Basic Trope: A character owns a car much more expensive that he/she should be able to afford with his/her job.
- Straight: Alice is a supermarket cashier, yet owns a brand-new Porsche 911.
- Exaggerated: Alice is jobless, yet drives a Formula One racecar.
- Downplayed: Alice is a clothing factory worker, yet owns a late-model Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
- Justified:
- Alice has decided to spend a larger than average portion of income on her car.
- Alice has another source of income.
- Alice had saved up for the car for a long time.
- Alice had inherited the car.
- It's not Alice's car.
- The car is cheaper than it looks.
- Alice had bought a used one after it had lost most of its value.
- Alice had bought the car before the prices spiked up.
- Alice's car is a cheap trim version.
- The car is a rental.
- Alice needs the car for her job.
- Alice is a car reviewer and is reviewing that one.
- Alice is actually a racing car driver.
- Alice stole the car from Emperor Evulz.
- Alice built the car.
- Alice got the car from Bob Barker.
- Alice doesn't actually need a job, other than to have something to spend her time on.
- Alice was awarded Bob's car. question
- Inverted:Alice is an executive manager, yet owns a 30-year-old Ford Escort.
- Subverted:
- Alice is an accountant and owns an used Lexus ES.
- Alice's car is a Shoddy Knockoff Product. note
- Double Subverted:
- A gold-plated, late-model one. Or a sleeper.
- Even if is considered a "shoddy knockoff", it's only from a strictly comparative view with the car it is duplicating and still is not the kind of car an average Joe would think of purchasing (and maybe the legality of purchasing is an even shadier issue).
- Parodied: Alice is jobless and is paying a lot of debts back, yet has a limitless fleet of Ferraris to her disposal.
- Zig-Zagged: Alice changes an improbably expensive car for a more probable one.
- Averted:
- Alice is an accountant and owns a Honda Accord.
- Alice doesn't have a car.
- Enforced: The writer wanted Alice to look nicer with the help of a Cool Car.
- Or the IP holders demanded Alice have either a Toyetic Theme Mobile or the new model their main advertiser just brought to market.
- Lampshaded: Alice is an accountant and chooses between a Bentley and a Ferrari as an episode plot.
- Invoked: Alice knows people think that her car is too expensive for her.
- Exploited: Alice wouldn't have escaped a chase if she had a car more fitting to her income.
- Defied: Alice only dreams about such a car.
- Discussed: "Don't you think an accountant shouldn't have a Lamborghini?"
- Conversed: "Writers should check how much the character cars are worth in real life."
- Deconstructed: Alice has the car repossessed because she can't afford it.
- Reconstructed: She tells the repo man to piss off and still drives the car.
- Played for Laughs: Alice can't even explain how did she get such an expensive car.
- Played for Drama: Alice can't keep up with her car loan payment, so she loses the car.
- Played For Horror:
- The stresses of maintaining such an excessive car drives Alice to kill herself.
- Same as the above, but she decides to kill Bob to earn enough money from the Insurance Scam to pay for the car.
- Alice is a Serial Killer and the car is one of her "trophies".
- Implied: Alice's car isn't seen on screen but Bob says, "Hey, Alice, you have a surprisingly nice car."
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