Pathologist's Cars

[Unty]

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I thought this would be an interesting/funny/superficial thread. So what cars do your attendings drive. I've seen docs driving Benz's, cardiac surgeons driving Porsches, BMWs. It seems like most Pathologists are happy driving less luxurious cars like Camry's, Hondas. Why so?

 

[LADoc00]

I thought this would be an interesting/funny/superficial thread. So what cars do your attendings drive. I've seen docs driving Benz's, cardiac surgeons driving Porsches, BMWs. It seems like most Pathologists are happy driving less luxurious cars like Camry's, Hondas. Why so?

I drive a very nice car atm but I am really thinking about that new Jeep limited ed. Call of Duty Black Ops model.

 

[Gene_]

20 year old F-150.

 

[Entgegen]

Of the PP pathologists I know, I know the rides of only 2. One drives a GMC SUV of some sort, perhaps a Yukon. The other drives a Mazda 3 or 6...one of the two. Both make plenty to afford more expensive cars, but both are of a more practical mindset.

 

[caffeinegirl]

A car is an expression of your personality as well..I know pathologists with everything from a Camry to a Lambo....

 

[CameronFrye]

I've been told that some private practice pathology groups limit the amount of money you can spend on a car (or house). It's actually written into your contract.

 

[green mantis]

Most of my attendings during training didn't drive particularly expensive cars. A number of them had Priuses. You could almost say that the residents / fellows probably had nicer cars.

Personally, I'd still be driving my 96 Civic if it hadn't gotten stolen when I was in fellowship.


----- Antony

 

[BU Pathology]

I thought this would be an interesting/funny/superficial thread. So what cars do your attendings drive. I've seen docs driving Benz's, cardiac surgeons driving Porsches, BMWs. It seems like most Pathologists are happy driving less luxurious cars like Camry's, Hondas. Why so?

I was giving a depostion once and the attorney asked a question to try and portray me as a money grubbing charlatan, even though all the money went to the University. It appeared to be a standard question that he asked in all his pre-trial depostions. The depostion went something like this, although the quotes may not be exact:

Lawyer: What type of car did you drive to work today?

Me: I rode in an $80,000 vehicle this morning.

Lawyer: That is a very expensive car, you must be paid extremely well for the work you do.

Me: I rode the bus into work this morning.

True story.

 

[LADoc00]

I've been told that some private practice pathology groups limit the amount of money you can spend on a car (or house). It's actually written into your contract.

gah, what? I call BS on this.

Of course, the idiocy of some pathology groups knows no bounds whatsoever so anything is possible.

 

[LADoc00]

I was giving a depostion once and the attorney asked a question to try and portray me as a money grubbing charlatan, even though all the money went to the University. It appeared to be a standard question that he asked in all his pre-trial depostions. The depostion went something like this, although the quotes may not be exact:

Lawyer: What type of car did you drive to work today?

Me: I rode in an $80,000 vehicle this morning.

Lawyer: That is a very expensive car, you must be paid extremely well for the work you do.

Me: I rode the bus into work this morning.

True story.

Thats fairly off topic, Ive never experienced such hostility in a depo before here in California. Ouch, but nice retort.

 

[CameronFrye]

gah, what? I call BS on this.

Of course, the idiocy of some pathology groups knows no bounds whatsoever so anything is possible.

Yeah, I was told this by a friend who went through the job search recently. Another restriction was that you couldn't buy a second home within a certain proximity. It was evidently to not draw attention to how much money they were making. (Similar to how the "average pathologist salary" on these surveys seems to be much less than what I hear from people who are actually in private practice)

 

[gbwillner]

I was giving a depostion once and the attorney asked a question to try and portray me as a money grubbing charlatan, even though all the money went to the University. It appeared to be a standard question that he asked in all his pre-trial depostions. The depostion went something like this, although the quotes may not be exact:

Lawyer: What type of car did you drive to work today?

Me: I rode in an $80,000 vehicle this morning.

Lawyer: That is a very expensive car, you must be paid extremely well for the work you do.

Me: I rode the bus into work this morning.

True story.

so... I'm confused.... did you ride in a car or take the bus that day??? Did they hold you in contempt of court?

 

[stickyshift]

so... I'm confused.... did you ride in a car or take the bus that day??? Did they hold you in contempt of court?

