Recommendations for companies offering student car loans ?

Grumpy_chap

smallzoo2 said:

Dealer ? what do you mean 

Car Dealer.

sourcrates

New cars can be nightmares, most are crammed so full of electronics, you drive through a puddle and half the sensors fail at once, bit of an over exaggeration possibly, but you get my drift, reliability tends to be more down to luck than engineering these days.

You will find an early 2000`s car will be much more reliable than a new one, in a lot of cases, the era before sensors ruled every operational part of the vehicle, as they relied more on mechanical means of diagnosing failure, rather than the electronic system we endure today.

Its more common for the sensor to fail, rather that the component, and the cost of replacement can be silly money, I'd stick with the old if I were you.

RBYHS

I went through Arnold Clark as they work with a variety of lenders and been approved immediately - 3 weeks after I turned 18, so I had no credit history what so ever. I was a student and a part time worker. 

Grumpy_chap

It would be helpful if the OP shared a bit more about the needs of the car, and for a young-person still studying the car choice probably has to be more a "need" than "want" decision.  All we have so far is for a dependable car suitable for 30-mile each way (60 mile round trip) commute weekdays plus social use at the weekend. 

Nothing about the available deposit, total budget and affordability, so no-one knows whether the target is a main dealer, independent, or private purchase but these factors make a difference to the finance options that will be available.

Within the above constraints, choosing a less-fashionable model will likely reduce the capital outlay and hence the cost of finance.

smallzoo2

yksi said:

Pretending that only near-new cars are reliable is a fallacy. I am driving a 13yo one-litre Peugeot 107 with 115k on the clock and it is bombproof. It's worth about £800 and runs on the smell of an oily rag. And I drive on a 70mph zone daily. ..
I would also question whether it's financially viable to be travelling so far for a part-time job which probably isn't very highly-paid - 

Thx for the comments. She will travelling 60mile round trip for university 3 days a week and the same 2 to 3 days a week to look after a brain damaged adult. She does that because is very good at it rather than the money.thx anyway

smallzoo2

Grumpy_chap said:

It would be helpful if the OP shared a bit more about the needs of the car, and for a young-person still studying the car choice probably has to be more a "need" than "want" decision.  All we have so far is for a dependable car suitable for 30-mile each way (60 mile round trip) commute weekdays plus social use at the weekend. 

Nothing about the available deposit, total budget and affordability, so no-one knows whether the target is a main dealer, independent, or private purchase but these factors make a difference to the finance options that will be available.

Within the above constraints, choosing a less-fashionable model will likely reduce the capital outlay and hence the cost of finance.

Thats a very fair comments

as above 60mile round trip to uni probably 3 days a week, then 65 mile round trip 2-3 days a week as a primary car worker for a brain damaged adult ( A job she is very good at and loves )

As for budget. If she we to buy 2nd hand ( ie cash ) probably less than £2k, if it was finance probably £6k ish with a £1000 deposit approx

She feels ( rightly to wrongly ) happier in a mid performance model that is more than happy and safe on a motorway as well as back roads and will return at least £35 mpg ( petrol ) 

Hope that answers the questions

yksi

£2k sounds more than adequate. Convince her to get roadside assistance to remove the stress about a vehicle being roadworthy. Stay under 90k miles to avoid the need for a costly major service, and she will have loads to choose from. The £1k shortfall is the sort of amount that she might see from an interest-free credit card (if she qualifies) which would be the cheapest way to finance it. If not, she might find that her own bank, which knows her steady income and spending patterns, offers her a personal loan. Or perhaps you're in a position to lend it to her? You know your daughter better than any bank and would know if she is trustworthy to repay it. You can take a bigger risk than they can because you know her.

Grumpy_chap

It should be very possible to find a car that meets the brief for the available cash budget but doing so will entail shifting through the large amounts of over-priced trash at the price-point.  The right cars are there for the hunting though.

The finance budget would offer a choice of late-model, low-mileage but dull, unfashionable yet boringly dependable cars avoiding the absolute "poverty-spec" varieties:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202106193978332

That includes main-dealer options, which will offer probably the widest and most-likely to be approved finance choices.  If it was required, would the OP act as guarantor for the daughter?

yksi

The Sandero is one I was thinking of before I found better things to spend on than my car - keep in mind it was only £6k new (minus all the optional extras) so you can still probably get cheaper than this if that's what you're looking at. It has won a lot of awards, probably all of them except for style. But uni students of limited means should be buying for function anyway.