Replace car with newer one on finance?

startingout2016

We currently have two 10+ old cars which are paid for in full.

One is my husbands and doesn’t do many miles as it goes to his place of work and back.

My car is the family car, it’s a golf and has 100k + miles, I do about 15k miles per year and it has needed a lot of repairs in the last two years.

We have got to a position where we have cleared our credit cards and no longer owe anything on credit.

We have a smallish mortgage.

My car is currently worth £6k on wbac, and I’m now wondering if it’s a good time to trade in against a newer model.

I have some savings (around £4K) but don’t want to drop much more than half of that as I like to keep an emergency fund.
This would mean financing the balance of the newer car purchase.

I have found some newer ones that are 4 years old for £15k, but the finance would have interest applied, or I could buy new and have smaller monthly payments as the interest would be lower.

If you were in my position would you rather do any of the following -

A- Keep the existing car so that we don’t have any finance , but expect it to have more big bills coming up. Hope for it to be reliable enough to make it to long distance destinations coming up this year (France for a wedding and north of England),

Or

B- trade in against newer model, take personal loan out for the balance against the lowest term affordable and keep interest lower than car finance, but potential still for bills as car is second hand and would be out of or coming out of warranty. This would still result in the added bonus of cheaper tax and insurance than what I am currently paying.

Or
C- trade old car in for new model against the 0% finance offers currently on until february. Make the most of lower mo they payments to continue saving and enjoy other lower cost bits of motoring such as low or free road tax, cheaper insurance, no mot’s for 3 years etc?
All the while having a hopefully more reliable and safer family car than what I currently drive

lincroft1710

startingout2016 wrote: »

We currently have two 10+ old cars which are paid for in full.

My car is the family car, it’s a golf and has 100k + miles, I do about 15k miles per year and it has needed a lot of repairs in the last two years.

My car is currently worth £6k on wbac, and I’m now wondering if it’s a good time to trade in against a newer model.

Which 2008 (or older) Golf do you own that is worth £6,000 to WBAC?

startingout2016

It is GTD (59 plate actually - oops) 100k miles, highest spec (not that wbac care about that)

startingout2016

Email from whack says - Only 1 Day left on your valuation of £6,000 for your VOLKSWAGEN GOLF

This would possibly be lower as that was a few days before Christmas

TheMoonandBack

£6000 for a 59 plate Golf with over 100k miles - I’d take that offer fast, absolute no brainer.

lincroft1710

A 59 plate is only 9 yrs old, but I agree with previous poster, take the money

startingout2016

It does seem a good deal from wbac, have used them in the past and the difference between their valuation and forecourt prices were more like £3k, this is closer to £1.5k.

I’d sill need to buy something else though... so finance a 3-4 year old car or get something new with the dealer incentives?

I have leased before but never bought new.
It was hammered into me that buying new is always the worst financial decision but is it...

TheMoonandBack

Maybe Golfs are worth more than I thought, but £6k seems like a lot for a 59 plate.
At the end of the day buying new is a subjective thing. Personally I wouldn’t, but if it works out for you then do it.
It all comes down to the cost per year to you.

tonyh66

I reckon the £6k is a mistake and you wouldn't get it if you used WBAC, If your golf is in good nick, its good for another 100k miles looked after, and its costing you nothing in monthly payments. Put £50 a month away to pay for any repairs.

startingout2016

Maybe it’s a mistake.

I do look after it and after a few expensive years i would hope I’m maintaining it well.
£50 away to a maintenance fund is a lot cheaper than depreciation on new even with the higher tax cost.

TheMoonandBack

I put £75 a month away to maintain my car and I also do 15k miles a year.
Its a system I can vouch for.
Buying a new or newer car is less likely to need major repairs but costs more for the privilege. If your current car doesn’t need many repairs in future, you’ve still saved up a few quid.