[SS-Traveller]

About 1.15% (car for Rs. 11 lakhs in February 2019, phone for Rs.12,500 in May 2020).

The most I've ever spent on a phone = Rs.25,000. Had figured a long time ago that phones have a usable life (in my hands) of 3 years at most. Cars in my hands last at least 10 years. Automotive technology does not change as fast as mobile phone technology does, either, so the need to upgrade is less for a car than for a phone.

[anandhsub]

The thought process for the 2 purchases is fairly simple. The actual ratio varies based on what's available at that time.

Mobile Phones = The cheapest phone that has all the features you want.


Cars = What it is the max budget that you have and which car in that budget can fit all your requirements.

[grosserimperial]

I drive a used Hyundai Eon which I bought in 2020. On the other hand my phone is Redmi Note 5 Pro and thus the the cost is 6%. This may change as I am strongly itching to upgrade and might buy the new Galaxy Fold that might launch in August

Don't judge me.

[turbowhistle]

I don't see the relation between two and also the point of this thread, for some both can be different commodities and have different use cases. I use my phone almost 6-7 hours a day and do lots of office work on it so I have stick to iPhones. We currently have 11 pro and 12 pro at home along with other apple products which cost me more than a small hatchback (Androids don't cut it in my opinion). But the spending is totally justified when it enables you to earn your livelihood as we are both dependent on our phones/laptops for work. The phone costs 1% of our annual income so I don't have to think twice before getting it.

Although I have a Mini Cooper S here, it's just being used for grocery runs and weekend trips. One can say this purchase is totally unjustified and pointless and I could have just bought a bike to run around and rented a car on weekends.

Everyone has different use cases in my opinion and I don't think we can reach a consensus with the data aggregated in this thread.

PS: I really think we have started connecting every small things in our life to cars now for a new thread. We are slowly moving away from TBHP Ethos in my opinion. No offense to OP!

[sachin_cs]

Count me in below 1% category, I use a 4 years old mi A1 worth 13k and when compared to my car, it comes out to be 0.92%. I feel some things change with time, 15 years ago I was a tech freak and would buy flagships of those times like N73, 6600, Motorazr and now as long as I can use whatsapp and calls, I am okay with any phone. I just don’t see a point spending so much on smartphones knowing that in next 6 month a new flagship will be launched and those big players would make you feel the fear of missing out - if you don’t buy their new ultra pro max what not flagship... the one they have been always wanting to make xD Consumerism I tell you!

If I have extra cash flow, it will always be either saved or spent on anything which has wheels. This is what time does to you I guess.

[reignofchaos]

Last car I bought - 30 odd lacs 5 years ago
Last phone I bought - 30k 3 years ago

I got refunded 50% of the price by my office.

Net result - Phone costs less than 0.5% of my car.

[Apex1815]

Every one has their own priorities and likings. What might be the passion of a person may not be even the priority of another.

For Eg: I have huge passion for the Perfumes (Designer/Niche perfumes/Arabic Ouds) and my current collection (15 to 16 perfumes) would be costing over a Lac.
For many people a perfume may not be even in their consideration while I seriously consider matching the Perfume with my Mood, Event, Dress up, weather etc.

Seeing my Perfume collection somebody would expect that I would be using very expensive gadgets too, but its not so. I use the humble phone costing around Rs 15,000 (and have never spent more than that on a phone even though I can afford the latest iPhone).

[Youngindus]

1.66% for me : Polo GT TSI in June 2016 (10.25 Lakh), Nokia 7.2 in May 2020 (17K).

Caveats:
1. My phones last approximately 18 months (replacement mostly because of accidental smash, overheat, charging dock failure etc.) vs 7+ years for car. So in reality 5 phones per car, means the ratio goes to ~8%.
2. My next phone will be a near flagship (Max 50K budget), as I spend 4x time on phone than in car per day, and will try to make it last 3 years.

[Dr.AD]

For my current phone and current car, the phone cost was less than 1% of the cost of the car. Unfortunately I can not vote because "less than 1%" option is missing in the voting options :-)

However, phones are usually replaced more often than the cars (at least for me). And therefore, what is more interesting is probably the cumulative statistics.

If I look at cumulative cost of all the phones I have purchased and all the cars I have purchased in last 20 years (not going before that since there were hardly any phones as such before that), then my cumulative phone cost is about 2.5% of my cumulative car costs. Therefore, I voted for 1%-4% option.

Interestingly, at one point, I had a phone worth Rs. 50k and car worth Rs. 9L, so that was the point where the ratio of phone cost to car cost was highest for me, about 5.5%.

[Everlearner]

Since I'm a newbie, I can't vote yet. I paid around 8.6 Lakhs for my Dzire and bought a 19k Realme phone. So that's about 2.xx%. Having said that, like many mentioned before, we cannot compare a car and mobile purchase since both the usecases are very different and subject to peoples taste and preferences. Not just mobile, every electronic device these days seems to be replaced frequently like laptops, TV, refrigerator etc., and we can start comparing everything with a car. We cannot find a pattern or come to any meaningful conclusion with these comparisons.

[govindasrani]

I have a simple logic when it comes to buying cars and phones. Buy a phone that you can afford to lose and buy a car that you can afford to fix. As in the case of cars, used phones (or 1-2 year old models when bought new) also make good financial sense. My phone is ~1% of my car's value.

[Simhi]

In my opinion, we should not compare one's mobile cost with that of the car.

Most of us would have just one car per family. We should compare the price of the car against all the electronic gadgets mobiles + tablets + laptops + smart gadgets like fitbit + other gadgets like power backup etc. owned by "all" members of the family.

Also, the comparison should be done for the period of the car ownership. You will soon realize that though you retain the car for 5 years, the gadgets would have got upgraded two to three times by then.

[pkk077]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

But why stop at a mobile phone? People are buying 2.5 lakh Macs too?

Absolutely wrong comparison. Someone buying Mac might be earning from it and therefore its an earning asset or a tool of the trade and you want the best tool for yourself.

Besides, I spend easily 8-10 hours everyday with my (company provided) Mac and I would anyday splurge on a Mac over an iPhone or a car (which is lying unused in lockdown and even otherwise gets used for less than an hour everyday on an average).

[NotanF1driver]

I can't vote.
Though, this is my state - I own a Ford Figo (2016) TDCI Titanium for which I spent around 8 Lacs on road. I have an iPhone 12 for which I spent somewhere in the 85K range which is around 10.5% the cost of my car.

Note - I am planning for an upgrade to my car in the near future which might turn this around, though. I think I spent a bit too less on my car, only considering my requirements in the year 2016. I was a bachelor then, now I'm a father . I was stupid and did not consider that I would need a bigger car in the near future.

[carthick1000]

Less than 1%

Old iphone SE bought for 120EUR and Tesla model 3 is a company car where I pay a TCO contribution of ~13200EUR for 5 years (incl. everything)