed appropriate. Here's some free advice I pass on from my cousin, a billiionaire with multiple mansions, many, many cars, and a very large jet: "First pay off your home, so that worst comes to worst you have your place to live. All the rest is gravy." I wonder about the twenty-somethings who park their shiny new Lambo's next to me at car shows.

theiceman

they already have a place to live ... mom and Dad's house,

caronsd

Check with a Credit Union. My CU does Classic Car loans - up to 80% of established value (they look at CPI guides, but I have used appraisals for vehicles that may not follow the guides). Up to 84 months. Interest rate set by credit score and member standing. I'm signing a loan in the next few days at 2.75% to cover a portion of a 2.7RS tribute car. And yes, all within my means.....

josephvman

Everyone's financial situation is different and there's no right or wrong answer. I personally can't stand the idea of debt, even though I can borrow money at a lower cost than I can make investing it. If you are borrowing for a sports car it's a good rule of thumb to not finance anything you couldn't afford to write a check for. It's funny when people post that you should never finance toys, but I bet most of them finance or lease their daily-driver, wife's SUV, etc. Those are typically vehicles that lose 20-30% of their value in a year, and worth less than 50% in 5 years, adding massive massive depreciation cost to interest paid, etc. Frankly it makes more send to pay interest on something with little to no depreciation, like a nice air-cooled 911, than a new Benz. For some buyers financing also allows them a buffer to handle the inevitable unknown service, cosmetics, or upgrades that all old cars need, no matter how nice you think they are. I found and bought the nicest original low-mile 3.2 Targa I came across (42k) with almost all the service records from new and fresh major, oil lines, etc. I've done some performance upgrades (Wevo, M&K cat bypass/sport exhaust, SW chip, tires, Rennline battery mount/small Odyssey battery), stereo, cosmetic touch ups, and this weekend dropping it off for a couple of new synchros, clutch (since we're there), Griffith a/c upgrade, fuel lines, etc). I haven't added up what I'm going to have invested since I bought it, because I really don't want to know, but these cars are a constant work in progress and I think a potentially buyer needs to be ready for that and consider whether a cash or finance purchase works best in the big picture.

Auto_Werks 3.6

I was thinking the same thing, but I assume the "never finance crowd" wouldn't be swayed logic or figures. I don't know if it's a jealousy thing, or what, but in any thread like this there are always several people that are adamant against borrowing money. Life is just too short for most middle class people to live that way. And I fully understand that people in this country tend to over extend and get themselves into trouble.... But I doubt being yelled at by someone on rennlist will make them rethink their debt to income ratio.

Bxstr

Agree on PenFed. Used them on my GT3.

Also agree not to over-extend yourself, but if there is something that you have the means to get and it is the one thing you're into, then go for it. Cars are my hobby, I am willing to put a slightly larger portion of my income towards cars than others. As long as I'm able to cover it and I'm not affecting anyone else, then I think it's fine. I know everyone says pay 100% in cash and it should be 1% of your net worth, but if I did that I wouldn't have a Porsche until way later in life. Would rather experience it now when I am able. Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

ksluna

I'm one of the young ones here (26). Financing my 911 through Woodside which I heard about from here.
I make good money for my age but my 911 is definitely not 1% of my net worth lol. Like Bxstr said, cars are my hobby and its basically the only thing I really spend any money on anyway. I definitely did an impulse buy, though. Everyone's situation is different. My dad always told me he was going to get himself a 911 or a jaguar when he retired. He could've easily gotten both if he wanted. Well, he passed away when I was 23 and he was 2 years short of retirement and he was set to retire early. Taught me to get the car and enjoy life (but of course not over extend myself, though sometimes that line is blurry LOL)

Auto_Werks 3.6

Sorry to hear about your dad. The good and bad news on the % of net worth is; the more you're leveraged in it, the less your 911 is a part of your net worth

Auto_Werks 3.6

I have basically the same thought process. That 1% guideline seems completely crazy to me. If you look at the net worth across the US, literally almost no one would be able to own a $100,000 car if everyone sticks to 1% net worth. People spend almost that much buying pickup trucks that they completely trash for work. I really think it's just an asinine thing that geriatric people say to feel better about their wealth.

Honkity Hank

Median is a better metric as the average can get skewed quite a bit by high net worth individuals.

The median net worth by age
20's- $6,500
30's - 32,000
40's - 93,000
50's - 152,000
60's - 221,000

I don't know where the 1% rule comes from, but you can do the math. The median 40 year old should be driving a car worth $9,300. I am quite sure that is not the case.

Hey, enjoy life, it is short, but impossible to know how long your own time will be. Some people die in their 40's others live to be 100. Make good decisions, don't be an idiot, and you will do fine.

Bxstr

The 1% rule was more of just something that I made up, because I have seen some people saying some crazy things.

I think what people more often talk about is no more than 10-15% of take home pay on car expenses. So that would be gas/maintenance/financing? Which I think is somewhat reasonable but again you need to be flexible with these numbers. I don't vacation, I don't really go out to eat. So the average American's spending $5k a year on a family vacation every year or couple of years compared to me spending a bit more than that 10% on cars seems reasonable.

Also, let's say you make something crazy $50k a month, your basic needs are probably covered with the first $10-20k of that. You have a lot left over and could spend quite a bit more on cars, or whatever else you wanted. Compared to someone making $2k a month, they're going to be struggling to even pay for basics, let alone spending $200 a month on car expenses.

My take is just to enjoy your life, if you aren't affecting anyone else, then go for it. If you can sleep at night, go for it. I can, so I think I'm fine. Will I retire with less than someone that didn't buy a GT3 at my age, yes, but I also have some great memories and made a life goal happen, which I'm very happy about.

HkPlinker

Why not try Woodside Credit? I have a friend that purchases 200-300,00 dollar cars with them and he gets 10 year payments and flexible terms.

Auto_Werks 3.6

I have definitely seen many references to 1% of net worth and all cash purchases, mostly on Porsche forums. I think the reason it makes me so upset when I read it, is because it is so far from the reality of what 99.99% of people can and will do.

We may have a less flashy retirement that some others, but if there are any car enthusiasts left in our increasingly more dystopian future just think of how they will react when you roll that lightly patina'd gt3 out on sunny days!

Auto_Werks 3.6

Unfortunately that's a pretty tall order for most people