New or Used - That is the question

lucy_w86

I am looking to purchase a car and have no intention of changing it for a few years.

I am debating whether to get a new or nearly new car

The cars I am interested in are:

206
Fiesta
Clio
Vauxhall
Aygo
Yaris (although they are v. expensive)
C1

Any advice?

Badger_Lady

Well, in true MSE style:

New cars will always depreciate in value. But they're very nice, obviously.

If you buy used and are a bit canny, then you may be able to sell it on for an equal or even higher price (I've always sold my cars on for a profit).

I'd go for used every time - spend less, retain value, still have a lovely car to drive around!

lucy_w86

lucy_w86 wrote: »

I am looking to purchase a car and have no intention of changing it for a few years.

I am debating whether to get a new or nearly new car

The cars I am interested in are:

206
Fiesta
Clio
Vauxhall
Aygo
Yaris (although they are v. expensive)
C1

Any advice?

Anyone else?

:beer:

nullogik

I'd never buy a new car because you loose a fortune in depreciation. The safest bets are "nearly new cars" that are about 1-3 years old where all the niggles have been sorted out and the depreciation hit has been taken by the original owner.

Have a look at some "approved used" cars from schemes such as Network Q (Vauxhall) etc.

daveyjp

All cars depreciate, the problem you have with small cars is they only depreciate when you come to sell, as soon as you see them on the forecourt they are expensive. Nearly new (year old say) Fords, Vauxhalls, Toyota Aygos etc are more than new ones via internet brokers. They are often sold to hire companies who get a massive discount, this is then clawed back on resale.

Wife returning to work and needed a car. The Aygo fitted the bill. We wanted a 5 door with aircon. A local Toyota dealer had such a car - it was a year old, but had done 23,000 miles. The advertised price was £6995. Went to look at it and it needed new tyres all round, new brake pads and discs, dealer would only drop to £6,700 - this was higher than the guide and didn't relfect the very high mileage.
A quick search on the internet found a brand new Aygo of the same spec from a UK dealer for £7000. Needless to say they got our business.

For any of the cars you are looking at I would recommend an online broker as your first port of call. The market is flooded with Fords and Vauxhalls and there are bargains to be had.

lucy_w86

daveyjp wrote: »

All cars depreciate, the problem you have with small cars is they only depreciate when you come to sell, as soon as you see them on the forecourt they are expensive. Nearly new (year old say) Fords, Vauxhalls, Toyota Aygos etc are more than new ones via internet brokers. They are often sold to hire companies who get a massive discount, this is then clawed back on resale.

Wife returning to work and needed a car. The Aygo fitted the bill. We wanted a 5 door with aircon. A local Toyota dealer had such a car - it was a year old, but had done 23,000 miles. The advertised price was £6995. Went to look at it and it needed new tyres all round, new brake pads and discs, dealer would only drop to £6,700 - this was higher than the guide and didn't relfect the very high mileage.
A quick search on the internet found a brand new Aygo of the same spec from a UK dealer for £7000. Needless to say they got our business.

For any of the cars you are looking at I would recommend an online broker as your first port of call. The market is flooded with Fords and Vauxhalls and there are bargains to be had.

Any brokers you would recommend?

Idiophreak

I'd recommend getting nearly-new...I saved over 30% on my car...and that was only after a year and 4k miles - looked as new.

lucy_w86

Idiophreak wrote: »

I'd recommend getting nearly-new...I saved over 30% on my car...and that was only after a year and 4k miles - looked as new.

Did you buy from a dealership or online?

nullogik

Idiophreak wrote: »

I'd recommend getting nearly-new...I saved over 30% on my car...and that was only after a year and 4k miles - looked as new.

Thats what I recommend to. Its still a very new car (only 365 days old) and you save £000s.

tanith

I would never buy new its like throwing money down the drain... my last purchase was from a dealership and was last years model that one of the managers had been using... it had 4000 miles on the clock and was like a spanking new one but with a considerable saving in price...

Idiophreak

lucy_w86 wrote: »

Did you buy from a dealership or online?

Got it from a dealership - network Q...

I like new stuff as much as anyone, but I saved myself something like 5-6k on the RRP...and that's a lot of money to throw away for the sake of a couple of miles on the clock.
(and more to the point, I got a much better car for my money than I'd have got buying new...)