3 month old car, part ex?

LMS94

Hey,

This is my first post to the forum!

My question is...

My girlfriend bought a Toyota Aygo around 3 months ago after passing her test but she hates the car.
Considering it is a "city" car, it's quite a pain to drive (ie short bite, lots of gas to move off, loads of body roll).

She would like to look into changing it for a Ford Fiesta or Focus.

What would the best course of action be?

Oh, she also paid £11,500 for it and it's currently being valued at around £8.2k :mad:

Thanks

foxy-stoat

Best course of action would be to sell it for the most money and buy the car she wants with what ever is left.

She wont have much luck in selling a 3 month old car privately unless its very cheap so she will have to either part exchange and take the hit or ask a dealer to sell it for her on their forecourt, if there are any dealers willing to do that. Whats the value on we buy any car for a fraction of the market value?

Expensive lesson right there but hopefully she will learn from it.

LMS94

foxy-stoat wrote: »

Best course of action would be to sell it for the most money and buy the car she wants with what ever is left.

She wont have much luck in selling a 3 month old car privately unless its very cheap so she will have to either part exchange and take the hit or ask a dealer to sell it for her on their forecourt, if there are any dealers willing to do that. Whats the value on we buy any car for a fraction of the market value?

Expensive lesson right there but hopefully she will learn from it.

Yeah, I've advised her to keep hold of it for another year or so and hopefully, the value will start to level out a little bit with the equity.

At first the car seemed okay to drive, the more we drive it, the more we both hate it...

I suppose it's going to have to be an expensive paper weight for the drive :T

Mercdriver

For future reference try and negotiate a longer term test drive to assess the suitability. If you ever rent cars on holiday use them as a way of assessing the car's suitability for you both.

Head_The_Ball

Give it time.

She, and you, may get used to the quirks of this particular car over time.

letspretendforaminute

I'd say hold onto the car and learn to live with it. Taking a 30% depreciation cost is ludicrous and in this compact car category they'll all be much a muchness. For the record I'm delighted with my Skoda CitiGo Colour that I bought new for ~£10k and the three year warranty is worth it's weight in gold.

Prior to this I was driving expensive lease cars in the £250-£350p/month ballpark and none of the Mercedes or BMW offered anything extra other than curb appeal.

She's still got a cheap barge.

LMS94

Thanks all.

It's just a tad concerning that it's marketed as a city car, yet, is a pain to drive in the city..

I'll convince her to hold on for now!

HWG

I'd suggest you find a way to forget about it - you're talking about losing £3,200 to make a really marginal improvement. As other posters say, all small cars are going to be a broadly similar experience.

What if you spent that money on furniture, clothes, holiday etc? I'm sure you could make a much more positive impact to your life with that cash.

HWG

LMS94 wrote: »

It's just a tad concerning that it's marketed as a city car, yet, is a pain to drive in the city..

In the nicest possible way, it IS a city car. A textbook city car that's been successfully on the market for over a decade.

If it doesn't meet your expectations, then it's likely because your expectations weren't realistic. Blaming the car is a bit rich.

Clive_Woody

Should she be determined to change, has she actually taken a Fiesta/Focus for an extended test drive to ensure they really are that much of an improvement?

She could hire one for a weekend to have a real go in it.

neilmcl

HWG wrote: »

In the nicest possible way, it IS a city car. A textbook city car that's been successfully on the market for over a decade.

If it doesn't meet your expectations, then it's likely because your expectations weren't realistic. Blaming the car is a bit rich.

I must admit it does sound a bit like the bad workman blaming his tools. Maybe the OP's GF should try and adapt her driving style, she may get on better with the car.