Should I sell my car?

foxy-stoat

KHouldey wrote: »

Thanks for your input I actually traded a newer car for it so it's fully paid for. I think due to this I'm just seeing it as extra money I could bank, even despite the depreciation.

If you dont need the extra £5K then I wouldnt bother if you own it outright - you have already taken a hit on the last car you chopped in for it.

barnaclebill

If it's a good car that you know it's history it would be better to keep it than to get another older car that could have hidden problems.
You need a car so keep it as long as possible, well serviced and as long as it stay's reliable use it, if you get 10 years use that makes it more cost effective.

A_Forlorn_Hope

Thank you, both are good points

jimjames

Mercdriver wrote: »

You have to do the sums carefully. A 3 - 4k car is really costing you 6 - 9k. You will need to set aside money for work to be done bearing in mind it is far more likely that you will need that money for a rainy day with the car, and may not actually have it available for use.

I don't agree that a £3k car will cost £6-9k. That's a serious amount of work you're suggesting it would need. Buy correctly and you will have the normal servicing and maybe minor work but nothing of that sort of scale.

KHouldey wrote: »

Correct, AutoTrader is reckoning I'll get £9k-10k for the car. As I need to drive so much I'll need to spend around £3-4k on a decent car which will leave me with around £6-7 to add to my savings.

In 2 years time you car will probably be worth £5-6k. so you'll have lost around £4k on depreciation. If that £4k would mean you can move 6 months earlier then it may be worth it but in the scale of £33k that doesn't sound significant.

A_Forlorn_Hope

True, I guess in the grand scheme of things it won't make too much of a dent. Although saying that, the dent would be more effective now rather than later, especially if I downgraded to something reliable.

Herzlos

jimjames wrote: »

I don't agree that a £3k car will cost £6-9k. That's a serious amount of work you're suggesting it would need. Buy correctly and you will have the normal servicing and maybe minor work but nothing of that sort of scale.

He's just talking about the trade in. If you take a £3k hit on the trade in on your car, and buy another car for £3k, you're out £6k (theoreticaly, anyway, as you won't get the £3k back on the car by that point unless it's via an insurance payout).

Mercdriver

jimjames wrote: »

I don't agree that a £3k car will cost £6-9k. That's a serious amount of work you're suggesting it would need. Buy correctly and you will have the normal servicing and maybe minor work but nothing of that sort of scale.

You perhaps need to read my post a little more carefully. I wasn't referring to repair costs. Depreciation is the beast here. The amount that might be needed for maintenance and repairs is an unknown entity - compared to the car the OP has now.