An $80,000 bus.

 

[twentyone]

Does Porsche even make a minivan?

 

[Pingu]

Does Porsche even make a minivan?

The Porsche Cayenne is a small SUV/Crossover along the lines of the Lexus RX350. They recently came out with the Panamera which is a four door sedan.

I've seen pathologists drive a variety of cars from a prius to an M5. I actually have two cars, a Lexus SUV and a Jaguar convertible, but the Jaguar was a gift from my parents.

 

[2121115]

I've been told that some private practice pathology groups limit the amount of money you can spend on a car (or house). It's actually written into your contract.

Bwahahahhahahahhahahahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If that was written into my contract I would be like GTFO.

 

[bluesdude]

One of our attendings has a BMW X6. The rest drive pretty ordinary cars (Nissan, Toyota).

Mind you, here in Australia due to "luxury car tax" anything above an average car in insanely expensive. The Maserati (Grancabrio) I posted a pic of in another thread , is around 340000 AUD. I think it's close to 140000 in the US.

 

[cjw0918]

Head of AP- Ford F-150
Head of surg path- Toyota Corolla
VA pathologist- Audi S4
VA pathologist- Ford F-150 and Mazda miata
Fellows- Toyota Corolla, Honda Element, and Honda Accord

We are a sad bunch with the exception of the Audi. 🙂

 

[yaah]

My group has mostly unassuming cars. One drives a 10 year old minivan, a couple have acura or infiniti sedans, others have ford sedans or small SUVs. I roll out in a traverse. The attendings at other places in the area tend to have nicer cars, usually academics.

The most popular doctor cars from what I can tell tend to be Hondas (residents and many attendings) and Acuras (grown-up Honda). Ford fusion is becoming very popular also. Lexus and BMW are very popular among the internists it seems. The nicest cars regularly in the lot are high-end BMWs and a couple of Escalades. One guy has a nice older Corvette. I think he's in anesthesia.

 

[FutureDoctor317]

All the doctor parking lots I have seen tend to contain pretty crappy cars. My undergrad parking lot had nicer cars than most doctor lots. I personally would love to get a S-class mercedes when I become an attending, but looking at my loans that will probably never happen.

 

[Unty]

OK so what's up with all the F150s?

The megamillions now is at 355 million. Anyone wanna chip in for tickets and win this thing? We can all split the jackpot and all this about the crappy job market can go to h*ll.

 

[pathstudent]

I drive a 1969 mercedes 280 sl. It is a huge beater. I bought it in med school for 1500 and spent about 15000 on repairs over the last ten yeArs. Stupid huh? Bit chicks dig it. At least art school chicks do.

 

[stickyshift]

Shareholders in our practice drive BMW 7-series, flagship Jaguar, Porsche 911, Escalades, Audi A6, Mercedes SUV, Volvo XCountry and a Pontiac . . . Cost of living in our area is low.

 

[dermpathdoc]

I thought this would be an interesting/funny/superficial thread. So what cars do your attendings drive. I've seen docs driving Benz's, cardiac surgeons driving Porsches, BMWs. It seems like most Pathologists are happy driving less luxurious cars like Camry's, Hondas. Why so?

first new car post fellowship was a flamenco red JagXJS convertible, the car of my dreams...completely unreliable in east coast Noreasters of which we had at least 1-2 each year after i bought it, then switch to Lexus RX series..300 and 330..much better especially for PNW long drives on freeways...across the cascades
😀

 

[KCShaw]

I knew one attending who rode a dusty old bicycle to work, in Canada. He lived at least a few miles away, dunno exactly how far. I was only around for about a month so I dunno what he did in the winter either, though I rather suspect a bicycle wouldn't quite cut it.

 

[Autopsy101]

I drove an 11 year old ford Mustang until recently. I got a 4 door Jeep Wrangler Sahara (which I love, especially the 4 wheel drive this winter). I needed something more practical for hauling around kids and coming in for frozens in the middle of the night during blizzards.

Other department members - Honda element, toyota minivan, toyota RAV 4, Acura SUV, Toyota Camry, and a VW.

 

[Cleavername]

do u guys think the situation with these docs who drive common cars, by that i mean 10-30k range cars, is that they cant efford more expensive ones? or they just dont plain want them because they dont see the need for them?

