Car or house first? Loan/mortgage options

Courteous

Hi,
As above - looking for advice / thoughts  on whether to prioritise saving for buying a house vs buying a car please. So, I don’t have a car at the moment. I’ve been managing ok without one whilst saving for a deposit for a house, but lately I’ve been feeling quite stressed with not being able to travel under my own steam (for various reasons, mainly not being able to visit my mum very easily with train strikes etc).

If I do buy a car I’m keen to get something nearly new, and dependable - I’ve had some bad breakdowns with cheap ones in the past). Right now this would zap most of my savings towards a house. 

Which should come first - any thoughts/things I might want to take into account? Could I get a small loan for a car just now - are there risks with doing that? or is it better to buy a car outright, build my savings back up and then take out the mortgage when I have a decent deposit? 

Emmia

Cars have ongoing costs that you're not currently paying - insurance, servicing, tax etc., which would eat into your ongoing ability to save for a property.

Could you look at doing something like a Zip car, if you just want a car for the odd day?

Windofchange

Surely this boils down to what you want? As above, there are good options such as zipcar if you just need one for the odd day or two - I sold mine last month and do just that as living in London I rarely need one. There are ways you can perhaps do both, but any sort of loan might impact upon your mortgage affordability calculations. 

If you just need to get about have you considered a 125cc scooter? Can do the CBT in a day, buy one second hand for about a grand, and they go all week on about a fiver of petrol. I ride a big bike, but started on a scooter and it was life changing. You can just get places regardless of traffic / rush hour etc. 

Courteous

Hi,
 thanks for your comments. 

Re: ongoing cost, thanks yes will add this into my sums- need to estimate those,  including fuel. 
re: zipcar, hmm will look into this. I have car hired through Arnold Clark/enterprise a couple of times and found it fine, it’s more being able to drive at short notice - maybe there’s an option for that with zipcar type companies.
re: moped haha hadn’t thought of that! I’m quite outdoorsy - keen hillwalker, climber, snow sports etc which I’ve not done in ages and ages and would love to get back to - doable without a car but def a lot easier with one.
Thinking on it now I’m wondering it’s about just having savings sitting there in case anything goes wrong - though my job is pretty secure as they go so, so maybe something I could live with. On the other hand another year’s renting….It’s just weighing everything up - typing it out and having other peoples views does help. 

housebuyer143

I personally wouldn't be without a car ever. It's my freedom and independence. 
I also choose never to spend more than £8-£10k on a car and tend to get one a few years old with low miles and I've never had excessive issues with any car. You can always get a dud regardless of the age.
Before my most recent car at £8k I had only bought cars that were under £4k and they were great, but I appreciate it's much harder to get a good car for that price the way they are now.

If you don't have that much money, I would be reluctant to go out buying an expensive nearly new car tbh 

400ixl

Depends really on where you live at the moment and how often you really need a car.

If you live in a city centre, then you may not need it day to day. You need to weigh up the cost vs using occassional taxis, car share schemes or rentals.

Also you really do not need a nearly new car, especially if you don't depend on it day to day. 10 year old cars these days are pretty reliable on the whole and will cost a relatively small amount. If you must have something with a manufacturers warranty the Kia do 7 year warranties, so buying a 6 year old Kia will give you that year to prove it is reliable.

A £300+ a month safety blanket of having a car sat there to really only be really needed a couple of times a month is not a wise financial decision. However if your train tickets are £200 a month currently then it may be a worthy investment.

Work out the net effect of shifting whatever travel expenses you currently have to car (train journeys, bus journeys etc. This would be a good way of setting a budget, but you also need to factor into that the cost of the vehicle, tax, insurance, fuel and parking). See if it then looks like good value for money. Adjusting the age of car is the biggest lever you have in the balancing scenarios.

Courteous

Dear 400ixl,
Thanks for your response - going to re-read this thread later with a cup of tea. You’ve set out some key points which are helping me boil down what my priorities/needs vs wants are, to get some figures down and work out what I can realistically afford/work towards.
Re: age of car, perhaps I’ve been too hasty in  feeling a nearly new vehicle is a “must”. Will do some reading on this - get to the bottom of if I’m personally ok with an older vehicle, or not. I can see adjusting vehicle age options (on Arnold Clark used cars just now) can mean a big difference even just a couple of years. 
I can get about pretty well at the moment walking and using public transport. I can visit my mum, and even get hillwalking, but trains have been terribly unreliable. Thinking on it now, I do like the idea of public transport but in reality have felt quite unsafe at times - getting delayed and stuck in places at night, and have been actively harassed on trains and buses in the past which takes the shine off it. But car hire is fine so if I can budget for a few trips a year that’s what I’ll maybe do for comparison (and look into zipcar, if there’s a version of this in Scotland). My friend mentioned getting stand-alone insurance too being cheaper so can look at that too.

Think it boils down to is accepting; I can’t really afford to buy a car and a house right now  - is it a bigger pain to rent for another year+ (money wasted), or not, and go from there. 

Thanks for your comments - finding it all helpful.

Grumpy_chap

The sensible thing to do is to focus on the house purchase first and, once that is secured, consider anything else like a car.
You don't want to be missing out on the "dream home" because the extra savings / borrowing power you need to make that extra few £££ to get the "dream home" is no longer available having been committed to a car.

We don't all do what the sensible things is.  When I was at that stage, I bought a new car ahead of a house.  I would tell my younger self they were making the wrong choice.

Courteous

Housebuyer, Grumpy,
Thanks for your comments - it’s helpful to hear different perspectives. This evening I’ve been looking in more detail at costs of hiring a car for a few weeks of a year, plus public transport/occasional taxis. I could comfortably do that, be able to visit family/have some nice holidays and keep saving which could be a good way forward - reflecting on the last few years and really feeling I’d like to be a homeowner. The downside of not having a car is not being able to get places quickly in case of emergencies, but I’ll think on what the options there might be e.g. taxis or actually maybe moving closer to family than I am currently. 

Lots to mull over but a bit further forward ^^