So...bank loan is the way to go then? BMW M2

[wioifoiee]

Hi folks,
i want to buy...a bmw M2.

From everything i've read, it seems like the most sensible thing to do is to put down a decent sized deposit, and get a bank loan........right?
But i'm still undecided because i want to limit the loss in depreciation as much as possible. So i don't know whether to buy nearly new, or a year-year and a half old. But then i'd also consider new, if the deal I get actually makes it cheaper to buy new.

The options appear to be:

- Order a new M2 and wait 18 months according to the bmw website - not doing that, i want my toy within this year.
- Through carwow, i get quotes of 49k, but i'm assuming this will have the same 18 month wait...
- Through carwow - available now - 43k for a pre-reg new - but no idea what rate i'd get - i could put down a £7k deposit in May.

Then there's all the used cars..
- seem to range between 36-39k for the pre-Lci, varying ages from mid 2016 examples right up to Dec 2017, with varying mileages too from some as low as 2k right up to 14k. I have absolutely NO idea how you'd pick the best car from that lot.
- LCi update ones appear to be 42k+, but i don't know if its actually worth paying that extra 3-4k premium for psuedo-digital dials UNLESS....would it preserve the value of the car more, by going for the updated version??? Again, i just can't work it out.

My current chosen method is to wait another 4-6 months - put down as much of a deposit as i can (which by then will be 12-14k), and simply take out a bank loan at 2.8-3% for the rest (i have excellent credit rating, no debts, no kids..etc..). I'd then pay it off over 4 years, happy to budget up to £750/month.

This seems to me to be the cheapest and most sensible option.

But would i get a better deal on the purchase price going down BMW finance route? Would they reduce the price of the car enough, to offset the benefits from the lower interest rate of a bank loan?

Do i go for a newer car and preserve more of the value?
Or has a slightly older car already been through that initial depreciation hit?

there seems to be a number of paths to walk and i just want to walk the right one - the one that buys me the best value for money...
please help!

[custardtart86]

The year old car @ £39k appears to be the best value. If you don't mind driving a year old car.

If we assume the depreciation remains consistent throughout the cars life (approx. 20% drop per year). Then assume car will be worth £19,600 at the end of year 4 and £15,600 at the end of year 5 (probably pessimistic?).

[drgoatboy]

I would be looking at the pre-reg one. £6k off for it already having its number plates on and no wait? Whats not to like?

Depending on the dealer you might find you get a get finance on it too as it might be classified as "new". ring that dealer and find out!!

[Jordan210]

Have you actuality spoke to some dealers ?


Ignore the car wow quoted price and email a few dealers and see what prices start to come back.


We purchased an M2 last month brand new unregistered on the low APR at roughly the same cost as a pre reg. As remember you have to tax a pre reg car.


Quite a lot of the stock cars have the same spec in them. So should be easy to spot them and there for you know the rough prices for them.

Edited by Jordan210 on Friday 13th April 11:41

[custardtart86]

drgoatboy said:

I would be looking at the pre-reg one. £6k off for it already having its number plates on and no wait? Whats not to like?

Depending on the dealer you might find you get a get finance on it too as it might be classified as "new". ring that dealer and find out!!

Spot on, I didn't spot the pre reg price. Pre reg is the best value.

[Voldemort]

OP,

Sorry to be brutal but nobody else is saying it: you clearly cannot afford the car. Don't go living on the financial edge for the sake of a car.

[justinio]

Voldemort said:

OP,

Sorry to be brutal but nobody else is saying it: you clearly cannot afford the car. Don't go living on the financial edge for the sake of a car.

How do you know what he can/cant afford?

[designforlife]

if he can afford to repay a £750 a month bank loan, i'm pretty sure he can afford the car haha....there's no way in hell my salary could finance that, and i do alright.

[wioifoiee]

Voldemort said:

OP,

Sorry to be brutal but nobody else is saying it: you clearly cannot afford the car. Don't go living on the financial edge for the sake of a car.

i can afford to budget up to £750/month for 4 years and put down anywhere up to a 15k deposit.
i chose not to go into detail about how/why because its not relevant.

if you have nothing to contribute to the thread, why bother posting that? how do you even know i'm on the 'financial edge'? If I said i wasn't, would you retract the statement?

odd. Sometimes, forums are full of opinionated fools - you're one of them clearly.