 

[2121115]

do u guys think the situation with these docs who drive common cars, by that i mean 10-30k range cars, is that they cant efford more expensive ones? or they just dont plain want them because they dont see the need for them?

The attendings at my program ate bread and coffee for lunch everyday and drove Corollas. Not kidding. They looked hungry most of the time. I'm talking kwashiorkor and marasmus here. One said he lived better when he was a resident because now he has to keep food in the mouths of his 3 kids. His wife had taken up a job keeping some kids from the neighborhood and he was working weekends at home depot stocking shelves when he wasn't covering frozens. When I asked how it got that way he just mumbled and said something about the economy and how if he had to do it all over things would be different, that he would "be somebody". One of his old residency classmates who had gone into private practice had recently approached him with an "Indecent Proposal" type of offer, $1 million for one night with his wife. At that point he said he had to at least consider it given his financial situation but it hurt him a little that his wife was on board 100%.

 

[Cleavername]

The attendings at my program ate bread and coffee for lunch everyday and drove Corollas. Not kidding. They looked hungry most of the time. I'm talking kwashiorkor and marasmus here. One said he lived better when he was a resident because now he has to keep food in the mouths of his 3 kids. His wife had taken up a job keeping some kids from the neighborhood and he was working weekends at home depot stocking shelves when he wasn't covering frozens. When I asked how it got that way he just mumbled and said something about the economy and how if he had to do it all over things would be different, that he would "be somebody". One of his old residency classmates who had gone into private practice had recently approached him with an "Indecent Proposal" type of offer, $1 million for one night with his wife. At that point he said he had to at least consider it given his financial situation but it hurt him a little that his wife was on board 100%.

my step dad use to raise a family of 3 by him self, he was a blue collar worker who was making 100k-ish dollars per year. and he seemed to live fine. is the physican u say here working in academia? has his career solidified to the point of where he cannot gain more advancement? does this person live in a high cost of living area? does he have massive student loans to pay off from the start? also more importantly how much $$$ was he taking in per year roughly?

i know i just shot a barrage of questions at you and they seem annoyingly personal, but i think those info are in order before any judgement can be made of this person and the financial position of being a doc in general.

 

[KCShaw]

The folk I've known making big private bank seemed to be split in having a plush ride versus an old comfortably practical ride. For the most part I don't think those with a simpler ride gave a rats. In pathology one generally has considerably fewer people to impress, compared to clinicians who may feel they need to show off a little for their clientele (I know what I'm doing, see, I drive a nice car?). Having said that, I've known plenty of clinicians over the years who do well but have a simple ride. But I suspect a -few- keep it skinny because of finances -- moving, a new house, paying off massive loans, while trying to keep some savings just ain't easy with some salaries.

Of course, if I made an absurd amount of money I'd probably have a bigger house and flashier vehicle. I dunno that I'd be in a sedan or sports car (black, well chromed Stingray excepted), but maybe a bigger & newer SUV?

 

[2121115]

my step dad use to raise a family of 3 by him self, he was a blue collar worker who was making 100k-ish dollars per year. and he seemed to live fine. is the physican u say here working in academia? has his career solidified to the point of where he cannot gain more advancement? does this person live in a high cost of living area? does he have massive student loans to pay off from the start? also more importantly how much $$$ was he taking in per year roughly?

i know i just shot a barrage of questions at you and they seem annoyingly personal, but i think those info are in order before any judgement can be made of this person and the financial position of being a doc in general.

100K? With no loans? An academic pathologist would celebrate the day they got such a deal. If I were you I would stay away from pathology and go rads or anesthesia or ophtho. Their attendings have the money to live a good life.

 

[FutureDoctor317]

100K? With no loans? An academic pathologist would celebrate the day they got such a deal. If I were you I would stay away from pathology and go rads or anesthesia or ophtho. Their attendings have the money to live a good life.

As much as loans suck I would still rather have a 200K salary with loans than 100K without loans

 

[Cleavername]

As much as loans suck I would still rather have a 200K salary with loans than 100K without loans

becareful now for what you wish for, it seems that 200k is so much more than 100k, but u should consider ur tax bracket first, because some times all that extra efford to make that 100k before tax wont seem much after tax. its a diminishing returns on $$$.

