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Owning a first car in hong kong

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  1. #81

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    Mar 2009
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    Hong Kong
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    Quote Originally Posted by MandM!:
    Does it even matter?
    It affects your job, your life, your career, your family. Handbags, phones etc. not so much, but if a company or recruiter doesn't hire you because you don't have a degree or because another candidate was from Harvard or Oxford (even if you would have been better at the job), then yes it matters.

    If you are overlooked for a job even though you are more than competent because another less competent candidate worked at a large, well known company, then it matters.

    If you are trying to find business clients, but they decide to go with someone they know from one of their private members clubs, then yes that status matters.

    If you go to a networking event and people are looking for the top CEOs or Senior Management even if they are not the ones with the purchasing decisions, then yes it matters.

    Most people here are not in the extremes where they would feel the people they meet judge them on their status. But as an experiment, next time meeting new people, just pretend to be at opposite spectrums of what you are now e.g. rich/poor, employed/unemployed, banker/cleaner, mid-levels flat/subdivided flat, have iphone/can't afford a phone, have a degree/no education etc.You would be surprised at how differently you may be treated.

  2. #82

    Join Date
    Aug 2014
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    49
    Quote Originally Posted by UK/HKboy;:

    Most people here are not in the extremes where they would feel the people they meet judge them on their status. But as an experiment, next time meeting new people, just pretend to be at opposite spectrums of what you are now e.g. rich/poor, employed/unemployed, banker/cleaner, mid-levels flat/subdivided flat, have iphone/can't afford a phone, have a degree/no education etc.You would be surprised at how differently you may be treated.
    I went from being paid in euros by a small startup on training visa, living without windows to owning a 911, living in central and working in an investment bank, and I feel like I get less respect somehow

    Like yeah you get the jealousy and the people trying to rationalize their own “inferiority”, as in “I dont like living in central”, “owning a car is so useless”, “I hate corporate life”, but never did I get someone telling me “mad respect bro let me invite you to a model party” or “sir let me open the door to you” ahaha

    How different were you treated when you moved from hobo to overpaid ?
    jack55 likes this.

  3. #83

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    May 2011
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    Tin Shui Wai
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    337
    Quote Originally Posted by Pauljoecoe:
    Vanity, status, thinking it makes you more important, need others to know how rich you are etc. can be the only reason for owning a performance car in HK.

    I love cars and have always run performance cars in the UK but I do it for driving pleasure. Quite happy using the MTR in HK.
    If you live in an area far from the MTR, and work in an area far from the MTR, and the only public transport connection from your home is a green minibus which is always full in peak hours, or a bus which comes every 30 minutes, than a car becomes a necessity.
    imparanoic likes this.

  4. #84

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    Aug 2017
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    Beautiful Britain
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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Tsang:
    If you live in an area far from the MTR, and work in an area far from the MTR, and the only public transport connection from your home is a green minibus which is always full in peak hours, or a bus which comes every 30 minutes, than a car becomes a necessity.
    Yes, that may well be the case for some in that situation. However, I was really referring to buying a fantastic handling car, that will do nearly 300kph, that would be great fun on a track or on a nice clear country lane in Scotland!

  5. #85

    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    28

    Lots of good advice on this thread.

    OP, been in your position, done that. I bought a cheapish second hand Porsche Boxster at 25 (from geo expat classifieds actually). I paid for it outright with most of my available savings which I think was the best decision I made (better than financing it and having to deal with loan repayments). I had it for a few years before selling it and buying an engagement ring for my now-wife.

    I don’t regret the decision to buy the Boxster, although now looking back, I wish I had saved the money instead. It was a money pit, I had to put quite a lot of repairs on it (obviously did not do enough investigation), and if I had financed it, the cost of repairs + financing would have been a huge burden to bear. I had a blast driving along the south side with the top down, up to the peak for ice cream, visiting random villages in the new territories which were hard to access by public transport - I drove not because I had to get from point a to point b but because I loved the handling of the car, and would seek out new destinations every weekend just so I could take the car out for a spin.

    As the well-intentioned posters mentioned above, there’s a lot of costs that goes into car ownership, including unforeseeable costs, like accidents (may not be through your fault - some guy backed into my boxster one weekend, and it spent a month at the garage), or other repairs at inopportune times. Just wanted to point out that if this is going to be a huge burden financially for you, you may not actually enjoy the experience that much. You would be too scared to take the car out for fear of someone scratching the doors, or if it breaks down and it needs another repair, which could run up to 5 digits. All this takes away from the fun of actually driving it, if you have to think about where the money is going to come from to do the repairs you need, or if you realize you spent a few thousand dollars a month on gas, and its a large part of your income.

    That said, if you can afford it, and can comfortably handle the repayments and maintenance costs, go for it. As someone said above, better to get that itch scratched now rather than later. Looking back from where I stand now, I know it was foolish financially to put that much of my net worth in a car at such a young age, and while I was earning enough so that any repairs weren’t too painful, it was painful enough that I did sometimes second guess my decision to buy the car (which was a good check and balance for me).

    I sold the car to buy an engagement ring for my fiancé who never cared about what I drove, whether I wore branded clothes or how much I had in my bank account. I can’t say I regretted buying the car, I still think about my twenties with fond memories and I am glad I got the “convertible” out of my system, but I do think about how much the money I used to buy the car would be worth now had I put it in the S&P500 instead over the past 10 years. I don’t have an itch to buy another convertible now - instead looking at soccer mom vans instead, but I guess you could say I am glad I did what I did when I was still young and single.

    Just my two cents: YOLO, but remember, the choice isn’t binary - it doesn’t have to be the GTR or no car. As the other posters have mentioned, there are other cars that are as fun to drive but might not cost so much, and make less of a dent in your wallet.

    Best of luck with whatever you decide, and if you do decide to buy, I wish you many years of happy and safe driving!


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