Used Car vs New Car

Mistaken

I noticed some people have mentioned discounts available on new cars?

What discounts are these? How do you get them?

System

.How is that relevant to the thread?

Not everybody wants to drive a car full of nasal mucus and farts.....

Its op's time to buy a car, buy anything new or newish and you're paying thousands in depreciation and possibly interest. Would have to put up with far more nasal mucous and farts spending more time at work to pay for a new one

misiek404

thescouselander wrote: »

I don't understand the point about having £10k in your pocket though, surely that would only apply to people who intended to buy the car outright with cash - very few people actually do this.

Well, it's people's choice what they do with their money. If the PCP treadmill (with all it's restrictions: limited mileage, main dealer servicing, financial penalties for dents & scratches) sounds like a good idea to someone that's their choice. Even better for people like me, as thanks to it, market is saturated with 3 year old cars in vgc, with low mileage.

bigjl wrote: »

How is that relevant to the thread?

How is it not relevant to USED vs NEW?

thescouselander

misiek404 wrote: »

Well, it's people's choice what they do with their money. If the PCP treadmill (with all it's restrictions: limited mileage, main dealer servicing, financial penalties for dents & scratches) sounds like a good idea to someone that's their choice. Even better for people like me, as thanks to it, market is saturated with 3 year old cars in vgc, with low mileage.



How is it not relevant to USED vs NEW?

That wasn't the point though. You said by buying a used car you'd have £10k in your pocket that could be used for repairs. For most people that's not the case because, with PCP, you put down a deposit and pay off the depreciation over time. In cashflow terms the short term costs (the deposit) are way lower thanthan the outlay of buying a used car for cash. In any case it appears the OP intends to finance the car so comparisons with cash purchases aren't relevant anyway.

misiek404

thescouselander wrote: »

That wasn't the point though. You said by buying a used car you'd have £10k in your pocket that could be used for repairs. For most people that's not the case because, with PCP, you put down a deposit and pay off the depreciation over time. In cashflow terms the short term costs (the deposit) are way lower thanthan the outlay of buying a used car for cash. In any case it appears the OP intends to finance the car so comparisons with cash purchases aren't relevant anyway.

I see what you mean but on the other had, if a person can afford a deposit and monthly payments = they can afford to build up savings for a good quality 2nd hand car. As discussing options go, it's still relevant to the thread used vs new, imho.
I've seen lots of threads on this forum titled "how to get out of car finance early" or similar. I haven't seen one that says "I've been saving up for a car, now I wish I've never had". Helps to put things into perspective a bit.

EssexExile

Mistaken wrote: »

I noticed some people have mentioned discounts available on new cars?

What discounts are these? How do you get them?

You start by looking in the paper, my local Honda dealer is advertising over £5000 off a new CR-V at the moment. You see what prices are quoted on line & suggest the dealer might wish to match them. If you're not too fussy & they have what you want in stock (in the group) it'll be cheaper than ordering one to be specially built. If you don't want the latest gizmos the last of the previous version will be cheaper when a new version comes out. Tell them you'd really like to go up to the next trim level but can't quite stretch that far, they'll do what they can to meet you halfway.

Iceweasel

bigjl wrote: »

There is a caveat with your statement that BMWs are cheap to service and repair.

Basic servicing and brakes yes.

But when a big ticket item gives trouble they have huge bills.

Camchains would be one of my concerns with the common 2.0d for example.

The AirCon packed up on our 1 Series just after buying it and that wasn't going to be cheap to fix, flogged it with the fault.

I would agree - and that's why I always would recommend going for an extended manufacturer's warranty.

Iceweasel

Mistaken wrote: »

I noticed some people have mentioned discounts available on new cars?

What discounts are these? How do you get them?

10% to 12% should be easily available.

If you get a quote from a broker like 'Coast to Coast' you can go to your local dealer and ask them to match it - some will and some won't - so it might need a little leg-work, but that should get you 15% to 20% off - that's the dealer contribution/discount.

Then you'll discover that there is often a further manufacturer's contribution of as much as £2000 if you take their finance deal.

If you need the finance that's fine - but even if you don't need it, take it anyway and then settle the finance early, within a week or so, and keep the discount.

Note I used the word 'settle' which is acceptable to the finance world - cancelling it seems to be a no-no and they might ask for the discount be returned.

alderpoint

Iceweasel wrote: »

BMWs .. £450 for a 5 years service plan

Is that mileage limited? From what I've seen for most fixed-price servicing deals expect you to do only 5-6K per year (for which you'd be better off in a taxi!) rather that the 30k/year that anyone who actually uses there car will do.

Iceweasel

alderpoint wrote: »

Is that mileage limited? From what I've seen for most fixed-price servicing deals expect you to do only 5-6K per year (for which you'd be better off in a taxi!) rather that the 30k/year that anyone who actually uses there car will do.

AFAIK It's 50K or 5 year whichever comes first.

I do approx 20K a year and it's still a good deal.

After 50K I check my local dealer who regularly has special offers to keep customers away from the indie service workshops.