[haskelerator]

As was rightly said, we Indians are more inclined towards building intergenerational wealth. However, with the proposed inheritance taxes coming up, our mindset might change.

[GeeTee TSI]

On the contrary, many of us (certainly myself) have been able to buy/upgrade cars thanks to a combination of investments grown or compounded over a period (besides loans)

Far from an impediment, SIPs enable such purchases

[buzzy_boy]

Personally, biggest reasons why I haven't bought a luxury car

1. Heavy taxation at the time of purchase
2. High cost of maintenance (taxes again are a big contributor)
3. No roads to drive them properly - I mean, what's the point of buying something fun to drive when my average speed per week is 40 KMPH.

A SIP is the least of my worries.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by buzzy_boy

Personally, biggest reasons why I haven't bought a luxury car

My reasons:

- Does not seem like value for money because of high taxes
- Reports of unreliability and poor longevity. For any premium consumer product (eg: high-end smartphone) or service (eg: 5 star hotel stay), since you pay more, you always expect and get more in ALL aspects of the experience. But this is not the case with luxury cars.
- Large markups for the dealer/manufacturer on spare parts. No low-tech wear and tear component (eg: AC compressor) should cost something like Rs. 2 lakhs.
- I have low appreciation for "luxurious interiors" and features.

[msdivy]

Luxury car: Highly visible asset. Can't hide it.
SIP: Can be done discreetly, and in stealth mode.
SIP at least can appreciate. but there is no scope for luxury cars.

Originally Posted by SmartCat

- Reports of unreliability and poor longevity. For any consumer product (eg: high-end smartphone) or service (eg: 5 star hotel stay), since you pay more, you always expect and get more in ALL aspects of the experience. But this is not the case with luxury cars.

Something the would-be Benz India CEO can work on, instead of blaming spends of people for housing, wedding, travel, finance instruments.

[TopLiveCentre]

Really? So, was that finance minister lying? the story about the MBs selling more in Kerala than in Oman? Surprising. You are absolutely on the money when you say the taxes being the deciding factor. There was a time when Indian Railway first class a/c tickets cost equaled that of flights. This lop-sided story continues it seems

[echo77]

I was going through my portfolio last night and reminiscing about all the mercs I could have purchased instead...


... if only they had better die cast versions!


How can one compare between appreciating vs depreciating asset?

As many have said here, if it wasn't for high taxes, Audis, BMWs and Mercs would be commonplace.

[buzzy_boy]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

My reasons:

- Does not seem like value for money because of high taxes

Right now the structure of taxation for personal vehicles is plausibly draconian.

Governments must really re-think their approach if there's to be significant improvement in vehicle penetration. We are stuck in the mindset that a car is a luxury object - which explains the reason why a modest Alto is taxed at the highest bracket possible.

Additionally, with compassion cess, we are looking at 50% effective tax rate for a Honda City 1.5 Petrol.

I get that any modification to the tax regime should ideally be revenue neutral. However, the first and foremost priority should be to reduce upfront costs - and make up for the potential loss in revenue by taxing in other ways. The government may consider:

1. A system of taxation that is progressive - tax more expensive cars at a higher rate
2. Impose congestion charges in important towns
3. Replace lifetime roadtax with a scheme that is payable every 5 years, with increasing tax rates. They could also tax people who own multiple vehicles at a higher rate.
4. Impose green tax based on effective vehicle emissions (and not on age)

If the government does this, the resulting increase in business should cover for any notional loss of tax revenue.

A vehicle is a necessity, and India must move on from the car is a luxury mentality.

[Gaur]

Originally Posted by AZT

There's an uncle in my society who I had once gone to help with his Jio Fiber connection. Did not know much about him except his son and I knew each other back in college and the son is abroad now.

This was pre covid when Jio was launching free service for certain societies. Uncle just randomly joked he knows its free now and will be expensive once we get used to it, but he doesn't care because he's made a lot of money on Reliance shares. Pre-covid this happened and he just casually jokes I own more than 50 lakh worth so Mukesh bhai can have some of my money too. Those are probably worth 4x now. And that was just one company.

Uncle owns no car but lives a comfy life. Travels by rickshaw and Uber when he needs to. I've found similar stories of people with 50 cr+ worth of properties and a good business but happy with their Toyota Innovas. Some people just hate the attention these cars bring.

