5 cars you can buy on South Africa’s new minimum wage

From 1 March 2024, the minimum wage in South Africa will rise to R27.58 per hour, an 8.5% increase over the current rate of R25.42 per hour.

Over a standard eight-hour day, employees earning minimum wage will now earn R220.64 per day, which equates to approximately R4,633 per month accounting for an average of 21 working days.

We know that to budget for a car responsibly, you shouldn’t spend more than 20% of your monthly salary on vehicle payments.

Therefore, the average person earning minimum wage will have R927 per month to spend on a car finance payment if they don’t want to stretch their finances too thin.

Using the following parameters we can determine what a vehicle should cost to be within this budget:

• Contract length – 72 months (6 years)
• Interest – 11.75%
• Deposit – 0%
• Balloon – No balloon payment
• Extras – No optional extras

According to this deal structure, a person earning minimum wage in South Africa can afford a car that retails for a maximum of R43,000.

Unfortunately, there are no new vehicles available for this selling price, meaning these consumers must look to the pre-owned market for a potential purchase.

Used rides for R43,000

We took to AutoTrader to see which cars are available at the time of writing with a purchase price of R43,000 or less, with five of these options detailed below.

It must be noted that this is neither an endorsement of these vehicles nor their respective dealers, it is simply to provide a picture of the types of cars one will be able to buy with the minimum wage in South Africa.

Before making a financially binding decision, inspect the vehicle in person and take it for a test drive to prove that it lives up to what its seller purports it to be, and don’t take any advertisements at face value.

2013 Honda Brio Hatch 1.2 Comfort

• Price – R42,900
• Mileage – 333,000km
• Service history – None

2001 VW Golf 4 1.6 Trendline

• Price – R42,900
• Mileage – 308,000km
• Service history – None

2000 Volvo V40 2.0T

• Price – R39,995
• Mileage – 209,000km
• Service history – None

1995 Opel Astra 160i

• Price – R39,900
• Mileage – 290,000km
• Service history – Complete

1995 Toyota Camry 300 SEi Auto

• Price – R39,900
• Mileage – 161,000km
• Service history – None