New car - what can I really afford?

[dapearson]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

This. Most definitely.

I graduated in 2001. Got a job on £18k with a 1 hr commute in each direction. After one month in the job i got a £10k loan and bought a 6 month old Clio 172 (at the time my dream car).

Over the next 5 years i went through several "nice" cars, each time not being totally happy with them. I think this was down to having lots of debt related to them.

It then took a few years of hard work to get the finances straight again once i realised my mistakes.

[alexyfoot]

Chris - but this includes the price to own the vehicle for that period - that's exactly the sort of deal I'd ideally go for as in those small city cars you get excellent interior and are basically free to maintain due to warranty, etc, which matters most to me personally. Trouble is with my background, I am not sure if I am eligible for such offers. Otherwise, something in the 207 class but maybe slightly cheaper (i.e. Kia or something like that) would be ideal for my taste (even those hire offers are OK as I think I will easily fit even into 5k, let alone 10k mileage limits).

[vrsmxtb]

dapearson said:

This. Most definitely.

I graduated in 2001. Got a job on £18k with a 1 hr commute in each direction. After one month in the job i got a £10k loan and bought a 6 month old Clio 172 (at the time my dream car).

Over the next 5 years i went through several "nice" cars, each time not being totally happy with them. I think this was down to having lots of debt related to them.

It then took a few years of hard work to get the finances straight again once i realised my mistakes.

But would you honestly have been content trundling round in an unbreakable Jap-mobile when you're clearly a petrolhead at heart? It's good advice for people who are more car for A-B, but we all know people with a thing for cars will want something a bit more fun!

[BettySwollocks2]

Chrisw666 said:

We've ran 2 cars for a the past year (including insurance and servicing) for less than the monthly payment on a 1.6 207 estate. We still own those cars and just have to add fuel.

Such a premium for a warranty seems bonkers.

yes you can do it, but they guy earlier in the thread said get a 5k loan which would cost as much as finance on a new car anyway without the added expenses.

[dapearson]

alexyfoot said:

Chris - but this includes the price to own the vehicle for that period - that's exactly the sort of deal I'd ideally go for as in those small city cars you get excellent interior and are basically free to maintain due to warranty, etc, which matters most to me personally. Trouble is with my background, I am not sure if I am eligible for such offers. Otherwise, something in the 207 class but maybe slightly cheaper (i.e. Kia or something like that) would be ideal for my taste (even those hire offers are OK as I thing I will easily fit even into 5k, let alone 10k mileage limits).

So you're willing to pay £180 to travel approximately ~400 miles per month?

[dapearson]

vrsmxtb said:

But would you honestly have been content trundling round in an unbreakable Jap-mobile when you're clearly a petrolhead at heart? It's good advice for people who are more car for A-B, but we all know people with a thing for cars will want something a bit more fun!

Yeah true. I wish i'd at least saved 50% of the purchase price, plus depreciation wiped £1k off the value every 6 months.

[vrsmxtb]

alexyfoot said:

Chris - but this includes the price to own the vehicle for that period - that's exactly the sort of deal I'd ideally go for as in those small city cars you get excellent interior and are basically free to maintain due to warranty, etc, which matters most to me personally. Trouble is with my background, I am not sure if I am eligible for such offers. Otherwise, something in the 207 class but maybe slightly cheaper (i.e. Kia or something like that) would be ideal for my taste (even those hire offers are OK as I think I will easily fit even into 5k, let alone 10k mileage limits).

Seriously, why not just buy a 1-2 year old 107/Aygo or Kia hatch then? You'd get a cheap as chips finance package within the amounts you are eligble for, and a year or so warranty left, which you can always extend if that's a worry for you. I can vouch for the 107/Aygo - my mum's had two from new over the last 4-5years and absolutely nothing has gone wrong with them, and they are laughably cheap to run/maintain. I'm sure a Kia hatch would be a similar story.

[vrsmxtb]

dapearson said:

Yeah true. I wish i'd at least saved 50% of the purchase price, plus depreciation wiped £1k off the value every 6 months.

I have to admit, I'd never buy new unless I was absolutely loaded for the depreciation costs alone.

[RenesisEvo]

BettySwollocks2 said:

a couple of french manufacturers are doing deals where you get 3 years finance, servicing, insurance, all included in the price

http://www.peugeot.co.uk/finance/finance-offers/ju...

take a look

But you never own the car... after three years of payments you own nothing. For similar monthly outlay you can own outright a (reasonable) car at the end, which makes a great deposit for the next one. And you can get a car with a warranty if you look carefully - mine was only 21 months old when I bought it (it had a fair few miles in that time though, but even to this day it has made no difference).

vrsmxtb said:

But would you honestly have been content trundling round in an unbreakable Jap-mobile when you're clearly a petrolhead at heart? It's good advice for people who are more car for A-B, but we all know people with a thing for cars will want something a bit more fun!

It's called sacrifice. By tooling about in something bland for nearly three years, I can now shop for far more interesting machines than I could if I had gone mad three years ago.

[muthaducka]

If you aren't bothered about speed etc and just want something comfortable then I would say look around at various deals around your budget. Here are a few suggestions:

Spend £1-2k on an older car (anything like this with Full service history: http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3465659.htm)
OR
Spend £6-7k on a new car / lease like a citreon C1 £99p/m: http://info.citroen.co.uk/new-cars/car-range/citro...
OR
Buy a Kia that's a couple of years old with their 7 year warranty intact.

