Nice work if you can get it

Received wisdom is that the best way to make a small fortune is to start with a large one.  Although usually cited as an example of people frittering away their wealth but it also conceals the truth that it takes money to make money.

Consider the cars people buy; ten years ago a ford Focus ST or Mondeo Turbodiesel for about £19,000.  Prices for the Focus today are in the region of £4-5,000, the Mondeo could be had for £1,000 or less.  That, as you’ve probably worked out, is £14-18,000 lost in depreciation if you bought new and kept the car all that time.  Although depreciation is non-linear it works out as costing at least £1,400 on top of the other running costs.

Contrast that with the 2005 Ferrari 575 Superamerica that sold at auction last week for $517,000, which works out at about £345,000.  The list price for the same car when it was new was £191,000 (or £198,800 with the F1 gearbox).  Rather than losing money that is an increase of £14,700 a year on average.  It might not be a large fortune but it is better than nothing.

Of course, to make that money you need to be in the position to buy the Ferrari in the first place.  You also need to choose your car wisely, if you’d gone for an ordinary Ferrari 575 you’d have saved about £40,000 initially but that car would only be worth £90,000 today (only!).  It also makes me wonder if anyone leased a 575 Superamerica and what the monthly payments are like on a car that is going up in value.

I can’t believe it has come to this

The events of the last week or two have brought me to a point where I’m seriously considering giving up car ownership. After all the cost of maintenance, vehicle excise duty, insurance and fuel seem prohibitive. Maybe I would be better off without the expense and the worry.

With careful study of the bus timetable and finding out exactly where the busses stop I’m sure I could manage to get to and from work. Who knows, with a little planning I might even be able to go shopping. Going out at the weekend would be practically impossible, which is a shame. The annual Christmas jaunt to see my family would be impossible because there is no way I could get back for work on the 27th. But I’d probably save money by not going anywhere.

The other option is not to give up the car completely but buy a bus season ticket and even if I only used it 3 days every week I’d probably save money. I hate public transport but at the moment something has got to give.

More thoughts from my travels

Spending time in my Citroën BX this week left me feeling somewhat uneasy. Using a 20-year old car every day was always going to be a risky business and it isn’t that something has gone wrong rather a sneaking feeling that something isn’t quite right. Maybe the tickover wasn’t as steady, the throttle response less sharp and the vibrations more pronounced.

So I find myself contemplating my position and it isn’t great. Maybe my car just needs a service or maybe this is the beginning of the end. Do I spend money (which I don’t have) on the Citroën or save the money for an eventual replacement?

Contemplation of a new car is the best part of the exercise. I know what I want; something taught, purposeful, well made. Above all I want something with decent steering; the problem with the BX is the soft, rubbery steering. What I want is another Honda Prelude, maybe a Legend coupe or 4WS Accord; maybe a hydractive Citroën XM or Xantia; an Alfa Romeo 164; I even caught myself admiring a Vauxhall Carlton 3000GSI. Of course there is potentially a vast gulf between what I want and what I can afford.