New car delayed-to sell now or wait?

Kate489130

So we ordered our new car (PCP) in August, due early November. Just had an email to say car delayed due to chip shortage. 

Current car 2017 reg, has no finance. Currently worth approx £13k, which is £3k more than a few months ago. Current car in need of new tires (likely  cost £300+) and service due Jan 22 (to keep fsh). We only have one car and we do need a car around 3/4 days a week. We’ve no hire car/car club locations nearby.

Can’t decide what to do. Option seem to be:

1) keep current car until new car comes in-less hassle but costly as will need tyres/service and may depreciate back to previous value.
2) sell current car and buy small car to cover time to new car due-for around £5-6k. More hassle and may have cost involved if any issues with new car as well as possible depreciation of interim car. But would mean we could benefit from high value of current car.
3) short term lease or long term hire-less hassle than buying/selling and no worries about depreciation etc. having looked at cost, seems will cost about £500-600 a month. But risk is if new car doesn’t come in next 4/5months, we’d potentially negate any profit made on current car. 

4) beg/borrow car from family when we need it. Not sure if we’d have any offers though and it would be a ‘problem’ of our own making so not sure if we’d get much sympathy lol
5)another solution I’ve not thought of yet!!

Anyone got any advice/thoughts?

AdrianC

The first option is the only sensible one.

Stop thinking about the paper "profit" made by the current market blip. Maybe it'll stay, maybe it won't. It's irrelevant until you crystallise it on sale.

Right now, you'd be selling a car that you agree needs £5-600 spent on it in the next couple of months. Don't you think the buyers will take that into account when making an offer?

Grumpy_chap

Kate489130 said:

So we ordered our new car (PCP) in August, due early November. Just had an email to say car delayed due to chip shortage. 

Current car 2017 reg, has no finance. Currently worth approx £13k, which is £3k more than a few months ago. Current car in need of new tires (likely  cost £300+) and service due Jan 22 (to keep fsh). We only have one car and we do need a car around 3/4 days a week. We’ve no hire car/car club locations nearby.

Can’t decide what to do. Option seem to be:

1) keep current car until new car comes in-less hassle but costly as will need tyres/service and may depreciate back to previous value.
2) sell current car and buy small car to cover time to new car due-for around £5-6k. More hassle and may have cost involved if any issues with new car as well as possible depreciation of interim car. But would mean we could benefit from high value of current car.
3) short term lease or long term hire-less hassle than buying/selling and no worries about depreciation etc. having looked at cost, seems will cost about £500-600 a month. But risk is if new car doesn’t come in next 4/5months, we’d potentially negate any profit made on current car. 

4) beg/borrow car from family when we need it. Not sure if we’d have any offers though and it would be a ‘problem’ of our own making so not sure if we’d get much sympathy lol
5)another solution I’ve not thought of yet!!

Anyone got any advice/thoughts?

When is the new car now expected?

I'd say you are massively over-thinking this.  Keep the current car and sell when the new car arrives.  You had a plan that was affordable based on the current car being worth £10k, so if you yield anything over-and-above then that is purely bonus and treat yourselves with whatever you get.  Option 1 it is then.

Option 4 is a non-starter.  

Option 3 will burn the money from the early sale, although you can get long term hire / short term lease for half the £500-600 you mention:
https://www.apexrental.co.uk/rental_vehicle/1476.aspx

That only possibly leaves option 2 on the table.  IMO, far more hassle than it's worth, but if you go this route, then there is no point getting a £5-6k car when you can get a £1k car that will do the job just as well.  A £5-6k car is no less likely to have hidden costs and, at the end of term, you can get the scrap value back on the £1k car will be £200ish, so the cost has only been a little more than the £600 maintenance costs on the current car.  Here's an example of a "get you by" car:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184689603210?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5337937702&toolid=10039&customid=t%3Aitem-u%3A20488

FtbDreaming

I’ve never thought of a car as ‘profit’ making unless we’ve bought a cat C to fix up and sell on. It’s your car that you need to use for work/ life. Keep it and sell it for what it’s worth when the new car arrives.

2 could still need mot service and tyres
3 would cost you a fortune
4 you’d need very generous friends and family because you wanted to be greedy and make money whilst prices were up. 

Kate489130

Thanks all! Yes probably overthinking it lol! 

Money_Grabber13579

Unless the garage is willing to lend you a car until the new one arrives (given it has been delayed), which is very unlikely given you already have a car and aren’t being forced to give that up, then keeping it and spending money on essential repairs seems to be the only sensible option.

I don’t see S/H car prices falling anytime soon, given the shortage of new cars is expected to continue into 2022. In any event, they won’t fall instantly as it will take time for the S/H car market to be replenished, which could take years.

I fear that the biggest losers in all of this will be the people who are buying new now (doesn’t necessarily apply to leasing), as the depreciation hit they will take when prices revert to normal will be significant. By that I mean they will have overpaid for the new car on the basis that discounts have been significantly reduced and the S/H value will revert back to normal over time.