saving money by changing car?

rexmedorum

I have an 2009 vw polo bluemotion. Untill recently I did a lengthy commute to work. Now I have moved closer and take the train. I was wondering if there is money to be saved by changing or if I'm better off keeping it. Its all paid for and the tax free.

It's just that if I were to buy a car for this situation I would have bought something cheaper.

Hammyman

Nobody ever really saves money by changing car, they just think they do based on MPG or lower tax or lower insurance but ignore other costs.

You have a small economical motor so you're not going to take a massive hit on depreciation like someone with a big engined motorway muncher will.

vikingaero

Do you actually need the money? At the moment you have a decent car under warranty. The Polo Bluemotion will hold it's value better than most cars though as people are eco-freaking-out. Only problem with an older car is potential costs - you might buy a £2k car and spend £1k on it this year. Is your job one where you need a reliable car to get you to/from the station?

JQ.

vikingaero wrote: »

Do you actually need the money? At the moment you have a decent car under warranty. The Polo Bluemotion will hold it's value better than most cars though as people are eco-freaking-out. Only problem with an older car is potential costs - you might buy a £2k car and spend £1k on it this year. Is your job one where you need a reliable car to get you to/from the station?

Sounds sensible to me. And what with inflation on the rise and low interest rates, holding assets rather than money in the bank may not be such a bad idea.

bigjl

rexmedorum wrote: »

I have an 2009 vw polo bluemotion. Untill recently I did a lengthy commute to work. Now I have moved closer and take the train. I was wondering if there is money to be saved by changing or if I'm better off keeping it. Its all paid for and the tax free.

It's just that if I were to buy a car for this situation I would have bought something cheaper.

Your car is already one of the most economical on sale in the UK so I can't see how you can save any money.

Unless you want to get the equity back from your current car to buy a cheaper one.

As any car you buy will certainly be older and out of warranty I can see no point in changing your car.

Unless there are other factors you have not mentioned.

Strider590

:rotfl:


We get one of these every week or so.

My response is always something like this:

Don't make excuses to buy a new car, if you want a new car just buy one. Your not saving money, your not saving the environment, so it's pointless to fool yourself into thinking you are.

harveybobbles

It amazes me how many people will change cars just to get in a lower VED bracket...! So they end up paying a few thousand to save 100 a year VEd. Madness...

rexmedorum

JQ. wrote: »

Sounds sensible to me. And what with inflation on the rise and low interest rates, holding assets rather than money in the bank may not be such a bad idea.

Good point I didn't think of that. I actually walk to the station and don't use it for work at all normally (I may do for occasional meetings for my own conveniance but that's hardly essential).

rexmedorum

harveybobbles wrote: »

It amazes me how many people will change cars just to get in a lower VED bracket...! So they end up paying a few thousand to save 100 a year VEd. Madness...

well it's alraedy 0 GBP/year so that would be hard to beat

rexmedorum

Strider590 wrote: »

:rotfl:


We get one of these every week or so.

My response is always something like this:

Don't make excuses to buy a new car, if you want a new car just buy one. Your not saving money, your not saving the environment, so it's pointless to fool yourself into thinking you are.

I certainly wasn't going to buy a new one

rodenal

The only reason I could think of to sell your polo would be if you wanted to avoid losing the money it will lose in depreciation - but as already said it's unlikely to drop too drastically and if you bought a cheaper car with the cash you got back then that could potentially cost you more than the depreciation on the polo.