Help with possible new car?

shoe_gal_84

Hi All,

My car is on it's last legs. She is now 11 years old and although has only done 57,000 miles, is starting to cost me a lot of money.

I use my car to travel to and from work, and also have to use it to go out and about with work too. Obviously as well as using it at weekends and evenings. But most importantly, I need a fairly reliable, economical car for my job.

I have 2 credit cards, totalling just under £3000 which I don't use and am gradually paying off, and was just wondering the best way to go about getting a car.
I don't need a brand new car but don't have any money in savings. I imagine that I will be able to sell my car for around £500 and that would go as a deposit.
Is a loan the best way forward? I don't really want to do hire purchase as I know interest rates are high.

Can anyone advise me of the best place to look for loans or how to go about it as I've never had a loan before. I think I would probably need around £3,000.

Thanks.

bouncydog1

You mention that you are "gradually paying off your credit cards". Unless they are on 0% or very low interest you should be paying these off as quickly as possible to save on interest.

Are you sure that you would be able to finance a £3k loan - what period of loan would you be looking for - ideally you should be paying off a car loan fairly quickly to avoid as much interest as possible as the value of the car will also depreciate.

Best bet is for you to state what your income and outgoings are so that people can take a look and make suggestions for you.

shoe_gal_84

Both of my credit cards are 0% interest and I pay off £100 a month on both of these, which is as much as I can afford at the minute and is a lot more than the minimum payment.
Once the interest free period is over, I will transfer both balances on to one 0% interest card - I estimate that I will have around £2000 in total when this happens. I should then be able to pay the card off in 10 months, making myself credit card free by October 2011.

Yes, I'm sure I can finance a £3000 loan. I may only actually need £2500 by the time I have sold mine. I would like to do this over a period of 2 years if possible.

I wasn't actually asking for advice on whether I could afford a loan, I was just asking whether anyone knew of the best place to look for one or the best rates of interest.

Thanks.

digitalphase

Can I ask what car you have, that is 11 years old and 'on its last legs' having only done 57k miles?

I'm in a similar situation, but my car at 11 years old has done 165k, significantly more.

CLAPTON

shoe_gal_84 wrote: »

Both of my credit cards are 0% interest and I pay off £100 a month on both of these, which is as much as I can afford at the minute and is a lot more than the minimum payment.
Once the interest free period is over, I will transfer both balances on to one 0% interest card - I estimate that I will have around £2000 in total when this happens. I should then be able to pay the card off in 10 months, making myself credit card free by October 2011.

Yes, I'm sure I can finance a £3000 loan. I may only actually need £2500 by the time I have sold mine. I would like to do this over a period of 2 years if possible.

I wasn't actually asking for advice on whether I could afford a loan, I was just asking whether anyone knew of the best place to look for one or the best rates of interest.

Thanks.

your bank is a good starting point as they know how you manage your account with them.

however you haven't told us your salary, or whether you are on the electoral roll and whether your credit record is good
otherwise HP may be your best bet even if a litttle more expensive.

also you say you can only afford to pay 100 per month on your CC at the moment
a loan of 2500 over two years will probably cost about 120 per month...

shoe_gal_84

My car is a Citroen Saxo. Passed it's MOT in June costing around £300 and I was given a long list of recommendations. Now it seems the exhaust is going as well. It's just costing me too much money.

My salary is £20,641, I am on the electoral roll and my credit rating is good. I have had numerous store cards and credit cards but have always paid on time and have never been refused credit.

I am paying £100 per month on EACH credit card, so am currently spending £200 a month paying these off. I understand that if I get a loan I will have to repay it and have budgeted for that.

Thanks for your help.

sp1987

Get a few quotes on the repair work for your current car. An exhaust could be approx £100 and if the engine is going ok (it should be at 57,000 unless someone ran it without oil, lol) you can probably squeeze another 30k out if it without issue.

I have a 2000 fiesta and the only thing it has really done is not started for me once and that was the other day (one of the wires was a bit corroded, sorted now...didn't need to take it to a garage) and it's done 80,000.

Nothing like a ''don't get a loan for a newer one'' post just a ''you might be able to sort your current one very cheaply''.

Before now I've had a page worth of work to be done and it's cost virtuallynothing yet the brake discs alone were over £200 when that was all on the sheet.

kuohu

shoe_gal_84 wrote: »

Both of my credit cards are 0% interest and I pay off £100 a month on both of these, which is as much as I can afford at the minute and is a lot more than the minimum payment.

If you cannot afford to pay any more money off the credit cards, how do you feel you will be able to afford loan repayments?

KingElvis

Your bank would be the best bet, get a car loan from them if you absolutely want a new car :-) Getting finnace with a car dealer is always an uncomfortable experience in my opinion.

I would look into keeping your old one, we have a 98 Volvo S40 which is still doing sterling work for us. Was tempted by a BMW 118d earlier in the year but managed to resist when the salesman turned all oily and got aggressive when I wanted to think about it.

You sure it isn't desire a new car and not need one?

Good luck anyway

shoe_gal_84

Sabastian6 wrote: »

you need to drive your car more in order to get loan..yours is just 11 years old and has covered only 57 k...what have you done in last 11 years..

What have I done in the last 11 years? What kind of a question is that?
I don't mean to be rude, but I wasn't asking whether you thought I needed to 'drive my car more'. I am more than capable of knowing when I need a new car.

Thanks to everyone else for your help.

Enfieldian

Sabastian6 wrote: »

you need to drive your car more in order to get loan..yours is just 11 years old and has covered only 57 k...what have you done in last 11 years..

How very random......

PayDay loan business not doing very well at the moment?