Brand New or Banger?

gollyman1992

My wife used to work for a private car hire firm, we hired a car from brand new, then bought it once the vehicle reached 3 months old. Doing this saved us nearly 3k on book price. I don't know if this would work for all small rental firms, but it must be worth a try. The only downside was that we had to switch insurance after renting/buying.

As an aside, I bought new a Megane Cabriolet for 17.6k a few years back. It depreciated to 7.2k after 23 months. The reason? No Air-con! A cabriolet!

I would never buy a brand new car again

nearlyrich

Lucky me I just got this* lovely new car free, it's a company car so OK I pay a bit of tax on it but nowhere near enough to run a car. Tax is now £80 per month less due to lower emissions and lower purchase price than the A3 I just got rid of.

I used to buy a new car every 2 years but since I started being a moneysaver I wouldn't do this anymore. My daughter's car cost £250 and it should do her through college etc. There are some bargains about but sometimes they cost a lot to keep on the road.

* Picture is not my actual car but it is the same colour etc...

mariauk

I have a Morris Minor Saloon it cost £300 2 years ago, Insurance is £150 full comp with breakdown and no tax because its only four years younger than me Its goes like an old workhorse and parts are so cheap its laughable. Bit hard on the bottom if you are going a long way(no suspension) but it does raise many a smile when you are out and about.



My kids always duck down in the back when they see their mates, So we always bib at them, just to make sure they see them :rotfl:

BobToo

I drive a 1994 Renault Savanna. At £900 two years ago it's the second dearest car I've bought but it has 7 seats, is very comfortable and does 45mpg. I occasionaly have to throw £50 or so at it but it mostly does 300 miles a week with minimal attention. As far as I can tell from Autotrader adverts it has lost little or no value. Not that I'd care, I've had nearly 30k miles out of it.

The dearest car I ever bought was its predecessor, a £2000 1995 Escort Turbodiesel Estate in 2001. It gave me loads of trouble and had no advantage over a £200 car.

I've had some troublesome moneypits in my time but nothing has come near costing more than a few monthly payments on a shiny car. Not even the Escort.

I'm in the process of training to be a driving instructor. I'll probably buy new for that, it's worth paying for reliability and image when it has a direct impact on your earning potential.

Former_MSE_Archna

Poll Title: Brand New or Banger? 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?

b. Nearly new. I buy this way to cut the depreciation cost
34.5% (595 Votes)
c. A few years old. Most motors still run, who needs them to shine?
32.1% (555 Votes)
a. Love em new. I try to buy new, nothing like it
13.8% (239 Votes)
d. Banger. If it gets me from a to b cheaply, great
9.1% (157 Votes)
f. I don't drive
3.2% (56 Votes)
g. Cars? Rubbish I get on my bike
2.9% (50 Votes)
e. Classic. My car's old, but it's a genuine classic
2.4% (43 Votes)
h. I want a car, but even a banger's too costly.
1.6% (29 Votes)

Total Votes: 1724

hethmar

Ive always had old Golfs. This time when my beloved Vinny the Golf reached 17 years old I had a look round for a newer one (though to be honest he hadnt cost me more than about £300 in pay out in 3 years).

Son, slightly embarrassed by the age of the cars and their slight tattiness urged me to get a newer Golf. But when I looked, with my budget of £4000 ish quid I seemed to find basic models about 8 years old with over 100,000 on the clock.

THEN I approached in a large sales area what I thought was a beautiful bright red Golf and found to my disappointment it was a Skoda Fabia. Now, I was totally against even getting in this car, just because of the make but Im glad I did. After a test drive I was totally in love with it.

It is absolutely beautiful. Ive never had, Y reg, air con, electric windows, adjustable, up down, back forward seats!, electric wings, abs pas - oh god, what luxury for £3999.

Jamsyke

Like someone already said, leasing is worth serious consideration.

If you want to drive a new car but can't afford to without an expensive loan, then lease it!
Road tax is included, you don't need an MOT, anything that fails is under warranty, I won't even need a service cause I won't do 24,000 miles in the 2 year contract period.
It's hassle-free motoring. New cars are more fuel efficient than old ones. You don't have the hassle of selling and the car gets delivered to your door.
A month before the end of the lease period take a look at the current offers and choose your new car.
Ok so if you want to test drive it you need to go to a dealer and pretend you're interested in buying it.

The company I used is https://www.smartlease.co.uk
The offers on their website are constantly updated and I found them helpful to deal with. Obviously you need to shop around to make sure the price is right.

It might not be worthwhile if you do high mileage, the standard terms are based on 10,000 per annum.

Gingham_Ribbon

We bought a new skoda fabia after saving up for it while running an old escort.

We are already saving up for its replacement. I'm aiming to replace it in around 9 or 10 years.

Oh, that was my 1000th post!!!

feival

I am on my third Ford. The first was 10 years old and did us fine and the other two have been 2 and 3 years old. That way it feels like new (if it was valeted by the seller!) but costs half the price. I am very happy with our choices. One car was off a friedn the other too off of the Great Trade Centre/ Car Giant in London

2ax

Present car is the most expensive ever - 4 years old, just over 20,000 miles, about a quarter of the new list price (ok, maybe a third of the actual).

The price of new cars now is about the same as ten or twelve years ago, cheaper relative to inflation, so perhaps people are more inclined to new ones, but I still think that depreciation is the largest chunk of running costs. Add to that improved maintenance, reliability and corrosion protection on all cars, so that 10 or 15 years and 200,000 miles is not exceptional - I will probably never buy a new car.