How do you currently afford your car?

Herzlos

Grumpy_chap said:

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..

It's a lot for a small, basic, non-premium brand car.

Toyota has a good reputation, it's not a premium badge but well respected by people.

A £20k car is likely to be a PCP of under £200/month.

We bought a new car for £20k (not a Toyota or with Toyota residuals) this month, and were quoted £188/month PCP with our £6k trade in. I went HP instead for about £250 because it was cheaper in the long run.

I'd have never normally paid that much for a car, but it just didn't make any sense to buy a 4 year old, 40k model for £16k when I could get a 6 month old, 4k model for £20k. The value of 3-10 year old cars is bonkers at the moment.

My usual car buying plan is to get something at about 3-4 years old and trade it in at about 10 years old or 100,000 miles.

daveyjp

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.

Completely agree.  

4 years ago that one year old Yaris would have been a previous model and £9k.  I know because we bought one.  Its still worth what we paid for it.

Ibrahim5

mclaren32 said:

Deleted_User said:

mclaren32 said:

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.

Would you mind sharing what car you're driving and roughly how much of your salary that is? 

My car is a 2016 Focus RS and the new car will be a Jaguar i Pace - the focus is now owned outright (value  approx £26k) and the Jaguar a salary sacrifice through work (value £78k).

We make approx £110k between us.

I suppose there must be a forum where people would be impressed. I don't think this is the right one. It's sort of opposite.

mclaren32

Ibrahim5 said:

mclaren32 said:

Deleted_User said:

mclaren32 said:

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.

Would you mind sharing what car you're driving and roughly how much of your salary that is? 

My car is a 2016 Focus RS and the new car will be a Jaguar i Pace - the focus is now owned outright (value  approx £26k) and the Jaguar a salary sacrifice through work (value £78k).

We make approx £110k between us.

I suppose there must be a forum where people would be impressed. I don't think this is the right one. It's sort of opposite.

Factual response to a question.

Congratulations, you must be proud.

JustAnotherSaver

I buy my cars outright. 
That means I'm in the budget end. 

I'd love a 10k, 20k car but I can't justify it so I buy my cars in the 1k-2k bracket from savings out of my wage. Repairs are out of my wage like everything else. When the car dies it gets replaced. I earn approx 27k for whatever that may be worth. Even if I earned twice that I'd likely still be in the same price bracket for a car. 

I could have a brand new Lambo or whatever (just using that for wild price point example).... The first corner I go round after picking it up, some idiot could plough right in to me. 
I could park in an empty supermarket with my nice shiny expensive car. Then some mother in her BMW X5 kids-bus comes and parks right next to me when there's 50000 other spaces she could've chosen and all the kids slam the doors in to the side of my car. By the time I get back they're long gone. 

So I buy 1k-2k cars and 'treat' myself on things for and in the house that only I can damage. 

maxmycardagain

motorguy said:

maxmycardagain said:

ask yourself what mileage you do?

once retired maybe 6000/year?

first - dont buy a diesel

2nd - erm.............dunno

+1

I stopped buying diesels some years back, despite being a big advocate of them for a long time.

Not worth the risk of DPF issues when i dont do big miles.

 DPF
 EGR
 VGT
 DMF
 
 If youve had those on a repair bill you know....

 High pressure injectors £500 fitted..................EACH

maxmycardagain

GunJack said:

motorguy said:

maxmycardagain said:

ask yourself what mileage you do?

once retired maybe 6000/year?

first - dont buy a diesel

2nd - erm.............dunno

+1

I stopped buying diesels some years back, despite being a big advocate of them for a long time.

Not worth the risk of DPF issues when i dont do big miles.

just buy an older one without a DPF.......works for me

Just keep out of any CAZ then

GunJack

maxmycardagain said:

GunJack said:

motorguy said:

maxmycardagain said:

ask yourself what mileage you do?

once retired maybe 6000/year?

first - dont buy a diesel

2nd - erm.............dunno

+1

I stopped buying diesels some years back, despite being a big advocate of them for a long time.

Not worth the risk of DPF issues when i dont do big miles.

just buy an older one without a DPF.......works for me

Just keep out of any CAZ then

That's the thing....the vast majority of us DON'T live in such zones or drive into them, so no worries

Bonniepurple

JustAnotherSaver said:

I buy my cars outright. 
That means I'm in the budget end. 

I'd love a 10k, 20k car but I can't justify it so I buy my cars in the 1k-2k bracket from savings out of my wage. Repairs are out of my wage like everything else. When the car dies it gets replaced. I earn approx 27k for whatever that may be worth. Even if I earned twice that I'd likely still be in the same price bracket for a car. 

I could have a brand new Lambo or whatever (just using that for wild price point example).... The first corner I go round after picking it up, some idiot could plough right in to me. 
I could park in an empty supermarket with my nice shiny expensive car. Then some mother in her BMW X5 kids-bus comes and parks right next to me when there's 50000 other spaces she could've chosen and all the kids slam the doors in to the side of my car. By the time I get back they're long gone. 

So I buy 1k-2k cars and 'treat' myself on things for and in the house that only I can damage. 

That’s pretty much my philosophy too.  I like to know that if I were to scrape the side against a wall that it’s up to me as to when and if I get it repaired.  Cars in my household tend to be “well used” (push scooters, bikes, a mobility scooter and a wheelchair take care of the interior and the muddy country lanes “enhance” the exterior!). I don’t care that my 16 year old car has handlebar marks on the ceiling padding.  It’s not going to affect the scrapage value.

One caveat for those saying avoid DPFs and therefore newer diesels.  While only a handful of places currently have ULEZ/Clean Air Zones, I think that will rapidly change.

Herzlos

To be fair, that's normally been my approach too. The car is a utility and whilst I look after them I try not to be too precious about it either.

Most things can be cleaned up or repainted, so whilst it'll suck a bit more on a newer car I don't think it's worth getting too stressed about. Just buy the car you like best, or suits needs best, and enjoy it.

But then I've got 2 kids, do a lot of outdoor hobbies and gardening, so may car's are perpetually dirty anyway.