Toms DFW Diary!

Nuclear_Tom

Fair point on the car, but reliability is a must... mine is still under warranty!

Its basic enough for me to do repairs on too, and I have done my own servicing.

I love the car, its a 2003 Focus TDCI Ghia with sport alloys and suspension. Its probably worth about £7k, but its low mileage (33k) and is damn economical (50+mpg all day long).

I do quite a few miles, so comfort is paramount.

I'm not sure on the insurance group, maybe an 8? Either way, I know there is no way I'm part-exing it with cash my way (guaranteed way to throw money away), and organising a sale and collection on the same day would be nigh on impossible!

I love the car, and I think its very sensible... I intend to literally run it into the ground over a very long term, and I believe chopping it in for something smaller/cheaper would be a mistake.

I have considered doing the whole bangornomics thing, but I simply can't risk a day without my car...

tobedifferent

I'll be brutal and say you car is not sensible, despite being heavily in debt you are paying for a car you don't need but one that you want. Its not about buying an old banger for a few hundred. If your car is worth £7K you could sell it for a virtually brand new reliable small car with warranty etc and have a couple of grand off your debt and big savings on petrol, maintenance and insurance. Its quite a high insurance group and your alloys and suspension will be adding to that - as all the insurers think is boy racer therefore trouble.

You live at your parents and have just over £9 a month spare? The way I see it you have three choices:

1. Do nothing but spend somemore and end up bankrupt, its likely that as your only real asset your car will go, you'll be allowed funds for something more reasonable.
2. Keep paying you debt at the same rate and end up paying back back thousands more in interest whilst staying at home forever, no holidays, no house and by the looks of it not much fun - because you can't afford it.
3. Make difficult but liveable choices and make massive inroads on your debt. Then relax and have a life and afford what you want.

You can always sell your car, and spend a couple of hundred on something to keep you going whilst you pick up something better, then hopefully sell your banger for nearly what you paid (as I did).

Timmne

tobedifferent wrote:

I'll be brutal and say you car is not sensible, despite being heavily in debt you are paying for a car you don't need but one that you want. Its not about buying an old banger for a few hundred. If your car is worth £7K you could sell it for a virtually brand new reliable small car with warranty etc and have a couple of grand off your debt and big savings on petrol, maintenance and insurance. Its quite a high insurance group and your alloys and suspension will be adding to that - as all the insurers think is boy racer therefore trouble.

You live at your parents and have just over £9 a month spare? The way I see it you have three choices:

1. Do nothing but spend somemore and end up bankrupt, its likely that as your only real asset your car will go, you'll be allowed funds for something more reasonable.
2. Keep paying you debt at the same rate and end up paying back back thousands more in interest whilst staying at home forever, no holidays, no house and by the looks of it not much fun - because you can't afford it.
3. Make difficult but liveable choices and make massive inroads on your debt. Then relax and have a life and afford what you want.

You can always sell your car, and spend a couple of hundred on something to keep you going whilst you pick up something better, then hopefully sell your banger for nearly what you paid (as I did).

Tom I agree with this too (although look at my debts below which have 2 small car loans in and you'll probably see different!)...

It's not sensible to have a focus with that insurance group and premium - you could be saving thousands a year without it, and a 4 year old, £1900 fiesta (which don't look bad either) would be very reliable, cheap to run and insure and still as economical as your focus.

Another point to consider is that even though your employer is charging you only 2.9% interest, it's not the interest you should be looking at - it's the cashflow. Just think how fast your debt would be falling without that loan being taken from your pay!

Just looked at your spreadsheet; why are you paying for a PC in both employments? Also have you considered stopping your pension contributions for a few months? At 21 (that's not meant to be patronising, I'm only 22!) it'll make much more difference now than it will in 44 years. The amount you're paying is about £1200 pa grossed up (very roughly!), which is 7% of your annual pay - this is surely too much to be paying in your current situation?

Good job working at GroTesco part time though - are you a privilege card holder yet? That's a sweet little bonus!!

Nuclear_Tom

But i owe about £9500 to my employer for the car, and if I sell it for even £8k, I'd have to find the £1500 to pay the defecit.

