Financing a replacement car help & advice

maccp

Good morning all


First of all sorry this is a bit of a brain dump but I would really appreciate thoughts & advice on the following query. It’s a long story but our family has dropped to one car but as we have found its not really up to the job of being the family car which is expected to do pretty much everything. It does its best and has never let us down in the two years we have had it but its also starting to generate some big repair bills. It cost us £400 to get it through its MOT earlier this year but we estimate it needs another £500 in maintenance for bits & bobs that require attention. So we started to look around for a replacement but it will mean a loan. We also have a personal loan with just over £2000 owing which has about 2 or 3yrs to run. If we look at a car of say £4000 and we get about £1000 for our current car selling privately then it would mean we need a loan of £5k, at least I think that’s right.
Living as we do in such uncertain times I am worried about taking out another loan so im casting round for thoughts & ideas. I think I am prolonging the inevitable though.

spiro

If you 'know' its needs £500 of work doing on it you will have to declare this to any buyer so do you think you car would be worth £1500 if this work did not need doing?

maccp

spiro wrote: »

If you 'know' its needs £500 of work doing on it you will have to declare this to any buyer so do you think you car would be worth £1500 if this work did not need doing?

Oh absolutely we would always declare it but ultimately the car is still running and the work could be done bit by bit.We have a friend of the family interested and have told them what needs doing and they would be willing to pay about £1000 for it.It actually looks very clean & tidy.I wouldnt class it as a banger it has all handbooks and spare keys etc.I suppose thinking about it if we sold on the open market it might fetch 700 or 800 without the repairs done?

spiro

If £500 will give you another years motoring, thats another year off your existing loan. I would look to keep it going as long as I could to try and clear the existing loan first.

maccp

Yes that existing loan is the kicker and mostly what is holding us back.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Your present car is nearly always the most economical to keep.

Can you cut the costs of maintaining the present one by some DIY or searching around for used parts?

Buying any used car is a lottery, might well be worse than the devil you know.

Mike1966

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Your present car is nearly always the most economical to keep.

Can you cut the costs of maintaining the present one by some DIY or searching around for used parts?

Buying any used car is a lottery, might well be worse than the devil you know.

Agree with the above. :beer:
Fix your own up and you know what you have then.

maccp

Thanks all very helpful :beer: