jasonlouis22

I recently totalled my 98' T/a that was putting down roughly 375 to the ground. I plan on getting a vette, but for now a bucket to get me from pt.A to pt.B. Im a 20 something college student going from waiting tables 25k-30k a year to a new commision based job hopefully making 50k-60k a year. What do you do and/or make annually to afford your vette plus mods? I'm curious what a comfortable salary I would have to earn to afford a vette.

Thanks for any help
Jason

homerunhtr21

iTrader: (18)

Depends on what Year and what model you are wanting...A nice C5 can be found in my area for around 19-20k with lower mileage but a Z06 is gonna cost you more. And obviously the newer C6 vettes are gonna be more with or without mods. How many mods? What year vette? What model? Parts are more for the Vette and so is upkeep (from my experence with my families 00 Ws6 and C5) A lot of factors come in to play but I would say whatever an F-body to maintain plus 4 to 8K more a year. I could be wrong its just a guess though.

JTelesone

iTrader: (13)

what other bills do you have? rent, other car, any other monthly expenses? I make between 55-65 and with a 600 dollar rent, 300 dollar ducati payment, and 300 camaro payment i still have money to comfortably live and modd my toys. Ide say 60k with up to another 1000 in monthly expenses allows for a good 40k car payment, but thats just me. ide wait it out a good 6 months and try and set aside 500-600 a month and see if you can still live well, if so, pick up a c6!

JTelesone

iTrader: (13)

i work in commission based sales also. alot of people make the mistake of buying a car that they can easily afford in the good months, but you gotta think about if you can afford it in the BAD months. and also keep in mind that you get taxed a much higher % on commission than you do hourly, (my commissions are texed at 43%) thats nearly half. but good luck!

jasonlouis22

JTelesone do you get a fat tax return, or how does that tax % work?

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Your question is impossibile to answer with the info given. I mean, someone could afford a C5 without issues on a $20k per year salary if they have little to no monthly bills otherwise. Or a big down payment. Find a car, figure out the payment for that specific car, then decide if you can afford it. There is no set salary amount for affording a C5, everyone's situation is different.


Not to mention, you can find some early C5s with high miles for cheaper than low mileage '02 Camaros.

thmass6

iTrader: (2)

^^Agreed. Everyone has different living expenses and different responsibilities (wife, kids, etc.). The only advice I have is not to blow all of your money on a car, make sure you can afford the payment and put a decent chunk of change in savings every month.

qwk93ta

iTrader: (13)

At your age I would not buy a Vett, what if you decide to start a family? Your Vett will be gone. I have been able to keep a sports car for the last 15 years with two kids. It would have been hard to hall my two kids around in a Vett. Also, the insurance on a Vett would a lot and commission jobs have there ups and downs. One year you could make killer money and the next nothing much at all. Buy a nice f-body and start saving for a house!

RiskyZ28

iTrader: (7)

do what someone else said and try to save 500-600 a month and still live comfortably for 6 months. if so then go get your car

teke184

iTrader: (5)

insurance for a corvette....early/mid 20s...having just totalled a car



that being said....i was doing ok last year with these bills:

rent - $600
cell - $50
utilities - $75
car - $250
insurance - $150
boat payment - $250

and my monthly take home is just under $2000 (after tax).

money wasn't abundant to mod, mostly due to money spent on the boat (gas and scuba diving). but figure i can do that on a ~$30,000 annal pay job...

02silvaZ

iTrader: (12)

I would find a nice unmolested C5 which isnt hard to do and you could easily afford it for around $375-$400 a month

Midnight02

iTrader: (8)

It's tough to give you the answer to your question without really having the information we need to determine it. In lieu of an answer, I'm going to help you figure it out. A good rule of thumb from a debt standpoint is to keep your debt (and other expenses) to income ratio below 40%. Here's how you calculate the ratio.....Add all of your monthly expenses (rent, car payment, insurance, utilities, etc.) and divide that amount by your gross income (before taxes). Ideally, that figure should be well below 40%. Since your earnings are going to fluctuate based on production, obviously you want to use a relatively conservative income figure for the calculation. Provided you are conservative with your figures, your Debt:Income ratio is well below 40% and you have an established savings account (or "emergency fund") with a couple months income, it might be worth looking into getting a Corvette.

Fortunately, since the C6 and Z06 models are more pricey (and typically have a higher demand), you should be able to find a great deal on a C5 with relatively low miles.

Texas Cozmo

iTrader: (1)

Depends upon which year Vette you get. You can get a nice C5 with mods for a decent price.

jasonlouis22

Let me rephrase my question then, WHAT DO YOU DO? AND HOW MUCH $ DO YOU (IF ANY) HAVE LEFT OVER FOR YOUR VETTE?

darrensls1

Want to swap lives? My bills look more like this:

Mortgage - $1400
Cell - $80
Utilities (phone, cable, electric, gas, ect) - $ 475
Car payment 1 - $419
Car payment 2 - $313
Car payment 3 - $260
Car insurance - $170
Food for one month - $500
Gas for one month - $500
Boat paid for but still costs gas, maintence, ect - $60

And that doesn't even include school tuition, school clothes for the kids every fall, vacation fund every spring and my "alcohol to cope with being married and having three kids fund"

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

^
$1k in car payments per month?

I've gotten spoiled by not having a car payment these days. I don't intend to have another car payment until the new Camaro comes out.

I'm also spoiled by being married (double income) but not having kids. Even after all my monthly bills (house, utilities, food, gas, insurance, etc) the wife and I have a couple grand left to play with each month.

TA1364

iTrader: (11)

damn, hometown buffet leaves me a couple grand a year to play with

darrensls1

Yeah well the biggest one at 419 is my formula and there are only three more payments left

Then I'll be down to just the two daily driver car payments

nfa

As many ppl have said already, you cant come up with a figure unless there is more info about what your other expenses are. I make 75k and there is no way I could afford a vette right now (in fact, Im sharing my fiance's car right now after my z28 was totalled) but I just bought and reno'd my house last yr, got engaged this year and need to pay for a wedding next year. It all depends on your situation.

My advice would be to make sure you are stable first before getting into the discretionary stuff. Pay off all credit card debt if any, get a down payment on a home, top up your retirement plans, have 6 months of rainy day money (esp since your pay is variable) then think about the toys.

BadGTho

iTrader: (6)

commision based jobs suck in this economy.. unless you're selling drugs.

i would plan on NOT buying the vette, until you get your feet wet, and see what things look like.