640D depreciation

[JNW1]

converted lurker said:

What I said is that in the cars I had looked at the deals available seemed cheapest for a straight purchase despite the enthusiasm of the sales people to enter into a finance arrangement of one form or another and that having experienced this I was now free of a nagging doubt I had been having that all these other people using PCP's etc knew something that I didn't. They don't. They just can't afford to buy their cars outright.

So if someone uses finance to buy their car it's purely because they can't afford to buy it outright? In many instances I don't doubt that's true but, as has been illustrated several times on this thread, it's not always the case. Over the last six months there have been personal lease deals available on both the BMW M135i and Golf R which, IMHO, made more financial sense than outright purchase even if you had the funds to do the latter. Why they were there - and who was accepting a reduction in their margin to subsidise them - I don't know but they certainly existed because I got a quote myself on the Golf via Leaseplan. In that instance the repayments over two years were almost certainly less than the likely depreciation on the car if you'd bought it new at the best discounted price available (which was from Drive the Deal at the time); therefore, why would you buy outright in that situation?

As I say, I'm sure that in many instances people do indeed use finance in order to run a better car than they'd otherwise be driving but just because someone uses finance doesn't necessarily mean they can't afford to buy outright - could just be a case of choosing to use their money in a different way from you!

[daemon]

converted lurker said:

Ok, I got it a while ago that you think that everything I write is me trying to boast on the internet to people I have never met and will never speak to.

That's a pity. I'm very sad about that. Now I'm over it.

You clearly have been a very active member of this forum for a very long time and feel a sense of ownership over it. However, I note you are not a moderator, so quite why you feel enfranchised to keep querying and questioning and criticising other posters motivations, attitudes or intentions is beyond me.

But you keep questioning other peoples? Its a forum. People have opinons. People debate those opinions. Thats how forums work. You will have noticed that i am not the only one who has questioned your conclusion that "people only use PCP because they cant afford to pay with cash" and "PCP / Lease dealers can never be cheaper than buying cash", when even on this short thread you've been given various examples to the contrary.

converted lurker said:

My friend, whatever wealth I may have is easily dwarfed by the man just around the corner who in turn is a pauper compared the man just across the street. You would have to be a very sad person to use an online discussion forum thread about diesel saloon cars to boast about your life. Frankly to even perceive that as happening suggests there might be a chip on ones shoulder.

Converted

Nope. No chip. Just bemused at how much personal information you've had to "drop in" to the thread. And bemused how much effort you go to to avoid accepting what other people are saying.

[converted lurker]

Perhaps if you hadn't started snide comments about strongly built company directors I wouldn't have felt the need to illustrate the truth with personal details?

In general I believe I am correct. All that keeps getting illustrated is that some people have been able to pounce on finance promotions during short windows on specific and high end niche models and by doing so may have beaten a cash deal. This is by no means illustrative of cars in general or me looking for a 530d without sports seats. I believe the vast majority of PCP type deals are more expensive than a cash deal. I believe most of those making those deals are doing so because they don't have the cash available.

There are always exceptions to every rule and you'd be mad to caveat everything you wrote on the web to that effect.

[daemon]

converted lurker said:

Perhaps if you hadn't started snide comments about strongly built company directors I wouldn't have felt the need to illustrate the truth with personal details?

I thought you just said you'd have to be quite a sad person to have to need to disclose such information on the internet to people you dont know?

converted lurker said:

In general I believe I am correct. All that keeps getting illustrated is that some people have been able to pounce on finance promotions during short windows on specific and high end niche models and by doing so may have beaten a cash deal.

Yup - examples that clearly show that on occasions you can get a better deal than not using your own Hard Earned - thats all we've been trying to tell you. Glad the penny is starting to drop.

converted lurker said:

This is by no means illustrative of cars in general or me looking for a 530d without sports seats.

Exactly. I've already said you'd be crazy to be looking at a PCP or lease deal on a new 530d / 535d given the miles you do. I've already said you'd be better doing as you were talking about on another thread - buying an early f10 whereby you wont take a massive bath on depreciation.

converted lurker said:

I believe the vast majority of PCP type deals are more expensive than a cash deal. I believe most of those making those deals are doing so because they don't have the cash available.

I believe that quite a few are more expensive than cash, i believe that quite a few are "there or there abouts" with cash, and some work out cheaper than cash.

I believe that you dont "have to have" the cash available to drive a new or nearly new BMW and i think that if you're careful, you're not going to be any worse off than if you did.

Also, you have to ask "at what cost" would someone be able to have cash available? Would they have a higher mortgage, would they have had to drive an old car for a considerable time to save the cash, or would they have had to cut back on other areas of their life to fund a cash purchase? Again its about an individuals personal circumstance and where their priorities lie. Personally i could think of nothing worse than dumping £35K in cash into a car thats going to be worth half that in three years time. A controlled monthly payment makes a lot more sense to me - particularly given the cash we would otherwise have had has allowed us to build the home we have and live in the level of comfort we do, and not having to do a particularly stressful job and being able to do an eight hour day and come home and forget about it. Thats not a boast - just where our priorities are compared to 5 or 10 years ago.

Edited by daemon on Saturday 3rd May 15:24

[JNW1]

converted lurker said:

I believe the vast majority of PCP type deals are more expensive than a cash deal. I believe most of those making those deals are doing so because they don't have the cash available.

Agreed, as a general rule I'm sure you're right! However, savvy people who like their cars - and there a number of those on this website - will do more homework and probably have more inclination to seek out the good deals than the average car buyer. Yes the time window on deals on individual models is often relatively short but they're invariably replaced by another on something else; for example, as the offers on the M135i came to an end the ones on the Golf R started. Over the last 12 months I'm also aware there have been good deals to be done on the old M3, the M5 and the C63 and I'm sure people more in the know could quote many more examples. My only contention is that where those deals exist outright purchase isn't necessarily the most cost effective way to drive the vehicle even if you have the cash to do it that way!