Audi Finance versus Car Loan

wildcardsa

So, after some advice....

My 8 year old car is starting to cost me money and is only really worth £1500. I am doing a vast more miles now with work and require a relaiable executive car and thought I would spoil myself with a Audi A3 which I love. I cant really afford a brand new one, and the PCP schemes look interesting, however I do like the idea of OWNING my car, not simply "renting it" etc.

Is it wiser to take out a car loan for about £15000 and use my deposit to get a nice car, as am I being stupid , but the PCP and HP loans look hugely more expensive?! Thoughts....

lee111s

I'm like yourself, I'd rather take a loan and own my car from the off than paying the higher price of HP or PCP.


I think if you can get a loan to cover the cost of the car and you're comfortable with this, this is the way to go. With a loan you can also overpay if you can afford to do so, reducing the overall cost of the loan (this is what I am currently doing).


However, the question you need to ask yourself is do you need to spend £15k on a car? Can you not get one a couple of years older for quite a chunk cheaper? I guess it depends on your salary. If you're on £50k then it's not much of an issue, if you're on £25k then I'd be seriously thinking whether or not it's wise to be taking out such a large loan (that's if you could get one at a competitive rate) on that salary.

wildcardsa

Thanks Lee, Ive always been good(ish) with money and never really wracked up debts. Recently come to the mindset, of sometimes you just need to spend the cash sensibly as you cant take it with you. I've always lived the mindset of save save save for that rainy day, but in experience, you can do all that and then life sideballs you anyways. Id be able to get the loan on my salary, just think I should look at paying off my 0% credit card bills at the same time.

andyfromotley

How much do you have in savings? Could you use these instead?

CLAPTON

wildcardsa wrote: »

Thanks Lee, Ive always been good(ish) with money and never really wracked up debts. Recently come to the mindset, of sometimes you just need to spend the cash sensibly as you cant take it with you. I've always lived the mindset of save save save for that rainy day, but in experience, you can do all that and then life sideballs you anyways. Id be able to get the loan on my salary, just think I should look at paying off my 0% credit card bills at the same time.

presumably you have plenty of spare cash each month as you can afford the repayments
why didn't you save that up over the last 8 years : you would easily be about to pay cash then

lee111s

CLAPTON wrote: »

presumably you have plenty of spare cash each month as you can afford the repayments
why didn't you save that up over the last 8 years : you would easily be about to pay cash then

Maybe he wanted to enjoy life and have some extra holidays? Or bought a run down property to do up? Or maybe just fancied enjoying having a bit extra cash to spend on nice meals out etc.

People live differently. Some love to save, others love to live a little and are happy with borrowing now and then. There's nothing wrong with borrowing, so long as you borrow within your means.