Lease car or buy an old one?

System

HomelessHopeless wrote: »

Thanks everyone.

My issue with throwing money at the car is that the last three MOTs have resulted in £300+ in work. The car is slowly falling to pieces! Yes, the bodywork is good and the engine hasn't struggled at all.. But does it make sense to keep throwing money at it for repairs?

In just one year I've had renew the back brakes, replace all four shock absorbers, a track rod end and a wheel bearing and four tyres on my Mondeo which is the same age as yours but with 140,000 miles on - that's over £1000 I've spent this year. And I still think it is worth it as its otherwise in good condition and goes just fine, all those repairs will outlive the car not needing to be done again and £1000 is still much cheaper than it would cost me a year in monthly payments on a car I wouldn't own.

£300 or so a year for MOT work isn't anything untowards, many people will spend similar amounts on newer cars than yours. It might seem ridiculous now but you may wish you only had that to pay a year in the future if you buy a car on finance. Remember you're committing yourself to paying out £2000+ a year for the next 3-4 years, how would that impact on what you're able to do in your life such as holidays etc?

If you're looking for permission from someone to justify buying a new car you're not likely to get it from here because this is a money saving website and it is pretty much always cheaper to repair than replace so that is the advice you'll get nine times out of ten. So from a money saving point of view you're better off repairing but if you want a change, want something more comfy to be in, want a larger car to do more stuff with then just go get one, you don't need permission from people here to do it. The only thing you need to do is to do the maths to see which works out the cheapest option.

TheMoonandBack

Put a clutch in it. 10 years old with good bodywork and a good engine, keep running it.

Cetshwayo

At the end of the day some folk start to get sick of the sight of the old jalopy and as long as they have thought about it then if they want to change change.

You can still change cars and save money.

OP if you want to lease go for the deal and not the car.

But whatever you do do the sums on all the options.

onomatopoeia99

HomelessHopeless wrote: »

My issue with throwing money at the car is that the last three MOTs have resulted in £300+ in work. The car is slowly falling to pieces!

£300 is £25/month. How much are you looking at paying on a lease?


Stuff on cars wears out. Unless you buy something that's only a few years old you are always going to have stuff to replace on an older car, but owning / renting a new car comes with its own costs, either capital outlay or lease payments.