When to sell car

loskie

The trade treats Parkers guide with scorn

lincroft1710

loskie wrote: »

The trade treats Parkers guide with scorn

Usually because their forecourt prices are higher than Parker's suggested figures, dealers will try to justify this by rubbishing Parker's.

Iceweasel

Life is too short for me to carry on driving 10 year old technology.

I made a huge mistake keeping my last car for 9 years - bought it from new so losing all but £2000 of the outlay doesn't seem too bad, worked out on a yearly cost basis, but the amount of money i would have needed to find in order to buy the latest equivalent new model was beyond me.

So after seemingly endless calculations I decided to do what a few of my relatives have been doing for some years.

Buy at 2 years old - sell at 5 - that way the original owner has taken the biggest depreciation hit.

Every couple of month I check what it would take to sell the car and buy another 2 year old one and so far it seems to be dead on the predictions.

kev2009

Hi,

Thanks - will look at the buying at 2yrs, sell at 5yrs options. My current car was 1 year and 3 months old when I bought it.

Thats the thing, im not sure i wanna drive it until it's 10 years old, my previous cars I've bought at around 1 year old, maybe a bit over and I've then sold it when it was 5-6 years old on average. Never done more than 50k in any of them in that time - i usually average 7-8k a year tops, think my lowest is about 6k a year.
I used to drive to work but stopped that a few years ago so now I only drive to work on very very rare occasions and its used for just going out and about at weekends or evenings etc.
Will have to see - if I sold it when I've paid for it - i'd like to *hope* i'd get 13-15k for it but i'm not sure... but that would obviously mean putting in a fair amount to get an equivalent or maybe i just use that money to by a different make like a Focus or mondeo or similar... however I do quiet like the BMW i have, economy isn't bad, drive is nice etc... As i say i just looked at the price and i'm thinking i'd like a 5 series next and just been doing the calculations and wow new one i was is more than i bought current one for so means a bit outlay/loan so i think im gonna start putting aside some money each month specifically for the car, might open a regular saver account and that way i know is separate.

At present I just a certain amount into a savings account each month which is nice but its kinda all in 1 - i.e its my savings for the everything - future/house/retirement/holidays/car repairs/new car/unemployment etc so when i suddenly go - I want a new car and take a chunk out - its fine but I've not specifically put the money aside for that, as in i can't look at it and go ok so I've built up x for car, x for house, x for retirement etc - its just all in 1. as I don't break it down like i know some people do.

Heck i'm still trying to get money to buy a house/flat but I've kinda given up on that, in terms of buying a house/flat and living in it in London as they just soo expensive, I can't keep up with them going up each year so i'm not considering buying a place way outside of London as maybe letting it out as I couldn't commute - take too long and be too expensive but i'm unsure on that yet, not sure if i want potential hassle of it as never done it before but be nice to have a property to sell later on when i retire or maybe to keep as a little extra money when i retire to top up pension.

Kevin

AliceBanned

kev2009 wrote: »

Hi,

Thanks - will look at the buying at 2yrs, sell at 5yrs options. My current car was 1 year and 3 months old when I bought it.

Thats the thing, im not sure i wanna drive it until it's 10 years old, my previous cars I've bought at around 1 year old, maybe a bit over and I've then sold it when it was 5-6 years old on average. Never done more than 50k in any of them in that time - i usually average 7-8k a year tops, think my lowest is about 6k a year.
I used to drive to work but stopped that a few years ago so now I only drive to work on very very rare occasions and its used for just going out and about at weekends or evenings etc.
Will have to see - if I sold it when I've paid for it - i'd like to *hope* i'd get 13-15k for it but i'm not sure... but that would obviously mean putting in a fair amount to get an equivalent or maybe i just use that money to by a different make like a Focus or mondeo or similar... however I do quiet like the BMW i have, economy isn't bad, drive is nice etc... As i say i just looked at the price and i'm thinking i'd like a 5 series next and just been doing the calculations and wow new one i was is more than i bought current one for so means a bit outlay/loan so i think im gonna start putting aside some money each month specifically for the car, might open a regular saver account and that way i know is separate.

At present I just a certain amount into a savings account each month which is nice but its kinda all in 1 - i.e its my savings for the everything - future/house/retirement/holidays/car repairs/new car/unemployment etc so when i suddenly go - I want a new car and take a chunk out - its fine but I've not specifically put the money aside for that, as in i can't look at it and go ok so I've built up x for car, x for house, x for retirement etc - its just all in 1. as I don't break it down like i know some people do.

Heck i'm still trying to get money to buy a house/flat but I've kinda given up on that, in terms of buying a house/flat and living in it in London as they just soo expensive, I can't keep up with them going up each year so i'm not considering buying a place way outside of London as maybe letting it out as I couldn't commute - take too long and be too expensive but i'm unsure on that yet, not sure if i want potential hassle of it as never done it before but be nice to have a property to sell later on when i retire or maybe to keep as a little extra money when i retire to top up pension.

Kevin

Where in London are you living? There are properties just outside zone 7 which are still affordable on an average income, if you have a deposit. I had the same dilemma (I now live in Herts and really like it) but my commute by train is 45 mins to work (door to door) though as I have no savings I am using the tube now and taking longer, as it is cheaper. It isn't easy but I figured it was better than being priced out everywhere, as prices in the home counties seem to keep going up too. I am in shared ownership as I chose a really nice area though, but could afford a one or two bed in a not so nice area and let it out. I think that's a good way of doing it but I share your pain! My car is now starting to go.. so wondering how to juggle it all!

kev2009

Hi, AliceBanned,

Will send u pm so as not to go off topic here

Kevin

kev2009

Hi AliceBanned,

Sent you a PM but it hasn't gone into my sent messages and i realised I never had the option to "save sent messages" selected so hope you got it, if not let me know.

Kevin

Richard53

Iceweasel wrote: »

Buy at 2 years old - sell at 5 - that way the original owner has taken the biggest depreciation hit.

That was exactly the conclusion Which? came to a few years ago when they did an investigation. Buying at 2 years means that some other sucker has taken the big depreciation hit, but you still have a year's worth of warranty to sort out any major issues if they arise. Selling at 5 means you are hopefully rid of it before the problems start, and while the selling price is still respectable. This should be the best balance between ease of ownership, reliability etc and overall cost.


This is, of course, if you insist on driving a reasonably new car (as Which? assumes you will). There are much cheaper ways if you are not so image-conscious and prepared to get your hands dirty.

AliceBanned

kev2009 wrote: »

Hi AliceBanned,

Sent you a PM but it hasn't gone into my sent messages and i realised I never had the option to "save sent messages" selected so hope you got it, if not let me know.

Kevin

Yes I got it today - will reply later today.