How often do you change your car?
Discussion
Basically,
My family think I'm an idiot because I've owned 3 cars in the past year, I had another car a month ago and I'm bored of it already so I want to change it and get a cheaper car (current car is worth £17k and new one will be about 10k) but a car that's still as fun to drive.
Also swapping my cars within a couple of months means it won't depreciate much...
Am I an idiot?
My family think I'm an idiot because I've owned 3 cars in the past year, I had another car a month ago and I'm bored of it already so I want to change it and get a cheaper car (current car is worth £17k and new one will be about 10k) but a car that's still as fun to drive.
Also swapping my cars within a couple of months means it won't depreciate much...
Am I an idiot?
It really depends on how you are swapping cars so quickly, if you are part exchanging and therefore taking a hit on every car then arguably, that is a bit idiotic but then I am sure you wouldn't do it if you couldn't afford it so why not.
If you are selling privately then it shouldn't really matter as you're not losing anything apart from the small amounts of depreciation on each car.
However if you get bored of a car that quick I do wonder just how much research you are doing beforehand as that just sounds like impulse buying or "I like the look of that so i'll buy it", if you did all your research carefully, watched video reviews, took a few test drives read a few forums to really get an overall understanding of the car and the general opinion of others you may find you last a bit longer..
I am a b
d for research on any car purchase I make I spend days researching to the point where when I bought my current car (A 2.0TSI Scirocco) I was telling them about it rather than the other way round, they immediately saw I knew exactly what I was doing, didn't try to bullst me and I got an excellent deal out of it as a result and I'm made up with the car.
I personally have always changed cars around ever 18 months which is also a pretty short time I guess.
If you are selling privately then it shouldn't really matter as you're not losing anything apart from the small amounts of depreciation on each car.
However if you get bored of a car that quick I do wonder just how much research you are doing beforehand as that just sounds like impulse buying or "I like the look of that so i'll buy it", if you did all your research carefully, watched video reviews, took a few test drives read a few forums to really get an overall understanding of the car and the general opinion of others you may find you last a bit longer..
I am a b
d for research on any car purchase I make I spend days researching to the point where when I bought my current car (A 2.0TSI Scirocco) I was telling them about it rather than the other way round, they immediately saw I knew exactly what I was doing, didn't try to bullst me and I got an excellent deal out of it as a result and I'm made up with the car.I personally have always changed cars around ever 18 months which is also a pretty short time I guess.
I don't think you're an idiot at all, I change mine every 2-3 years but only because I'm not massively fussed about swapping about. If you want to change cars, go for it! I probably lose as much or even more by keeping for 3 years than you do. I lost £13k in 18 months on my last and have so far lost approx £15k in 2 years on my current.
tyranical said:
It really depends on how you are swapping cars so quickly, if you are part exchanging and therefore taking a hit on every car then arguably, that is a bit idiotic but then I am sure you wouldn't do it if you couldn't afford it so why not.
If you are selling privately then it shouldn't really matter as you're not losing anything apart from the small amounts of depreciation on each car.
However if you get bored of a car that quick I do wonder just how much research you are doing beforehand as that just sounds like impulse buying or "I like the look of that so i'll buy it", if you did all your research carefully, watched video reviews, took a few test drives read a few forums to really get an overall understanding of the car and the general opinion of others you may find you last a bit longer..
I am a bd for research on any car purchase I make I spend days researching to the point where when I bought my current car (A 2.0TSI Scirocco) I was telling them about it rather than the other way round, they immediately saw I knew exactly what I was doing, didn't try to bullst me and I got an excellent deal out of it as a result and I'm made up with the car.
I personally have always changed cars around ever 18 months which is also a pretty short time I guess.
Thanks for the great response,If you are selling privately then it shouldn't really matter as you're not losing anything apart from the small amounts of depreciation on each car.
However if you get bored of a car that quick I do wonder just how much research you are doing beforehand as that just sounds like impulse buying or "I like the look of that so i'll buy it", if you did all your research carefully, watched video reviews, took a few test drives read a few forums to really get an overall understanding of the car and the general opinion of others you may find you last a bit longer..
I am a b
d for research on any car purchase I make I spend days researching to the point where when I bought my current car (A 2.0TSI Scirocco) I was telling them about it rather than the other way round, they immediately saw I knew exactly what I was doing, didn't try to bullst me and I got an excellent deal out of it as a result and I'm made up with the car.I personally have always changed cars around ever 18 months which is also a pretty short time I guess.
I would be selling it privately and attempting to get how much I paid for mine (obviously lose a little).
I was looking at reviews for a long time before I bought it and watching loads of youtube videos on it, all were great. The problem I had was choosing whether to get a Focus RS or the S4 (Happy I chose the S4 over it still) but now I've decided I don't really need a big saloon car and would probably enjoy a coupe more even if it's not as fast - Maybe a SLK or BMW 6 series.
If I'm honest the main reason I would want to swap it is because I like a change and to feel the difference.
I can get itchy feet within a few months, but try to resist changing before a year or so. Recently I've been looking at the savings I've been building up to tide me through retirement (I'm 32) and thinking they would look much better as an additional car parked outside my house. The comments on this thread aren't helping that urge.
When I bought cheaper cars and done higher commuting mileage I changed cars around every 2 to 3 years. When I could afford to buy something a bit newer I started keeping them longer. My last 2 cars were about 4years each. I've had my current car 3years with no plans to get rid. I tend to stick with what I've got if its reliable. This was after I got rid of a reliable car and replaced it with something I had bother with after the first week. Sort of put me off chopping and changing after that. I've also found I've begun to hate car hunting, so even when I do need a new one I put it off for as long as possible.
Had current car for 6½ years and previous car for 3 years. Will probably change in the next few months but intend to keep next car for 5 years or so. Rather enjoy driving a car I know really well but small shortcomings do tend to irate when a car is kept for a long time so I just try to dwell on the good points of the car. Bought the car for £10½K and its now worth a little over £3K on 83K miles, so lost £7½K in depreciation over 6½ years, but total unscheduled repair costs (not including servicing, tyres, wipers, etc.) have been less than £300. I have a friend who buys a brand new car every 2 years and loses more than £7½K every time.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff