Car for a new driver - options

Dina

Hello. I understand that used car prices are very high at the moment, so I am considering what my options for getting a car as soon as possible. I passed my test a month ago, but I'm not finding any affordable used cars that would suit me. Would it be a good idea to take a year lease for a car and wait for prices to settle down? Although I'm in my forties, I didn't know anything about cars before I started learning to drive so I am trying to learn fast and any advice would be much appreciated!

Grumpy_chap

Dina said:

Hello. I understand that used car prices are very high at the moment, so I am considering what my options for getting a car as soon as possible. I passed my test a month ago, but I'm not finding any affordable used cars that would suit me. Would it be a good idea to take a year lease for a car and wait for prices to settle down? Although I'm in my forties, I didn't know anything about cars before I started learning to drive so I am trying to learn fast and any advice would be much appreciated!

For people to help with this question, can you provide some more information:

1. What budget would you have for an outright purchase?
2. What budget would you have for monthly payments?
3. Are you in a ULEZ or equivalent zone?
4. What annual mileage do you forecast?
5. What would be the type of trips for those miles?
6. How many passengers do yo need to carry?
7. How much luggage do you need to carry?
8. Do you have off-street parking?

Dina

Yes, of course. 

1. What budget would you have for an outright purchase? £6,000 maximum
2. What budget would you have for monthly payments? £250
3. Are you in a ULEZ or equivalent zone? No
4. What annual mileage do you forecast? 700
5. What would be the type of trips for those miles? Mostly in town driving, one or two long distance trips
6. How many passengers do yo need to carry? 2 adults and 3 children
7. How much luggage do you need to carry? not much except for on the long distance trips, which would have suitcases
8. Do you have off-street parking? yes

Grumpy_chap

For an annual mileage of less than 2k miles per year, the most MSE solution is to use UBER / hire cars.

For such a low usage, I'd certainly avoid going into credit and burdening your budgets every month.  You can do something else with the money and enjoy it more.

Assuming your decision is driven by wanting flexibility and convenience of your own car, then a used EV would seem to fit the bill.  Your budget (£6k) would get you into a Leaf or Zoe with the smaller battery, but that will not be a concern as you are not looking for a long range.  Be sure to get a car with the battery owned and not leased.

This approach will give you low running costs, low depreciation and future-proof you (as it were) against future changes in VED / emissions rules.  Such a car could last a very long time.

One example for indication only:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110248839009

@DrEskimo may be able to share more first hand experience on this approach.

Alternatively, a low mileage petrol super-mini would allow you to save half of the available £6k but the running costs will be higher:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185104649785?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5337937702&toolid=10039&customid=t%3Aitem-u%3A20488

Ebe_Scrooge

OK, well £6000 will get you a very tidy used car.  Here's just one picked at random, by way of example: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202201071093301

At that sort of price there will be dozens of used cars available.  Annual mileage - I assume you mean 7000 not 700.  Even so, that's quite low by "average" standards, so you'd be better off looking at petrol rather than diesel.  Something like a small/medium Ford, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Honda, Nissan, whatever should suit your needs.  Reasonably economical on fuel, small enough to be easy around town yet large enough for carrying luggage/passengers and longer journeys.

For what it's worth, I've personally always bought cars used, and outright.  Up until a few years ago I never spent more than £5000 on a car, and every car I've had has lasted me many many years.  For my most recent purchase I pushed the boat out and spent £8000, but that was a particular car bought for a particular purpose.

I know used car prices are higher than normal at the moment, but £6000 will still buy you a lot of car - unless you're wanting a Ferrari

Dina

Thanks for your replies, they're very helpful indeed. We're a cycling family so I'm planning to not use it too often. I had been hoping to get a Hybrid but now Grumpy_chap is putting Electric in my thoughts. I'm really glad to hear that used cars have worked out so well for Ebe_Scrooge, that's the way I'd prefer to go. It seems that Hybrid/ Electric may hold their value better also? 

No Ferrari for me thanks! I had been hoping for a Prius but I can look at others that are equally reliable/ boring.

Dina

Grumpy_chap said:

This approach will give you low running costs, low depreciation and future-proof you (as it were) against future changes in VED / emissions rules.  Such a car could last a very long time.

Would this hold for a Hybrid also, to a lesser extent? I would want to take the occasional longer journey which I'm not sure an Electric would work with.

Brie

I was going to suggest something small if only as they are easier to park.  I lived on a road with a lot of new drivers a few years back and parking well seemed to be something beyond most of them.  Then again as they were mostly young uni students I can only assume that their parents had bought the cars for them.  

And now that you say you're a cycling family I'm wondering if you have to consider something big enough to fit with a bike rack.

Dina

Brie said:

I was going to suggest something small if only as they are easier to park.  I lived on a road with a lot of new drivers a few years back and parking well seemed to be something beyond most of them.  Then again as they were mostly young uni students I can only assume that their parents had bought the cars for them.  

And now that you say you're a cycling family I'm wondering if you have to consider something big enough to fit with a bike rack.

I definitely want to keep the car to as small as I can get away with, for many reasons. The bike rack is an interesting thought though I don't think I'd be able to carry all 5 of ours, so maybe I'll have to discount that.

Herzlos

Dina said:

Brie said:

I was going to suggest something small if only as they are easier to park.  I lived on a road with a lot of new drivers a few years back and parking well seemed to be something beyond most of them.  Then again as they were mostly young uni students I can only assume that their parents had bought the cars for them.  

And now that you say you're a cycling family I'm wondering if you have to consider something big enough to fit with a bike rack.

I definitely want to keep the car to as small as I can get away with, for many reasons. The bike rack is an interesting thought though I don't think I'd be able to carry all 5 of ours, so maybe I'll have to discount that.

You can easily get 4 (maybe 5) on the roof or 4 on a towbar (most racks do 3 with an extender for a 4th). But with an EV you probably won't get a towbar and the fuel economy impact of having bikes on the roof will hurt the range pretty badly.
Much easier to get bikes on the outside of a car than inside, but you'd need to be looking at petrol models instead, and probably avoid the smallest superminis as they won't be able to tow either.

Something like a Fabia would be suitable: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202112300887220

Grumpy_chap

Dina said:

Grumpy_chap said:

This approach will give you low running costs, low depreciation and future-proof you (as it were) against future changes in VED / emissions rules.  Such a car could last a very long time.

Would this hold for a Hybrid also, to a lesser extent? I would want to take the occasional longer journey which I'm not sure an Electric would work with.

A hybrid won't achieve the same low running costs as an EV because you won't benefit from the very favourable VED rates, low cost to fill with energy / fuel, nor will the depreciation be as low.  As for fuel efficiency, I had a hybrid and found it no better than a petrol car, but that is very much dependent upon the type of mileage and you may find that your use profile is better suited (juts not enough information in the thread to say).

With reference to the "occasional longer journey" - how frequently is "occasional" and how far is "longer"?  These are the two factors to impact the significance of range limitations of the EV.