Car Finance - There must be a better way?!

aivijo

So, here's my situation...
I drive a lot for my job so I get given an 'allowance' by work which is basically a bit of extra money on top of my wages each month. In a previous job I had a company car until I moved jobs and had to buy my own - with nothing to part ex and no deposit. That car went into negative equity quite quickly and I needed something more suitable for a bad back so I part exed that car to get a Renault Captur. As my last car was in negative equity I had to carry about £3-£4k over to my new finance when buying the Captur which was fine. I initially got a PCP deal and was paying £320 pcm to do 18k miles a year. I now do about 30k miles a year so I changed my finance package to a loan with Barclays Partner Finance. I'm paying slightly more at nearly £350 pcm but here's my biggest worry...
My car is currently worth about £10k (I bought it for £13,400) because of all the mileage i'm doing, and my loan balance is at £17,358. That's really bothering me! I can't get any more allowance off work to make it worth my while in terms in terms of the debt I'm carrying on my credit file so the solution isn't to ask work for more money. Is there a better option for me?!
The theory behind buying a new car was to reduce maintenance costs, I have no road tax etc. but would it be better if I got a much cheaper 2nd hand car? I'll still be paying negative equity but at the moment I feel like i'm getting nowhere and its a lot of money! That loan will be paid off in just over 4 years so if I keep this car, i'll end up having done over 100k miles in it if it hasn't died by then.
Is anyone out there really knowledgeable in terms of value to money / car financing ???

Herzlos

You're probably best sticking with it; you'll lose a fair whack in trading down whilst not saving much at all, and having a worse car for it.

Once the PCP runs out or you hit the 50% total point (likely to be near the end of the term anyway), you can re-assess what you're going to do next.

It might be best seeing if you can either overpay it to bring the balance down, or put money into savings to put into it when it expires.

foxy-stoat

aivijo wrote: »

Is anyone out there really knowledgeable in terms of value to money / car financing ???

You just want a value for money car - any manual 1.9 tdi VAG engined car will fit your needs, be it golf, bora, octavia, fabia, A3, A4 or A6 or passat etc etc. It will be around 10 years old so not new.

Buy one for maximum £3000 with around 100,000-125,000 miles with good history and it should see you through until 250,000 miles, with maybe 2 or 3 £500-£1000 bills inbetween. If you can get one thats just had a clutch or cambelt/water pump done then thats one less thing to worry about.

Cant help with your current car finance issues, but if you aim to save up £3000 by the time you can VT it you will be on the right track.

[Deleted User]

Loans on top of loans will only make you poorer.


Save up and buy is the best way


Cheers

forgotmyname

It will only die at 100k miles if you neglect it. A petrol car should do 150k-200k if properly serviced and a diesel should do 300k.

Keep it until its an antique.

aivijo

I can't afford to save up whilst running the car which is another issue in itself. I've always had to have a car for work but I used to have a company car so the jump from one to another really set me back because I didn't have time to save up in between. I had restrictions too - like I'm not allowed to buy a car more than 3yrs old and I can't keep one beyond 6 years old. They're relaxed in my current job though.