What would you do - Cash for Car or Pension

zagfles

regprentice wrote: »

The vast majority of 1 yo cars on the forecourts have come from car hire companies. They know exactly what the car is worth at one year with 10k on the clock and price their business accordingly.

i paid 35 quid to hire a ford ka for a long weekend and put 1200 miles on it. (Aberdeen to oxford rtn and some local travelling). The car had a big sticker on the glovebox door - ' this car must not exceed 9000 miles. If you reach this milage pull over and call this number and we will send someone with a replacement car'. No idea how they made money there. They could potentially have only 7 customers like me and make less than £250 yet suffer at least a grand in depreciation on the car.

Presumably most people didn't do the sort of mileage you did. Some may just need a hire car for local travel while theirs is in for repair etc.

Interesting question is why car hire companies sell after a year, if 1 year old cars are such good value to buy. Only two reasons I can think of is that either people hiring cars always expect a brand new car, or that they've seen that they start getting maintenance problems & breakdowns in cars over a year old. Which wouldn't really be suprising if it's been driven by dozens of drivers who have no long term interest in the car.

zagfles

Happier_Me wrote: »

If you do decide to buy new you can often benefit from dealer discount for buying the car on their finance, cancel the finance itself within the 14 day cooling off period at minimal cost (usually interest) and then refinance elsewhere - they rarely reclaim the discount back. (but obviously you will need to check this out).

That's what I did. Even though I went through a broker, Ford were offering an extra £1000 off if I took their finance.

This was a no-brainer as for a start the interest would only have come to £800 if I went full term with it, but even better there was nothing to stop me paying it off early. So I took the finance and paid it off after a month or so. About £50 in interest for a £1000 saving!

Dunnit

zagfles wrote: »

Presumably most people didn't do the sort of mileage you did. Some may just need a hire car for local travel while theirs is in for repair etc.

Interesting question is why car hire companies sell after a year, if 1 year old cars are such good value to buy. Only two reasons I can think of is that either people hiring cars always expect a brand new car, or that they've seen that they start getting maintenance problems & breakdowns in cars over a year old. Which wouldn't really be suprising if it's been driven by dozens of drivers who have no long term interest in the car.

As fleet buyers the hire companies will get massive discounts off the retail price and need not service the cars if sold before a year (9000 figure sounds like they want to ensure under 10k as well). They will probably lose £1k tops. Some of the motor trade suggest rental cars are better buys because they have been driven by different people with different driving styles and any issues are fixed. New car manuals tend to suggest you should not drive in the same gear for a long time.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/caradvice/honestjohn/7808878/Is-an-ex-rental-a-good-used-car-buy-Honest-John.html

zagfles

Dunnit wrote: »

As fleet buyers the hire companies will get massive discounts off the retail price and need not service the cars if sold before a year (9000 figure sounds like they want to ensure under 10k as well). They will probably lose £1k tops. Some of the motor trade suggest rental cars are better buys because they have been driven by different people with different driving styles and any issues are fixed. New car manuals tend to suggest you should not drive in the same gear for a long time.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/caradvice/honestjohn/7808878/Is-an-ex-rental-a-good-used-car-buy-Honest-John.html

Using a broker can get you similar discounts to fleet discounts.

I'm aware of the not driving in same gear recommendation for new cars, so tend to avoid long motorway trips in the first 6 months. Someone hiring a car won't care if they do long motorway drives eg the PP.

The stuff about rental cars not being abused is rubbish. Yes if someone doesn't get a CDW excess waiver they need to be careful not to scratch it or obviously damage it, but they won't care about taking it slow over speed humps, riding the clutch etc, ie things which cause wear and tear but no obvious damage.

Only time I've had a clutch go wasn't in any of my cars, which I kept for 10 & 12 years, but in a rental car which was probably less than a year old.

Dunnit

Your opinion or someone who has worked in the trade since the sixties, let me think.
"There is absolutely no stigma at all attached to ex-rental except in the minds of ill-informed people."
If rental companies are supplying 80% of the less than 1yo market they are only doing so because they are getting an initial discount that cannot be matched by the public. They are not selling on these cars because they do not work.

zagfles

Dunnit wrote: »

Your opinion or someone who has worked in the trade since the sixties, let me think.

Yeah, you can always trust car traders. Particularly ones which call themselves "honest" :rotfl:The quote "While maybe 30 years ago rental cars were routinely abused, if a hirer tries that sort of thing these days he pays for it very dearly" is complete rubbish - most people renting a car will either have an excess waiver (car hire companies are very keen to push these if you don't have a third party excess waiver), or will be a business rental where the driver has no liability. And where they don't, as I said, it'll be external visible damage they'll be trying to avoid. They won't know if you've ridden the clutch or crunched the gears.

When the clutch went in the hire car I had, I wasn't to blame and Hertz didn't blame me. I had third party excess so if they thought it was my fault they'd have charged me and I'd have had to claim from the third party.

But they couldn't know whether it was down to me or previous drivers.

Wonder how may cars "Honest John" has hired in his life?

"There is absolutely no stigma at all attached to ex-rental except in the minds of ill-informed people."
If rental companies are supplying 80% of the less than 1yo market they are only doing so because they are getting an initial discount that cannot be matched by the public. They are not selling on these cars because they do not work.

Why are they selling them then? If 1 year old cars are such good value, why are rental companies selling them rather than keeping them 3 years, or 5 years?

I know my car has always gone slow over speed humps, has never mounted the kerb as speed, clutch never been ridden, never been driven agressively, gears not crunched, oil checked regularly etc. Stuff which lessens maintenance bills years down the line. Someone buying a 1 year old car can't know any of that.

gadgetmind

Kay55 wrote: »

my husband and I currently have £16k saved towards buying a new car this year.

I drive very high spec Audi A8 luxury saloons and don't pay much more than this. I buy them at three years old and drive them for another 7+ years.

New cars are for suckers, but hats off to them as they provide affordable cars, that are nicely run in, for the rest of us.