Stopping the backsliding… a family of four no longer living beyond their means

Bluegreen143

Having run some numbers, we are currently spending around £700 per month on our car (average of last year inc repairs, petrol etc but the majority of that was repairs).

This is fairly shocking! We don't have a car payment so you just think "oh we aren't spending much on the car".

We will fix the car for now IF it's a cheap fix, but will definitely replace the car this year as we have completely lost faith in it.

We're considering getting a very reliable almost-new or very low mileage car this time, even though it will mean a larger loan (we would take a bank loan of £15-20k rather than doing PCP or hire purchase), as it will incredibly cost less to repay the loan each month than it costs to maintain our car anyway.

The intention would be to then keep the car for many years and effectively run it into the ground, while overpaying the loan as much as we can. We've never used this strategy before, always going for cheap beaters instead, but in reality, looking at the figures, the cheap beater strategy is actually costing us more. And the car was £8,000 when we bought it, so not actually *that* cheap, because second hand cars are sooooo pricey now.

We haven't totally decided yet, but that's what we're thinking of... possibly with a few weeks/couple of months car free before we swap, but if we can fix our car, maybe not as we'd obviously use it in the interim.

We should be able to get £2-4k for our car, and have just over £1k in the emergency fund and £1k we could steal from the new kitchen fund (we'll probably push back the kitchen date as that was contingent on not getting a new car beforehand) so I really don't think it would be feasible to get any kind of car which would reliably run without a loan, though at least we can put a decent amount of cash down.

Baileys_Babe

Buying a nearly new car, keeping it for years and running it into the ground should cost you a lot less per year in the long term, especially going down the personal loan route.

What sort of size car are you looking for?

Newstartforme

Hi Bluegreen143 . New to commenting on your diary but long time reader , I remember your first car , it's terrible to spend so much more on a car thinking it will be more reliable then turns out to eat money monthly . Very stressful and you do question if it's worth the hassle . Hope all works out and turns out to be a small repair to give you a few months breathing space .

Spendless

Do some research on what make/model of car to get next. My husband has a company car so I was buying a cheap beater intending to run to the ground but then running into the same sort of issues you have and ending up replacing them every 2 - 4 years. Following a suggestion of my Dads to go for a different make, Ive now had my car over 10 years and it'll be 20 years old this year. It is at the end of its life now and Ive only kept it this long because as you say 2nd hand cars are more expensive now. 

TallGirl

That is such rotten luck I have been following you and I know how much you have paid out for that car. I tend to go for dealer demo models they are usually about 6 months old but you get a substantial discount on the price of a new car. My Skoda Octavia is a demo from 18 and its never had an issue I just pay £35 a month which covers the service and MOT. My other car was a new Fiat 500 which only costs £20 in car tax. I have had that since 2013 and never had to pay out for repairs. Only cost for both now are tires and windscreen wipers etc. They are also both cheap to insure worth checking before you buy.

These are just my experiences but that is what I have found buying new and keeping the car just so you have some comparisons. Personal loan sounds sensible but if you go for a main dealer demo model see what finance they offer. They might be competitive. Good luck with your decision. 

Sarahwithlove

Good luck with the car search! 

Bluegreen143

Thanks all. 

TallGirl, we are strongly considering a Skoda Octavia because it’s big enough, has a reputation for being extremely reliable but are reasonably priced compared to some other bigger cars. 

For us reliability has to be a huge factor now as we have been burned enough. Our current car is a Peugeot - never again due to all the many issues we’ve had. 

I think with buying beaters we’ve ended up spending more by trying to save - penny wise but pound foolish!

Baileys_Babe - we need quite a roomy car as my husband is 6ft 4 and we are hoping to keep it for years - with my eldest being 9.5 we need leg room for teenagers even with the driver’s seat right back! 

Floss

Try and get a car with a service plan, as that will also be a saving.

fionaandphil

I can also recommend the Skoda Octavia as my parents had a few over the years, always reliable and did a lot of miles in those days.  One word of caution though, avoid VW finance if you are buying from a dealer, we had loads of trouble with them when my dad passed away and it took nearly 2 years and complaint to the ombudsman to get it resolved. 

We've had Toyotas for years, bought at 6 - 12 months old from the dealers and they have lasted a long time with no issues and only servicing, MOTs and tyres to pay for.

I hope you find something reliable soon, nothing worse than spending money to fix something that keeps breaking.

debtfreewannabe321

I'd like to say I can't believe you're spending that much on your car, however I've made the same mistake before. When my ex and I broke up I needed a car so I went and bought a £2k run around. It ran amazingly well for six months or so...just outside the warranty period 🙄 of course. Then it had a major break on something expensive 🫰🏻 I couldn't afford it so put it on 0%. My first debt in years since being on here....long story short with it...I had it five years. I spent over £9,000 fixing it. I ended up with all of it on CC as 0% soon runs out and you end up in a payment cycle. I got myself into a hole and I couldn't get out of it.

My new DP came along and insisted I scrap it when it broke next and he bought me a four year old car which I nearly cried over because it turned on first time, the windows worked, the wipers worked and all the air con worked to clear the windows 🙈 I remember realizing if I had spent that £9k plus the 2k initial payment on monthly payments I would have had a beautiful car that worked for that price. 

So anyway we got rid of that eventually as DP had company cars for a few years. We've had to buy a new car in the last year though and we went to a bigger dealer, we bought the service plans and extras with it and *touch wood* we've had no problem yet with it and we've spent ironically £11k on this one with monthly payments (I've OP'd and the loan is now gone though). Trust your instincts on this one and get a decent car ...do what we did too we went and test drove several different ones before deciding on what we wanted. Good luck ☺️