Brand New or Banger?

Former_MSE_Andrea

We're nearly at Septembers new car registration time. Do you dice with depreciation or dream of dirty and used? Which of these is closest to your car buying behaviour?

a. Love em new. I try to buy new, nothing like it
b. Nearly new. I buy this way to cut the depreciation cost
c. A few years old. Most motors still run, who needs them to shine?
d. Banger. If it gets me from a to b cheaply, great
e. Classic. My car's old, but it's a genuine classic
f. I don't drive
g. Cars? Rubbish I get on my bike
h. I want a car, but even a banger's too costly.

Vote here or click reply to discuss.

libra10

We have usually bought new. The car we sold last year was a Rover 216GTi which we used for around 14 years and had done 160,000 miles. It had had very little money spent on it in servicing, doing most of the work ourselves, and it never let us down. We replaced it last year with a new MG Rover ZT, and considering Rover going into liquidation we have probably lost a lot of money.

But if it does as well as its predessessor, we should be quids in.

thetheboy

Everytime I have had a banger . Hopefully now within the next 3 months I'm gonna go for something a little newer. I have a little bit more money to play with...

zzzLazyDaisy

I have usually bought new. I used to travel long distances with my job, as a single female reliability was an important factor, so a banger was out of the question.

I don't work now, due to disability, but reliability is still a high priority. I replaced my old car recently as it had started to let me down. Following tips and advice on this site I negotiated a fantastic deal on a brand new Honda Civic, had the adaptations done, and successfully applied for VAT exemption.

Okay, it will depreciate, but I have three years warranty and free service, and the overall cost, including the adaptations, was less than a nearby dealership was asking for an ex-demonstrator with 10,000 miles on the clock.

So I am a happy bunny!

Thanks Martin!!!! :beer:

deefadog

Well I have a 1989 Golf GTI 16V - it's done 180,000 and i am pretty handy at most mechanical work so this is my hobby as well, it all paid for and insurance is pretty cheap at under £350 a year, also it will never depreciate, in fact it will increase slightly ever year as it get rarer and rarer

This is my daily driver for work, for the family car we bought a new pug 307 last year, after following a haggle guide found on here i think, we got over £2500 of the already discounted price!

Reason we bought a big car was we had a new arrival last here :j and wanted something big to accommodate the big pram etc.

It has been great, but as we don't need the room anymore how fast things change with babies) we want to go for a smaller car, with less monthly payments!

Any recommendations? i want to but 2 year old, this if i remember correctly is the best age to buy with depreciation, should equate to half the cost of the car when bought new!

If anyone has that guide i would be most great full, and also any small hatch back cars that are going cheap due to newer models coming out etc

Cheers

simony3

I can see how people are tempted to buy a new car, but unless in exceptional circumstances it's a total waste of money.

I strikes me as bizarre that anyone who is willing to put time and energy into saving a few quid on an inkjet cartridge or 20 pounds a year on insurance etc. might happily throw money down the drain on a new or even nearly new car.

Not only that, the damage done to the environment in the manufacture, transportation, advertising etc. of a new car is massive. I've heard it said that that more damage is done to the environment in the manufactue of a typical car than it will do in the whole of the rest if it's life in terms of petrol consumption etc.

Apparently it was discovered that one particular car used over 200 different plastics just for the dashboard. Thats a lot of chemical plants!

I grew up in and still know people in the motor trade and have learnt that cars as old as ten or more years are now very reliable, so reliable that it's rendering the old fashioned corner garage out of business.

My car is actually fifteen years old. It's a nice looking bmw and it's not played up once in 3 years. It only cost me as much as a tiny basic 3 year old hatchback would've cost. It looks classy, it goes fast, and it has more bells and whistles than many of the much newer cars of my friends. I have the satisfaction of knowing that by keeping an old car on the road I'm not adding another one to to the road or filling up junk yards. I even feel happy to accept the slightly higher fuel consumprion of around 30mpg (2litre injection) knowing that I'm not losing massive amounts of money in depreciation. ultimately I'm quids in and driving a nicer car.

I think if people are really honest with themselves they know that they have issues about owning an older car e.g 'I don't want to look poor'.

The idea that we should all dump our old gas guzzlers and get shiny new hybrid cars is a notion that the car industry would just love us all to have. But is a complete red herring, in the poorer parts of the world like india they keep cars going and going and when they look like they've reached the end of their lifespan, the fix them up again. It's just our consumer culture and related peer pressure that hynotises us into feeling we must constantly replace. As a consequence we find silly reasons to replace.

The depreciation of my car must be in the region of about 300-400 pounds per year against thousands in most nearly new cars. Most new cars will lose thousands as soon as you hand over your money.

At the end of the day I'm just trying to say think twice before justifying the purchase of a new car and remember that it it is probably more helpful to the environment and your wallet to make an old thing last than replace it with a new thing (it's the 'darned' socks thing). And if you really need a better car, don't be fooled by thinking a new one will be more reliable. A decent (fsh,low mlge etc) 5 year old honda/mazda/toyota/bmw/volkswagon should be just as reliable as a virtually new rover/peugeot/fiat/alfa etc. (and a lot cheaper)!

fanks for listening

Sheel

Erm........doesn't someone have to buy new cars or else there wouldn't be such a thing as second hand cars?

simony3

obviously i'm not suggesting that everyone in the world should buy a second hand car.. just the smart ones?

jonisin

Money savers probably spend a lot of time on here trying to save a little bit here and there but will happily give a slimy car salesmen many thousands of pounds, knowing full well that their purchase will have lost vast amounts of money as soon as they drive off the forecourt.

My local garage saleman lives in one of the poshest house in the city and dines in all the best restaurants etc all thanks to the mugs that happily buy new cars on rip-off credit and are daft enought to let the salemen add on third party 'extras' that can be bought elsewhere at half the price.

Money savers don't buy new cars, that's why they are money savers, not money wasters.

thebarefootchef

We drive a 1987 Porsche 944S, bought 11 years ago for £7,000.
It's now worth about half of that.

£36,000 (with the options) when new!

29 mpg isn't too bad from 2.5 litres. Because it's old comprehensive insurance costs about £300.

I've just sold an '89 Trabant for £380 bought in '99 for £400!

Depreciation, what's that then?

simony3

the porsche sounds cool

camper vans (though a little expensive) are quite depreciation proof too and you get holidays!!

I had an old mercedes 207 (only a diy conversion). I went on two trips to france (one being my honeymoon) and another trip to the new forest, used it in all my daily activities (sturdy economical deisel) for a couple of years, shopping etc., saved a fortune in deliveries from places like b&q, ikea etc. I even used it to transport stuff in two house moves and then sold it for a 400 pounds profit!

so nerr

to be honest I think I managed the profit , partly because I took the van down south to a posh friends drive, and advertised it in the london autotrader. I think I got a london weighting.

teehee