Buying a family car - what do you think?

ex-pat_scot

We had to sell the family car a few months ago, as it was experiencing repeated expensive challenges. Discovery Sport.
Ideally I would buy a new BEV but these are not available for quite some time.
Plan B would be an ICE, new or nearly new.
We are struggling with our small car (Corsa) - lots of large teenagers, who occasionally need transport together.
Looking at available cars, it seems that new or nearly new are trading at a significant premium owing to scarcity (driven by chip shortage worldwide).

My thoughts are therefore to buy something as a short / medium term measure, which would allow us to get beyond the chip shortage timing. This will allow us to either wait and buy, or place an order (8 to 12 months) for a new build with Skoda / whomever.

My question is really on your thoughts on what to buy.
I'm nervous of getting a very high priced 2nd hand car, which might be available but will undoubtedly collapse in value once chips eventually return (I know this might take 12 months plus)
I'm therefore looking at an older option, which would have less value to lose. I've been offered a 2015 Kia Carens high mileage 120k miles from a friend who is a local garage. 
Does this sound a sensible option? It would work for a year or two and buy us the breathing space to get something that is better for us long term.

SaverRate

ex-pat_scot said:

We had to sell the family car a few months ago, as it was experiencing repeated expensive challenges. Discovery Sport.
Ideally I would buy a new BEV but these are not available for quite some time.
Plan B would be an ICE, new or nearly new.
We are struggling with our small car (Corsa) - lots of large teenagers, who occasionally need transport together.
Looking at available cars, it seems that new or nearly new are trading at a significant premium owing to scarcity (driven by chip shortage worldwide).

My thoughts are therefore to buy something as a short / medium term measure, which would allow us to get beyond the chip shortage timing. This will allow us to either wait and buy, or place an order (8 to 12 months) for a new build with Skoda / whomever.

My question is really on your thoughts on what to buy.
I'm nervous of getting a very high priced 2nd hand car, which might be available but will undoubtedly collapse in value once chips eventually return (I know this might take 12 months plus)
I'm therefore looking at an older option, which would have less value to lose. I've been offered a 2015 Kia Carens high mileage 120k miles from a friend who is a local garage. 
Does this sound a sensible option? It would work for a year or two and buy us the breathing space to get something that is better for us long term.

Is there no way of keeping the corsa for another 12 months? We cant advise on the Kia deal without knowing the price but it does have high mileage!

ex-pat_scot

Cheers-  we will keep the corsa, but it's not big enough for the times when we have univ trips or up to the six of us travelling eg Christmas.

The Kia is an OK deal - £6000 ish - seems ball park OK from a check on Autotrader and eBay for comparisons.

SaverRate

ex-pat_scot said:

Cheers-  we will keep the corsa, but it's not big enough for the times when we have univ trips or up to the six of us travelling eg Christmas.

The Kia is an OK deal - £6000 ish - seems ball park OK from a check on Autotrader and eBay for comparisons.

Have you had a look to see how much you can sell the Kia and Corsa for? Have a look at Motorway, evan halshaw, WBAC etc as that will be an indication on how much you can lose/gain from swapping?

ex-pat_scot

HarryDavies01 said:

ex-pat_scot said:

Cheers-  we will keep the corsa, but it's not big enough for the times when we have univ trips or up to the six of us travelling eg Christmas.

The Kia is an OK deal - £6000 ish - seems ball park OK from a check on Autotrader and eBay for comparisons.

Have you had a look to see how much you can sell the Kia and Corsa for? Have a look at Motorway, evan halshaw, WBAC etc as that will be an indication on how much you can lose/gain from swapping?

Hard to be sure, but in today's money we would get roughly £4,000 back from WBAC. 
If prices revert to usual levels, then that might be more like £3,000 or £2,500 perhaps - so a total cost of £3,500 say.
The alternative, of buying a nearly new model, would expose us to a total cost of many more times that.

SaverRate

ex-pat_scot said:

HarryDavies01 said:

ex-pat_scot said:

Cheers-  we will keep the corsa, but it's not big enough for the times when we have univ trips or up to the six of us travelling eg Christmas.

The Kia is an OK deal - £6000 ish - seems ball park OK from a check on Autotrader and eBay for comparisons.

Have you had a look to see how much you can sell the Kia and Corsa for? Have a look at Motorway, evan halshaw, WBAC etc as that will be an indication on how much you can lose/gain from swapping?

Hard to be sure, but in today's money we would get roughly £4,000 back from WBAC. 
If prices revert to usual levels, then that might be more like £3,000 or £2,500 perhaps - so a total cost of £3,500 say.
The alternative, of buying a nearly new model, would expose us to a total cost of many more times that.

