Change of car on finance due to new job

[rdb85]

So I have a new job. I am thinking of swapping my Lexus IS250 SE-L for something a little better on fuel, tax and insurance. The commute a year is 20k. So I don't think I would need a diesel. Currently, I owe £6k on the Lexus and its valued at £4-5k. So I am considering options on what to do, as really the Lexus although reliable, will kill my wallet at the pump. I am open to suggestions but either way, there is £2k of negative equity that needs to be swallowed into a small car.

Any help would be great.

[rdb85]

Sc0tchland said:

You don't think you'd need a diesel?
What's your budget for a new car?
Would you like an estate? 5 doors etc?

I dont think so due to the commute being 20k miles, the roads are mainly A roads, with some motorway, but not much to warrant a diesel. Budget for a new car would be £2-3k. A small car would be best, 5 doors if possible. Cheap to insure, maintain and service. But nothing French, would not go down that route again.

Edited by rdb85 on Tuesday 16th April 21:18

[rdb85]

evoivboy said:

Get a personal loan at 3-4% to cover the cost of paying the finance off on the Lexus and buying another car, either sell the Lexus privately or part ex at a dealer with your new car, easy

Not a bad idea. I am just after something cheap, maybe £2-3k that I can keep for a year or two, I could pay that off in a year or 18 months depending on what I would get from a loan company.

Edited by rdb85 on Tuesday 16th April 21:17

[rdb85]

silentbrown said:

How's the Lexus financed at present? If it's PCP would VT'ing be a possibility?

It’s on a HP. I would need to pay over £2k to VT.

[rdb85]

Dave. said:

This, really.

Anything you buy will generally need a few quid spending on it, so unless you know of any looming big maintenance items on the Lexus, I'd stick with it for a bit longer.

That’s a thought. It’s currently out of its extended warranty. So I was concerned there.?But I could stick with it and see how the job goes.

[rdb85]

shake n bake said:

Would running the Lexus cost 2-3k more on fuel than another Petrol small car?
Don’t really see the benefit of swapping really.

It would cost £3k a year to run the Lexus. A smaller car would be half that. The insurance would be cheaper.

[rdb85]

Obviously yes. For example a Ford Fiesta. You could get a diesel which is £30 or less to tax as oppose to £315 on the Lexus. Even a petrol fiesta would be half the tax of the Lexus.

Lexus are probably one of the most reliable brands of car. My worry is it’s out of extends warranty, as it’s too old to get a new one. Which if it could it’s £800 - £900 a year for that.

[rdb85]

ZX10R NIN said:

If you are going to be doing 20k a year comfort becomes a big factor & I would be buying a diesel that's Focus sized or bigger because when you get to this size of car gets longer gearing making them better on fuel vs a Fiesta, the savings will still be significant.

In answer to your question the answer would be something along these lines:

IS220d

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Toyota Auris SR

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

I'd run the 250 for a bit to get a proper idea of what the fuel consumption will be.

I will run the 250 for a while to see what the fuel consumption over a month would be. As I say there is nothing wrong with the Lexus but the fuel cost would be a factor in trading it in. But I will see what it’s like.

I will consider something Focus size as I quite like them. The Toyota looks okay I would image they would be reliable.

The only reason I’m looking at £3k for a car is I was made redundant at the end of the year. So it’s been a challenge paying the Lexus off and because I don’t have a high credit rating the finance from the dealer was cheaper than the bank. But you learn from these things.

So I was thinking something cheap, than can be paid off in a year, cheaper to tax, maintain, insure and run then it sounds a good idea.

So as things stand there is about £2k of negative equity. Now if I traded it in today I would get £4000. So how I understand it I would need to from a dealer get a car worth £6k-£7k to finance the equity owed. But I don’t want to go down that route.

[rdb85]

ninjag said:

Never thought about the comfort factor.

Would SAAB also be worth a look in?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

SAAB looks okay, I would imagine they would be quite expensive to maintain and as they don’t make them anymore parts would be hard to source. Nice car though.

