Lease/buy - help please!

PJMardy

Hiya

I'm hoping for some advice...

The car I currently drive is extremely unreliable (a 52 plate Ka - don't ask me why I went for it!) and I have a 50-mile commute to do each day.

I definitely need something more reliable. At a push, I reckon I could get £1700 together to buy something. The other option I'm pondering is leasing... but I've got poor credit. I know that this should be the reason not to go for leasing - but my boss is making noises about me having unreliable cars and I'm worried about annoying him too much (I'm on a 3-month rolling contract after 2 years unemployment and need to keep him sweet!).

Does anyone have any advice/suggestions... I keep going round in circles in my head! On the one hand I love knowing that the car I have at the moment is my own, and I don't have to pay every month for it... on the other hand, I'm paying hundreds every month to keep this car on the road and am worried about getting another one that will be much the same!

Any help will be most gratefully received,

PJ

OddballJamie

£1700 plus whatever you get for the KA would get you a nice Nissan Micra 03 onwards. Decent mpg out of the 1.2 and practically bulletproof reliability.

Plus you would own it and not be worrying how to pay a lease on a 3 month rolling contract.

PJMardy

Ah, that's £1700 including what I'd get for the Ka! Well, I'd be going for a short-term lease - so that I could cancel if I lost my job. It's not likely that I will, but only need the car if I'm working - my partner has a DLA vehicle that we use at weekends...

Thank you for your reply - will have a look at Micras. I learned to drive in an 03 model, in fact!

PJ

OddballJamie

My partners sister bought a low miles 03 plate 1.2 SX for £3k almost four years ago from a Nissan dealer. So no reason why you won't be able to get a good one for £1500ish nowadays.

Short term leasing may as well be renting as it will cost about the same.

Good luck!

PJMardy

Thank you - that's good to hear! I just seem to have terrible luck when buying cars. Only got my current one in February. Have spent double what I paid for it on repairs already. Argh! But I'll do some shopping around and see what I can find.

Thanks again for your help - much appreciated,

PJ

Ultrasonic

Out of interest, what sort of problems have you had with the KA?

forgotmyname

KA = one of the cheapest cars to fix. Take it to a garage and give then £1000 it should be like new on the drive home. And £700 in your pocket.

It doesnt have a lot to actually go wrong.

£1700 will get you another car that may need all the same things that you have just replaced.

StixUK

I would say that you are better sticking with the current car. It may feel that you are spending shed loads on repairs but if you are sensible, look for parts on eBay, go to a good reliable local mechanic that charges a cheap labour rate (i.e £20 - £40 p/h) then you should a good car for years to come.

The only time it is useful to change a car is when you have to replace an engine. Probably better to have a backup fund for using on hire cars if you are absolutely desperate for a car because it can be £20 per/day and mechanics can usually fix a car within a day or 2 on most jobs, even at short notice. Also, if you have an Enterprise Rent a Car nearby they can usually source hire cars cheaply and pick you up at short notice.

Good luck whatever you choose.

PJMardy

Thank you for all your replies. Still not come to an actual, final decision, but all your advice is really helpful and I'm trying to look at it objectively (rather than - but, shiny new car - yay!) ... honestly, I think the KA probably will need a new engine before too long. Maybe that's me being pessimistic, but I've spent the same amount of money as I paid for it on repairs and still it goes wrong! I currently break down every week or so - and my boss isn't impressed! Also, I think I made the wrong decision with the KA as I do a lot of miles over fairly hilly roads and could do with a bit more 'oomph' to be honest...

I've got a 'back up' car as I can use my partner's when I absolutely need to (though not long-term as he's pretty much housebound without it...)

Think my next step is to find a reliable mechanic (where do they live?!) and get them to take a look and hopefully give me an honest appraisal of the work that needs doing... then I can take it from there.

Thanks again for all your advice - really do appreciate it

OddballJamie

How's the rust on the KA, sills and petrol cap?

If it's bad, it's not worth spending a fortune on the engine for the body to fall apart later on.

PJMardy

The body seems to be in OK shape... bit of rust here and there but nothing too bad. I do know someone who is an expert at bodywork so can at least have that checked by someone I trust!