buying a car whilst still in debt

sourcrates

I`m a country lad, I have no idea how you people drive through London on a regular basis, it would drive me bananas, cameras everywhere, congestion charge, cant park unless you have a mobile, did I mention you cant park ? lol.
Last time I drove through London, I pulled in at the side of the road, and within 30 seconds a copper had stopped and told me to get going, apparently you cant stop on some roads, played havoc with me sheep !!!!;)


Use the train OP, its a lot less hassle !!!

Brightspark87

haha thanks for your comments everyone! I wish we could use the train all the time - trouble with having lovely family in places where the nearest train station is a good few miles away (with a very expensive and limited service) is that when there is an emergency (which we have had perviously) you become a burden.

PinkPoppies

Gosh, what lucky family you have- buying a car purely to visit them miles away! :A

I agree with theerroll that you don't need to buy an expensive car. There are plenty of reliable little older hatchbacks out there that have been well looked after for a few £k. No point stretching yourselves buying anything fancier so long as you buy wisely with your eyes wide open.

sourcrates

Brightspark87 wrote: »

haha thanks for your comments everyone! I wish we could use the train all the time - trouble with having lovely family in places where the nearest train station is a good few miles away (with a very expensive and limited service) is that when there is an emergency (which we have had perviously) you become a burden.

Well you can do motoring on a budget.
My ex wife, gave me, yes g a v e me, her old car, a 2004 Citroen Zara Picasso, in good nick, 80,000 miles.


£120 quid for car tax, insurance around £260 (as not had car in my name for a while) that's it apart from petrol.


Its a myth that you NEED to service a car every five mins, even older cars have electronic ignition now, you don't need to pay the massive cost of a garage service just to change your oil and filter, quick fit do it for 30 quid, it can quiet easily go a year without any work at all, all tyres are good, and brakes too, just make sure fluids are topped up.


If your not lucky enough to be given a car, you can pick up 10 year old cars, various makes and models, now for a really small outlay, doesn't have to be costly to drive a car.

Brightspark87

This is very true - DH is still not on board as much as I am to MSE way and therefore only wants to look at new, and take out finance for the rest.

Firstly, I doubt we would get approved as looking at a new car for £10,500 with £2,500 deposit, we both have defaults (mine 2 years his 1 year). Although you do get 2 years free insurance (c£800 pa for us) and servicing for 3 years for £199.

But I am hunting for some bargains! Just to see, it could be that it far too much out of our grasp for now.

MEM62

Brightspark87 wrote: »

its true, however at least with a car we have an valuable asset - something tangible. whereas with the rental say £300 a month we have nothing.

You will have an asset with a value that is dropping faster than a stone that you will have to pay to maintain, tax and insure so what is the benefit in that? Also as an 'asset' if you later wanted to liquidate the money in it you will have to take the loss.

Buying a car in your circumstances is not the sensible choice and you are falling into the trap of trying to justify it because it seems like a desirable option. Take the advice offered on here and rent as and when you need one.

When your circumstances change you can look at things differently.

El_Torro

A few years ago I was in between cars and decided to delay my purchase. The reason was that I was living in a city and could get to work by public transport. I calculated that if I rented a car every second weekend that would still be cheaper than owning a car.

If you're paying £150 plus petrol for renting a car for the weekend you need to find a new rental company with more reasonable charges.

AFK_Matrix

If you have a £2500 deposit then you have enough there for a second hand car. If you can bump it up to £3000 then you can get a perfectly good car. Got my 2001 Golf for that and its done me fine for 4 years.

poppasmurf_bewdley

El_Torro wrote: »

If you're paying £150 plus petrol for renting a car for the weekend you need to find a new rental company with more reasonable charges.

Absolutely. A quick Google reveals Enterprise Rent a Car will rent a Class A car over the weekend for £77.22. This includes collision damage waiver, VAT and unlimited miles.

The OP must remember the old American adage - It hurts to hire from Hertz!

Tommelise

How about car sharing?

A quick Google search returned this:
http://www.citycarclub.co.uk/about/what-does-it-cost/personal