 

[KCShaw]

It's not generally the 100k jumps that kill you, it's the $9.95 jumps that put you in a new bracket but lower your take-home. In theory.

 

[BU Pathology]

It's not generally the 100k jumps that kill you, it's the $9.95 jumps that put you in a new bracket but lower your take-home. In theory.

Only the income above the tax bracket is taxed at the higher rate, not the entire income. For example, you make $100,000 in 2009 and you are taxed at 25% and you would pay $25,000 in taxes. The tax bracket above $100,000 is 32% and you make $100,010 in 2010. Your tax for 2010 would be 25% of $100,000 and 32% of ten dollars. So your new tax would move from $25,000 to $25,003, not $32,000.

This is the concept of marginal tax rates. Also, this is only an example, please do not use these numbers for income planning purposes. You should seek the advice of a qualified tax professional, which of course usually excludes most posters on SDN.

 

[KCShaw]

Good to know. I'll no longer shy away from a marginal salary boost (hah). Thanks though, I obviously don't know much about taxes beyond the fact I pay them somehow. Which is why I stopped doing my own software supported taxes once I actually started making any money to speak of.

 

[icpshootyz]

Only the income above the tax bracket is taxed at the higher rate, not the entire income. For example, you make $100,000 in 2009 and you are taxed at 25% and you would pay $25,000 in taxes. The tax bracket above $100,000 is 32% and you make $100,010 in 2010. Your tax for 2010 would be 25% of $100,000 and 32% of ten dollars. So your new tax would move from $25,000 to $25,003, not $32,000.

This is the concept of marginal tax rates. Also, this is only an example, please do not use these numbers for income planning purposes. You should seek the advice of a qualified tax professional, which of course usually excludes most posters on SDN.

It actually astounds me how many people don't know that this is how the tax brackets work. All the fuss going on in the media about increasing the highest tax bracket back to pre-Bush levels, yet no one even understands that ONLY the money over $250K is taxed at that increased level, nothing below it. Crazy. There's also people out there that think that you can be taxed so much that you earn less than someone in a lower tax bracket - also not possible if you understand how tax brackets work. But hey, ignorance is bliss.

 

[twentyone]

The attendings at my program ate bread and coffee for lunch everyday and drove Corollas. Not kidding. They looked hungry most of the time. I'm talking kwashiorkor and marasmus here. One said he lived better when he was a resident because now he has to keep food in the mouths of his 3 kids. His wife had taken up a job keeping some kids from the neighborhood and he was working weekends at home depot stocking shelves when he wasn't covering frozens. When I asked how it got that way he just mumbled and said something about the economy and how if he had to do it all over things would be different, that he would "be somebody". One of his old residency classmates who had gone into private practice had recently approached him with an "Indecent Proposal" type of offer, $1 million for one night with his wife. At that point he said he had to at least consider it given his financial situation but it hurt him a little that his wife was on board 100%.

Wow- you so had me. I even bought the Home depot nonsense.

 

[malchik]

There's also people out there that think that you can be taxed so much that you earn less than someone in a lower tax bracket - also not possible if you understand how tax brackets work. But hey, ignorance is bliss.

It can probably happen in the lowest brackets. If you don't earn enough to pay taxes, and you get an earned income credit, plus a child tax credit, you could probably take home more than someone in the lowest bracket who actually pays taxes.

 

[Cleavername]

It actually astounds me how many people don't know that this is how the tax brackets work. All the fuss going on in the media about increasing the highest tax bracket back to pre-Bush levels, yet no one even understands that ONLY the money over $250K is taxed at that increased level, nothing below it. Crazy. There's also people out there that think that you can be taxed so much that you earn less than someone in a lower tax bracket - also not possible if you understand how tax brackets work. But hey, ignorance is bliss.

i am sorry, i am not always the most informed person. so thats how it works, each bracket will be taxed according to its own %, so its not a single % applied to all of the money u earned.

 

[BU Pathology]

Good to know. I'll no longer shy away from a marginal salary boost (hah). Thanks though, I obviously don't know much about taxes beyond the fact I pay them somehow. Which is why I stopped doing my own software supported taxes once I actually started making any money to speak of.

There are many intelligent people who do not understand marginal tax brackets. A recent NY Times article listed recent news articles where even the financial reporters had the concept wrong. Most physicians do not concern themselves with these issues, especially when they are in training.