Should I change my car before I buy my house?

wellpaidstillskint

Hello moneysavers!

A little dilemma, I'm soon to be debt free (September) and my goal is to buy a house. I'm 28 and on a good wage, I think it's about time.

So my question is, do I keep driving my 13 year old Toyota Yaris, with 120,000 miles on the clock, hoping it won't breakdown/die (so far it's been reliable as a rock, touch wood, no major issues and costing about £200-£300 a year in repairs at my cheap local garage)

Or do I switch up to a newer car (something sensible, like another Yaris ) with lower fuel consumption, tax, and fewer miles on the clock?

Switching up means taking out a smallish loan, maybe £5000, or denting my house deposit by the same amount.

What say you, oh wise ones?

Cx

Strider590

Will you save £5000 by having 10% lower fuel consumption? I think not....

Trebor16

If you take out a loan before you apply for a mortgage it will affect the size of the mortgage you can obtain and lenders will reduce the mortgage offer because your disposable income is reduced by virtue of you having a loan.

londonTiger

toyota yaris are reliable as hell. Not sure how it fares after 120k miles though. But they're used by driving instructors a lot. My car dealer who sells mercedes, bmws etc drives a toyota yaris.

That should tell you a lot about them.

Maybe some yaris drivers can chime in. But the car is well built and should last. If you want you can just sell your current yaris a buy another used with 80K miles or something. That should give you the same reliable peformance and you shouldn't need a loan for it either.

When you get a morttgage you will have to really restrict your outgoings - a car payment will be a thorn on your side.

gilbert_and_sullivan

London Tiger talks sense.

You could do far worse than follow that advice.

Paying interest on a depreciating item is the quickest way to throw your money away, second only to women and drink.

forgotmyname

A £5000 car maybe less reliable than the Yaris and cost £1000 for each repair not £300.

More to go wrong on a modern car.

wellpaidstillskint

So I took everyone's advice (thanks guys!) and held off the car purchase. I found a house, had an offer accepted... and my little Yaris blew up on the way to the mortgage appointment :rotfl:the week before Christmas too!

I didn't know a car could have a sense of humour...

But I got a bargain new car, 40k miles and great service history... £1800 (cash not credit :T ) and my mortgage offer has been confirmed so it's all good!

Prothet_of_Doom

Simple.
Put £1K aside for SHTF car problems (It's the amount a decent car Just to get you to work will cost you) and keep the Yaris well maintained. It should last 1 to 5 years with minimal issues, but if it fails, you can afford a mk4 astra out of the paper. Have a no car back up plan worked out. - Can you cycle or get a bus if desperate ?
Put £2K aside for house maintenance issues post house purchase.
Do not commit to any loan apart from the mortgage.

sk240

I agree with not taking any more loans at this stage, if you really want the new car take it out of your deposit as it will be a cheaper rate effectively.
Also you can bank on £3-400 repairs etc on any car, whatever the age.

Horizon81

Some forum posters are so attentive. The OP actually posted back to say the 13 year old Yaris blew up but all's well that ends well. Nice to see a thread with a happy ending.

Tancred

wellpaidstillskint wrote: »

Hello moneysavers!

A little dilemma, I'm soon to be debt free (September) and my goal is to buy a house. I'm 28 and on a good wage, I think it's about time.

So my question is, do I keep driving my 13 year old Toyota Yaris, with 120,000 miles on the clock, hoping it won't breakdown/die (so far it's been reliable as a rock, touch wood, no major issues and costing about £200-£300 a year in repairs at my cheap local garage)

Or do I switch up to a newer car (something sensible, like another Yaris ) with lower fuel consumption, tax, and fewer miles on the clock?

Switching up means taking out a smallish loan, maybe £5000, or denting my house deposit by the same amount.

What say you, oh wise ones?

Cx

It all depends on how much value you place on a car. I bought my new house six months ago and then last month splashed out £19k on a Toyota Auris Hybrid with the intention that this would be a 'long term' car with low running costs and high reliability. I could have used the money on a conservatory and I often wish I had done this, but then again I felt I needed a new car, so........

The current Yaris is a good car, especially the Hybrid, which has very low running costs. Check out a broker like Drivethedeal or Autoebid - Toyota is also doing 0% PCP finance on new cars.

Up north it's so cheap that you can probably buy a house with a personal loan let alone a mortgage, so I wouldn't worry about house deposit etc.