Seeking help and guidance r.e. car/house buying

trailingspouse

Whatever car you decide to buy, factor in the cost of the insurance - you could be looking at £1500 at your age, or more if you go for a higher group car.

Cactus25

trailingspouse wrote: »

Whatever car you decide to buy, factor in the cost of the insurance - you could be looking at £1500 at your age, or more if you go for a higher group car.

My insurance at 21 was 3200. I absolutely do not regret having my little A3. It was definitely a commitment at the time though.


It may be an unpopular opinion here, but in your shoes I would be inclined to lease something new and shiny, but something affordable that you are really happy with.



I'd aim to have it ending around the time you are looking at getting your mortgage so you can re-evaluate things then. Depending on your mileage and age of whatever you are buying, the depreciation you will experience will probably be similar to leasing something new anyway.



I guess ultimately it depends how important a car is to you. For me it was literally the be and end all of my late teen years!:beer:


Edit, I used to do a go compare / compare the market on the number plate of an identical car so there are no surprises. Also absolutely run the quotes in multiple different variations. Changing one variable at a time like mileage from 10k to 11k per annum and see what the difference is. I found prices varied hugely for very minor changes!

RDane

Thank you everyone, appreciate all the help. Definitely useful advice for me to consider.

What would you say is the sweet spot for the age/mileage of a car that is still new/reliable and will last ~5-7+ years but has taken the most decent hit of depreciation already?

RDane

DrEskimo wrote: »

Obviously it depends where you are buying, but £10k doesn't sound like an awfully high deposit? I live in the south east, and 6years ago me and my partner saved up 30k each to buy our first flat....

No we will of course be looking to save 50k+, LISAs set up and going already etc. If I was not confident we can save 50k+ regardless of the car decision it would be a no brainer to go cheap (might still be anyway) just being that fortunely for us 50k+ deposit (+car as well) is realistic I am considering the indulgence.

trailingspouse

We buy high-end cars when they're 2-3 years old, then run them for 5-7 years. They don't lose much in value over that period (relatively speaking, compared to the amount they lose in the first two years), and we use them as a trade-in on the next one. I'm currently driving a Jaguar XF which is costing me £252 per month over 5 years (and which I will pay off early, thus saving a bit of interest).

At your age, there would be no harm in buying a car that was older and learning how to do some of the work yourself - a valuable life skill. My OH lived for his cars when he was younger (still does, to be fair...), but could only afford absolute crocks - as a result, there's not much he can't do with a car, which has saved us a fortune over the years. Unfortunately, it's made me a bit lazy, so rather than learning how to do it I just have to say 'Honey, there's a problem with the car...'

kidmugsy

RDane wrote: »

What would you say is the sweet spot for the age/mileage of a car that is still new/reliable and will last ~5-7+ years but has taken the most decent hit of depreciation already?

We've usually looked for something 18 months to 2 years old and hoped to keep it until it is 15 - 20 years old. One was stolen before that.

Cars becoming very old didn't worry us because we had them properly serviced and anyway I commuted by bike. But last time we bought a 10 year old thereby avoiding various compulsory bits of technology that are too likely to cause faults. It had a complete service record and the bloke we bought it from had good reason not to land us with a dud. So far so good.

In your shoes I might be looking for a Toyota or one of the Korean brands. If you can pick up a 2 year old that still has a valid 5 years of warranty on it that might be desirable. Another view is that you should spend £500 on a banger that might last 6 months.

Goudy

RDane wrote: »

Thank you everyone, appreciate all the help. Definitely useful advice for me to consider.

What would you say is the sweet spot for the age/mileage of a car that is still new/reliable and will last ~5-7+ years but has taken the most decent hit of depreciation already?

Depreciation is only one aspect of buying a car.
You could buy something that doesn't lose a penny, but if it costs you an arm and a leg in RFL, fuel, repairs, servicing and insurance and then your local authority wants money off you to drive it into your local town centre, the results are the same if not worse for your pocket.

Start thinking about the whole cost of ownership over the 5 years and the style of car you'd like and I'm sure you'd get some decent suggestions.
You could probably buy and run a brand new base spec Dacia Sandero for 5 years (and it lose all it's value) with what most cars cost in depreciation in 3 years, but if it's too small, slow, merde, etc it's pointless suggesting it.

MaxiRobriguez

buyhighselllow wrote: »

Trust me, when you get older you will not think " so glad I spent that extra money on cars when I was younger"..

Buy a decent 2-3 year old car that has taken the hit of depreciation, a reliable make ( Honda,Toyota, Suzuki would be my preference at the moment ) and run it for 6-7 years. After messing about with cars when younger, chopping and changing, my last 3 cars have been 2 year old Mondeo, ran for 8 years, Toyota, ran for 9 years. My current motor was 1 year old when I bought it, now 5, and I intend to keep it another 5 years at least. My only real regret is getting rid of some of those cars a bit too soon !!

Pretty much what we did.

Got a Toyota Yaris for £4k which was 5 years old or so but had <15,000 miles on the clock. Had it 3 years, it now has 50,000 miles on the clock. We'll run it until it breaks.