Runaround sub £5k without eye watering depreciation

[Brett748]

Hi all,

I currently have a Twingo 133 which is buggered which I use as a daily driver for my trips to the train station etc.

I’m obviously buying at the worse possible time with used cars being mentally expensive. Everything I’ve looked at is realistically worth £2k less than it should be.

I intent to keep a car for about 18 months and ideally I’d like to keep depreciation under £2k in that time.

Any suggestions up to say £5k?

I’m really not overly fussed what it is. I’m very open minded it could be a Lexus or a Clio for all I care.

Thanks in advance.

[ED209]

I would imagine no £5k is going to depreciate by £2k in that time. Most of its depreciation will be done.

[Brett748]

I’m not so sure you know with the huge inflation in used car prices, which is fine if it remains otherwise once the market corrects itself there will a significant gap.

A 2001 Micra is up for sale on auto trader for £1,450 for example!

[Matt Clay]

Honda CRZ

[Brett748]

Matt Clay said:

Honda CRZ

That could be a good shout. Interesting car the CRZ.

[Matt Clay]

Brett748 said:

That could be a good shout. Interesting car the CRZ.

I'm in the same boat and it's what I'm looking at. I can't imagine they'll depreciate much more, and the early battery cells seem like a doddle to refresh if needed.

[ZX10R NIN]

Brett748 said:

I’m not so sure you know with the huge inflation in used car prices, which is fine if it remains otherwise once the market corrects itself there will a significant gap.

A 2001 Micra is up for sale on auto trader for £1,450 for example!

Prices aren't going to drop suddenly & we've had the cheapest used cars in Europe for years things have just leveled up, anything you buy now will suffer standard depreciation.

208 GTI

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202111229...

Or if you want the warm version there's the XY but I think the GTI above is better value as it's more desirable & will depreciate less:

XY

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202109177...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202111189...

DS3 DSport Plus 155 same car as the above:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202111209...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202111089...

VXR Nurburgring Edition:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202111109...

[bearman68]

Brett748 said:

Hi all,

I currently have a Twingo 133 which is buggered which I use as a daily driver for my trips to the train station etc.

I’m obviously buying at the worse possible time with used cars being mentally expensive. Everything I’ve looked at is realistically worth £2k less than it should be.

I intent to keep a car for about 18 months and ideally I’d like to keep depreciation under £2k in that time.

Any suggestions up to say £5k?

I’m really not overly fussed what it is. I’m very open minded it could be a Lexus or a Clio for all I care.

Thanks in advance.

£5k ?? If it's driving to the station, and you genuinely don't care, there's still loads of good stuff out there. Focus is a good shout.

[Welshbeef]

Got to ask how can you have eye watering depreciation on a £5k purchase.

[Brett748]

bearman68 said:

£5k ?? If it's driving to the station, and you genuinely don't care, there's still loads of good stuff out there. Focus is a good shout.

I said £5k because I don’t want to outlay a huge amount of capital but if it isn’t depreciating much then it’s not a problem.

I am done with very cheap cars, they are often knackered and just a headache as I’ve found out with the Twingo.

Focus could be a good shout.

[Brett748]

Welshbeef said:

Got to ask how can you have eye watering depreciation on a £5k purchase.

Well if it is only worth say £2,000 in 18 months I would say £250 a month depreciation is eye watering on an old car.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Brett748 said:

Welshbeef said:

Got to ask how can you have eye watering depreciation on a £5k purchase.

Well if it is only worth say £2,000 in 18 months I would say £250 a month depreciation is eye watering on an old car.

Is £3,000 divided by 18 really £250?

[bearman68]

I'm not 100% sure this is allowed, but I buy and rent 'sheds' I have 68 (?) cheap cars people use for a fixed monthly cost of about £100. I look after maintenance, tyres MOT, etc etc etc.
Nothing fancy, but they all drive well, and do the job. Great for sitting at stations.

[Brett748]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Is £3,000 divided by 18 really £250?

I’ve had a shocker there, long day. Still, £166 a month is a lot of depreciation on an old car.

[Brett748]

bearman68 said:

I'm not 100% sure this is allowed, but I buy and rent 'sheds' I have 68 (?) cheap cars people use for a fixed monthly cost of about £100. I look after maintenance, tyres MOT, etc etc etc.
Nothing fancy, but they all drive well, and do the job. Great for sitting at stations.

Pm me some details mate.

[Welshbeef]

Brett748 said:

I’ve had a shocker there, long day. Still, £166 a month is a lot of depreciation on an old car.

How low do you expect it to be & why?

[georgeyboy12345]

If you want something resistant to depreciation, then you need to get something that will be in demand by the general public.

The general public are a bunch of snobs, so you'll need something from a (perceived) premium brand, ideally German.
They need something practical, so something with 5 doors.
They are often disinterested in driving, and many lack confidence on the roads, so prefer the high driving position and dynamics an SUV offers.
They are stingy, so will want something low tax.

I'd also be getting something ULEZ compliant so you aren't limiting your markets.

These are the nearest things I could find to that for under £5000


BMW X3 2.0i
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108196...


VW Tiguan 1.4 TSI
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202111199...


Audi A1 1.2 TFSI
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202111229...


VW Golf 1.2 TSI
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202111189...


Mercedes B160
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110018...

[Easternlight]

Why spend £5k?
Shirley if you want minimum depreciation you need to spend as little as possible?

Buy the cheapest car with a years ticket and hope it does a couple of years.

[TurboPower]

bearman68 said:

I'm not 100% sure this is allowed, but I buy and rent 'sheds' I have 68 (?) cheap cars people use for a fixed monthly cost of about £100. I look after maintenance, tyres MOT, etc etc etc.
Nothing fancy, but they all drive well, and do the job. Great for sitting at stations.

I've sent you a pm.

[defblade]

Easternlight said:

Why spend £5k?
Shirley if you want minimum depreciation you need to spend as little as possible?

Buy the cheapest car with a years ticket and hope it does a couple of years.

This.

At 3/4/5k, you're in "the hole"... the car is not much less likely to break than a 1k or 2k car, but cost enough to buy that it's hard to throw it away if it's an expensive repair. Much better to get a cheap car that you can throw away if it breaks more than a couple of hundred quid's worth.




My 2p : assuming you're not going to be doing a whole lot of miles to the station and back, then mpg becomes very low on the priorities list. Cars that are the opposite of all the things listed which "people love" on a post above are usually cheap because of that! Sadly many of them fall into the very expensive tax bracket of £500+ per year, but should be priced accordingly (or look for older than 2005 or 2006, I forget where the cut-off is), and you can set that cost against the depreciation saving.

So you're looking at large engined petrol cars, often from premium brands... you can end up with a whole lot of car for your money See the smoker barge thread for inspiration.

Or something reliable but slightly off kilter - for example, we bought my daughter a very cheap Corolla automatic. It came pre-dented down one side (who cares, especially for a station car) and also not a popular model - it's an old style 3 speed + overdrive box, and so the mpg is fairly tragic... but she does few miles, and it is a nice enough place to be inside and seems to be really well screwed together. It was, IIRC, £1350 (and that was this year, so with price inflation), just sailed through its MOT without even anything to "keep an eye on" from my regular garage guy.