Buyers remorse, sell car but what to replace it with

[Red Cupra]

Hi all,

A couple of months ago I thought I’d treat myself to a nicer car, After a rough 12 months, it did briefly cheer me up, but having had to take a pay cut and have some time off for a sick family member, I really do need to knuckle down now and get some money behind me as I have eaten in to my cash reserves significantly.

I bought the car with a personal loan of 15k plus 2k cash. The car is probably saleable at 15.5-16.5k, which of course could pay off the loan quite nicely and get rid of the £275 a month expense. Loan settlement figure is 14.5k.

The fuel bill for this car is also around 300-350 a month as I do quite a few miles, so financed and fuelled this car really is costing quite a bit. I want to go from the 6-700 a month expense and at least halve it, which should be doable.

There are two options here;

1. Sell the car and pay off the loan, use remaining 1.5-2.5k to buy a cheap car

2. Sell the car, pay off another loan I’ve got running which paid for our conservatory, of around 7.5k (yes I know, one of the financed lifestyles thread ) and use the remaining 7.5k-ish to buy something a bit better and less of a come down, perhaps more reliable than option 1 with better VED and fuel economy.

What would you do in this situation, bare in mind I’m not absolutely skint and can service my debt levels before the high and mighty PH director brigade show up, I just want to start getting ahead a bit more with savings and pension, work flexibility etc, so need this downgrade to make a change, which is why I went for a loan in the first place vs PCP or PCH so I can change my mind on the purchase.

Also, at both of these price points, any suggestions for a frugal car that isn’t too boring, for circa 25k per year, comfortable enough but nice enough looking, I’m coming from a 300bhp hot hatch so hoping for something that won’t completely bore me to death.

Thank you

Edited by Red Cupra on Sunday 28th July 11:46

[DoubleD]

Did you buy the car privately or from a trader? How would you sell the car?

[Red Cupra]

I bought it from a big reputable dealer, and I’d prefer to sell privately to get the best price, I did try WBAC and Evans Halshaw and EH was the better offer at 14.5k but private sales are higher than that.

[Chestrockwell]

Red Cupra said:

I bought it from a big reputable dealer, and I’d prefer to sell privately to get the best price, I did try WBAC and Evans Halshaw and EH was the better offer at 14.5k but private sales are higher than that.

Private sale could take a while depending on the car! Took me a month to sell my 4 series and I thought it was worth at least 3k more judging by AT prices but it became evident that cars like mine are only bought on finance, even if the rates are ridiculous. People just want to pay a monthly price and drive away.

I ended up selling my car for 500£ more than the WBAC evaluation after I lowered the price. It worked out ok though as I wanted to part ex it first and dealer cars cost 3k more on average. I ended up buying a private car for 3k less when I sold it.

[ZX10R NIN]

Firstly sell the car then workout what you want to do, what I'd do is buy a workhorse that'll last you a good few years then in a years time once your finances are back on track get yourself a second car:

With regard to the workhorse wise I'd be looking to spend around 7.5k for something with around 60k on the clock with a view to keeping it for around four years, with this in mind I'd be looking at these:

Mondeo Titanium X Sport

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

3.0d Infiniti M GT

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

508 GT

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

DS5

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Insignia Elite Nav

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

All the above are very good places to while away 25k a year whilst they won't be as exciting as your current hot hatch all are decent steers, for me any car you buy with the view to it being a jack of all trades (low running costs along with a nice comfortable/reliable place to spend 25K) normally fails on one front or another normally the fun factor which is why I said get a workhorse & later a fun car.

There's also the diesel hybrid option:

508

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

DS5

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Edited by ZX10R NIN on Sunday 28th July 18:08

[Scottchester]

Red Cupra said:

I bought it from a big reputable dealer, and I’d prefer to sell privately to get the best price, I did try WBAC and Evans Halshaw and EH was the better offer at 14.5k but private sales are higher than that.

Try motorway.co.uk, you might qualify for their premium service where you send pics and they find a buyer for you. I did it (it's free and no obligation) and got £500 more than EH and £800 more than wbac

[Deep Thought]

Red Cupra said:

I bought it from a big reputable dealer, and I’d prefer to sell privately to get the best price, I did try WBAC and Evans Halshaw and EH was the better offer at 14.5k but private sales are higher than that.