Okay, so the other option to consider I guess is to keep the Corsa and hire a larger car for a day if you dont need the larger size that often? 

If you need a bigger car constantly then the Kia (or similar - have you looked at other similar size cars?) is the way to go I guess. If you dont really need a bigger car that much and can manage with a Corsa then keep the Corsa. 

How much extra is the car you actually want - I mean the new/nearly new car? If the inflated price due to chip shortage less than the cost you would likely lose on the Kia/Corsa why don't you just purchase it now? 

Be aware that a high mileage vehicle may result in some repair costs being factored in to cover any potential issues. Though I guess you could get these issues with the Corsa/any car too?

Only you can make the ultimate decision. 

ex-pat_scot

HarryDavies01 said:

ex-pat_scot said:

HarryDavies01 said:

ex-pat_scot said:

Cheers-  we will keep the corsa, but it's not big enough for the times when we have univ trips or up to the six of us travelling eg Christmas.

The Kia is an OK deal - £6000 ish - seems ball park OK from a check on Autotrader and eBay for comparisons.

Have you had a look to see how much you can sell the Kia and Corsa for? Have a look at Motorway, evan halshaw, WBAC etc as that will be an indication on how much you can lose/gain from swapping?

Hard to be sure, but in today's money we would get roughly £4,000 back from WBAC. 
If prices revert to usual levels, then that might be more like £3,000 or £2,500 perhaps - so a total cost of £3,500 say.
The alternative, of buying a nearly new model, would expose us to a total cost of many more times that.

Okay, so the other option to consider I guess is to keep the Corsa and hire a larger car for a day if you dont need the larger size that often? 

If you need a bigger car constantly then the Kia (or similar - have you looked at other similar size cars?) is the way to go I guess. If you dont really need a bigger car that much and can manage with a Corsa then keep the Corsa. 

How much extra is the car you actually want - I mean the new/nearly new car? If the inflated price due to chip shortage less than the cost you would likely lose on the Kia/Corsa why don't you just purchase it now? 

Be aware that a high mileage vehicle may result in some repair costs being factored in to cover any potential issues. Though I guess you could get these issues with the Corsa/any car too?

Only you can make the ultimate decision. 

Thanks.
Mrs XPS is keen to have a second car - learner for the children, plus additional capacity (I used to work away during the week in London, and cycle everywhere, but now pretty much full time WFH and doing lots of evening activity stuff with the resident children).

If I were buying new / nearly new, then I'd be looking at around £35,000 to £40,000 perhaps for a new BEV such as Skoda Enyaq.
Whilst there is never a right time to buy, particularly with new tech, i definitely feel that now is absolutely the wrong time to be cornered into having to buy!
There are some new Enyaqs but the top models and most are at above list.

i know the Kia's owner from new - there arent any lurking issues they are aware of - they sold to our local mechanic who sorted the MOT required bits and pieces and is selling it on. I'm happy it is an honest sale.

sheslookinhot

ex-pat_scot said:

HarryDavies01 said:

ex-pat_scot said:

Cheers-  we will keep the corsa, but it's not big enough for the times when we have univ trips or up to the six of us travelling eg Christmas.

The Kia is an OK deal - £6000 ish - seems ball park OK from a check on Autotrader and eBay for comparisons.

Have you had a look to see how much you can sell the Kia and Corsa for? Have a look at Motorway, evan halshaw, WBAC etc as that will be an indication on how much you can lose/gain from swapping?

Hard to be sure, but in today's money we would get roughly £4,000 back from WBAC. 
If prices revert to usual levels, then that might be more like £3,000 or £2,500 perhaps - so a total cost of £3,500 say.
The alternative, of buying a nearly new model, would expose us to a total cost of many more times that.

Yep, WBAC offers will gradually increase over the next 3-4 weeks. Not by much though, due to mileage and desirability. That is my experience.

Herzlos

You can still get pretty reasonable deals on new cars, in fact they seem even better value given how inflated used cars are at the moment but that might play to your advantage since the Corsa will be worth more.

The problem you're likely to hit is availability, but if you're not too fussed with what you get then you may be able to find something in stock.\

Or, if it's a temporary thing, you could always look at a 12 month rental/lease until the car buying situtation (hopefully) improves.

k3lvc

TBH you can't go too far wrong with a Carens - we're running one as a 'family/dog' car and has hardly cost us a bean over 3yrs of ownership (63 plate so Kia Warranty only ran out last year. Ours is fully loaded except SatNav (Carens 3) and worth having the 134bhp rather than 114bhp diesel.

Given it has 7 reasonable seats there's always likely to be a market to get rid when the time comes