Spending money to save money

OffGridLiving

marathonic wrote: »

Definitely not… although there are other factors to consider – increased comfort, possible reduction in maintenance costs, etc.

Plus the stated MPG figures for a new car might not holdup when the car is 10 years old. A 40MPG car that's over 10 years old might actually be doing 25MPG.

If it's a new car then there's not need to worry about MOTs for 3 years either.

wotsthat

zygurat789 wrote: »

But by then it may well cost more than £9,000 to replace so timiming is also a factor.
If you can replace immediately before a peruiod of inflation then the whole transaction will look much cheaper.

I'd ignore inflation and assume that £9k in the bank was inflating (roughly) by the same amount the deferred purchase was.

In my spreadsheet I'd have ..

trade in
purchase price & estimated depreciation
old running costs
new running costs

I'd only calculate using today's real figures but in the back of my mind I'd assume trade-in would decrease, and assume that, over time, fuel would increase thus increasing the gap between old running costs and new.

PaulF81

OffGridLiving wrote: »

Plus the stated MPG figures for a new car might not holdup when the car is 10 years old. A 40MPG car that's over 10 years old might actually be doing 25MPG.

If it's a new car then there's not need to worry about MOTs for 3 years either.

But your more likely to get a service done at main stealer which = $$$$

OffGridLiving

PaulF81 wrote: »

But your more likely to get a service done at main stealer which = $$$$

Perhaps, though we bought a new car and we get it serviced at a local garage.

We replaced our old one because it started to cost too much in maintenance. The last thing to break was the driveshaft.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

OffGridLiving wrote: »

We replaced our old one because it started to cost too much in maintenance. The last thing to break was the driveshaft.

We are firmly in the "buy it second hand but with low miles and then drive it until it falls apart" school of thought.

Mrs McT's car is now over 150K miles, and whilst it cost us very little beyond routine servicing for the first 5 years, it's no longer cheap to maintain with the mileage she does. Couple of grand a year in servicing now, which doesn't make any sense.

We're looking for a new one. 20K miles or so, and it should last us for the next 7-8 years.

vivatifosi

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

We are firmly in the "buy it second hand but with low miles and then drive it until it falls apart" school of thought.

Mrs McT's car is now over 150K miles, and whilst it cost us very little beyond routine servicing for the first 5 years, it's no longer cheap to maintain with the mileage she does. Couple of grand a year in servicing now, which doesn't make any sense.

We're looking for a new one. 20K miles or so, and it should last us for the next 7-8 years.

That's my view too. I have had my car from new (it was formerly my company car) and it's now 13 years old. It has never failed an MOT, I get it serviced by a family friend. I've had expensive regular things done still - such as timing belt - it works fine. Fuel efficiency hasn't dropped much either. My plan is to buy a new car next year and do exactly the same if I'm lucky enough to have another that is so reliable.

PaulF81

Used to do all my own servicing, brakes, oils, brake fluid, filters shock springs, exhausts and the like. Only thing I wouldn't touch was the Cam belt. If you get that wrong, big bucks to fix.

PasturesNew

I see this a lot on those house building programmes.... people waxing lyrical about building an eco home.... that they spend £500-800k on, to save a few bob on heating bills..... when a £200k house would have met their needs and they'd have saved £300-600k (or double that as they usually have a mortgage).