Best value car in the long term? New or Used?

Flashfly

I wonder if I can ask for some advice-

I need a car, but it has to be cheap. Cheap to buy, cheap to insure, and cheap to run. I was looking at something like a Ford Ka.

Now I feel I have two options, but I can't work out which will make more financial sense in the long term (say 5yrs).

Do I :

1. Buy a second hand car for about £2k and pay to keep it serviced, repaired, MOT'd

or

2. Buy a new or nearly new car for about £5k with warranty, no MOTs to worry about, (hopefully) no repairs to pay for.

Now I know option 2 has the larger initial outlay. But I worry a £2k car will only last a couple of years before I'd need to buy another one.

Thanks.

flea72

it all depends on what you expect long term, ie how long you expect to be running each vehicle for

you can either spend £5k now on a car, although if buying a new car, at this price, you would only be looking at cars from japan/korea. ok cheap to buy, very expensive to repair, once you are out of the warranty period. so if you are planning on keeping a 'new' car for 10yrs, you need to look at how expensive the vehicle is going to be to maintain, 5-10yrs down the line.

on the other hand working on similar figures, you could spend £2k every 3-4yrs, and have yourself a nice little runaround, that when the time comes for expensive repairs, you can get rid, and just buy another vehicle

personally, i would go the new car route, either pre-reg or demonstrator. i like to have a reliable vehicle, and know that for X number of years, i dont have any repair bills to pay.

best thing to do is to work out how much each car will cost to buy, service, and maintain. then break that down into a rough yearly cost (include any finance rates, etc.). then it really just comes down to peace of mind, and personal taste, like whether you want to drive a new car, or a used one

Flea

Flashfly

I'd be looking at a timescale of 5 years or so.

It seems you can get a new Ford Ka for about £5000 from places like drivethedeal.co.uk I would be wary about getting something potentially unreliable.

joe13

I purchased my first new car over 20 years ago with redundancy money. I do fairly low/average mileage and kept it for 9 years, never had to have a major repair. Then purchased another new car which I kept for 8 years, again no major repair. Now on new car number 3 which again I intend to keep for a fair few years.

I would never buy another second hand car. Big expense initially to buy new but if you do not intend to change car every couple of years it works well.

burbs_2

Flashfly wrote:

I wonder if I can ask for some advice-

I need a car, but it has to be cheap. Cheap to buy, cheap to insure, and cheap to run. I was looking at something like a Ford Ka.

Now I feel I have two options, but I can't work out which will make more financial sense in the long term (say 5yrs).

Do I :

1. Buy a second hand car for about £2k and pay to keep it serviced, repaired, MOT'd

or

2. Buy a new or nearly new car for about £5k with warranty, no MOTs to worry about, (hopefully) no repairs to pay for.

Now I know option 2 has the larger initial outlay. But I worry a £2k car will only last a couple of years before I'd need to buy another one.

Thanks.

Do your research and dont just jump in and a 2 grand car will not only last you a couple of years. I sell cars for a living and cars i take in part exchange are going for around this mark, some of them are not going to last the course but the majority will go on for a number of years yet.

Dealers want to get rid of part exchanges as quickly as possible, they take up forecourt space that we dont have. A 2 grand car taking the space of a 20 grand car is a massive problem, they have to go. I dont care whether they are brilliant cars, they go for a fair price and thats that. Most of them go to the auctions.

Go along to local dealers and ask if they have taken any of the cars you are after in part ex, would they need you to take it off their hands for them.

As for the new car, things can go wrong no matter how old the car is. Just because you buy new do not expect it to be perfect. Your warranty will not cover you for everything. MOTs are cheap as chips anyway so free MOTs are nothing special. It really depends on you but a little 2 grand car will probably do you for a few years.

moonrakerz

Go for a new(ish) Ka, my wife and daughter both have them. Cheap to run, cheap to insure, a delight to drive and can be parked in incredibly small spaces. Still looks stylish from the outside - but I still haven't got used to the interior layout - or should that be way out ?

jjames_3

If it's value for money you're after, and you're not looking to keep forever (5 years is sensible), how about buying a 2 year old Hyundai?

This way you pay very little for the car but still get the benefit of an effective 3-year unlimited mileage warranty (as these cars come with 5 year warranties as standard).

A 2 year-old Hyundai Getz, a proven reliable vehicle, will cost around £3500-4000, from a main dealer. My experience of owning a Hyundai for three years suggests that they are cheap to run (cheap tyres last 35000 miles, 5 years old still on original exhaust/battery/brake discs etc at 50,000 miles), and the car has not given any serious trouble (one wheel bearing and a dodgy clock setting button). Parts may be above average to buy but pattern parts are available and these cars are very easy to work on so labour costs (more important than parts cost IMO) are low.

Flashfly

burbs wrote:

Go along to local dealers and ask if they have taken any of the cars you are after in part ex, would they need you to take it off their hands for them.

Fantastic! There is a dealer next door to where we live!

vincefenlon

You could always buy one of these warranties available online, or a mot warranty, where if it fails then they pay. Its something like that.

burbs_2

Flashfly wrote:

Fantastic! There is a dealer next door to where we live!

There you go then, pop in, get friendly with them. If they are ok with you they may even keep their eyes open for you. Tell them what you are after.

stumpjumper

With a new car you'll have the initial 'niggles' which although they will be fixed under warranty will mean the hassle of having your car in the garage quite often. Warranties do puzzle me slightly as it seems most major manufactueres will cover manufacturing defects even when the car is well out of warranty eg. My 5 yr old/ 2 owners Citroen Berlingo's O/S suspension spring snapped last week and Citroen replaced both springs FOC due to it being a 'known issue'. I've also recently had free recall work done to the vehicle too.

Another thing to bear in mind with a new car is that in order to keep your warranty you have to have the services done on time and with official parts which usually means servicing costs during the warranty period are higher than when you can shop around the independants for your service.

Tyres, brakes and exhausts will cost you the same however old your car is. Make shure your S/H car has a fresh set of all these .