How do you currently afford your car?

mgfvvc

I bought a 2011 C-Max for £11000 or so cash in 2014 with 3000 miles on the clock. I plan to keep it around 10 years. Our second car is a 2011 Peugeot 207cc I bought for £1800 cash with 120,000 miles on the clock in 2020. It was bought as a stop gap to replace an MGF we'd had for 20 years, but I now expect we'll keep it for 5 years or so. It's a bit higher maintenance than the Ford and we may not keep it that long if there's a really big bill or second hand prices return to a saner level.
I aim for a direct cost of ownership, i.e. purchase price only, of £1000, p.a.

Grumpy_chap

At the moment, it is impossible to see how anyone can afford a new car - I just walked past Toyota this morning and they had a used 1yo low-spec Yaris on the forecourt at over £20k.  That's a "nothing special" car and a whole year's wage at NMW.

motorguy

My wife and i share the costs of buying and running our daily driver.  The monthly payment is probably around 5-7% of our joint take home pay.   We bought it new originally on a low rate PCP deal which we did to get the financial incentives at the time (its a 2019 M140i with a list price of £38,200 and we got it after all incentives for £28,200), and have now converted it to a cheap loan at 2.9% APR.  We plan on keeping the car for 10+ years.  We are both car enthusiasts so whilst "a lot less would do us", we do like the fact its a 3.0i petrol, auto hot hatch spec'd exactly how we wanted it.

We've had a second car in the past, but i sold it recently as it really wasnt being used but was costing a very disproportionate amount to run.

I've a weekend toy (2006 Z4 Coupe), which i gave £7,500 for two years ago and is probably worth £12k now, so quite pleased with that.

In terms of running them both, I'd use the likes of Black Circles for tyres, and we've a local BMW specialist literally just up the road who we take both of them to.  Hes a fraction of the main dealer day rate and hes happy if i bring the parts to him i want fitted if required.

Example of that - the electric water pump went on the Z4 Coupe.  BMW part is around £600 and another £100 for the thermostat and around £400 to fit them both.  I found out BMW rebox a Pierburg pump, so i got bought one and a Mahle thermostat from ebay germany for £258 delivered.  My mechanic fitted them for £100.

motorguy

marlot said:

>> 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.

I'd a 330i a couple of years back and loved it.

I bought it stupidly cheap from a guy who truly believed "nobody wants these anymore". 

But, downside was the fuel economy, but i could forgive it that as i do very little miles.

molerat

Grumpy_chap said:

At the moment, it is impossible to see how anyone can afford a new car - I just walked past Toyota this morning and they had a used 1yo low-spec Yaris on the forecourt at over £20k.  That's a "nothing special" car and a whole year's wage at NMW.

Lots of people obviously can though.  £20K is not particularly expensive, what I paid a couple of years ago but was a bargain as the dealership down the road had exactly the same for £25K..

Petriix

Just get an EV, then it'll cost peanuts to run which will offset the cost of buying it. We borrowed an extra £20k on our mortgage, costing ~ £75 per month. That's more than covered by the fuel savings so our new car is effectively free (at least while the residual value remains higher than the outstanding balance on that mortgage). 

motorguy

molerat said:

Grumpy_chap said:

At the moment, it is impossible to see how anyone can afford a new car - I just walked past Toyota this morning and they had a used 1yo low-spec Yaris on the forecourt at over £20k.  That's a "nothing special" car and a whole year's wage at NMW.

Lots of people obviously can though.  £20K is not particularly expensive, what I paid a couple of years ago but was a bargain as the dealership down the road had exactly the same for £25K..

Agreed.  A £20K car is not typically bought by someone on NMW.

theoretica

Looking at your car budget in isolation won't help much.  If you don't have other expensive things, like children, holidays, maximum mortgages, eating out... you can afford much more car on a given salary.

motorguy

Its good to see thr broad spectrum of choices represented on here.   

Ibrahim5

The big difference with buying a car is that I use a debit card. Everything else I use a credit card.