Cars & Mortgage free quest?

Fatcat_feeder

Hello everyone,

As we are all trying to save money to become Mortgage free ASAP I am interested in your thoughts on owning, purchasing cars and how this effects your Mortgage free quest?

This is my view below on some of the different options.

1. Buy new - outright cash!

Pro's
New car, reliable , hassle free motoring up to 100K miles, 5 yrs approx.

Con's
10-15K could have gone towards the mortgage! This could have saved quite a bit over a 25 yrs mortgage.

2. Buy second hand - 40K miles-ish 5K approx to purchase.

Pro's
More money towards the mortgage.

Con's

Could course problems? Have to replace sooner.

3.
Hire purchase scheme

Pro's
Use as much personal money as poss towards mortgage.
New car
No worries of looking after personal car.
Replace car frequently.

Con's
Still quite a lot to spend PM?


I can't really make my mind up as to which is the best option!

I'd be keen to hear your thoughts on this topic.

Many thanks

Fat Cat Feeder.:money:

cazmanian_minx

I think a lot of it depends on your attitude towards cars. I've never bought a car that was newer than 8 years old or cost more than £2,500. I'm currently driving an X-reg 1.4l VW Polo which can do nearly 500 miles to a tank of petrol, is cheap to insure and doesn't cost a lot to service. I've had it for a year and a half and I'll probably keep it for at least another 7 years as long as nothing goes drastically wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I would love, Love, LOVE to have a Lotus Exige, or even an Elise, but right now getting the mortgage paid down is more important to me than having a fun car.

Caz

pawlala

I've got a small reliable (key word) car that I intent to run into the ground. Don't need a big car or blaring music systems or phat wheels. I need to get from A to B. The cheaper I can do that the better!

george_jetson

You missed out option 4 - do without a car. Seriously!

I've never owned a car and have coped fine with public transport, my bike and, more recently, membership of a car club (Streetcar).

OK if you don't live in a city, or have kids this may not be an option, but it might be worth working out if you can survive without a car - it really would make your mf quest faster.

Jock_Tight

I wouldn't buy a new car because as soon as you take it out the showroom its already dropped ~£1k, then there is the depreciation which could half its value in 3-4 years. However if it was your plan to run this car into the ground then I can see its advantages.

When it comes to cars I am not very good MSE wise as I have two!! :rolleyes:
One is my commuting to work/shopping car which I try and be as economical as possible with and the other my main passion/hobby/weekend toy a Mitsi Evo 5, which was bought (cash) 9 years ago.

These do not affect my MF task

THRIFTY_GIRL

I would re-iterate other posters' views. Don't buy new!!
A 'decent' make should be as reliable even at 3 years old. (in fact any car should be reliable at this point, and a decent car should remain reliable till at least 10 years old:rotfl::rotfl:). If you must buy new, consider ex-demo cars as they will still be under warranty, low mileage and tend to be quite godd spec. Also, consider ex fleet cars...not all company cars are bad!!

Brands I include in decent: BMW, Audi, VW, Saab, Volvo and some others

OK brands: Ford, Vauxhall

Definitely not decent: Fiat.....(don't ask!!)

Size and running costs depend on personal needs etc. For example, we have 2 medium family cars, one is 7 years old and one is 12!!. Both are 2.0l + petrol but this doesn't matter as we don't do much mileage. In fact we do so little in one that we are seriously thinking about selling when the weather improves!!

THRIFTY_GIRL

pawlala wrote: »

I've got a small reliable (key word) car that I intent to run into the ground. Don't need a big car or blaring music systems or phat wheels. I need to get from A to B. The cheaper I can do that the better!

Good tactic, but big cars don't always cost that much more:o

Agreed, whatever you get needs to be reliable and run in to the ground!!

dexter_fan

We have a 10 year old Volvo estate. OH has been looking at buying a newer car, but I really can't see the point (obviously swayed by the fact that I have no interest in cars as long as they are reliable, safe and clean)
There is not a mark of rust on the car, and it is extremely reliable and safe. Leather seats in good condition etc. I paid cash for it 2 years ago and although the mileage to the gallon is not great, I don't do that many miles(3,000 last year). Even when we're mortgage free I would still not buy a brand new car, for reasons already mentioned in other posts.

Horses for courses

dimbo61

I have bought 2 "new cars" in the last few years but one was 4 months old with 14 miles ( yes 14 miles) on the clock at £3k off list and 5 years later has not failed me once.Cheap to insure ( Martin),run and good on petrol.
Other new car from Citroen has also been totally reliable in the last 3 years and other than 2 services for £170 in total just cost me fuel,tax and insurance.
Dont care what you buy just please get the safest car you can afford
Seen several cars in very bad accidents recently and drivers stood at side of road on my arrival.
ON the road to MF!!

gallygirl

THRIFTY_GIRL wrote: »

Definitely not decent: Fiat.....(don't ask!!)

Sorry, disagree here - I've had quiet a few Fiats & loved them, never had any issues with them.

Fatcat Feeder what is your annual mileage? As a female doing 26,000 a year :eek: a new, reliable car is a must for me. I bought my last one brand new (Polo) & kept for 5 years, did over 126,000 in it but it was just starting to develop little niggles & I knew I would need to spend £750 in the next few months so got rid. I didn't get a very good price for it due to mileage & the little scratches with come with that, so buying a 'better' make didn't help with resale.

Then bought a brand new Fiat which I got 30% off list price (all relative I know but by far the best spec & economical engine I could get for the money). I spend over 3 hours in my car 3-4 week days so comfort and a decent spec is important.

If I worked locally I'd have kept my little Polo (the £750 would have been over a year, not a few months if mileage had been much reduced). Actually, I'd probably still have my previous car, a Punto, which was superb.

I 'borrowed' 9k of the purchase price for my current car from my offset mortgage and managed to negotiate a good rate with my lender (i.e. me ), mortgage rate is 1.49% but I'm paying 0 :cool:, will be paid back in 2.5 years so not a large knock on effect. Would have been a different story if I couldn't pay back so quickly & rate was 6% :eek:

hayley_jayne

Hi,

If you must buy new, consider ex-demo cars as they will still be under warranty, low mileage and tend to be quite godd spec. Also, consider ex fleet cars...not all company cars are bad!!

I agree with this. I think a good option is to buy an ex - demo car. I got a 1.4ltr Astra with 1500 miles on the clock and 4 months old for £8500 (list price £14.5k). We plan on keeping it a long time so hopefully it will work out being fairly good value for money.

xxx