1 car? 2 cars? new car?

Puddickle

Hi,
Complete newbie to these forums so hope I've found the right place to post this.

We're really trying to pay off our (huge) debts and have a strict no more credit policy in our house.

We're really struggling with our current car situation. We have 2 cars a Y reg Audi A3, and an 04 Hyundai Getz. The Audi is my husbands main car and on its last legs, and we haven't had the money to service either car for about 5 years. It currently has all sorts of issues and needs the battery unplugging every night, ran out of petrol today due to a faulty gauge etc etc but it is a big enough car for our growing family (have a toddler, would like another one soon).
The Hyundai is the small runaround that I use to get to work (in a city) and drop off at nursery etc, it only has 3 doors in comparison to the Audi's 5.
Both cars have been paid off so are not costing us money in that sense.

We have a few options:

1. stay as we are, struggle on with both.

2. Go down to one car. Due to the problems with the Audi, it would make sense for this to be the Hyundai... this isn't really big enough for us as a family, and it would need a big service to make sure that it was up to the job of the extra miles. I'm willing to use public transport with the toddler as we live in a city.

3. Combine both into a cheap reliable runaround. We wouldn't get much for either car (the Hyundai has a big old dent in the roof where some nice individual decided to take a run across the roofs of some cars down our road).

4. (we've pretty much written off this option). Put our money into a bigger better car, that we would have to get more debt for.

Any clever ideas on what we could do with this situation to get the most out of our cars whilst keeping it debt free as possible?

eschaton

Puddickle wrote: »

Hi,
Complete newbie to these forums so hope I've found the right place to post this.

We're really trying to pay off our (huge) debts and have a strict no more credit policy in our house.

We're really struggling with our current car situation. We have 2 cars a Y reg Audi A3, and an 04 Hyundai Getz. The Audi is my husbands main car and on its last legs, and we haven't had the money to service either car for about 5 years. It currently has all sorts of issues and needs the battery unplugging every night, ran out of petrol today due to a faulty gauge etc etc but it is a big enough car for our growing family (have a toddler, would like another one soon).
The Hyundai is the small runaround that I use to get to work (in a city) and drop off at nursery etc, it only has 3 doors in comparison to the Audi's 5.
Both cars have been paid off so are not costing us money in that sense.

We have a few options:

1. stay as we are, struggle on with both.

2. Go down to one car. Due to the problems with the Audi, it would make sense for this to be the Hyundai... this isn't really big enough for us as a family, and it would need a big service to make sure that it was up to the job of the extra miles. I'm willing to use public transport with the toddler as we live in a city.

3. Combine both into a cheap reliable runaround. We wouldn't get much for either car (the Hyundai has a big old dent in the roof where some nice individual decided to take a run across the roofs of some cars down our road).

4. (we've pretty much written off this option). Put our money into a bigger better car, that we would have to get more debt for.

Any clever ideas on what we could do with this situation to get the most out of our cars whilst keeping it debt free as possible?

Despite reading the whole post I can't help being drawn to certain parts....

Trying to pay off huge debts...

Car troubles...

Growing family and would like another soon...

Are new babies cash positive these days?


It sounds like you can't afford two cars so your best bet would be one car. A Hyundai Getz isn't the biggest car but more than ample for two parents and one child.

Puddickle

No - babies aren't cash positive, but I'm not shifting on that point - there will be another baby, we just have to make it work.

eschaton

Puddickle wrote: »

No - babies aren't cash positive, but I'm not shifting on that point - there will be another baby, we just have to make it work.

Not a problem but good luck trying to run the cars that you can't afford to do the now, paying off your debts and financing the new baby.

learningaboutinsurance

Puddickle wrote: »

No - babies aren't cash positive, but I'm not shifting on that point - there will be another baby, we just have to make it work.

Wow :eek:, you haven't been able to service your cars for 5 years which cost around between 2-300 pounds (bog standard service), but are willing to have a baby.

do you know how expensive, having and then looking after a baby is?

Crabman

Puddickle wrote: »

we haven't had the money to service either car for about 5 years. It currently has all sorts of issues and needs the battery unplugging every night, ran out of petrol today due to a faulty gauge etc etc but it is a big enough car for our growing family (have a toddler, would like another one soon).

Hi Puddicle, welcome to MSE :hello:

In my view the lack of servicing is a potential reason for these issues. If the oil hasn't been changed for five years, it could well be thick black sludge in there (it won't do your fuel economy any favours either).

A Y-reg vehicle would have been built around 2001 and there's no reason it should be on its last legs unless the lack of servicing/maintenance has contributed.

If you are able to locate a good independent garage (ideally through recommendations) they will be able to look at the cars and advise the way forward. I use a family run independent garage and they are always happy to offer advice.

A website you can use is http://www.eurocarparts.com/ (also http://www.carparts4less.co.uk) to get an idea of the cost of various car parts (e.g. a new battery) and what a garage will quote (obviously they will add labour charges on top - just so you have a rough idea, the garage I use charges £40 per hour).

eschaton

learningaboutinsurance wrote: »

[/B]

Wow :eek:, you haven't been able to service your cars for 5 years which cost around between 2-300 pounds (bog standard service), but are willing to have a baby.

do you know how expensive, having and then looking after a baby is?

They already have one and are in dire financial straits so they must know the cost and what the additional cost will be.

Crazy if you ask me but OP is determined to pile it on

Tiddlywinks

Cars cost money to run - unless you have the knowledge and skills and access to the parts - this is a fact that will not change.

Cars that are not cared for will probably break down - that's the result of a lack of care. There are thousands of moving parts that need to be lubricated / filters and plugs that need to be changed etc...

Changing cars will not solve the fact that you cannot afford to run a car on your current budget... something has got to give... as you are already struggling, get yourself over to the debt-free-wannabe board for some advice on debt / money management.

Finally (and nothing to do with motoring) why would you want to increase the financial pressures on your budget (and family members) by having another child when you are this stretched?

Puddickle

EEsh - read the post-it 'NEWBIE' be kind!!

Yes, I know what a baby costs, and yes I already have most of the stuff. I am a superscrimper, and fully able to finance a baby... they don't actually need that much at this age (I have a toddler).

Thank you Crabman.
To be honest, we've just not looked after our cars, but could have if we'd really pushed it. We haven't serviced them because something else always seems to crop up at the same time, therefore we get whatever it is fixed (new tyres, exhausts, alternator etc to get it through the MOT), or pay for whatever else comes along (there always seems to be something else that crops up around the time!). I may have also exaggerated with the 5 years... but it's been a while.

We have a 7 year plan to be completely out of debt. We managed not to get any more debt while I was on maternity leave - and I am now back at work, we're at the worst possible point right now - it'll only get better.

As I say in my original post, we are thinking of going down to 1 car and getting this fully serviced and up to scratch, or buying another more reliable car... I assure you the Audi is !!!!!!ed, it has an electrical fault which the Audi garage have quoted us to find and fix... it is barely worth it given the age of the car, we've tried independant garages but they say the problem would need specialist testing via Audi because of the nature of the fault.

Puddickle

That is 7 years with a little spare cash factored in...

Tiddlywinks

Puddickle wrote: »

EEsh - read the post-it 'NEWBIE' be kind!!

Where has anyone been unkind? Just because you don't want to hear the answers, does not mean that posts have been unkind.

When you post about your woes on an internet forum you need to be prepared to hear stuff that you may prefer to ignore... the truth hurts sometimes!