PCP: How many people actually pay the balloon

[Earthdweller]

nickfrog said:

I would expect it to be very low too. It's human nature. They can't afford it to start with so how on earth would they be able to save up more than a few shillings/twopences (not sure what that means).

That’s a hell of a generalisation there

I could have afforded to buy my car outright for cash .. but low rate finance .. massive discount and low repayments ..

Why wouldn’t I keep my capital and pay for the use of the car ?

As it happens I’m just weighing up whether to refinance it and keep it or replace it

[nickfrog]

HumanDoing said:

the sort of person who PCPs in to a car to impress people they'll never meet at red lights

You are judging other people by your own standards of insecurity.

[HumanDoing]

Dan W. said:

In my personal experiences, a customer buying the car is rare.

And the most likely reason for that is ..... on Planet Earth, because they can't afford it and haven't been saving up to pay the balloon.

On Planet Pistonhead, it's because they've got so much money socked away in market-defying investments that never go down that it'd be economic lunacy to actually own an asset outright and get off the treadmill of paying the most expensive part of car ownership over and over again, in perpetuity.

[nickfrog]

Earthdweller said:

That’s a hell of a generalisation there

I could have afforded to buy my car outright for cash .. but low rate finance .. massive discount and low repayments ..

Why wouldn’t I keep my capital and pay for the use of the car ?

As it happens I’m just weighing up whether to refinance it and keep it or replace it

See my subsequent posts. I was taking the piss preemptively.

[Axionknight]

Zod said:

Most of those people would not be granted the finance. They resent other people's access to it and console themselves by muttering that it will all come tumbling down.

Really? Consumer credit is hardly difficult to come by in this day and age

[kambites]

GetCarter said:

I PCP's my wife's (16k) Skoda Fabia Estate Monte Carlo (with extras) for £203 per month. Just about to give it back.

Worked out at £6.76 a day for a new car with no repair costs, and all issues fixed FOC.

I suppose if it's worth it to you, that's what matters.

That's roughly the TCO of our two cars combined. That's the price you pay for a brand new car, I suppose.

[TartanPaint]

GetCarter said:

No deposit. Fees included. Simple really... no fuss motoring with free servicing, every fault fixed FOC and a car to your spec. What's not to like?

Just to clarify I drove out of the dealer with a new car having paid £203 for the first month. Never paid any more than that. No servicing, no anything.

Edited by GetCarter on Thursday 19th October 15:41

So, earlier when you said, "if it depreciates, rent it", what you actually mean is, "if it depreciates, make sure you're always going back every 2 years to pay the maximum amount of depreciation possible on a brand new one, when the last one was perfectly functional and would have lasted another 5 years without any major costs."

From all these lease vs pcp vs loan threads, you'd assume 3 year old cars were complete sheds which break down every 10 minutes...

[Dan W.]

HumanDoing said:

And the most likely reason for that is ..... on Planet Earth, because they can't afford it and haven't been saving up to pay the balloon.

On Planet Pistonhead, it's because they've got so much money socked away in market-defying investments that never go down that it'd be economic lunacy to actually own an asset outright and get off the treadmill of paying the most expensive part of car ownership over and over again, in perpetuity.

Various reasons I suppose. Main one is usually you can change to a brand new one with no deposit for a similar payment, but again varies

[Zod]

HumanDoing said:

Zod said:

Most of those people would not be granted the finance. They resent other people's access to it and console themselves by muttering that it will all come tumbling down.

Contender for most ridiculous post ever made. Evidently on Planet Zod, 'access to credit' is an incredibly hard to come by thing that only the most successful people (in life and in finance) can get, and not thinking getting in to debt for a shiny and otherwise unaffordable car can only possibly be as a result of jealousy.

Ask yourself who someone pushing finance would rather have in front of them - someone who saved carefully and abhorred debt as a point of principle, or someone on £20k a year who lives month to month and will swallow any deal until they get home and realise they can't really afford it. Does the dealer care if he can afford it or not? Is it hard to get credit?

To be clear - are you genuinely stating that it is difficult to be granted finance and that it somehow confers prestige and status on someone to be told that they've passed a finance check by a car dealer? Abahahahahahahaha.

Incidentally, when it comes 'tumbling down' it won't be the individual shafted in this case, it'll be the car company/finance company left holding the baby. Although the sort of person who PCPs in to a car to impress people they'll never meet at red lights will probably be gutted at having to 'trade down' to something they can actually afford.

/Thread.

My little prod clearly touched a nerve.

