car purchasing in retirement

Bostonerimus1

I have a 2019 Honda Civic with 50k miles on the clock. My previous Honda became too expensive to repair at 220k miles so I expect to be driving my current car for at least 15 more years. If I'm still still driving then I'll buy another Honda.

chuffinnora

I've had company lease cars too, and mine goes back on 31st March when I retire. Couldn't make my mind up what to buy just now (been spoilt by the high spec top of the range company models!).

For now I've gone for a lease from Kia for 3 years and will review near the end of that lease. Lease prices dont seem too bad given the cost of running cars these days and depreciation.

Storcko14

One 12 y/old Mazda between 2 as I cycle mostly and we live within 10 mins walk of a mainline train station. That was bought outright aged 3 and to date, total cost of ownership is £1800 p.a for everything including purchase cost. It's edging towards 100k miles now so when it gets replaced I'd do similar - I've never made the PCP or lease maths work for us.

Hopefully that'll be the last one as I would hope there will be integrated multi-modal 'transport as a service' type solutions available in the next decade or so.

Bostonerimus1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81895020#Comment_81895020

I do the shopping and most in town trips on a bike when the weather isn't too cold.

jim8888

Having two cars allows my DOH and myself to keep to our own schedules during the week. We'd struggle to do without. I have a Volvo C40 which is almost five years old and hasn't given me one issue over that time, but as I used to churn company cars I'm getting twitchy for something different. We bought the Volvo new on a PCP deal and bought it outright after 4 years. I know this is financially dumb, but we all have our vices. I'm trying to kill the desire for a new car although I've been banking the money I used to pay on the PCP (£450 a month) to go toward a deposit on the next car. It's fair to say that I'm still swithering on an almost weekly basis about options when it comes to cars.

QrizB

In other words - we've adapted our plan to match the circumstances we find ourselves in. Though some unkind people might say we are simply making it up as we go along!

You made the best decisions you could with the information you had. When the information changed, you made new decisions. I ca't see anything wrong with that 🙂

badmemory

When I went for a new car after I retired they couldn't throw money at me fast enough. Income well below average wage - actually paid cash but took the interest free loan for the new bathroom. Once you retire they can't make you redundant/sack you so pension income is a forever thing.

daveyjp

I've never set a replacement time based on age, always on mileage and for me 50,000 miles works - over the years cars have been between 2 and 10 years old before being replaced. Approach is always borrow off myself from savings and pay it back to savings.

I'd not want a continual lease in retirement as you are then in a position where you then have to change and no one knows when health will affect the ability to drive.

My dad retired over 15 years ago. He bought a brand new car when he did, replaced it after 6 years. He still has that car now which covers about 3,000 a year. He considered changing last year, but newer cars are so expensive and complicated he decided to keep what he has.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81895073#Comment_81895073

 I have a Volvo C40 which is almost five years old and hasn't given me one issue over that time, 

This is a good point, as most cars are very reliable nowadays, which takes some of the risk out of buying them outright. Although the techy bits can be a bit of a problem in some cars, as opposed to the actual car itself. ( German cars seem to have issues in this area, possibly have got too complicated for their own good).

I have had a Mazda for nearly 5 years, and the family a Peugeot for 6 years, and not a single thing has gone wrong with either of them.

german_keeper

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81895020#Comment_81895020

On behalf of a very good friend of mine I would just like to correct an outrageous error in terminology. It is not a train station it is a railway station. I believe this is very important to railway enthusiasts. As I understand it, this is because the station is on the railway not on the train. But of course happy to be corrected.