Thinking for car change

Petriix

Benny2020 said:

Electricity has gone up way more than petrol or diesel.

Electricity for EVs is now 7.5p per kWh on Octopus Go. You can also run whatever appliances you want at that same rate. I've just turned on my dishwasher and washing machine. It's saving me a fortune vs being stuck on the price cap. 70-80% of my usage is off peak.

Petriix

vikt1 said:

If I go for MG, it would cost me around £25 000 to buy, without to mention the interest because of the finance I would need. I would safe £1136 from petrol each year (if price stay 1.60). I would need to drive 27 years to recoup the £30 000 price of the MG. For these years the car will be 200 000 miles driven. And I'm not counting the cost for charging battery at home.

The flaw in your calculation is the failure to account for the residual value of the vehicle. I borrowed at 1.84% which added £75 per month to my mortgage. That's roughly what I was saving vs diesel (before prices went bonkers). But I'm also saving on VED and maintenance. Servicing is cheap and there's nothing that needs replacing except tyres.

I'm overpaying the mortgage by that difference to ensure that the remaining balance is always lower than the value of the car, so I could sell it at any point without loss. I did put in £3k from savings, but depreciation has been effectively zero to date.

Fuel savings won't pay for the whole car but they will pay for the difference between buying it new vs buying a 3 year old diesel Golf estate. Except that a 7 year old MG5 will almost certainly be worth more than a 10 year old Golf in 2027.

Having said all that, you'd likely be better off buying a second hand Zoe or Leaf for more like £15k. That's £10k after your trade in. You'll save £1500 per year and recoup your money in under 7 years. Possibly significantly shorter if you factor in access to cheaper electricity for your home use. 

Ibrahim5

What a weird thread. If I spend many thousands on a new car I might be able to save a couple of hundred on fuel. Bonkers. A famously reliable engine. Body should be OK. As long as it's looked after should be fine for another 5-10 years. Might need the odd cheap repair at MOT time.

CKhalvashi

vikt1 said:

I never thought about it because of the higher investment involved at the beginning. Is it worth it in the long term and what budged I would need?

For 80 miles a week, as I've just posted somewhere else, there are sub-£5k Nissan Leafs on Autotrader again.

You're looking maximum £1000 for a home charger (although actually in your case probably could skip this as your mileage is low enough to charge from the wall overnight) and based on 3 miles/kWh around £7.50 in electricity per week. I'm a higher mileage user in an Ioniq (quite expensive used still, especially with the larger battery pack mine has, but about the most efficient thing known to man which is why I've erred on 3 miles instead of 4 per kWh), but my experience with costs are here.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79157842#Comment_79157842

The car was changed from a Jag XE diesel and my commute is also largely motorway. A year in I'm not complaining too much about EV ownership. Note I've worked the costs out at the price cap, which may or may not be applicable to you.

There is absolutely no need to buy new as long as a used purchase is in decent condition and you've had the chance to drive the car for 30-40 minutes to check.for signs of battery issues.

aoleks

48.3mpg is a really good consumption, you won't be able to get a better monthly cost without a significant investment which would take many, many years to recover. you have the economy of a hybrid car atm, enjoy it. yes, petrol is expensive, changing the car will be even more expensive and except for electric vehicles (which are not free to charge, just for the record) or a PHEV that's charged religiously, you're unlikely to achieve a better consumption.

Petriix

Ibrahim5 said:

What a weird thread. If I spend many thousands on a new car I might be able to save a couple of hundred on fuel. Bonkers. A famously reliable engine. Body should be OK. As long as it's looked after should be fine for another 5-10 years. Might need the odd cheap repair at MOT time.

What a weird response. I've shown how the savings are in the thousands. 

ontheroad1970

Petriix said:

Ibrahim5 said:

What a weird thread. If I spend many thousands on a new car I might be able to save a couple of hundred on fuel. Bonkers. A famously reliable engine. Body should be OK. As long as it's looked after should be fine for another 5-10 years. Might need the odd cheap repair at MOT time.

What a weird response. I've shown how the savings are in the thousands. 

You have taken a more unorthodox method of adding the debt to your mortgage which depending how much of your term is left could be more expensive than a bank loan.  It won't work for everyone.  

Petriix

ontheroad1970 said:

Petriix said:

Ibrahim5 said:

What a weird thread. If I spend many thousands on a new car I might be able to save a couple of hundred on fuel. Bonkers. A famously reliable engine. Body should be OK. As long as it's looked after should be fine for another 5-10 years. Might need the odd cheap repair at MOT time.

What a weird response. I've shown how the savings are in the thousands. 

You have taken a more unorthodox method of adding the debt to your mortgage which depending how much of your term is left could be more expensive than a bank loan.  It won't work for everyone.  

I'm obviously in a privileged position of having sufficient equity. But the ongoing savings from running the EV cover the additional mortgage payments indefinitely. As long as the car retains more value than the outstanding debt, I can't possibly lose.

In practice I'm overpaying sufficiently so as to clear the mortgage by the end of the car's warranty, averaging £250 per month will clear £20k in ~ 7 years. I'm saving about £125 per month in total vs running my old diesel car. £125 per month net outlay for a brand new car seems reasonable to me.

Over 7 years that adds up to £10,500 minus whatever the car's residual value is; the cheapest 7 year old EVs on Autotrader are ~ £7,500. After 6 more years of inflation, I don't imagine mine will be worth much under £10k. So, optimistically, it's basically cost me zero to switch from a 16 year old diesel to a brand new EV.

Ibrahim5

Only £250 per month. LOL. Plus electricity. Petrol Fiesta nowhere near that cost.

ontheroad1970

Petriix said:

ontheroad1970 said:

Petriix said:

Ibrahim5 said:

What a weird thread. If I spend many thousands on a new car I might be able to save a couple of hundred on fuel. Bonkers. A famously reliable engine. Body should be OK. As long as it's looked after should be fine for another 5-10 years. Might need the odd cheap repair at MOT time.

What a weird response. I've shown how the savings are in the thousands. 

You have taken a more unorthodox method of adding the debt to your mortgage which depending how much of your term is left could be more expensive than a bank loan.  It won't work for everyone.  

I'm obviously in a privileged position of having sufficient equity. But the ongoing savings from running the EV cover the additional mortgage payments indefinitely. As long as the car retains more value than the outstanding debt, I can't possibly lose.

In practice I'm overpaying sufficiently so as to clear the mortgage by the end of the car's warranty, averaging £250 per month will clear £20k in ~ 7 years. I'm saving about £125 per month in total vs running my old diesel car. £125 per month net outlay for a brand new car seems reasonable to me.

Over 7 years that adds up to £10,500 minus whatever the car's residual value is; the cheapest 7 year old EVs on Autotrader are ~ £7,500. After 6 more years of inflation, I don't imagine mine will be worth much under £10k. So, optimistically, it's basically cost me zero to switch from a 16 year old diesel to a brand new EV.

When you are overpaying, so it isn't perhaps as cheap as you might suggest.