The G35 Was a $51,000 Mistake
I financed a car to impress people I did not like, to look like someone I was not. Here is what it actually cost.
I was 24. I had a job in the city that paid $58,000 a year, which felt like a lot of money because I had grown up watching my father drive a taxi for fourteen hours a day. I financed a 2004 Infiniti G35 coupe at $425 a month for 60 months. I told myself it was because I needed reliable transportation. That was not true. I needed to feel like I had arrived somewhere.
The number I never ran
$425 a month was the payment. The actual monthly cost was $825. Insurance on a sports coupe in NYC for a 24-year-old was $280 a month. Fuel, maintenance, parking — another $120. That is 27% of my take-home pay. The 15% rule puts my ceiling at $490 a month total. I was almost double the ceiling. The dealer showed me a monthly payment and asked if I could make it. I could. So I said yes.
What I actually spent
Over 60 months I paid $25,500 in loan payments. Total interest at 9.4%: $5,300. Insurance over 5 years: $16,800. Fuel and maintenance: $7,200. Parking fines in NYC: $1,200. Grand total: $56,000. I sold the car for $6,400. Net cost of the G35: $49,600.
What that money was worth
$825 a month invested at 10.5% compounded over 5 years is $65,000. I did not invest $65,000. I paid $49,600 to rent an identity. The people I wanted to impress do not remember the car. I know this because I do not remember what cars they drove.
The actual lesson
The lesson is not do not buy nice cars. The lesson is that I made the decision based on what I wanted to feel in the showroom, not what I would feel month 24 when the payment was still coming out. I own a Tesla now. It costs me less per mile than any car I have ever owned. I bought it because the numbers worked. I liked it after.