Budgeting for cars?

OldMusicGuy

Running costs go in annual budget, replacement is a capital expense. Typically keep cars for 8 to 10 years unless there are serious problems which mean they need replacing before that time. Our Ford Focus had to be replaced at 6 years because the power steering kept failing.

A well-maintained car bought in good condition should easily be good for 100K plus miles. We will buy what we can afford based on the capital we have available at the time.

I'm assuming the next replacements will be with electric cars......

jerrysimon

Purchased a new small car five years ago, now retired two and a half years and plan to keep it till our SPs kicks in, when we will then lease an even smaller car for around £150/month max.



So far after 5 years our car has only done 27K around 5.5K/year. We cycle most the time living in Cambridge.

drumtochty

Is there an age or income level that pcp companies will refuse to deal with people.


Not a problem if you have a healthy bank book but for those a bit short of spare capital at some specific age, that could be an issue.

cfw1994

I've loosely put £300pcm in....but I suspect we would have flexibility in that.

We have just got our first electric car (Kona EV) - an amazing vehicle, but not exactly "moneysaving": I would say EVs are currently a good £10k more than the equivalent 'normal' car, so by no means a cheap option, & with supply challenges, I don't see that changing for a while.

Our other car is my Volvo XC60, which is now 5½ years & 75k miles old....intended changing that a year or two back, but it is soooo comfy, & now we tend to use the Kona, I may run it forever.....

Bangernomics is a definitely a thing, & after years of fairly new cars (needed for longer work journeys), maybe I will slide back into that!

bostonerimus

My plan is to buy a car about once every 10 years or 200k miles.

I just traded in a 12 year old Honda Civic with 180k miles on the clock because it was starting to cost a lot to keep on the road. It's always a hard decision to make. I had an alternator replaced at the beginning of the year and the last time I took the car in it needed exhaust work, power steering and there was a vacuum leak too and everything was going to cost $1500....the car was only worth $1000. So I bought a new Honda Civic. If I was being really frugal I would have got one 2 or 3 years old, but basically I couldn't be bothered. I got $500 for my old car trade in and after all taxes etc I paid $18k for a new basic LX Honda Civic....so $17.5k total. If figure I'm all set until 2030 ish,

shinytop

Bravepants wrote: »

My last car, a Mazda 6, lasted me 12 years. I bought it in 2007 with 37,000 on the clock and got rid of it earlier this year with just over 160,000. Bought a 3 year old Mazda 3,which we hope will last another 10 years!

Ditto the 3 year old Mazda3. Three months in, so far so good

parking_question_chap

Buying a two year old car and selling at six isnt necessary, unless you just like changing cars. No reason you cannot buy a two year old car and keep it going for ten or more years.

There is a common misconception that cars over eight or so (enter random number here) years suddenly become unreliable. This just isnt the case if they are looked after.

Triumph13

We're much more 'buy a 10 year old car and run it till it dies / becomes expensive to maintain,' Probably something in the order of £2.5k pa to cover depreciation, servicing and repairs on two cars.
The big advantage to me is that you don't feel so bad when you accidentally drop a canoe on it.

jerrysimon

Forty years ago cars were rust buckets after 10 years. Amazing how far reliabilty and rust protection has come.

TBC15

We tend to buy cars around 3 yrs old and are prepared to pay a slight premium for condition/low mileage. At the 10yr stage if the car is still running fine hang on to it.