How would you would finance a car, in this situation?

[pistonoobs]

This might be a bit of a long one, so if you're bored easily, go back to the topic list i guess!

I have cash, £22k.

I have a car which i want to get rid of. Trade in value is £2k (max).

I want an E90 Touring, 330d with lots of extra's (nav/xenons etc), however, for the mileage/year, this will cost close to £17k.

Im looking at moving house (mine is up for sale), so if i sell mine, i'll need as much money in the bank to put towards a new house, as i'm looking to buy something worth more than what my lender will give me (so the cash in the bank, plus any profit from the current house, will essentially 'top up' the mortgage to meet the cost of the house. Eg: House is 200k, lender will give me 150k, 30k profit on current house, 20k cash to meet the final cost). Obviously house purchase is far from complete (i've only had one viewer on my house), and i dont know the full value of anything i will be buying yet.

I've looked at reducing my car budget to about 11k (meaning i'd spend about 9k with my trade in), but i cannot find a nice enough car/what i want for this money.

If this were you what would you do? Throw the savings into the car and leave nothing in reserve (im really not sure i want to do this)?

Get some sort of a bank loan? Finance agreement?

My monthly outgoings are fairly small at the moment (about 45% of my monthly wage, mortgage included) but im unsure how much this will change if i get a new house. As a result, i don't want monthly payments that would obliterate my monthly wage either.

I know this sounds confusing, and part of me thinks i should just go and buy a bit of a banger, but the problems with my current car frustrate me and i want a little security from having something newer with less useage behind it.

Any sensible ideas?

[pistonoobs]

Chrisw666 said:

This, 100%. When moving into a new home I wouldn't want a finance commitment for something I didn't need and would want as much cash free as possible.

I don't predict i'll sell my house this year though.

My own vehicle also has questionable reliability, and is costing me a fair bit in petrol at the moment.

C.A.R. said:

But if your dream car for your money is a diesel estate with toys I worry for you. There are literally thousands of different cars you could consider at half or even a quarter of your budget.

All of which i dont like. I'll buy what i want

[pistonoobs]

sleep envy said:

Have you budgeted for stamp duty, agents and legal fees and other incidentals with the property sale/purchase?

Pretty much. The difficulty is, i've not even started looking for a house to buy, firstly because mine is unsold, and secondly because i dont think mine will sell until next year, and i dont want to start viewing people's houses 'for something to do'. As a result all my figures are a bit rough, but budgeted for the highest i can afford. Anything less is a bonus.

The numbers i gave in the example were vague, but i can break them down if needs be, according to my own calculations anyway.

[pistonoobs]

mike9009 said:

I love this bit of Man Maths. My car is costing me a bit in petrol, so I will spunk £17k on a new 'efficient' car..... £17k buys a lot of petrol!

It's kind of man maths, but it's also a car which is now such a pile of ste, that it frustrates me just to get in it now, due to the sheer number of faults it has.

I've had new-ish cars before and never had a single problem with any of them, and i suppose this is where some of my logic (rational or not) creeps in. This bag of bks is 8 years old and still in double-figure mileage, and im sure it was an 'let the apprentice build it on saturday afternoon while we all go to the boozer' car.

[pistonoobs]

em177 said:

What is current car out of interest?

Mondeo.

[pistonoobs]

Ok, so i've had a think about it, and although it pains me to admit, PH is probably right.

Im still getting rid of the mondeo however, so am no looking a Vectra 1.9d Estates. If i can get a nice colour, with nav, that should do. I hear these engines will easily run at 45mpg which will be amazing.

I've set my budget to £7k max (part-ex including) so the very max cash i'll be spending is 5k.

That 5k i can make up in no time i reckon. Even if my house sold tomorrow, i'll still have a couple of months or so i guess to sort finances out, and i've got a fair amount of double time to earn over xmas & new year.

I hope this plan meets the satisfaction of the ph collective massive

[pistonoobs]

Bill said:

PaperCut said:

May i ask; what petrol Mondeo with 'lots of faults' has a trade value of £2k! I assume it's fairly young car?

And what are the faults? You could probably get them fixed for a couple of months depreciation on the Beemer.

And how many miles do you do?

St220.

• Gearbox sometimes wont engage reverse
• Parking sensors dont work
• Water leaks into the boot
• Heated rear screen broken
• Knocking starting to come from rear suspension when going over bumps (i assume a problem with the bushes? - common i believe)
• Porous front wheels
• Numerous 'minor' faults inside the cabin, such as broken trim, switches and broken buttons.

I also suspect clutch death will be due in the next 10-15k, and i believe it's an easier job to change the orbit of the moon. It has a few other intermittent faults too, like stalling on full lock at slow speeds, and a horrible grinding noise from the starter motor and fail to start now and again too.

The only 'solid' bit i've never had a problem with is the engine itself, other than a split hose.

I do about 12k miles per year. I know people that will scoff at me for wanting a diesel at just 12k per year, but when the 220 does 24mpg, what am i gaining by buying a 1.8/2.0 petrol that manages 30 mpg?

Edited by pistonoobs on Wednesday 10th October 22:18