10 year HP, financial suicide?

[Dar_Williams]

So I’ve been looking for a while at Transporter Kombis as a family car, this is the sensible option, but also the more costly with the ridiculous money they seem to go for! The less sensible option I’ve considered is a Mk5 or 6 Golf GTi, cheaper to buy and possibly run, but not ideal with 4 little people!

So while browsing eBay recently I saw some transporters advertised with HP for up to 10 years. I enquired out of interest, thinking if the monthlies are lower it could be an option. Turns out it’s potentially a bit of a blag, putting it through a finance intended for camper vans, which doesn’t worry me too much, but at 8.9% APR!! Realistically I wouldn’t keep the van anywhere near 10 years, so would this interest rate leave me with massive negative equity when I look to change?

Any advice / experience I’d love to hear!

Thanks

[Freakuk]

Why not buy a 2nd hand T5/6 Panel van and have it converted and save yourself a bucket load of cash?

[2fast748]

Freakuk said:

Why not buy a 2nd hand T5/6 Panel van and have it converted and save yourself a bucket load of cash?

Yes, because converting a panel van is dirt cheap.....

Seriously though, can you not lease them these days?

[Jamescrs]

Financing a vehicle over 10 years does indeed seem crazy to me. I admit I don't have much knowledge of the market but hard to see how you're not going to have a heap of negative equity certainly in the first few years.

[Demelitia]

Dar_Williams said:

So I’ve been looking for a while at Transporter Kombis as a family car, this is the sensible option, but also the more costly with the ridiculous money they seem to go for!

Thanks

Wouldn’t the sensible option be to not buy the most expensive van going and settle for something cheaper?
Transit tourneo custom? Citroen berlingo/Grand c4, Ford s-max?
There are lots of other options available, you might have to sit down and see if you’re getting caught up in the idea of a transporter as a ‘lifestyle vehicle’.
Getting any vehicle over 10 years seems insane to me; especially when I imagine you could organise your own finance at a lower rate.

[TheAlastair34]

they are so expensive to 10 year costs are huge

i love a transporter but at the campervan show last year a new T6 converted by a decent company was knocking on for 100k after the APR on the 10 year deals it was madness

they do have good resiuduals but i would be looking for a factory califonia buy private and one afew years old they should be in the 30k bracket

[Dar_Williams]

Demelitia said:

Wouldn’t the sensible option be to not buy the most expensive van going and settle for something cheaper?
Transit tourneo custom? Citroen berlingo/Grand c4, Ford s-max?
There are lots of other options available, you might have to sit down and see if you’re getting caught up in the idea of a transporter as a ‘lifestyle vehicle’.
Getting any vehicle over 10 years seems insane to me; especially when I imagine you could organise your own finance at a lower rate.

Yeah you’re probably right, but then I’d be settling, which isn’t something I want to do. Hence the Golf GTi rather than an SE TDi.

I did consider a Transit in fairness but they look so bland, and as for the other suggestions, I currently have a Touran which accommodates the family with relative ease. The issue comes when we need boot space and 6 usable seats. Something a Transporter would do a lot better. Also I’m constantly on pins with two kids in the back row, with them being inches from the very back of the car, there’s not much crumple zone to save them!

In fairness everything in me is saying 10 year HP is a terrible idea! I just thought it may be a way of me increasing budget for a newer / higher spec van

[C-J]

I like van solutions so can understand you looking for that answer!

A mate has a Transit Custom MS-RT dual-cab-in-van (5 seater in his case, but 6 seater available). Expensive, but not as costly as a T6 I guess - not sure what the depreciation rates are though.

re the extra boot space and collision impact space, would vehicles with 2 rows of 3 work? Not sure if Honda still make 6 seaters like the FR-V? Or is there an equivalent of the Fiat Multipla?

Or if it doesn't have to be new, a Japanese import like a Toyota Alphard?

[xjay1337]

2fast748 said:

Freakuk said:

Why not buy a 2nd hand T5/6 Panel van and have it converted and save yourself a bucket load of cash?

Yes, because converting a panel van is dirt cheap.....

Seriously though, can you not lease them these days?

To be fair it is substantially cheaper than buying a T5/T6 even with the cost of conversion. Plus usually the converted ones are much nicer!


even a 5 year HP is a bit ridiculous. 10 would maybe be good on a classic type of car going up in value astronomically (Lamborghini Countach/etc) but on a Suzuki Vitara, probably not :-)

Makes me remember the time someone had a Renault Clio on finance (it was their first car) , the car was retail at £2995 and their loan/HP on it the total repayable ended up being £11k....

[mike9009]

It seems a little daft to me. If you keep for the full 10year term it will cost you approx 50% extra in repayments. So a £30k loan will be almost £45k.

Do you have any deposit? How much are you planning to borrow?

I took the decision many years ago to run older cars. I now have a much higher disposable income ( inevitably used for repairs). We have an old (1982) VW T25 camper which is great, but not used daily. It works for us, but I accept it does not suit everyone.....

[Dar_Williams]

I think the replies pretty much confirm my suspicions on the matter! I hadn’t got to the point of deciding how much I’d spend, how much I’d put down and so on, I was more curious about the 10 year HP concept as a whole!

Needless to say I think my suspicions were correct!

[ZX10R NIN]

Have you looked at an Elgrand/Alphard

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nissan-Elgrand-Rider-20...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2014-NISSAN-ELGRAND-E52...

Converted Elgrand

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FACE-LIFT-NISSAN-ELGRAN...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOYOTA-ALPHARD-3-0-V6-C...

Alphard

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2009-TOYOTA-VELLFIRE-AL...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2008-TOYOTA-ALPHARD-3-5...

[Freakuk]

Going back to my original comments, I said those because one of friends runs a conversion company and if you're buying a van, he converts then for 10K upwards depending upon spec, so £100K seems ridiculous.

I can point you towards his website/facebook page if needed, he doesn't advertise and he's booked out until June/July currently.

[Olas]

2k volvo estate from ebay has all the space you need and puts a big chunk of cash in your pocket.

10 year loan on a van as an alternative?

[Pegscratch]

Good lord above.

HP is rarely a good interest rate; and magnifying that over 10 years is indeed financial suicide. Anything in your circumstances change and your van will cost you tremendous amounts of money to sell, unless you've put brand new car money down to start with.