A similar uncle i know of, Dads friend who owns a few restaurants in Mumbai.
Have seen him sitting with a note counting machine in the morning, counting the collection from previous night, few years back he spent almost 1cr on his daughters wedding in Mumbai.

He drives a 2007/08 ford endavour and a celerio, almost every time i meet him i joke "uncle ab mercedes lelo" and he would laugh, he can buy most of these luxury vehicles available but he wants to stay discrete for his own reasons.

Another guy i knew of was someone who used to travel in the same local train/compartment as i would when travelling to south mumbai from suburbs during my college days, regular train commuters in mumbai take the same train/compartment for decades and this results in a good bonding with co-travellers following the same, so the people of this group with whom this gentle man travelled would often joke with him " kya bhai kitna din C class chaloge, ab E-class lelo" i thought they are pulling his leg untill i actually saw him once driving a C-class.
This guy staying in suburb travelled to south mumbai (30-35kms) oneway, train would take him 50mins compared to 2-3hrs by road. made sense to me that he ditched his C-class and took a train everyday.

So i feel apart from SIP people have multiple other reasons to not buy the latest BMW/Mercedes/Audi.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by msdivy

SIP at least can appreciate. but there is no scope for luxury cars.

I can surely say about a certain Model of Mercedes which has given good yields. A G-Wagon bought in 2020/ 21 will be at least 25% more in resale value currently than when bought new

[46TheDoctor]

My POV for not buying a German Luxury Car:

1. They dont inspire enough confidence (reliability wise) to have it as your only car/primary car and many including myself dont like to maintain more cars than we need.

2. USP of german cars is their dynamic abilities, but nowadays you cant enjoy them A. in city limits due to traffic, B. On major expressways due to speed guns, C. on the other highways due to the poor road conditions of most of these roads at least in MH
So, there are very few places to enjoy abilities of these cars and this becomes a not so desirable proposition, especially considering the amount of money we loose in buying and owning these cars.

3. If we are looking for luxury cars, we are better off with buying Japanese brands which give more reliable and resultant longer service life compared to the germans.
For example, I will buy Camry hybrid over C/A4 anyday or buy a Vellfire if I am looking for a Rs. 1 Cr car with luxury intentions.

4. Buying a luxury brand for Snob Value is no more a motivation as it was decades ago, as almost every apartment complex/ colony has a few such cars - at least in the metro cities.

5. Value Conscious Market:
Indian market is value conscious and not price conscious, and if these germans want to sell more, they just need to manufacture their cars (at least a few popular models) here to make them a good Value For Money proposition. I am sure people will lap up their cars if manufactured and priced this way.

So, In my case, looking at the situation above,

1. I am continuing to use my 2013 Pajero Sport which is still performing perfectly fine and reliably for its age, even though I can afford a Rs. 60L+ german car in the near future.

2. I have booked a Scorpio N 4x4 AT as my second/family car at home which will provide me some additional features like AT and six airbags that my PS lacks.

3. I will consider buying a powerful pre-owned german car (mostly from Porsche/BMW) in the future to satiate the Petrolhead/Driver inside me.

[prabhu7944]

Am surprised he left out RD, insurance and postal savings scheme. Like many have expressed, point is whether it deserves to pay to drive a luxury car on poor roads. Forget that we might end up paying hefty taxes to govt just to own these cars. A lot of mid segment cars are improving with good features (not equating safety and quality aspect) hence is there a need to buy a luxury cars? Few may have a reason and lot may not.

[Samarth 619]

Industry making durable cars, and Government allowing for 30-40 year registrations will help in the following way:
1. Helpful for environment, as presently, recycling consumes huge amount of energy and is a scam basically. You made a machine consuming energy and efforts, why not make it count for longer?
2. Helpful financially (in the long run only),
3. Helpful in reducing environmental compliance & R&D costs (I'm assuming that BS6 is the best we can do, and it will remain so for a long time).
4. Industry can price it higher and restore the premium-ness of automobiles.
5. Increasing quality and reliability in general.


This was a general rant. Coming to German cars, I do believe if I had to get one (I'm not in market for one in short run), I'd expect everything and a little more. Frankly, from what I've heard from my cager brothers only, the German cars aren't what they used to be.
Too much electronics, not much of it is fully reliable, plus too much activity tracking, eSIM and all, and again, not reliable, you're not looking to spend 25 years in there.

But reading the discussion, I'm just starting to consider SIP's seriously..