[RS Grant]

Voldemort said:

OP,

Sorry to be brutal but nobody else is saying it: you clearly cannot afford the car. Don't go living on the financial edge for the sake of a car.

£750 a month for a car is high, I agree... but the OP also said they can bump the deposit up by £5-7k in 4-6 months, so they're either expecting a lump sump to arrive or they have a substantial amount of disposable income each month to increase the deposit at that rate.

End of the day though; even if they plan to sell their house, divert all income to a finance agreement and live in the M2? It's their choice.

In regards to the question posed in the original post, I'd be looking at a pre-reg car because the savings can be sizeable and will certainly go some way to stave off the depreciation suffered by all new cars. So I'd write out a standard email which includes your spec essentials, spec nice-to-haves and asking what cars are available in their dealer network which fit your criteria. Then just punt it out to dealers, starting locally and working your way out on a distance basis; in my experience it is always best if you are in the position to tell them that if you are given the correct car and the correct deal, you are prepared to put a deposit down straight away as well.

~Edit.. it is also good to make use of contributions available for signing up to a BMW finance agreement and then pay it off yourself after a certain amount of time. IIRC it was a month you had to have the agreement in place before you could pay it off, but it may be shorter/longer than that so worth checking.

Edited by RS Grant on Friday 13th April 14:05

[CSLchappie]

I'd avoid BMW finance unless you are taking advantage of a decent deposit contribution and promotional low rate. If you're a Lloyds banking customer they have a decent car finance product in place that offers a balloon if you want that.

As an example I just looked at YC67 XHW that's listed for a shade under 40k on the BMW website. 2 mins later after using the Lloyds app I was offered this (based on 7k deposit, 48 months and 8k per annum)

£745.48 per month for 48 months @ 4.1%
£372.22 per month for 48 months @ 4.9% with a £20,680.00 optional lump sum (I'm not sure if this is the same as a GFV, the blurb just states you pay the lump sum or hand the car back, terms on conditions apply...)

Those rates are pretty decent, once you go over 25k the APR does tend to rise considerably with most lenders.

[wioifoiee]

RS Grant said:

~Edit.. it is also good to make use of contributions available for signing up to a BMW finance agreement and then pay it off yourself after a certain amount of time. IIRC it was a month you had to have the agreement in place before you could pay it off, but it may be shorter/longer than that so worth checking.

Edited by RS Grant on Friday 13th April 14:05

Thanks for that.
So to be clear then, you're saying it is worth putting a BMW finance option on the table, PCP, hire purchase, or otherwise, as even if the interest rate will be higher than a bank loan, they'd try and give a saving to the sale price in return to tempt me to use their finance instead of a third party?
And then overpay each month to reduce the interest value paid over the period?

Off topic, yes you guessed correctly, not that it even mattered but I indeed save between 1-1.3k a month after all my outgoings and have nothing to spend my money on. Hence why budgeting up to 750/month is an easily justifiable position for me. I have no other life commitments other than feeding my love for cars.

I could save up for 30 months and buy it in cash, but life is too short and I'm happy to pay a reasonable rate of interest and have a dream car now.

I do find it strange how people always see things from their own bubble.

[Draculaw]

If I’m not mistaken, assuming your credit rating can handle it, take out the PCP through BMW for the deposit contribution then a second loan at a lower rate to pay down the BMW debt.

[anonymous-user]

Isn’t the M2 going to have a version of the M3/4 engine installed for the CP?

I’d be putting my deposit on one of those, I can see it having a negative effect on the ‘old’ engines ones.

Not sure why you are commenting on the £750 a month, it’s not a great deal to fund such a car, I didn’t want to wait and save for my Vantage so took a €35k loan (plus some savings) and paid it off at €1500 p.m. with a few overpayments to get rid of it, no effect on my day to day life, in fact the car lives in the UK so I don’t even get to use it really.

Buy the toy today and fund it using what you would have saved anyway, I had to repay the loan but I don’t have to save so rather than fritter it away buy what you want!