[Matt UK]

OP, if I were you I'd buy a nice £1k Mk1 MX5 and enjoy cheap running costs, a lovely handling little rag-top and an easy car to spanner if you fancy having a go yourself.

If you decide you can afford more, chop it and move on. If not, keep running it.

[alexyfoot]

dapearson said:

So you're willing to pay £180 to travel approximately ~400 miles per month?

Paying 4 quid a day for buses isn't much better. Paying ~400 quid a month to have a car is better than paying 120 quid on public transport my opinion especially when workplace is not in a remotely convenient location and it will take me three times the time to go from/to work.

Anyway, I will probably settle for something old and comfy...and slow (damned insurance) for 2-2.5k, just because I don't think dealers won't offer me the same deal they do to a 45 year old home owner.

...and some day I may get a proper car if everything goes well.

If anyone knows anything good besides the civic in this budget that won't cost a fortune to insure, please let me know

Cheers for the replies!

edit: Yes, Polos should work, too.

Edited by alexyfoot on Monday 20th February 14:33

[dapearson]

Matt UK said:

OP, if I were you I'd buy a nice £1k Mk1 MX5 and enjoy cheap running costs, a lovely handling little rag-top and an easy car to spanner if you fancy having a go yourself.

If you decide you can afford more, chop it and move on. If not, keep running it.

LOL. It was only a matter of time...

[carreauchompeur]

It is a sensible suggestion though!

[Deva Link]

alexyfoot said:

Chris - but this includes the price to own the vehicle for that period - that's exactly the sort of deal I'd ideally go for as in those small city cars you get excellent interior and are basically free to maintain due to warranty, etc, which matters most to me personally. Trouble is with my background, I am not sure if I am eligible for such offers. Otherwise, something in the 207 class but maybe slightly cheaper (i.e. Kia or something like that) would be ideal for my taste (even those hire offers are OK as I think I will easily fit even into 5k, let alone 10k mileage limits).

I think your issue with the Peugeot deal is that you're too young - the insurance is for 25+.

Despite what others say, I think there's a of of value in convenience of the Peugeot deal, especially for someone who has no NCB and lives in an expensive insurance area. However I'd want to make sure of what happens if you lose your job - you could be liable for the whole cost, but there's no doubt a missively expensive protection policy available.

Both my kids got new cars on leaving uni, which they paid for. One got a Seat Ibiza and the other a Mitsubishi Colt. Both cost around £7500.

Of course there are cheaper ways of acquiring and running cars but not everyone searching for decent used cars or enjoys weekends rolling around underneath them. It's very easy to buy a pup.

[ali4390]

hornetrider said:

Save a few months, buy something for sub £1500 and run it for a year, whilst continuing to save. You can get an awful lot of car for £1500 these days, doesn't have to look like an old shed.

What sor of cars are you thinking? I'm purely curious, not disbelieving.

[RenesisEvo]

ali4390 said:

hornetrider said:

Save a few months, buy something for sub £1500 and run it for a year, whilst continuing to save. You can get an awful lot of car for £1500 these days, doesn't have to look like an old shed.

What sor of cars are you thinking? I'm purely curious, not disbelieving.

£1500 buys a reasonable Mk3 Mondeo. I can think of a lot worse cars at that price point. I can also think of sillier ones (Jaguar XJ anyone? )

[Chrisw666]

alexyfoot said:

Chris - but this includes the price to own the vehicle for that period - that's exactly the sort of deal I'd ideally go for as in those small city cars you get excellent interior and are basically free to maintain due to warranty, etc, which matters most to me personally. Trouble is with my background, I am not sure if I am eligible for such offers. Otherwise, something in the 207 class but maybe slightly cheaper (i.e. Kia or something like that) would be ideal for my taste (even those hire offers are OK as I think I will easily fit even into 5k, let alone 10k mileage limits).

We paid £2k for a 3 year old KA at the end of 2009. Since then it has had 2 services @ £100 a time, £80 on 2 MOT tests, £70 on a pair of tyres, a few quid on some bulbs, and petrol at around 40mpg over 20k miles. Literally nothing has broken on it.

Now I'll admit that we paid well less than retail for the car, but if you bought a one of similar age and mileage now at c£2k it would be fairly painless to run over the next year or two and would be worth at least £1k when you come to sell it. Last week I sold a 2001 1.4 focus with 61,000 genuine miles for £900, its never going to set the world alight but tracking down cars like that would be a better bet than borrowing something new from Peugeot with a mileage restriction.

[dapearson]

How do those deals work if at the end of the agreement, you've done LESS than the agreed mileage?

[Deva Link]

Chrisw666 said:

We paid £2k for a 3 year old KA at the end of 2009. Since then it has had 2 services @ £100 a time, £80 on 2 MOT tests, £70 on a pair of tyres, a few quid on some bulbs, and petrol at around 40mpg over 20k miles. Literally nothing has broken on it.

Now I'll admit that we paid well less than retail for the car,

..so presumeably you knew the people selling the car, and knew something about it? That helps a lot.

Ka is notorious for rust once it gets to a few years old though.

Chrisw666 said:

Last week I sold a 2001 1.4 focus with 61,000 genuine miles for £900, its never going to set the world alight but tracking down cars like that would be a better bet than borrowing something new from Peugeot with a mileage restriction.

It's tracking them down that's the issue - try finding a car like that when you want one!