[rdb85]

Ive had a look I was thinking of keeping with an Auto as its not essential but I do like them:

A Class:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Jag:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Focus:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[rdb85]

ninjag said:

I'd avoid that Jag

Oh right, are they not very good? I would also consider a Mondeo but they are quite large.

[rdb85]

Mgd_uk said:

How about looking at it this way.

Your about to blow £2000 getting out of negative equity.

How about you keep driving the Lexus and put that £2k towards running the car, £2000 will get your tax at £300 a year for 2 years and £1400 worth of fuel, that gets you a LOT of miles over the course of 2 years.

That’s a good point. As I say I’m going to keep hold of the Lexus. Try and run it for a while to see what mpg it will get. But I’m paying around £188 a month. So I could keep hold of it, as I can’t see it going below £4000, hopefully.

[rdb85]

jjr1 said:

Keep the car. You clearly haven't a clue about swapping one debt for a bigger debt as that is what is going to happen if you change your car. Where do yo think the negative value goes?

The next car you will buy already has been bought by a trader and you are going to pay retail on that? Who do you think pays his profit margin? The magic fairies?

Bit harsh. I think I’ve an idea of where the profit margin goes etc. I’m going to keep the Lexus and run it for a while 6 months or maybe longer. As you usually have a trial period in any new job.

As I need to gauge an overall cost with what the Lexus would be like in terms of fuel, and if anything were to happen that would see any huge bills. I could get a warranty but at a cost of £795. Which for two years is not bad. But I would need to see if they could offer that.

It’s too early to tell but I’m looking at options and working out numbers. Unfortunately I could not find any magic fairies to help me with that, so I used a spreadsheet and some formulae.

[rdb85]

Lukas239 said:

Don't know how other people feel but I can't imagine non-manufacture warranties are ever a financially good option.

Instead put 800 to 1K away in savings and use that to fix anything should it go wrong. That way your not unnecessarily out of pocket to a warranty that may try and wiggle out of responsibility (pessimistic I know but you hear stories).

Also, I think we would all agree here that trying to save money but getting into more debt/credit is not wise.

These are Lexus extended warranty’s I got one with the car. It paid for a new alternator £600, rear callipers £320 and a battery £125. You can pay monthly for it and cancel it at any time.

I may do that and put money away each month for the car. It’s a good idea. You are right I am trying to save money. Not accumulate more debt. I will see how it goes with the job.

[rdb85]

Car-Matt said:

To save yourself £2k running costs over the Lexus doing 20k a year what are you going to get????

You just need to run it and suck it up till you can sell it and break even,

Its not £2k running costs its £2k of negative equity between what I owe and what the car is worth currently. I have already said that I am going to keep the Lexus and run it for a while, and see how it goes. it was just the concern of the fuel costs as its 3x the mileage I do now. But I will suck it up and pay it as you say.

[rdb85]

GreatGranny said:

Putting 20k miles per year on it will hurt the resale value and it will go below £4k at some point.
Just look at older Lexiis (?).

Its 10 years old with 71k on it so it's quite low for the year, I know that these engines can do silly mileage. I am going to keep it and run it as its a lot to lose £2k its not a few hundred pounds. The car is faultless and does not require anything to date. At this stage financially it makes more sense to just keep it, run it and then see what it costs over a month of use. I am guessing around £300 a month in fuel.

[rdb85]

So I’ve just done a run to where the job is and got 43 mpg which is pretty good I think from a 2.5 v6. Do you think a diesel could beat that? I think it would have to do 60+mpg to be worth it, due to the price difference on fuel currently.

Edited by rdb85 on Thursday 18th April 22:11

[rdb85]

iphonedyou said:

If 20k a year doesn’t suit a diesel, what does!?

I’m not saying that it doesn’t, but as I’ve never owned one, or done anything that’s over 5k a year then I was just after some simple advice. That’s all.