Do you regret having a lease/hp/finance car?

ratrace

Hi sorry if this is in the wrong section

Im thinking of taking out a brand new lease car nothing special just a normal vw, seat, or skoda (skoda fabia thats what i drive now very good but 12 years old now but a nice drive )

After speaking to a few friends/family members who have brand new cars. Majority of them said DONT go for one few reasons they gave me are

1. The novelty of owning a new car soon wears off when you get used to it after a few months
2. They depreciate like a stone especially the basic models
3. your car becomes old quite quick due to the new registration comes out what seems like every month :rotfl:
4. If you have an accident the cash paid by the insures often is a lot less than the car is worth ie: what you own on finance etc...


I also have a really good friend who bought a Vw Golf R32 for £25000 cash and a few years later it was worth £9000



(My old man thinks well so do i its a waste of your hard earned money that money could of been invested to make more money)



I just wanted to know your thoughts on this has anyone
[FONT=&quot]regretted it
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[FONT=&quot]Really sorry for the long post.
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gilbert_and_sullivan

Depreciation is the real killer and if on finance a double whammy as its depreciation plus interest payments

Lease/PCP, which is dead money for a long term car rental, though in some cases if you must have a new car to drive then at least the residual is reasonably guaranteed, unless the car is damaged or abused or unserviced or over mileage allowance etc etc.

Each to their own, some people must have new things and as long as they are paying for them and not expecting someone else to work for their pleasure then nothing wrong with having a new car.

Indeed if everyone acted sensibly there wouldn't be superb older cars available for us to buy used at a fraction of their initial price.

It all makes the world go round, some people have an aversion to financing depreciating assets, others go through their lives paying increasing interest debts and keeping the great and good? of Gerrards Cross and Wokingham in trophy wives Bentleys and racehorses, in no particular order of attachment/permanence.

sh0597

Well this is a money saving website. Buying new cars is not going to work out well in terms of money.

flashg67

No regrets here - I know it's not money saving, but I work for my money, spend it how I like, and like having a newer car - not because I'm a snob, but because, in general, they're more reliable, economical and pleasant to drive, with features not always available on an equivalent that's a few years older.

I have a decent commute, so I like the fact that my car will probably start when I need it, unlike our second car which is 10 years old and usually decides to have a 'moment' just when you need the darn thing.

You can't always look at life as 'is this value for money' - sometimes it's about having what you want and enjoying the fruits of your labours, in whatever way you think is best.

ratrace

Thanks guys really appreciate the replys I knew people will have mixed opinions

Im still undecided at the moment (leaning more with buying a used/few years old car)

Speaking to my dad, who has always bought used cars and apart from minor issues reliability wise he has not had any problems but one when he had a Vauxhall Vectra years ago and the timing belt decided to snap and it cost around £500 to repair but that was no surprise as the car had done 85,000 miles and never been changed a lesson learnt I guess
I don’t think brand new cars are faultless nearly every manufacture has had some sort of recalls of their cars some minor some major issues

I suppose from a moneysaving point view, without a doubt make sense to go for a car that is a few years old as most of its deprecation would have been lost

Once again thank you guys for your thoughts really appreciate them.

F1F93

There are many bad points to owning a new car, as you have said. But you have missed the good points entirely!

You have a new car warranty, which (assuming you do go for a VW/Skoda/SEAT etc) will be a 3 year warranty. Other manufacturers offer more, I know Toyota and Hyundai do 5 years, Kia do 7 years etc.

That means for several years your only running costs will be insurance, fuel and road tax - no repairs (or MOT) for the first few years. Assuming you go for a similar engine to what you have now, these should all come down. If you go for a bigger engine, they should stay fairly similar with the benefit of more performance (unless you go for a MUCH bigger engine).

Plus you get the "snob factor". May not be important to some people, but my main passion in life is cars (and motorsport) so I'd rather spend money on that. Other people spend money on booze/cigarettes/gadgets or whatever, if your thing is cars, why not?

Also, you will get to build a car EXACTLY to your specification. You can have whatever options you want, whatever colour you want etc, rather than having to crawl through endless ad's trying to find a combination you like, only to view it and find it's an awful example of a car.

To counter your points:
1) The novelty of any car will wear off soon. This point only really works if you are buying a new car for the novelty factor tbh.
2) True, but all cars depreciate (up to a point). Yes, newer/more expensive cars depreciate faster, but the difference is offset somewhat by lower running costs. My old car cost me £2500 in depreciation in under 2 years (bought at £5k, sold for £2.5K) and an additional £1500 or so in repairs. It was slightly more economical (as I went from diesel to petrol) but only by about 5-7mpg (which isn't much of a difference given that petrol is cheaper). So I'm not that much worse off.
3) Yes, but it'll always be 12 years newer than your old one.
4) True, but if you buy GAP insurance (I got mine for around a hundred quid I think) then you're protected from this.

I'm not saying you should get a new car, just giving you the other side of the argument.

sh0597

If it's something you always wanted to do then maybe. I just see it as a big waste of money. I certainly wouldn't want to rent either.

attila_

Top gear did a brilliant section on buying a brand new Japanese car for £9k compared to seeing what else you can get on the second hand market for £9k. It was unbelievable. And anyone who actually knows about cars will understand. A few shiny new plastic panels don't compare to a well looked after older car!

Not strictly the same as what OP is saying, but I'd choose buying a better second hand car 5/10 years older (which is often private or smaller dealer - so no HP) than just buy a mediocre new car on finance. Of course if you can stretch your HP for a top of the range car then go ahead. Then you're looking at £30k+ in some cases.

Take BMW 3 series - how many 14 plate 318s and 320s do you see. personally wouldn't buy that and prefer to go for 330 or 335 - this holds true for any car.

ratrace

Wow thanks for the reply FIF93 you make some very good points

thanks for looking at things form different point of view, like you i don’t somke,drink or live a expensive lifestyle tbh...



Im mad about cars just love them i suppose there is nothing wrong in treating yourself once in a while.



Its funny a work mate said something funny to me last week she said whats the point in having a brand new car when you only live about 5 miles from work



Start at 9 finish at 6 and work the odd Saturday so the car is actually parked up for most of the day in our car park deprecating every day come 6 o’clock when you finish



Make you way to the gym workout,shower, dinner its nearly 8.30 and a couple hours later bed time so you not really using the car and the next day do it all again I found it funny also a good point



[FONT=&quot]Once again thanks all for the replys [/FONT]

ratrace

thank you atilla

yep before my skoda i had a very nice bmw 320d m sport in silver head turner it was the quailty,drive and overall feel was good to say it was an 8 years old

Powered_By_Pies

I wouldn't do HP on a car again unless it was for one that ticks all the right boxes and one I know I'd get 10+ years out of easily.

Just finished 4 years on a finance HP for my Seat Ibiza - love the car, it's an '07 plate 1.4 formula sport, but now I want something with a little more poke to the engine. Financial circumstances have taken a turn for the worse since I got the car meaning a new HP on another car is simply out of the question - if it were an option, the only car I would even consider getting under a new HP right now would be a Subaru BRZ because they're ludicrously well-priced for the spec they come with.

So for me, the second hand market is likely the only place I'll get my cars from now on. For example, if I had the cash right now, about £2,000 would either get me a close-to-10% deposit on an HP for a BRZ, or it could get me a well-looked-after 2004-plate Mondeo ST220 which has a nice V6 motor, plenty of space, and enough mod-cons to keep me happy.