[F150]

Team,

Majority of our forum members are techies or IT professionals.

I am just trying to figure out if a regular IT guy working in a Tier 1 IT services company say Infy or IBM will be able to buy/own a BMW in his/her lifetime ?

I think it is safe to presume that all IT guys start their careers @ 21/22/23 yrs of age and usually get married by 28/29/30 yrs of age.

I think we all agree that a IT professional working in say Google or Microsoft should be able to buy/own a BMW.

So let us limit the discussion to Tier 1 IT Services companies

OR An MBA is a must to purchase any car above 20L bracket ?

Please pour in your thoughts.

[BBR_SHR]

I think it is very much possible. Many people I know used the money they earned in the IT industry (loads of it on overseas assignments) to buy real estate. They could have easily used that money to buy any car.

[StarrySky]

Purchase - Yes, if he is careful with his savings.
Maintain - Now that's a different question altogether.

[vishygk]

In short yes, but at the cost of something.
It also helps if you are not in Bangalore (Karnataka)

IMO - Maintenance is OK considering that they have a 5 year service package covering pretty much everything (you can search the threads to get more detail)

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by F150

OR An MBA is a must to purchase any car above 20L bracket ?

Why would anyone insist on an MBA degree to sell you a car?

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

Purchase - Yes, if he is careful with his savings.
Maintain - Now that's a different question altogether.

+1 to this.
A C-class or 3-series should be easy. And would not even require one to slog a lifetime. But maintenance, especially regular services that cost a fortune - now that is something I cannot imagine doling out.

But what would worry me more is the machine being scratched by bikers, ORVMs being hit by cyclists/bikers, an auto coming to a stop using the rear-bumper etc - basically, I won't be able to handle the paranoia that comes with owning it. It took me years (and a couple of hits) to overcome the paranoia w.r.t my Baleno. Don't want to go over it again, especially with something like a Merc/BMW.

[Latheesh]

1) Once Govt. relax import duties/poilcy/taxes most of the vehicles cost come down by half :-)

2) Wait for Mahindra/Tata to improve the quality level to match BMW/MERC - you will be able to by high end cars @ Indian price

Hope one of these becomes reality soon :-)

[libranof1987]

LOL!!

I think once one becomes a manager (~10+ years exp) in the companies that you've mentioned, salaries are on the better side of 10 lakhs.

Throw in a few job switches and on-site assignments and one should be able to at least buy a Beemer.

Of course, maintaining one is going to be a toughie; especially knowing the bottomline of the paycheque.

[F150]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

Why would anyone insist on an MBA degree to sell you a car?

An MBA from an top tier institute assures career start with a CTC upwards of 12L per annum ( pessimistic estimate )

[MCR]

OT : Nice thread. But the title should be " Can a Salaried person buy a luxury car?" though. I know many bankers who earn more than any Tier 1 IT managers. So gone are the days when the IT companies used to set the benchmark for the salaries.

Request : No offence meant to anyone. Just a thought and also a fact.

However, coming back to topic, its just a question of following ones passion. If one is passionate and dedicated toward his wish / dream its quiet possible. I am not tyring to be philosophical here. No body dreamt in 1995 that India would be at this level in 2011. So the possibilities for growth are just immense. One needs to just set his priorities right and always be on a lookout for opportunities. Once one has the purchasing power, maintaining it will not be a question at all.

[Lukeskywalker]

Interesting thought, but why only techies? A BMW or a Mercedes is still a luxury vehicle and one needs to be quite opulent to spend such big bucks on a car as a middle aged person will have many more priorities to fulfill before investing on a luxury car.

Again like mentioned above, owning it is one aspect, but maintaining it also need moolah.
Also, like I had a discussion with friends and family long ago, when I intended to purchase a Cielo, which was still a "rich" car, how would I look going to the local market or the kirana shop in a Cielo? These thoughts were in the age before we had malls and supermarkets.

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Here are my 2 cents as I am one of these IT Joes.

I did my MBA from Symbiosis Center for Info Tech. Got campus placed in American Express. Before you guys get excited I must tell you that I am in a dept which supports the Tech needs of Business teams. So majorely it is a support dept. So I would not consider myself very different from a regular IT Joe.

Now according to my calculations and assumptions for a person to buy a car which exceeds his 1 year of salary is very very difficult unless he gets some support from outside or he is using some savings. So what I will consider here is that at the max a person can buy a car whose price is equal to his 1 years salary (Even this is very difficult) and he takes a 5 year loan for it.

So the cheapest 3 series should completely cost around 32-34 lakhs. I am not considering here the corporate edition. So that means when one's annual salary is around 35 Lakhs then one can think of getting a beemer. Now if you would ask me when can I imagine me getting 35 lakhs per year. Well I already have 3.5 yrs of exp and I think if all goes well i should be getting that some of money after 12 - 14 years. At that point I would be around 42 years. Well I guess yes one can buy but when he would be in a position to buy such a thing his age to enjoy that thing would have passed. Thats the irony...

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by F150

An MBA from an top tier institute assures career start with a CTC upwards of 12L per annum ( pessimistic estimate )

Yes, but what one needs to buy a car is money not a degree. So i found your post a little funny, that's all

I voted yes to the question. If one really wants to buy a BMW (or any car 25-30L +), yes it's possible, provided you plan accordingly.

[DukeSan27]

Yes, see my sig below, and being in dink/diok category would help a lot.

[vinjosep]

Originally Posted by F150

Team,

I am just trying to figure out if a regular IT guy working in a Tier 1 IT services company say Infy or IBM will be able to buy/own a BMW in his/her lifetime ?

You might want to modify that statement and restrict the discussion to owning a brand new one in India.

Else I'm sure that the answer is a resounding "yes". I for one was fortunate to own (albeit for a short period) a pre-worshipped BMW - E46. BUT, that was not in India. And I was/ am working for one of those services company based in India.