Footballer’s cars: How the Premier League’s top players prefer financing cars to get better deals on Lamborghinis, Bentleys and Ferraris
They may earns tons of money, but footballers are financially savy thanks to financial advisors and prefer to lease their motors instead of buying them outright
FOOTBALLERS love flashy cars, that's a fact.
The Premier League's elite are often spied zooming around town in Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Ferraris and any other motor that can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.
However, most of these savvy stars aren't buying them outright. In fact, they're craftily getting themselves the best deals for their supercars by financing them.
SunSport spoke with Darren Selig, CEO for Capital, who gave us an insight into how much footballers want to pay.
He revealed why footballers choose to finance cars over buying them outright on short-term deals.
Selig also told us footballers prefer to pay minimal deposits on their expensive leases.
"Footballers favour financing cars because they still see cars as a monthly cash-flow purchase rather than a capital item," Selig revealed.
"They may well be earning a lot of money, but all that money is invested for them through their financial advisors and agents.
"At the end, they are left with pocket money, so to speak, and they're left with a monthly budget to run their lives.
"Cars are just one of those items they like to spend their money on and enjoy."
Selig pointed out the deals footballers look for, include 48-month leases that allow them more flexibility.
The prices are completely dependent on how much they are putting in, and they're not different to any other wealthy customers.
Footballers can pay a ten per cent deposit to secure the car, like a brand new Lamborghini Aventador that costs £350,000.
Then with monthly payments of, for example, £3,717 they can drive around in an amazing supercar without paying anywhere near the full amount.
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Many loans are over four years, and come with a hefty final balloon payment.
But most footballers change their cars well within that time span.
Darren said: “They tend to keep them sometimes for five minutes.”
"What they pay is largely driven by how much deposit they're going to put in at the front.
"They normally do 48-month lease purchase agreements with a balloon at the end.
"It would largely depend on what deposit they're putting in at the start, the term of the agreement and the residual value at the end.
"It's not a question of earning £180,000 a week determining their monthly payments and interest rates.
"It's about if they can demonstrate affordability of car that costs £300,000. They don't have to earn £180,000 a week to demonstrate affordability at that level.
"It can be significantly lower, but you don't necessarily treat them any differently over someone who is earning a lot less, but is still earning extremely well.
"And it's not specific to another footballer or another individual."
Selig explained why footballers and the general public tend to go for the financing option when acquiring a car.
"People finance cars for different reasons," he said.
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"You go from very aspirational people to people who can just about afford to make the affordability criteria.
"Sometimes, the only way to get the vehicle is to finance it. They have maybe £50,000 to finance it, but not £250,000, etc.
"Then you have people who have made money, but historically didn't have money and came from humble beginnings.
"They are use to the mentality of having to finance cars. They carry on doing that because that's what they've always done and it's a habitual pattern.
"You also get a category of people who have a lot of money, but choose to finance their cars because they understand cars are depreciating assets.
"Everyone has their own personal reason why they finance their car. Some even may look to buy bigger assets and would rather do than buy a car."
Now, more than ever, footballers' lives are controlled to the most minute detail, especially when it comes to their finances.
Darren divulged that he mostly deals with finance advisors or wealth managers of the world's top players.
Occasionally, he gets referrals from footballers, desperate to keep up with trends or just want to have a different car from a teammate.
He said: "It's a good thing (they have advisors), because if you look back at the football market traditionally, a lot of footballers go bankrupt when they retire.
"Some always think that the earnings they're getting for playing are going to continue well into the future.
"Obviously it doesn't, and you cannot continue to live that high-life in the same way.
"A lot have spent it all while they've been playing and only very few become pundits on the TV after.
"They do have access to financial advisors, wealth managers and people who advise them.
"The first relationship with the players tends to come through specialist car dealers, who deal with footballers who supply into the market.
"I do get a lot of agents too, and players always tend to work through referrals too.
"So, one player could finance a car, turn up to the training ground with it and other players will be interested.
"They tend to take referrals between themselves rather than other people, because I think there's an element of mistrust in the footballer markets.
Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 Superveloce
| Cash price | £350,000 |
| 48 monthly payments of | £3,716.99 |
| Final balloon payment | £210,000 |
| Customer deposit | £35,000 |
| Total amount of credit | £315,000 |
| Total charge for credit | £73,427 |
| Total amount payable | £423,427 |
"There's been a lot of people looking to unload them, so to speak. Trust is a very important part."
Footballers like Raheem Sterling, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney have been seen in fleets of cars worth hundreds and thousands.
While we don't know if their cars are leased or owned, does it mean you can get a better deal leasing multiple cars?
"It tends not to work like that" Darren divulged.
"It's more about, 'Can they afford and service five cars, do they have the incomes to support 5 loans with us.'
"They tend to be at decent rates to start with, given their income and their profile. And they tend to be financed pretty much the same across the board."
Ferrari 812 Superfast Coupe (successor to the F12)
| Cash price | £270,000 |
| 48 monthly payments of | £2,867.39 |
| Final balloon payment | £162,000 |
| Customer deposit | £27,000 |
| Total amount of credit | £243,000 |
| Total charge for credit | £56,646 |
| Total amount payable | £299,646 |
Footballers are fickle with their cars, Darren revealed.
That's why he offers players flexible options they can break with a minimal penalty cost.
He said: "We are specialists in financing cars for footballers because one of the hallmarks in footballers and high-value cars is they tend to keep them sometimes for five minutes.
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"They do change their cars and swap them quite regularly, because they can get bored of it easily.
"We do have a very flexible finance option where they can change their cars pretty much whenever they want to for a very minimal cost to swap.
"We keep the penalties to an absolute minimum and operate it almost like a credit system because they change their cars so often.
"It's not just about the headline rate at the start of the agreement, it's also what it will cost them to get out of the agreement at the back end on settlement penalties."
But, despite their large salaries, Darren did confirm that footballers don't like putting their hand in their pockets when it comes to handing over a large deposit.
"Whether they're earning £10,000 or £100,000, they don't really like putting in large deposits," he told SunSport.
"They only really like putting in £5,000 to £10,000, and sometimes we have to manage their expectations and convince them to put in more.
"On something like a £100,000 car, they might want to put in just £5,000. Footballers always tend to put in the minimum amount possible."