Can I have your thoughts please - cars...

iamashoppingaddict

Hey guys,

Need some of your wonderful wisdom to put myself in perspective because I think my thoughts are all blurred at the moment!! LOL

Currently I own a 3 year old astra, its my pride and joy and I love it to bits. Trouble is, it is costing me a fortune in petrol. I do alot of miles to work and its costing me loads. No public transport to my workplace and I end up having to use it for work occasionally when we run out of company cars (claiming mileage of course).

Anyway, I bought it a year ago on a 3 1/2 year loan, therefore i have 2 1/2 years left. Due to my higher mileage now (moved 6 months ago), I thought about getting myself a diesal as they are a bit more economical. Here comes the bad bit. It would appear the car is now only work £5,500 and the loan outstanding on it is £6,500. So £1k difference.

Now my O/H's old banger has recently died a very painful death and he is currently driving an even older banger which is about to die an even bigger death any day now!

Would I be completely stupid to get a loan on a better rate for £6,500 pay off the orginal car loan, buy a nice diesal car for £5,500 (seen a nice Golf) and the use the £1k left over to let O/H buy himself a vaguely decent car that might actually last slightly longer than 5 mintues!! He would then pay a contribution towards the loan for the £1k car.

Too complicated, really stupid?? Questions!! LOL

rayday2

I am having a thick day all I keep seeing is that there won't be 1 k over - sorry you can call me stupid!

You sell your car for 5.5 and the finance is 1k more so all you are doing is getting your new car for 5.5 and the 1k goes to finance company does it not?

I must be missing something!

iamashoppingaddict

No your not missing anything. I am. A brain. Sorry. This is why I am in debt in the first place. Being stupid.

*crawls back under her rock*

debtmuncher

car payments and cars are pains! i would be inclined to ask oh if he wanted to take over the payments leaving you with the extra funds in your pocket!!:D
i would get rid of our car like a shot but unfortunately its not going to happen!

rayday2

truly.maddy.deeply wrote: »

No your not missing anything. I am. A brain. Sorry. This is why I am in debt in the first place. Being stupid.

*crawls back under her rock*

I spent 5 minutes trying to work that one out thinking I was missing something lol!

Not quite the same but we have had a similar dilemma we have a company car but its a petrol estate and some people at work have had diesel cars and want estates and we were weighing up asking whether or not to ask for an exchange. Then we looked at actual MPG and the cost difference between diesel and petrol which can be anything up to 15p here and rising so decided to stay put for now and keep the idea on a back burner!

(Land_of)_Maz

Hmmmmmmn, i don't think a diesel is saving much at the moment anyhow, i'd stick with what you have....

Maybe need to reevaluate your time spent driving or try and find someone to share costs with you....... stick a notice in staff room, or share with another driver 2 days one week in your car/3 days in theres and vice versa....??

Also ensure you are claiming all your miles, getting all your tax breaks re milage etc....

Can you get a 0% card and pay off the car loan early... thereby saving on any remaining interest. Forget that the car is only worth £5,500 if you're keeping it, the thought will just depress you!

I love my car too, so am by no means anti motoring. Edit: I have an outstanding car loan thru welcome for a car i returned to them, so i'm in no position to give out advice, lol!!!

Uniscots97

with diesel costing anything from 121.9p to 135.9p per litre compared to petrol prices (110.9p per litre where I am), most of the colleagues I have that have diesel cars are finding them just as expensive to run as petrol but it does depend on your car's mpg. My old car, a diesel 1.9 litre did 55 mpg and my new car is a 1.4 petrol and does 50 mpg. By my calculations (using local fuel prices to me), it works out roughly the same running costs wise.

debtmuncher

i agree that diesel isnt that much cheaper. ours is diesel but its a galaxy which seems to be a heavy drinker at times! prices dont seem to be steady and i think they are meant to be increasing again (vaguely remember that from a scottish paper)

Uniscots97

debtmuncher wrote: »

i agree that diesel isnt that much cheaper. ours is diesel but its a galaxy which seems to be a heavy drinker at times! prices dont seem to be steady and i think they are meant to be increasing again (vaguely remember that from a scottish paper)

Yes you're right, prices of diesel are expected to hit 150p per litre within a few months and a rise in petrol too but not so sharp.

Sheepy1209

Consider:

• The high price of diesel
• Diesel mpg is often not as good as expected
• Is your car really worth £5.5k?
• Used cars the £1000 level are likely to have hidden faults

One option might be to trade both cars in and if it all adds up buy two cars at around the £3000 mark (if O/H can afford his share). At that sort of price you should still get a decent reliable and safe car, maybe five years old, you'll suffer less depreciation, and you shouldn't have to shell out for expensive repairs just yet (things like aircon might start to go, but engines, gearboxes etc should be fine).

Just a thought!

Horace

Depending on how far away work is from the bus stop - you could hop on a bus and then walk, or you could drive to your local station, hop on a train and get the bus at the other end - it may be cheaper than clocking up unnecessary miles on the car.