Should I talk my mother in law out of this?

[gr1340]

My MIL owns a 2008 Honda Civic 1.4 petrol with just 32k on the clock that she has had from new and always serviced on the button at Honda.

During the service she spotted a brand new blue Civic 1.4 diesel and was offered 6k trade in and a balance of 11k to pay to change. The reason she wants to change is that she doesn't want to lose anymore money on it in depreciation.

Obviously she doesn't do a lot of miles and she isn't a car lover really, just an a to b type owner. An example of this is the trip computer has the same mileage as the odometer (no idea how to reset) and I am pretty sure she doesn't understand all the Eco lights that appear at a certain rev range.

So, should I talk her out of it? Yes, it's her money but she has taken the big hit already, chucking another 11k into the mix will just leave her in the same situation in 5 years time but without 11k in the bank. I just don't feel that she is spending her hard earned cash for no benefit.

Am I right or should I leave her to her own devices?

[gr1340]

ging84 said:

Does not want to lose any more money in depreciation, so buys new car instead

I couldn't understand the depreciation comment either.

Anyways, I think we have talked her out of it.

Thanks for your help. I'm off to trade in my £500 Puma for a £20,000 Golf TDI as it can do over twice the MPG and will surely save me money.

[gr1340]

IanCress said:

That's the spirit! Ask your MiL for some cash as well, she's got £11k free, i've heard.

Its ok, I have a payday loan lined up as I won't have to pay it back for 30 days and its only 17500% APR. Thats a car for 30 days for free.