Headteachers at secondary schools tend to have a bit of an image problem. They're either seen as stuffy old 'boring adults', or as 'trying too hard to be cool'. They can't win with kids these days. Or can they? Is there a quick shortcut to respect, just waiting for them to snap it up? Rolling up to the next PTA meeting or sportsday, then climbing out of a shiny Lamborghini Gallardo would earn Headteachers masses of respect with all self-respecting petrolhead teens. But could a Headteacher afford one?
I looked up jobs for Headteachers of secondary schools to get an idea of salary:-
It appears a decent wage for an experienced head at a reasonably sized secondary school ought to be £80,000 or more. To play on the realistic side, we'll go with an £80,000 salary.
I checked out the Autotrader and found a suitable Gallardo. It appears the starting rate for something you'd actually want is at least £60,000 rounding up.
You can see the advert here:- www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201806147495927
So can a Head actually afford to buy and run this car?
Image Source:- https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201806147495927
Well if we divide the £80,000 salary into months that gives us £6,666.67 per month.
Now teachers DO get great pensions. But their deductions have to be taken into account. To the best of my knowledge a UK Head should pay close to 12% pension, making £800.00 per month. That leaves a taxable income of £4,879.17. For the 20% slice he or she will pay £575.00. For the 40% slice they'll pay £801.67. On top of that they'll pay National Insurance at £435.34.
This should leave them with a take home pay of £4,054.66.
I think we can expect a headteacher to live in a pretty decent house and to have a mortgage. I think it's prudent to deduct £800 for that giving us £3254.66 to play with. I think it's completely within reason to expect them to contribute £250 per month towards food and drink and another £250 towards bills. They probably want to save £500 per month towards an annual holiday. That leaves us with £2254.66 to spend.
Now if we assume our headteacher is driving something nice and respectable but boring, that's worth £20,000 as a trade in - that means we need to find £40,000.
Incidentally that is the maximum loan at www.carfinance247.co.uk/car-loans
That £40,000 over 5 years works out a 60 payments of £786.23. That's paying 6.9% APR meaning the finance costs just over £7000 - which isn't too bad.
It means we're down to £1468.43 per month.
So what will it be like to insure? I ran my own details through a comparison site, simply swapping 'Headteacher' for my real career. The results looked promising!
Image Source:- Compare the Market
£734.58 I could live with. That works out at £61.22 per month. Leaving us with £1407.21. Getting 10 mpg (Because what Headteacher wouldn't want a nice country road blat after a hard day in education?) and paying £1.18 for petrol, we get a cost of £5,364.39 for 10,000 miles. That makes £447.03 per month. We now have £960.18 per month to play with. Tax isn't too bad at £315, that makes £26.25 per month. leaving £933.93 a month.
So actually, it's looking like a headteacher COULD drive a Lambo?
Yes, but we ought to factor in a few more things. Tyres are NOT cheap for these cars. Realistically we need to budget one set per 12 months at £826 per tyre. That's £3304 for a set. Or £275.33 per month. That means we're down to £658.60 per month.
On a bad year I think you could spend £3500 on maintenance and servicing. That's £291.66 per month. Leaving £366.94 per month.
Still sounds reasonable! So should the headteacher go for this?
Of that I'm not so sure. There will be SOME kids who you gave a detention to, or ticked off for chewing gum, or expelled... Who might NOT be so impressed by your new found love of junior supercars.
What if one of these miscreants kicks off your wing mirrors? On your Audi it was a pain and quite pricey, but it's going to be WORSE on this thing. Let's assume you work at a tough school and have to budget for £3000 worth of vandalism per year. That's £250 per month. Leaving £116.94 going spare.
So technically the headteacher COULD drive a Lambo?
Yup, I reckon so.
Image source:- Auto Trader
I think it'd be a really positive image upgrade for parents to see this in the space reserved for the headmaster:-
Image Source :- Auto Trader
Even the rebellious teens who think it's cool to be anti-authority would sneak a peak at your engine if you opened the hood - just to check your water levels of course. Not to show off or anything...
Image Source:- Autotrader
The downside of course is some of the kids will STILL think you're just trying too hard and mock you for it. You may also find that you simply can't avoid ordering a couple of prefects and a teaching assistant to stand and guard your car during break times and lunch. Some parents will think your cool, but sadly most of the mums will think you're a flash git, a show off and really pretentious. They might think you're compensating for something...
It's going to be swings and round-abouts. You COULD afford it, but it'll cost you dearly. You will definitely win respect from SOME people, but you'll probably lose respect from some others.
Martyn Stanley
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Comments (26)
Redo the insurance but replace your well paying job of “Company director” with a “Headteacher” and see the higher insurance premium.
Really? I wonder why that is?🤔 is thinkthe head’s car would be much more probeto car park damage. I wonder how much it is for a 20 something footballer?🤔
I think that definitely would be a start of the reasoning, plus a head teacher with no engineering background, suggesting limited car knowledge, wouldn’t sit well with them knowing how to maintain an old Lamborghini. For a young...
Read moreThe Head of my son's Academy can definitely afford a Lamborghini. But given she built the school with some of her gigantic lottery win, she could probably afford to buy a Urus as a daily, an Aventador for the weekends, and, if she's the type to be precious about her cars, a Huracan for track days.
That is such an awesome thing ti do with a lotto win! Whoever she is - she rocks!
Yup, it's a fantastic school too.
Who cares what anyone else thinks about what you drive, drive what you like.
So would you go for a Gallardo if you were a head teacher? 🤔
No, I just wouldn't risk it getting the car damaged.
That would defo be a risk.
Imagine I put a F to a student BC either he's a lazyass or just didn't study, getting mirrors damaged or the paint Keyed ? No thanks, I rather drive a Vauxhall nova in a beater state and not worry a lot about the damage.
Makes you wonder when you see people driving very expensive cars, how much they earn.
And then I cry
It could be they are just really happy to be in debt and spend every spare penny on their motor... 🤔