How much of my savings would be financially responsible to allocate to a car purchase?

Savingforahouse123

I'm 28, live in the North East in a very affordable area and only have £19k left on my mortgage.

I have £23k in emergency fund, £5k in index funds (moving £600 in a month), £9k in crypto.

I'm only on £22.5k salary due to a career change (£1.6k a month).

I'm trying to keep about £3k for house renovations in the next 6 months.

Based on my savings and income, what would you say is fair to spend / within my means on a car?

My previous car was written off and I've received payment for it.

I'm 28 years old and I know flashy cars aren't good for personal finance so I don't want a BMW/Audi for that reason. Having said that, I don't want a run down car even if they're better value, I'm looking for a compromise and will want something more "middle of the road" (excuse the pun), ie "within my means".

What would you say is sensible to budget for a car?

(FYI, I'll buy the car outright and likely as a Cat N that's been repaired. There's an unfair stigma on Cat N cars meaning their value is so much lower despite them being fixed to be good as new. My last car was a Seat Ibiza 67 plate (bought January 2018 so 6 months old). It was Cat N (only very minor damage) which was fixed to look literally new (not a single scratch or structural damage) with just 3000 miles and I got it for £6995. Had it not been Cat N it would've been worth £11-12k. I'll look for something similar this time... a hatchback eg another Ibiza, Skoda Fabia, Mazda 2 or 3 etc).

MorningcoffeeIV

£4k.       

Savingforahouse123

MorningcoffeeIV said:

£4k.       

Thanks!