Advice on buying a new car - finance options?

computershack

Tomzmuffin wrote: »

Its a 1996 Vauxhall Corsa, its squeals like a boy racer whenever it rains, gets cold or feels like it. If I get stuck in traffic for more then 5 minutes it over heats and I have to put the heating on full blast and wind the window downs - in the summer i nearly cooked alive! It cost me only £600 3 1/2 years ago but this year have so far spent £350 on fixing it. The passenger window doesnt wind down, my wing mirror is glued into place, if more then two people are in the car at one time when it rains the windows steam up so much i cant see even with the blowers on. The heated back window is not working completely.
.

So you need to tighten the fanbelt which costs nothing. On the OHV Corsa engines, the fanbelt drives the waterpump so if its slack, it'll squeal its nuts off and not turn the pump sufficiently.

chieffy72

Just a few points,check the dealer finance before you take a loan out,I've sold new cars for Ford for 5 and a half years so I've got a bit of a clue what I'm talking about. Ford Credit are currently offering 7.9% APR on finance agreements upto 4 years (4.9% on 2 year PCP) but they're also giving you money towards your deposit if you take out finance with them,£450 on Fiesta,£800 on Mondeo/Smax/Galaxy and £1200 towards a Focus,if you only borrow a small amount they'll be paying you to take their finance!
Also you'll get a termination option,typically two thirds of the way through a PCP and halfway through HP,hardly anyone ever uses this but it's handy to fall back on if your circumstances change and you can't keep up repayments.

Also,contrary to advice given here (again!!!) it doesn't always make sense to go for nearly new over new,for example our dealership has Focus Zetecs 6 months old for around £13500 at a typical APR of 12.9%,total repayable would be £17000 over 4 years.At the moment you can have a brand new one for £15000 minus your £1200 deposit paid by Ford at an APR of 7.9%,total repayable £16000! You'll also find at the moment it's cheaper to buy a brand new Fiesta than a 6 month old one.


Hope this helps,
K.

bclark

computershack wrote: »

Err, not necessarily if its a consumable part. And even then, only for the first 12 months typically. Fine if you change the car every 12 months.

Well yes thats kind of obvious but I hardly think that needing to change a tyre or wiper blades is going to cost too much.

I think the Op was mainly worried about something major going that would cost hundreds, if not thousands, but than I think you probably knew that.

chieffy72

chieffy72 wrote: »

Just a few points,check the dealer finance before you take a loan out,I've sold new cars for Ford for 5 and a half years so I've got a bit of a clue what I'm talking about. Ford Credit are currently offering 7.9% APR on finance agreements upto 4 years (4.9% on 2 year PCP) but they're also giving you money towards your deposit if you take out finance with them,£450 on Fiesta,£800 on Mondeo/Smax/Galaxy and £1200 towards a Focus,if you only borrow a small amount they'll be paying you to take their finance!
Also you'll get a termination option,typically two thirds of the way through a PCP and halfway through HP,hardly anyone ever uses this but it's handy to fall back on if your circumstances change and you can't keep up repayments.

Also,contrary to advice given here (again!!!) it doesn't always make sense to go for nearly new over new,for example our dealership has Focus Zetecs 6 months old for around £13500 at a typical APR of 12.9%,total repayable would be £17000 over 4 years.At the moment you can have a brand new one for £15000 minus your £1200 deposit paid by Ford at an APR of 7.9%,total repayable £16000! You'll also find at the moment it's cheaper to buy a brand new Fiesta than a 6 month old one.


Hope this helps,
K.

And I forgot to knock your £2000 scrappage off,so a brand new Focus £3000 cheaper than a 6 month old one!

AdrianHi

chieffy72 wrote: »

Just a few points,check the dealer finance before you take a loan out,I've sold new cars for Ford for 5 and a half years so I've got a bit of a clue what I'm talking about. Ford Credit are currently offering 7.9% APR on finance agreements upto 4 years (4.9% on 2 year PCP) but they're also giving you money towards your deposit if you take out finance with them,£450 on Fiesta,£800 on Mondeo/Smax/Galaxy and £1200 towards a Focus,if you only borrow a small amount they'll be paying you to take their finance!
Also you'll get a termination option,typically two thirds of the way through a PCP and halfway through HP,hardly anyone ever uses this but it's handy to fall back on if your circumstances change and you can't keep up repayments.

Also,contrary to advice given here (again!!!) it doesn't always make sense to go for nearly new over new,for example our dealership has Focus Zetecs 6 months old for around £13500 at a typical APR of 12.9%,total repayable would be £17000 over 4 years.At the moment you can have a brand new one for £15000 minus your £1200 deposit paid by Ford at an APR of 7.9%,total repayable £16000! You'll also find at the moment it's cheaper to buy a brand new Fiesta than a 6 month old one.


Hope this helps,
K.

Who will pay £13,500 for a car on a 12.9% APR loan when they can get the same car in the market for £12,000 on a 7.9% APR loan elsewhere? OK there will be a few. Thats a repayment over 4 years of £13,962.
The loan payments are irrelevant to long term cost of ownership anyway, this is just the cash flow situation the purchase presents you with.
So you get your new Focus discounted to £13,800 and loose about £7700 on it in 36 months average monthly loss £214 and about £47 a month interest charge.
Compare with the 6 month old £12,000 example and you loose about £5880 in 30 months average monthly loss £196 plus about £40 a month interest charges.
You can lease a new Focus Zetec 1.6TDCi prices in the range for £235 to £255 including VAT and of course finance charges.
There is not that much in it new vs. 6 month old so may be it is worth taking that deal for a new one. I would not say it was cheaper though.

Edit: OK if you qualify for £2K scrappage it would apperar to seal the deal on a new one. But what will the efffect of scrappage be on residual values in future? Tough call.

chieffy72

You're right Adrian,it is a tough call but you seem quite happy to advise people to buy 3-6 month old when the reality is that might not always be the best option,especially on smaller cars. It happens quite often that a new car deal will work out better or only slightly more than nearly new,pre-reg or ex demo. It's always worth popping over to the other side of the showroom and asking a new car salesperson to compare the deals before you commit to anything.

AdrianHi

You've got to check all the angles, sometimes buying isn't even the best option, leasing is, if personal circumstances permit and you don't mind being tied in for 24-36 months.
With most Fords loosing value steeply in the first few months but quite slowly after that most (but not all) of the time buying the pre-reg / 3 to 6 month old car is going to be best.
Over-inflated dealer forecourt prices for nearly new cars (possibly to make buying new look good) and poor finance deals on used cars, but decent finance deals on new ones (again to make buying new look good) are the offers car dealers make to sell new cars.
The scrappage scheme obviously changes things and many times over the last year I've done the sums and come to the opinion buying brand new, as you say especially on the smaller cars, really is the best value option.

I've got nothing against dealers, I've actually managed to get dealers to match or beat (by a big margin) car broker prices and bought all the recent cars for myself, wife and mother through main dealers willing to do the right deal which is not the one advertised in the showroom window