How do you currently afford your car?

jimpwarsop

I bought a Kia Rio in 2010, £7500 cash.

Its now done 100,000 + miles and has cost a total of £40k or 40p per mile over 12 years, it sailed through the MOT on Friday, I hope to keep it for another five years at least, now I have written off any residul value I expect it to cost 20p a mile to run.

marlot

I have a budget, and put some money aside each month.  I have four categories: car, house/garden, giving and health.  The amount being put aside rises with inflation each year.

When a big replacement item comes along, I take it from the pot - knowing that over time the pot will be replenished.

I only buy a car every six-eight years.  Sometimes I buy new.  Mostly a year or so old.

marlot

>> I really, really, want a BMW 3 Series. 
I had a lovely 6-cylinder one as a company car.  In fact, I loved it so much that I had the company extend the lease by a year.

I could afford to run one privately, but choose not to.  I run a Honda Civic instead.  Much less exciting, but so much cheaper to run.

mclaren32

Spending money on a nice car is often a choice.

Some of my friends don’t prioritise having a nice car and don’t therefore allocate any money to it. My wife and me both like having nice cars and it’s more of a priority, currently we spend about £500 a month for the privilege with this probably increasing to about £650 when a new car arrives.

That’s a lot of money each month but we will have cars that we love & it’s actually good value when compared to the value of them.

iwb100

We have two cars in our household. We have just gone and done two new PCP deals for new family sized cars. Monthly household outgoings for the two new cars = £490. We both work full time and earn decent money. But always try to ensure our cars cost under or around £500 mark combined. Was easier this time due to market. Also never put a single £ down only used part exchange equity each time.

I’ve done 4 PCP deals got better cars each time but managed to reduce monthly bill each time. 

If you are careful and don’t jump into the expensive German brands I think there is a reasonable offer via finance. But obviously you can have a car cheaper. It depends what peoples priorities are. 

Grumpy_chap

iwb100 said:

If you are careful and don’t jump into the expensive German brands I think there is a reasonable offer via finance. But obviously you can have a car cheaper. It depends what peoples priorities are. 

If you want to have a new car every few years in this fashion, then it is not so much about the brand as buying the deal rather than the car.  There are always offers on stock cars - in the period just before COVID, the 5-series was cheaper than the Mondeo.

iwb100

Grumpy_chap said:

iwb100 said:

If you are careful and don’t jump into the expensive German brands I think there is a reasonable offer via finance. But obviously you can have a car cheaper. It depends what peoples priorities are. 

If you want to have a new car every few years in this fashion, then it is not so much about the brand as buying the deal rather than the car.  There are always offers on stock cars - in the period just before COVID, the 5-series was cheaper than the Mondeo.

Oh yes. I’m not saying that you ignore any brands. Like you say it’s about the deal and just being savvy. But it doesn’t work if you just want to jump into a new A3 every time because you won’t get the best deals that way. 

tommyedinburgh

During the second lockdown we were re-evaluating our finances. We had one car worth £20k and another at £16k. We decided to sell both and bang it straight over to the mortgage as we were also renewing our mortgage deal at the time. 

We then bought two Bangernomic cars and haven’t looked back at all. We now have a 2009 Toyota Corolla Verso which is a 7 seater and arguably better than the Seat Ateca it replaced and a 2010 Toyota Yaris which does me perfectly. 

The money it will save us on the mortgage was astronomical - absolutely frightening. Our mortgage is well on track to be paid off on my 50th birthday. My wife is 10 years younger than me so we feel we’ve good times ahead. 

We’ve never looked back and don’t regret it. So to answer your question, the percentage of take home pay we spend on cars is 0%. 

Alanp

Bought my two month old ford puma just as the lockdown hit, got a great deal on my fiesta I px,d, especially as they paid off the remaining finance and forgot to add it back in, ( £1400) , I put an extra 5k, and took Ford finance ( hp, I don’t do pcp) then paid that off, I changed jobs in late 19, and am on less money, but,house is ours, and I have a good pension pot which means I’m at a stage in my life where I can afford not to work, but choose to for at least 4 more years for my official retirement, I’ll probably keep for another year then see what’s about , maybe full hybrid or ev, 

MovingForwards

Normally I buy sub-£1k runabouts for cash, budget £500 for repairs / MOT etc.

My then car wasn't viable to keep repairing as I'd already had it welded, that went against my views of keeping a car when it's got to that stage.

I was offered the opportunity of being given a brand new car, but it went against everything I knew about owning a car eg new car niggles, depreciation, doors opening on it would p me off and it could still get written off in an unfortunate accident, which is daft as it wasn't my money buying it.

Instead I looked at ones about 5 years old and took out HP on the one I picked. I've been making overpayments to clear the finance and it will be paid off next month, 9 months from when I got the car. 

I save money each month to cover insurance, MOT and repairs, no tax on this car and build up a surplus ready for buying the next one. I'll probably have another 4 cars in my lifetime.

My income is £22k and my dream car would cost more than my home cost me to buy, which I also make overpayments on to clear that within 10 years of taking the mortgage.

We all have different priorities.

Edit to add: the purchase was under £5,200 and my deposit was £1k.