Ken Silver

My publishing business allows me a 100% deductibility on a financed (I will own over 36 months) 1993 SL500. My highly paid tax advisor battled the Inland Revenue and got the exemption despite some substantial correspondence. (I think I won, but of course their attitude towards me on future tax matters can't be forseen!)

For this older SL I paid NZ$15,000 deposit on a NZ$48,000 selling price, and of course the interest is fully deductible, as is maintenance and repairs. In return, I use it solely for business, but it's not that hard to ethically and legally combine personal within the business use.

Like several otheres here, I prefer to be debt free, but I chose to finance the SL solely because it was a business expense - whereas I paid cash for my wife's 99 SLK and our 99 Suzuki Grand Vitara.

Robert Kyosaki of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" fame presented the best way to buy a vehicle. According to one of his books, his wife wanted a Mercedes convertible. So they went out and bought some self-storage units. The income from this commercial property transaction not only paid for itself, but the MB lease as well. At the end of the lease period, he said they not only had the Merc paid off for "free", but the property and its continuing income.

That's a better way of offsetting income against depreciating assets, since there's no hard money involved.

Ken Silver
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~1993 SL500, glistening triple black, xenons, AMG facelift to 2002 style.
~1999 SLK 230 Kompressor, silver/black leather, CD, immaculate
~1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara. black & silver
~1991 Jaguar Daimler, shiny grey/grey leather, best in country!
~ex 350SL, 230E, 280E, MX5 and a lot of other makes not nearly as nice.

pilot20

The way to understand "how one could best squeeze every bit of value out of one's hard-earned money" is simply not to buy an SL. This is the wrong forum if you're concerned about VALUE.

tiggerfink

Maybe we should look at it as minimizing lost. If I thought about value, I would never purchase a SL 500 and SLK 320.

pilot20

Precisely.

WIldcat465

My wife and I have purchased two SLs in the past 60 days. Personally, I believe having an SL is a great value in several ways:

#1. It feels good. I've spent enough time suffering being poor as a youngster, 7 years as a Marine and 8 years in college as a starving student. The pleasure I derive just by peeking in the garage is priceless.

#2. They're safe. What's your or your family's life worth? Expensive cars will save your life more than cheap ones will. (Besides, who wants to die in a ford escort?)

You pass thru life once and what better way than in an SLxxx?