How can the Bulgarians afford expensive cars ?

[mickthemick]

Sell Overseas Property

Can someone help with this one please? How can the Bulgarians afford the expensive four wheel drive cars you see all over the place? If the average wage is 400 lev a month how can they afford to buy a 50K car? I have been told a few different reasons. Someone said that they are all bought on credit (secured on the house) and someone else said they are all mafia owned. This must mean that half the population in Sofia is mafia

Just interested thats all

Cheers Mick

[brianj42]

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I think most are on credit, a few are mafia, and others buy off the proceeds of land/property sales to foreigners.

We have a neighbour who lives in squalor and he managed to sell all his spare land to expats. He blew every leva on a lovely new Merc 4x4 which sits in the drive of his crappy house and still lives in squalor.



PS Squalor is between Knifepoint and Hope just off the E79

[vall74]

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Some people own businesses that are not doing bad. My grandpa (RIP) started a business in 1991 that slowly grew to 35 employees and 300 000 levs profit a year. He drove an old Toyota, but if he wanted to he could afford quite a few new cars.

[owain]

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As Brian has pointed out, many Bulgarian's have sold property and blown all the money on an expensive car. They prefer a status symbol over investment
Many more are bought on credit and now many are being re-possesed and sold here:
http://www.sales.bcpea.org/?q=assetsales

Also there are plenty of wealthy Bulgarian businessmen who only have to pay their workers a couple of hundred Leva a month so affording a new car isn't a problem

And as Vall has pointed out, there are still a few good businessmen out there who wouldn't waste their money on an expensive new car, but these tend to be of an older generation.

[houseman]

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I often wondered that myself, Mick. Sounds like it's a step up from bedsit tenants on benefits buying 60 inch flat screen tvs and state-of-the-art phones and other gadgets.

Maybe it helps them feel better about themselves for a while.

[rock_roland]

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Oh Mick, what a question.
"They do not have breakfast and save the money" as the former director of the Sofia heating company said.

[jadamwilliams]

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mainly due to a large inbalance of wealth - a small proportion of the population is able to afford such luxuries and the rest make do with the bus/tram/feet/horse and cart/30 year old Moskvitch - aswell as people getting credit to keep up with the Joneskis... and then not being able to afford the fuel....

[spantrout]

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jadamwilliams wrote

mainly due to a large inbalance of wealth - a small proportion of the population is able to afford such luxuries and the rest make do with the bus/tram/feet/horse and cart/30 year old Moskvitch - aswell as people getting credit to keep up with the Joneskis... and then not being able to afford the fuel....

But at least they look good with a 4x4 BMW X6, that they can't afford to drive.

[fred]

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Hi all

What a bl**dy daft question.

It reminds me of the time I told someone that one of my favorite restaurants in London was an Ethiopian place, they said, in all seriousness that they thought people didn't eat much there.

Just in case the OP is still wondering, some folk in Bulgaria earn above the average wage and so therefore can afford stuff, hope this helps.

Cheers Fred.

[AngloBulgarian]

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Hi all

What a bl**dy daft question.

It reminds me of the time I told someone that one of my favorite restaurants in London was an Ethiopian place, they said, in all seriousness that they thought people didn't eat much there.

Just in case the OP is still wondering, some folk in Bulgaria earn above the average wage and so therefore can afford stuff, hope this helps.

Cheers Fred.

Not entirely the whole answer - a lot of people in the UK earn above the average (about 49.99999% actually) - its the percentage of that earned cash they get to keep after TAX, NI, Mortgage, School & Nursery Fees, Council Tax, etc. If you earn £100k in the uk you probably have £15k left to actually spend at the end off all this however if you earn £100k here you probably have £60-70k left and that buys a lot of CL 63 AMG's. In fact if you earn 100k Leva you STILL end up with 2 x the £££ to spend - I have not worked out the exact ratios but in earnings to lifestyle ratio i think its about 40/50k Leva = £100k