Soaring Finance Rates for car purchases
Soaring Finance Rates for car purchases
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Discussion

corcoran

Original Poster:

686 posts

301 months

Tuesday 7th November 2023
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Hi there - can I ask, what are people doing about the soaring finance rates for new/nearly new car purchases? I've been looking at a few things and seeing manufacturer rates over 12% for some models on finance.

Are people just buying 'any old crap at 5%' as manufacturers get shot of models they want to sell?


toasty

8,345 posts

247 months

Tuesday 7th November 2023
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Saving until I can afford something different/better.

It'll be a long while.

Truckosaurus

13,138 posts

311 months

Tuesday 7th November 2023
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I suspect a large number of punters don't care about the percentage, just what the final score is for the monthly payment.

Ninja59

3,691 posts

139 months

Tuesday 7th November 2023
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Depends I have already seen some downward movement from some on the rates, and the old tricks of new rates on new cars being lower has reappeared on some which may or may not make a new car more cost effective.

Mine was taken out prior to the increases, but in honesty I am planning on possibly just paying the balloon off and refinancing it as I doubt it being petrol only (no hybrid at all!) is long for this world currently.

grumpynuts

1,024 posts

187 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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Its all to do with the cost of money.Look at what your bank is offering as an APR and see if your dealer will match or beat it.No loan for a car should be over 10% APR, if it is the dealer is making a margin on it. Ask the dealer what his base rate is and tell them you will pay no more. Some big dealer groups have a set APR figure they do every deal at for example 12.9% APR, but they'll be making a margin if over 10%.
Genuine 0% deals have gone for now, the only time you may get a nice low rate is on a new car where the manufacturer is subsidising the interest rate.

Wills2

29,141 posts

202 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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Truckosaurus said:
I suspect a large number of punters don't care about the percentage, just what the final score is for the monthly payment.
The two things are intrinsically linked.


anonymous-user

81 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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corcoran said:
Hi there - can I ask, what are people doing about the soaring finance rates for new/nearly new car purchases? I've been looking at a few things and seeing manufacturer rates over 12% for some models on finance.

Are people just buying 'any old crap at 5%' as manufacturers get shot of models they want to sell?
Bad luck that the car finance companies happened to set their interest rates at peak inflation, who’d have guessed!

Some decent cars have reasonable rates still
Eg Tesla Y, 2.9%

Wife recently changed her car, was looking at a Volvo first, but their extortionate rate was deal breaker.

Went elsewhere

Can get a bank loan for 5.5% with my Bank

When the time comes to change mine I’ll be paying cash. Rather than 7k interest..

P-Jay

11,340 posts

218 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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Not wanting to sound snobby, but 'cutting my cloth'. I 'bought' my current car because it could comfortably afford it at 2.5% and a chunky GFV balloon. If I leased the equivalent car now, its nearly double the cost because it's 10% or so and the GFVs have fallen a lot. I'm not doing that. My income has risen by 15%, but I don't think I even want to spend 15% more than I do now, I’d rather spend the money on other things.

Frankly, my priorities have changed, nothing like a cost-of-living squeeze to make you reevaluate. My Wife and I spend a fortune on leasing and driving, a lot of it is unavoidable, we both must drive for work, but I'm just not that interesting in owning a supposedly fun car, when driving is rarely, if ever, fun these days.

JAMSXR

1,842 posts

74 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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Easier said than done but don’t use finance. Used cars are starting to depreciate at a decent rate so there are some good deals to be had.


fatjon

2,298 posts

240 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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As prices rise demand drops so used becomes cheaper. Cut your cloth and you don’t pay borrowers tax.

Alfa numeric

3,164 posts

206 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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They're still out there- we've been looking at EV's and you can still get low rates if you look. Hyundai and Mercedes are offering 0% on their EV's, the Mustang Mach E is 3.9% and the Tesla Model Y is 2.9%. Having said that the Tesla Model 3 is 9.5%.

Bobupndown

2,872 posts

70 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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P-Jay said:
My income has risen by 15%, but I don't think I even want to spend 15% more than I do now.
Lucky you. If only public sector jobs were as generous.

Hedgedhog

1,589 posts

123 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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Out of interest are we talking about new cars here?

I'd be fascinated to hear from everyone posting in this thread how many new cars they have bought in their lifetime?

I must have a very old fashioned mind set and am adverse to debt so at the age of 50 I have only ever bought one new car in my life and have never leased or pcped. I did take a bank loan out on my very first (and very second hand car) but since then I've always and only paid cash.

When I look at the new price of cars these days I cannot believe the inflation in the outright prices caused by lease and rental schemes. Car manufacturers have exploited the rental market to push up the outright prices through the zero interest rate years and will now pay the price for that as they realise that with normalised rates noone can afford new cars.

covmutley

3,336 posts

217 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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As always, it depends, and everyone is different.

Salary sacrifice, bought through business less affected I suppose.

4 yr pcp instead of 3 yr to spread out the early years of higher depreciation

just not add the 'carbon package'

downsize to the smaller engine to pay less tax and save running costs

go our for food once a month less

or just buy used.

P-Jay

11,340 posts

218 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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Bobupndown said:
P-Jay said:
My income has risen by 15%, but I don't think I even want to spend 15% more than I do now.
Lucky you. If only public sector jobs were as generous.
I worked my arse off, took on work etc. Luck had very little to do with it.


JAMSXR

1,842 posts

74 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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Hedgedhog said:
I'd be fascinated to hear from everyone posting in this thread how many new cars they have bought in their lifetime?
Mid-30s and bought my first new car this year (excluding a few company cars and motorcycles). Paid cash and intend to keep it for a long time. I doubt I’ll ever buy new again.

corcoran

Original Poster:

686 posts

301 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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As the OP - I've never spent more than 5K on a car in my life (early 40's) and have been happy driving mid-00's BMW's for the last 10 or so years but as someone's identified - driving is no longer really fun, cities are enforcing 20mph and my journeys are either very short, or 100+ miles for family visits.

I've actually ended up PCP'ing at 8.9% over 2 years from my bank, as I have the cash in hand to buy the car I want (it's 25K -- an amount completely alien to me!!!) but with minimal 'tax/interest', I can then put off buying the vehicle outright until the end of the lease (which I will do).

Hedgedhog

1,589 posts

123 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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JAMSXR said:
Mid-30s and bought my first new car this year (excluding a few company cars and motorcycles). Paid cash and intend to keep it for a long time. I doubt I’ll ever buy new again.

I can't envisage a scenario where'd I'd buy new again either except perhaps a motorcycle.

Earthdweller

18,954 posts

153 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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I think it’s just gone back to what it used to be before the world got drunk on cheap money tbf

8/9/10% or more was not unusual on a car loan or even a mortgage!


jeremyh1

1,501 posts

154 months

Friday 10th November 2023
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Why do most of you people assume that people buy everything on finance?

I spend my money on holidays and you dont get them on personal lease