How much did you spend on your car

vikingaero

Everyone against buying a new car mentions cost, cost, cost, cost, cost.

What about the benefits?

The new car smell/experience
A warranty
Breakdown cover
Courtesy/Loan cars in the event of a problem
New tyres, new brakes, new clutch = no servicing or maintenance costs for at least 10-12k
Sometimes better fuel economy for the same engine size
Better safety and Euro NCAP rating - something you really think about as a parent. There are reports that the scrappage scheme has saved lives with older cars being removed from the car pool and people having accidents in cars which offer better protection.
Etc. etc. etc.

At the end of the day the new car/old car argument is like the Moneysaving mantra: "Save £1000 per annum by not buying a coffee each day..." If I can afford a coffee each day who gives a monkeys?

mikey72

vikingaero wrote: »

...........Better safety and Euro NCAP rating - something you really think about as a parent. There are reports that the scrappage scheme has saved lives with older cars being removed from the car pool and people having accidents in cars which offer better protection.
Etc. etc. etc..........

Mine is so full of tools, saws, drills, long pointy objects, heavy pointy objects, the kids tell me it's like driving in a scene of "final destination"
NCAP doesn't really come into it.
Titanium parcel shelf and back seat would help.

supermanjo

I just purchased my third Volvo S40 (2000 X-Reg) fully loaded winter package (heated leather seats, climate control, cruise control, sunroof the lot.) with a smooth 2.0 turbo engine. All for just £450! Hope to get another 50,000 out of her before any major repairs are needed (previous owner spent a pretty penny on it, cambelt, clutch, starter motor, etc.) I may actually sell my current 2004 V40 (what ever I can get for it in today's climate) and just stick to cheaper older Volvo's. Solid build, easy to maintain, and a tank full gets me around 400 miles city/motorway combined. Great buy me thinks.

supermanjo

tiddlywinks wrote: »

and, most importantly, you don't have other people's bogies wiped under your driver seat:eek:!

*mental note* have the car professionally valeted tomorrow!!!

cyclonebri1

bclark wrote: »

Absolutely to this bit.

Too many people think MSE is about living as a hermit and raiding the bargain basement bin. MSE is about helping you get the best deal on things you want. If you want a brand new car then consider pre-reg or an internet broker etc.

I think I'm being looked at as firmly in the bangernomics category but this is really what I'm talking about.

The newest car we have owned was my wifes 52 plate clio diesel.

We saved 4 grand off the new price. It was the main dealers demo car, had the extra electric pack which I haven't even costed in, but essentially it was about 6 months old and had 192 miles on the clock.

192 not 1920 etc.

That counts as near to new as I'm bothered about

Rolandtheroadie

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

I think I'm being looked at as firmly in the bangernomics category but this is really what I'm talking about.

The newest car we have owned was my wifes 52 plate clio diesel.

We saved 4 grand off the new price. It was the main dealers demo car, had the extra electric pack which I haven't even costed in, but essentially it was about 6 months old and had 192 miles on the clock.

192 not 1920 etc.

That counts as near to new as I'm bothered about

Cant remember the savings, but the newest car we ever bought was for the wife as well (pattern emerging?).

03 plate sxi Corsa. 6 months old, just over 100 miles on the clock.

Think it had been pre registered to pretend new car sales were up, a local independent dealer had a few.

mikey72

We usually buy one old runaround, and one that is about six months old that we keep for ten years. At six months old they're about half the list price.
The runaround is doing twice the milage of the the other at the moment. Both have been as reliable as each other.

rodenal

There really is no right or wrong - as said before as long as you're honest with yourself about what you're buying and why you are buying it then the key thing is to be certain it's affordable for you.

I must admit the thought of buying a brand new car would make me baulk at the moment, knowing I could buy a 6 month old example (usually) for considerably less or the same model at a few years old for a vast sum less. However if I wanted a candy purple A3 with green leather interior then I'd have little choice but to buy a new one and pay Audi the extra to give me what I wanted - fine, so long as you're aware of the extra cost and are happy to pay it.

I've had many, many cars over the last 6 /7 years - some I've spent a fortune on maintaining i.e the first car I ever bought on finance, cost me a fair amount of money to keep going - but to be fair in one year I put about 30k on it, plus I lived at home so it really didn't matter.

Also paid £800 for a car that needed literally nothing done to it in the year I owned it and i'm confident it probably didn't need anything else since other than standard servicing. Was I lucky? Yes, but I also have a reasonable amount of mechanical knowledge so can check the main problem areas relatively easily.

Have made money on cars too - used to buy at auction and sell on a couple of months later, almost always at a profit.

Even finance, whilst yes cash is always better to have - so long as you work out the total sum you will be paying back, are happy with it and can afford it then fine!

King_Nothing

Bought my car for £12k, spent about £5.5k modifying it and keeping it running over year and a half so far. That's not including petrol, tax, and insurance, lol.

Keith

King_Nothing wrote: »

Bought my car for £12k, spent about £5.5k modifying it and keeping it running over year and a half so far. That's not including petrol, tax, and insurance, lol.

Oooh, sounds interesting. Details please.