[HumanDoing]

Axionknight said:

Really? Consumer credit is hardly difficult to come by in this day and age

Precisely. We've had stacks of recent stories about credit being shovelled at people who can't really afford it - this Zod character seems to think it's still 1970 and being able to access credit it somehow evidence of being a top hat wearing unicycling toff who indulges in the occasional bag of sherbert lemons and a saucy wink from Mrs Wilkinson at the corner shop on his way to his high-status bank manager job Mon-Fri.

[kambites]

I suppose with the mumblings from the BoE about increasing interest rates, consumer credit (or at least cheap consumer credit) is about to get a whole lot harder to find.

[GetCarter]

HumanDoing said:

I'm not telling anybody anything - but would be interested in why you think my opinion is less valid because of the car I own. Does my opinion somehow 'mean more' if I am in flashier metal (as if an ST is such a st car).

If, rather than owning an ST outright, I PCP'd in to a car you happen to respect, does that make my opinion more valid? Bahahahaha.

Mate. You need to stop and look at what you are posting. I have no problem with the car you drive, but you seem to have serious problems with others' decisions about what they drive. We are not all as stupid as you think! And many of us are older and may just be wiser.

I quote you:

Collossal ego that they also have to lie to themselves that doing so makes them financial geniuses

everyone 'could've afforded cash but chose the PCP instead’

Self-important gas bag 'I make more investing it' posters


We make financial decisions that suit us. Not your view of us.

HTH

Edited by GetCarter on Thursday 19th October 16:16

[Dan W.]

I Think some people do miss the point with pcp though, A Vehicle is a depreciating asset, so why would you want to own it ?

I get the argument for Pcp and against it, I personally do not sell a product to a customer if it is not suitable to what they need it for.


Pcp is a great product providing its explained well and the customer understands it.

we always see issues when either the salesman has either not explained the product or lied. and even sometimes the customer doesn't care what scheme they are on they just want a payment of x amount.

[kambites]

Dan W. said:

I Think some people do miss the point with pcp though, A Vehicle is a depreciating asset, so why would you want to own it ?

I'm not particularly pro- or anti-PCP but the answer to this is fairly obvious - because if you "rent" it you end up paying both the depreciation and someone else's profits.

[Dan W.]

kambites said:

I'm not particularly pro- or anti-PCP but the answer to this is fairly obvious - because if you "rent" it you end up paying both the depreciation and someone else's profits.

Its a valid point and there are some valid arguments against that also. as you say pro or anti I am the same. the product does a good job for the correct customer type.

[HedgeyGedgey]

Dan W. said:

I Think some people do miss the point with pcp though, A Vehicle is a depreciating asset, so why would you want to own it ?

Some arent, the focus rs stayed at a constant higher than retail price for a considerable amount of time after they released, anyone who financed one using PCP then was a fool. Could have bought outright, used for 6 months then sold on for a profit

[Dan W.]

HedgeyGedgey said:

Some arent, the focus rs stayed at a constant higher than retail price for a considerable amount of time after they released, anyone who financed one using PCP then was a fool. Could have bought outright, used for 6 months then sold on for a profit

In that case yes beautiful car the majority I should have said. forgive me

[TartanPaint]

HedgeyGedgey said:

Dan W. said:

I Think some people do miss the point with pcp though, A Vehicle is a depreciating asset, so why would you want to own it ?

Some arent, the focus rs stayed at a constant higher than retail price for a considerable amount of time after they released, anyone who financed one using PCP then was a fool. Could have bought outright, used for 6 months then sold on for a profit

Anyone? Anyone with a crystal ball you mean? The guys with functioning crystal balls don't drive Focus RSs.

[Zod]

HumanDoing said:

Axionknight said:

Really? Consumer credit is hardly difficult to come by in this day and age

Precisely. We've had stacks of recent stories about credit being shovelled at people who can't really afford it - this Zod character seems to think it's still 1970 and being able to access credit it somehow evidence of being a top hat wearing unicycling toff who indulges in the occasional bag of sherbert lemons and a saucy wink from Mrs Wilkinson at the corner shop on his way to his high-status bank manager job Mon-Fri.

Credit is readily available to people with incomes, as anyone living in the modern world knows.

Well done to you for owning your Fiesta. I too own my car and I bought it new.

[briSk]

Dan W. said:

kambites said:

I'm not particularly pro- or anti-PCP but the answer to this is fairly obvious - because if you "rent" it you end up paying both the depreciation and someone else's profits.

Its a valid point and there are some valid arguments against that also. as you say pro or anti I am the same. the product does a good job for the correct customer type.

I think it's also fair to say - as we have seen in this thread - that because the intention of the manufacturer is to 'suck you in' that their pricing can be in favour of the PCP scheme and not cash purchase because they want people to be in the cycle of visiting their dealership and buying tyres from them (!) and all that good stuff. so if you are someone who wants a new car for whatever reason it may still be better financially.