for treating financed cars as unaffordable?

You get deprecation on a car you own but that’s factored into the lease price each month. A loan isn’t quite the same thing if it is with a bank. Leasing can be great but we bought a 6 month old ev with a whacking £23,000 off the new price. Leading was based on the list price and, even with depreciation, it was cheaper to buy. We have the money though. No money - buy a reliable brand and hope for the best! There’s no cheap way to own a car or run a car.

IME it's not normal for a new car to be high cost at the end of a loan. I tend to keep my cars for 12-15 years - around 300,000 km or more. I get a new one when cost of repairing is more than the value of the car.

I used to be taken the mick out of in a previous job for my car but it was a second hand owned outright. The car park was full of audi's, porsche and jags.

Then there was a massive industry downturn and within a month or so the carpark changed dramatically plus lots more spaces!

I also have a friend who complains she is struggling wants to move but cant afford it etc etc.....they have 2 cars on finance in excess of £900 a month and just refinanced again 🙄

I will never do it we save up and buy what we can afford we know when they are on their way out so we trade in before getting to right off point.

My late dad had a thing about. buying a new car every three years. In part because he cared what the neighbours thought. The last, a Toyota, was passed to us when my mother had to give up driving. It’s now 21 years old with 150,000 miles on the clock. The only major work was to replace an alternator. We park on the street in London so the bodywork is quite battered, but apart from an annual service and the odd tyre it costs us very little. We have saved a huge amount over the years. Luckily we don’t care what the neighbours think.

Yes I don’t get the snobbery re Skodas either, they’re pretty equivalent to VW. My wealthy in laws had them and loved them. Loads of other options anyway.

What difference does it make? We earn loads (household income £300k+ per annum) but a Skoda is a fine car, gets you from a to b. Why pay more? None of our wealthy friends have expensive cars either. Cars aren’t something anyone I know cares about. I always assume those who spend lots on cars have some sort of insecurity, like those that spend money on ‘designer’ clothing etc, but I’m probably living in a bubble.

Have always bought second hand cars outright. I’d be very surprised if the wealthy are leasing not buying. It’s certainly not the done thing in our circle

I have car finance. I paid £3000 initially, £200 a month for 3 years and then it’s mine. It’s a 10 year old Golf. I got 2 years warranty and MOTs, road side recovery.
It’s a debt, but it’s affordable for me and I get a better car than I could buy outright.
I think people confuse the lease cars which have the massive balloon payment at the end with regular finance deals which spread payment over some years.

Indeed. Very happy with my Qashqai.

I know it’s not the most cost effective way to do things, but we change our car frequently. I have a real thing about having a car that fits my needs at that time and they have changed frequently over the years. We seem to get cars then things happen that change our circumstances, like redundancy (DH) or a health condition (me, helped massively to move to an automatic). Once I changed my car early because my mum died the day after I’d picked it up and I forever associated the car with that. I’ve never had a luxury brand though. I am really hoping my current Hyundai goes the distance. It’s not too big or small, has all the features I would need and is nice to drive.

There are loads of great cars to choose from. There is no need to pay for expensive leases for something you don’t own and is a really bad financial choice.

This. In fact, my almost 15 year old car passed it's MOT a couple of weeks ago with zero problems. Not even an advisory.

Because most people given the choice don’t want to drive around in an old Skoda.

I don't know if it's an age thing but I really couldn't care less about the car I have anymore. My car will be 10 years old this year, got it at 3 years old with 12k miles on it. Id rather have a nicer trip abroad instead.

Everyone's different...Some people are happy paying hundreds per month to drive a nice car as they can easily afford it and think it's worthwhile to them or on the other side of the coin you have others who are drowning in loans and credit repayments trying to keep up with the Jones'.

Isn’t £100k going into supercar territory? You must live on a seriously wealthy street!

I find myself drawn to newer cars now as they have some genuinely useful safety features which I find helpful.

If you’ve got the money to chuck then chuck.
Wealthy people also dont buy outright. They lease and get something new every three years. Because they can.

We’ve never had a lease car. Current car is 10 years old. Bought at 2 years old. We’ve only had to pay for tyres, brake pads and the occasional lightbulb. Dirt cheap to run. Our previous car too. Both Skodas.

What hassle? A 5 year old reliable car still under warranty isn’t going to need work. We run all our cars into the ground and choose ones that last. Most of the time there is little to worry about. Really don’t get this thing about endless mechanics. If you keep them serviced,what we spend to get though an MOT at end of life is less than a couple of months expensive lease bills.

The problem with leasing is that a serous change of circumstances can make it all come collapsing around your ears. All it takes is a job loss, a child born, a rent raise.

He’s making excuses to waste money. I’d never get a loan you pay interest on for a start. The 5 year old car we’ve just bought has a 5 year old warranty left. It’s a really reliable car so not expecting expensive bills for a while after that.

I don't understand why anyone leases a car. I drive an old skoda. Best car in the world. Wouldn't swap it for anything especially not an electric car

I just upgraded my 17 year old car. Had it since new & it was very tempting to finance a new one because of the warranty, worry free driving & length of time I could keep it. I can see why people borrow & upgrade regularly.

But, we're debt adverse & I couldn't bring myself to have repayments and interest chewing up our money. Plus we need to upgrade DH's car as well very shortly. So I bought second hand. What I bought ended up being older / not the car model I wanted, because I learned quickly 2nd hand car prices are ridiculous. Also thanks to online selling sites, private sale prices are on par with car yards!

I have always owned my cars and can't see that changing. My current car was bought 12 years ago outright from my savings (because once the loan from the previous car was paid off I started saving the equivalent). Not having loan repayments/lease payments means I can put that amount in savings and earn interest, thereby having the cash for my next car (£200 a month for 12 years has given me £30K for my next car - I won't spend that! Although I have just bought DD a car outright out of it).

Apart from the huge financial gain in owning your own car, the advantage, especially if you intend to keep it for the long term, is that you don't worry so much about minor damage, can make modifications, etc.