Buying a diesel (second hand nearly new)

imran22

Hello members

I am in the final stages of agreeing a deal with a dealer to buy a diesel. It has done only few thousand miles. However since the news this morning about possible diesel price hikes and road tax increases, is it worth buying a Diesel?

I do around 9,000 miles a year and looking to keep this car for about 5 years. There is a good discount available as well but I am not able to make up my mind as I am not sure if this car will hold its value in the coming years due to being a diesel.

This is a 7-seater SUV and all I have available is largely diesel in this category.

Any help with be hugely appreciated - thank you

Inner_Zone

imran22 wrote: »

Hello members

I am in the final stages of agreeing a deal with a dealer to buy a diesel. It has done only few thousand miles. However since the news this morning about possible diesel price hikes and road tax increases, is it worth buying a Diesel?

I do around 9,000 miles a year and looking to keep this car for about 5 years. There is a good discount available as well but I am not able to make up my mind as I am not sure if this car will hold its value in the coming years due to being a diesel.

This is a 7-seater SUV and all I have available is largely diesel in this category.

Any help with be hugely appreciated - thank you

The average break even mileage before any increases is considered to be between 15K to 20K miles per year. So your average is well below that.

iolanthe07

Might be worth waiting until after tomorrow's budget, though I think it unlikely the Chancellor will hit diesel car owners to any great extent. There might be a hike in VED for diesel cars, but adding more tax to diesel fuel would hit the whole trucking industry.

imran22

Inner_Zone wrote: »

The average break even mileage before any increases is considered to be between 15K to 20K miles per year. So your average is well below that.

Thank you for reply - which increases you are talking about? I want to know if it is worth buying a diesel in the current market and political environment which is against diesel cars. I want the car to hold more than half of its value in 4-5 years time.

AdrianC

9k/year brings the possibility of DPF issues to the fore, even before legislative issues.

The move to penalise diesel use in cities is not new - it's been going on for years. As far as VED goes, there's never been retrospective tax changes before, so the chances are high that a petrol and diesel vehicle in any given band will remain taxed the same.

Unless you want something from the very performance-focussed end of the range, which brings in other running cost implications, then any big SUV will inevitably be diesel - so if you want to avoid diesel, consider a different type of vehicle completely. If seven seats are necessary, then your choices are limited anyway.

Inner_Zone

imran22 wrote: »

Thank you for reply - which increases you are talking about? I want to know if it is worth buying a diesel in the current market and political environment which is against diesel cars. I want the car to hold more than half of its value in 4-5 years time.

The ones you state in the OP.

MataNui

imran22 wrote: »

This is a 7-seater SUV and all I have available is largely diesel in this category.

There are a lot of cars not available (realistically) as petrol. I have one and was in a similar situation.

The bit about breaking even isnt really a valid consideration if its only available as a diesel. With big SUVs etc its generally the only option (other than something like a 5ltr petrol).

9k and DPF also irrelevant. Its the way you do those miles rather than the total. Lots of short trips = bad for DPF, few long trips = good for DPF, Short trips in the week with a nice long blast at the weekend = OK for DPF.

It would be very unusual for VED changes to be retrospective. In fact i doubt any government who did that in this instance would be in government long. Any changes will possibly be fuel duty (again, unlikely to be much as the impact of hitting diesel hard would send inflation into orbit) or more city pollution charges etc. Either way i wouldnt be too worried.

Devaluation is even more bollox. The media loves reporting about how used diesel cars have devalued over 20% in the last year or so. Its BS. They havent. Thats an 'average' figure made up from huge losses on the smaller city car size with diesel engines (why the duck would you want one of them anyway) to absolutely no change at all at the large luxury car end.

imran22

Will there be a chance that the diesel car depreciation exacerbates in coming years? Historically the diesels used to hold value better.

If one needs a 7-seater SUV will you buy a diesel in the current market and political situation?

jbainbridge

What sort of journeys do you do? If they are generally short ones it may be the wrong car for you anyway. An annual mileage of 9k suggests shorter journeys ... but we can't tell from here.

giraffe69

20k miles seems high as a minimum. I've read 10k as a sensible min and indeed, as already said, the "quality" of those miles is important.
Only older diesels are likely to be hit by inner city bans and/or tolls so anything CAT5 or higher is likely ok for the forseeable future.
I also doubt that the budget will bring anything substantial by way of change but maybe worth waiting for the short period to re-assure yourself.

I drive around 15k miles per year mostly not urban and when my car is up for replacement I would not have much doubt another diesel.

imran22

jbainbridge wrote: »

What sort of journeys do you do? If they are generally short ones it may be the wrong car for you anyway. An annual mileage of 9k suggests shorter journeys ... but we can't tell from here.

Around 20 miles during the weekdays. This can be motorway journey unless there are accidental or delays.

A 60 mile journey on Sunday on the motorway. Couple time a year we may drive to Cornwall or North Wales. This actually takes it to probably around 10K miles per year.

The car I buying is a 2 Litre Automatic Nissan.