Private sellers might be asking for more than that, but what they get will be entirely a different matter.

[lornemalvo]

It just shows that almost anyone's circumstances can change in a heartbeat, and why I always hated being in debt. It sounds as if your remorse is related to the debt and not the car. I went through this several times in my younger days. I'd talk myself into buying a newish car, but despite the fact that I could afford to service the debt, it felt like a weight around my neck. I'm not knocking anyone with large PCP or HP payments to meet, but it was never for me.I have an old fashioned attitude to debt, it's a particular state of mind.
My advice is to work out what monthly outgoings you would be comfortable with. Buy a car you can easily afford. It is possible to buy very good, reliable cars very cheaply (e.g. Toyota Avensis), but they are probably too dull for you. In terms of financing, I would use your bank to obtain a loan. It wouldn't be tied to the car, so you have total flexibility, you could start with something modest, and simply rehash the loan when you're ready to upgrade

[ZedZed_UK]

Assuming no "secured finance" - pay off whichever loan has the higher interest rate (or lowest settlement rate, if some penalty interest is being added).

If you go for the £2.5k car route, the key thing is running costs. That means tax rate, tyre replacements, servicing (so reliability) and economy. I'd focus on those, and get the best car that fits that bill. It's most likely not going to be a great looking car and it might miss a few bells and whistles - but if it goes from A to B and means when you get into it each day you can think about that sensible financial fuure you're looking towards - it'll be worth it. It also does mean that if - for whatever reason - you end up with a large unexpected bill you can cope. If you buy a £7k car and within 12 months get a bill for £1k to fix some major issue - will you be ok with that, or hacked off? If the latter, I'd go cheap and cheerful

[anonymous-user]

lornemalvo said:

It just shows that almost anyone's circumstances can change in a heartbeat, and why I always hated being in debt. It sounds as if your remorse is related to the debt and not the car. I went through this several times in my younger days. I'd talk myself into buying a newish car, but despite the fact that I could afford to service the debt, it felt like a weight around my neck. I'm not knocking anyone with large PCP or HP payments to meet, but it was never for me.I have an old fashioned attitude to debt, it's a particular state of mind.
My advice is to work out what monthly outgoings you would be comfortable with. Buy a car you can easily afford. It is possible to buy very good, reliable cars very cheaply (e.g. Toyota Avensis), but they are probably too dull for you. In terms of financing, I would use your bank to obtain a loan. It wouldn't be tied to the car, so you have total flexibility, you could start with something modest, and simply rehash the loan when you're ready to upgrade

Exactly the same as me when I was younger. I would get all excited about getting a new car and end up buying the first one I saw, at full asking price and sign any finance document that was put in front of me. After a few months I would be bored of the car and start getting annoyed at the payment coming out of my account each month. It took me a long while to learn my lesson, after 18 months I would be looking at getting out of the current car and signing a new finance agreement for the next car I was excited about.

Now I drive a £1200 shed, I have owned it for two years and will admit I have been lucky as I have not spent a penny on it apart from tyres and oil and filters from eBay.

I too get all excited about cars from time to time, first it was a lease car until I realised I took one for a test drive and realised I didn't like it and didn't want to pay £180 a month for it. Just last week I got excited about a 2011 Mercedes E350 convertible and was seriously looking for a day or two.

But like you say, the realisation soon hits that I actually hate being in debt, I have the cash to buy one but again I don't want to lose that money. So I stick with the shed, for the few hours a week I actually drive it having all that money tied up in a car makes no sense.

[DoubleD]

Life is too short for not having fun.

You just have to work out what is or isnt affordable.

[The Li-ion King]

DoubleD said:

Life is too short for not having fun.

You just have to work out what is or isnt affordable.

True, I am in a "buyer's regret" scenario now, was thinking about buying an X5, was worried about it getting nicked (my 57 plate one was nicked in 2013), ended up buying a 3 series Touring from the same dealer who has the X5, brought the 3 series home, wife hates it as it's too small, and too low down to get into. Also a squeeze with 3 kids and one of those ridiculously large 2 seat buggies. Car was bought on HP, the finance company said it's OK to go back and get the X5... dealer is feeling understandably peed off as the ink has barely dried on the V5C form of the new 3 series.

I guess we all have to follow our hunch to a degree, but if a car costs too much to run with no sensible budget, then best not to get involved. You have to have some fun in life as well