And to keep the car loan, it has to be under 3 years old with emissions of 150g/km CO2, and I'd have to pay for an AA check etc.

The wheels are Ford optional wheels, not boyracer, thanks!!! The suspension was Fords factory upgrade.

I downgraded to the Focus from a vRS. I really am struggling to see how I can save a substantial amount here.

Nuclear_Tom

Hmm, well it seems £2k can buy a reasonable car. Plenty of immaculate petrol Astras out there with low miles and dealer warranty - I had one before and whilst dull, it was very reliable and DIY was a doddle.

Will speak to my manager on Wednesday to see if downgrading is an option.

*sob*

Timmne

Thing is, as you've pointed out, the initial move is a right kerfuffle (I have Little Britain on now!). It's sometimes about giving up a chunk of cash before you can see the benefits, which we've just had to do (for ka, 5 yrs old for £1850!).

Maybe worth changing the car when the breakeven sale point comes - when you owe as much as it's worth, although it won't be much of an immediate solution!

Am sympathising with you though mate - am in a milder version of your situation, but have a mortgage to boot!

Nuclear_Tom

Timmne wrote:

Thing is, as you've pointed out, the initial move is a right kerfuffle (I have Little Britain on now!). It's sometimes about giving up a chunk of cash before you can see the benefits, which we've just had to do (for ka, 5 yrs old for £1850!).

Maybe worth changing the car when the breakeven sale point comes - when you owe as much as it's worth, although it won't be much of an immediate solution!

Am sympathising with you though mate - am in a milder version of your situation, but have a mortgage to boot!

I think that breakeven point will come roughly the time of my debt free date -end of 2008! :rotfl:

TBH I want to keep the car, as I don't have any money to fork out, and owing £9.5k on something worth £8k doesnt seem as bad as owing £5k on something worth £3k!

angchris

i think you have had some very sound advice from the peeps on here! selling your biggest asset ie the car is definately an easy way for you to generate enough cash so that you can really start the ball rolling into making a start at paying back some of your debts, yes it looks like you are gonna lose £1500 ish and yes you are probably gonna lose your prized possesion but i`d say its worth a bit of sacrifice now otherwise you will never get off the merry go round of debt and carry on spiralling downwards. by getting yourself a nice reliable cheapo runaround for say £2k you can free up 6k and you can then sit down make some sound choices and really make inroads into your debt! by freeing up a bit of cash from getting rid of a few debts should leave you enough to live off of without ever having to use your cards again this being your ultimate goal for the timebeing! once you have enough to live on and keep plodding away at chipping away at those debts you will soon see what an acheivement you can make. as soon as you can please chop those cards up into a zillion pieces and never use em again dont even keep them for emergencies as it is all to easy to say oh its only £20 this will force you to budget properly and really think about what you are spending, it is hard we all know it is but this is something you have to do now. just think of it as an investment in your future

angchris

just a thought! food also goes "missing" from my house to its obviousely to tempting for my son and he goes on raids lol what we did was to buy a small beer fridge for the bedroom and we can stash all of our goodies in there away from tempted and hungry eyes:rolleyes: maybe you could ask for a small fridge for chrimbo to keep in your room and you can then sort yourself out for lunches very cheaply buy a loaf of longlife bread some fruit or crisps/multipacks of coke or whatever and save yourself a few pennies which is much cheaper than buying ready made stuff in shops. also if you are doing alot of miles in the car make sure that you use either tesco or sainsburys to top up with fuel and get nectar points which will add up and you can use the coupons/points to pay for your lunch stuff also phone up the loan companies and see if you can cancel any payment protection on them these can mount up to a substantial amount saved per month

Smashing

Nuclear_Tom wrote:

I realise I'm going to have to have a month of only doing absolutely essential journeys, and ask the gf if she can come to mine rather than drive to hers every night, use her car if we go somewhere etc. I'm sure she will be totally supportive.

Not just a month - this needs to be a long term thing.
While you may want to keep your car, you don't need to - you may lose out on a certain amount, but at the moment the costs of running it are placing a huge burden on your expenses. A run around may be a dent to the ego, but it will certainly do the job.