Changing cars... Every 3 years or much longer?

Riq

We used to have a 16 year old Honda Civic, 1990 G Reg, My grandad bought it brand new, then gave it to my mum, then I got it. It NEVER broke down as it was well maintained and looked after.

I traded it in in the end when I got my new(er) Civic and was really sad to see it go.

Wonder how she is going, I bet she hasn't found as good a home as she did with us.

PasturesNew

I bought a car brand new in 2001.
Paid cash, got £1k off. Paid £6k.

7 years on and its never broken down, never failed an MoT. Only had 2 services, one new tyre, 1/2 an exhaust and a set of wiper blades.

Rough guessing, it's probably worth ... £2k?

So it's lost £4k in 7 years.

Given time I'd never buy a new car. The minute it's off the forecourt you've loast £1k or more. I only did it because I had to dash out immediately and buy a car with what I had in the bank, so I could get to work on the Monday (200 miles, so bus wasn't an option!)

cyclonebri1

Up untill very recently when I could afford to "waste" more money, because thats what it is, I used to buy ex company high mileage cars at around there 3rd birthday. That way you get afairly modern car, should still look immaculate, have say 80 to 90k on the clock and be capable of possibly another good 10 years trouble free service.

Most importantly it will be available for about 1/2 the cost of a 20k example.

I am still convinced that this is the most sensible route and was never caught out with a duffer in over 30 years of doing this. :money:

In actual fact before the car is "knackered" you will have tried of it and probably passed it on to another family member, or it will have been niked or written off

AdrianHi

balsingh wrote: »

I assume the fact that most cars warranties run out after 3 years and they need their first MOT must have an affect on resale values.

The thing that affects resale values is the supply of a particular car type relative to the demand for it. Resale values of a particular car model do take a dip soon after the first examples hit 3 years old because this is when they are coming off 36 month lease deals and being resold in the market. This coincides with needing first MOT and for most cars expirey of manufacturers warranty. A large proportion of all new cars are for the lease / company car market who only use them in the first 36 months.

mummytofour

Having spent money over the years on new cars ( financed BAD) I do the banger route, less than one k and have had some really nice cars in my time. I change my car often as I get bored too! I always but with full history and for a really good price. The couple of times I have risked no history have not been good experiences. I dont tend to loose much money along the way as older cars dont seem to loose money.
I would buy brand new tho as then you know what that car has done and where it has been, for me its brand new or really cheap I wont do the bracket in between.

AdrianHi

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Up untill very recently when I could afford to "waste" more money, because thats what it is, I used to buy ex company high mileage cars at around there 3rd birthday. That way you get afairly modern car, should still look immaculate, have say 80 to 90k on the clock and be capable of possibly another good 10 years trouble free service.

Most importantly it will be available for about 1/2 the cost of a 20k example.

I am still convinced that this is the most sensible route and was never caught out with a duffer in over 30 years of doing this. :money:

In actual fact before the car is "knackered" you will have tried of it and probably passed it on to another family member, or it will have been niked or written off

If you were paying 50% of original list price for these cars I have these thoughts:
1. It was clearly affordable for you
2. The cash flow challenge relative to younger car purchase is easier as you don't have to fund as much purchase price
3. You were fortunate enough to have no bad big repair bill experiences

One thing I am absolutely 100% certain of is that this was not necessarily the cheapest way to do it in the long run. Unless you kept these cars beyond 6 years old to take advantage of the near zero depreciation period, it was more expensive, not by a huge margin and it might have been easier to deal with for cash flow reasons (i.e. not needing to finance higher purchase prices).
If you have the ability to fund higher purchase prices I still say about 42% to 44% of original list price is the most you should pay for a 36 month old out of warranty car. Higher than that and you need to get the up to 6 month old 20% off list price car.

zzzLazyDaisy

Just been looking at your other posts, OP..... Gosh, you do seem to have had a lot of cars in a short space of time! I'm surprised you need to ask the question!

AdrianHi

mummytofour wrote: »

Having spent money over the years on new cars ( financed BAD) I do the banger route, less than one k and have had some really nice cars in my time. I change my car often as I get bored too! I always but with full history and for a really good price. The couple of times I have risked no history have not been good experiences. I dont tend to loose much money along the way as older cars dont seem to loose money.
I would buy brand new tho as then you know what that car has done and where it has been, for me its brand new or really cheap I wont do the bracket in between.

I would do bangeromics or the new nearly new 20% off with just a few thousand on the clock - often ex-demonstrators. I'd do the nearly new on diesels because it is pretty much impossible for anyone to damage a diesel with harsh driving on test drives over just a few thousand miles, you cannot over rev. them and working them hard even at barely run in is not really an issue, better than driving them like Miss Daisy.
I would only do the in between years if I was sure of the cars history and treatment.

Finance charges are bad, depreciation is worse. If you can use finance to your advantage to avoid depreciation you it can work out better if you want to be driving young cars that hold their value well.

MJI1962

I usually keep for 4 or 5 years, basically from cheapish to start to get problems, my current car was 4 when I bought it now 7, I'll run it as long as possible because they don't make them any more, and it is worth not much only about 1800

Keith

MJTHFC wrote: »

We have a Ford Focus that we bought brand new in 2006 (got a great discount obviously). Now I do like cars being a boy and all that and I'm getting a bit bored of it two years down the line. I've been eyeing up the new Mondeo.

I'm bored of a car so I'm going to buy a Mondeo! :rotfl: