When you see somebody driving the car of your dreams, you no doubt feel a strong sense of envy. You wonder what he does to be able to afford it. He must have been born rich, you assume.
If you are a hard worker and very determined, you might feel like you should be able to have a luxury car, too. After all, they say that you can get anything you want if you work hard enough. Whether your dream car is a Lamborghini Urus or a 2020 Audi R8, it is within reach.
In this article, we will go over how an average person, who wasn’t born rich, can get behind the wheel of a luxury car of their own.
1. Be Realistic with Your Goal
Although it’s important to dream big when you want to buy a luxury car, you do need to have a realistic goal. You can’t just decide to buy a Ferrari in one year when you don’t even have any money saved up. Barring robbing a bank, that is not going to be possible. You will need to make sure that you have a goal that can be achieved with reasonable steps taken.
The goal should be a specific type of car so you know the monetary number that you will need to make it happen. It doesn’t matter how much it is, it’s just important that you have the number.
Then, you will have to set a timeline but broken into reasonable chunks of time. You should be able to set some milestones to keep you on track with your goal. Otherwise, it can drag on forever and you will lose heart and motivation.
2. Build your Credit Score
Since your goal is likely to be years from now, this is the time to build up your credit. There is very little chance that you will be able to buy a luxury car with cash when you hit your target, so taking out a loan for part of the price is likely. Your credit will need to be very good.
Start now by making sure that you are paying your bills on time. This will get your credit looking good from the start.
Then, take out an unsecured credit card if possible. Use it often, but only for purchases that you would make when paying with cash. Then, when the bill comes in, pay it off completely. If you do online banking, then every time you use your credit card, you should be able to separate money from your balance so it doesn’t get spent.
Also, asking for a higher credit limit will improve your score. One of the metrics for determining your credit rating is how much available credit you have. If your cards are all maxed out then this looks bad. But if you have a higher limit and your balance remains the same, then you just improved your debt ratio.
3. Start a Side Hustle
You will be surprised how much money you can save by taking on a second job or figuring out a way to make extra money. Even just a few hundred dollars per month adds up very quickly and can have you hit your goals much faster.
Let’s say that you took on a couple of shifts at a restaurant as a server every week. If you make £100 per shift in tips then you have an extra £800 per month that can go towards your dream car. In five years, if you socked away all that extra money, it would amount to £48,000 before paying taxes. That is the price of most luxury cars right there just from working a part time job for a few years.
Of course, working a second job is not your only option. There are a lot of ways that you can make money online that will bring in enough money to save for the car. For instance, you could start an affiliate marketing website that can make you much more than working a side job if you dedicate yourself to it.
You can sell art online, or work as somebody’s virtual assistant. There are a lot of ways to make extra money online so research what would work best for your talents.
4. Invest Your Cash
Rather than working for your money, you should make your money work for you. This means that you should be setting aside your extra money every month and investing it.
How you invest it depends on how much risk you are willing to take on as there is always a risk. Whether you are putting money in stocks or in cryptocurrency, there is always a chance that you will lose money. Some investments have more risk than others.
Make sure to only invest as much as you can safely lose without going broke. You can go high risk with some of your money and buy some Bitcoin. If it explodes then you can sell at a nice profit. Then, put some money in safer, lower risk investments like index funds or ETFs.
5. Talk to a Dealer
Having a good relationship with a luxury car dealer is a good idea even when you are trying to work towards your goal. Even a few years before you plan to purchase, seek out a local dealer that you can talk to about your plan and the car itself.
After getting to know each other, your dealer will be on the lookout for the right situation for you so he may alert you to a deal that could get you to your goal much faster. Not only that, but you can understand everything that goes into owning the luxury car you have your sights on. The maintenance is likely to be significant so talking to the dealer about what to expect will help you.
Then, when you are ready to buy, you already have a relationship with the dealership and will be able to use that rapport to make sure you are getting the best price possible.
