How to choose a car

[TickledOnion]

I need a new car. My last one was on a PCP thing that is now finished. Its a 2015 Ford Focus. I do about 18000 miles per year so diesel is probably more economical. I’m going to stick with a Ford Focus and want one that is newer with few miles and without paying much more per month in a PCP over the same period.
Except that’s not possible. I can pay the same monthly over a longer period. Or pay more per month over the same period. Or get an older car. Or get a car with higher mileage. But I have no idea which of these to compromise on.
Can anyone help please?

SleepyKat I share your concerns about the electric/hybrid batteries.

OP, the Skoda Scala is brand new so probably too new to get a good bargain, but I think it will be the new top rival to the Ford Focus (as the Octavia is slightly too big and the Fabia slightly too small). I'm a fan of Skoda can you tell

Anyway nothing wrong with Focus, I just got very bored of mine - it was an old one though!

Stupid question... what’s the advantage of owning an older car at the end of 3 years vs not owning a newer car?

I recently bought a 2015 car outright - cost me less than 5k with around 30,000 miles on the clock.

The advantage? It only costs me fuel and insurance each month - so roughly £150 (£30 to fill up weekly plus insurance although I pay for that annually).

But it's personal opinion. Personally I don't want to be stuck in yet another contract and I don't want to pay £200+ each month for the next x years just to get to work. I saved for a 2 years to buy my car and bought it outright. Now I have no other costs except fuel, insurance and basic maintenance.

Well done @SleepyKat

I did one am getting fed up of dieselgate. For some people diesel will always be better. Petrol has much higher co2 and much less mpg.

Owning a car after three years is exactly that, it's your asset. Not the finance companies and no one can take it off you. Not owning it means you don't have to worry about the depreciation (though this may be an issue with PCP and if you are never going to consider it then I would recommend personal contract hire where the end value is guaranteed so you only pay more if you damage the vehicle or go over contractual miles) and generally any maintenance issues other than servicing is under warranty.

Yeah definitely a stupid question

It's like asking what's the advantage of buying a house and paying off the mortgage versus renting a house.

If you buy it you can keep it without having to pay for it any more, or sell it and use the money to buy a new one.

If you rent it you have to keep paying to rent.

Apart from houses don’t tend to depreciate.

Personally I prefer to keep my cars a long time. Ten years plus, I run them into the ground and am happy to do so. I feel I’ve got my moneys worth. So initial big outlay but no ongoing monthly cost. Downside is any repair bills have to be paid which can get more as car gets older.

And then when I need a new car I either have to find the cash or if I couldn’t I’d need to get a loan. But once the loan is paid off the car would be yours and you should get a few loan free years out of it.

But if you like changing car freqntly then PCP May be right for you.

Good point about depreciation.

However, I don't see the point in buying brand new cars and constantly replacing them, it just seems so wasteful.

We just bought a "new" car, actually used - about 6 months old with very few miles, but it's in mint condition, feels brand new and was about 2/3 of the cost of a brand new one. No brainer. And we'll keep it until our needs change, at which point we'll sell it and replace with another used (probably nearly new) car.

I am interested in electric/hydrogen cars

The vast bulk of hydrogen is produced using methane reformation. It isn't a particularly green process.

This has been really useful. I’m not really that bothered about getting new cars. I just got used to the idea of changing cars after 3 years and thought that the cost of maintaining an older car might make it uneconomical.

Have you looked at leasing? Just throwing that out there.

The vast bulk of hydrogen is produced using methane reformation. It isn't a particularly green process.

Yes, that’s what I’m saying....that I don’t think (currently) either electric or hybrid cars are as green as they’re made out to be. Not when the whole process is taken into account.

Things may improve down the line but I don’t think we’re there yet.

With my ten year old focus the only costs I’ve had have been new tyres, brake pads, a battery and windscreen wipers. Maybe I’ve been lucky but for me it’s been cheaper owning it.

Yes my Focus was 16 years old when I sold it! And overall it didn't cost me a huge amount in maintenance. MUCH less than £2400/year (which is what you're spending on leasing your car, OP).

Ignore mileage. High than average mileage shouldn't be viewed as an issue as long as service history is maintained/up to date and any scheduled replacements have been done.

I just got used to the idea of changing cars after 3 years and thought that the cost of maintaining an older car might make it uneconomical.

My old car was thirteen years old and I was it's third owner before it went to the great scrap heap in the sky. Up until the last month where an oil leak after an accident rendered it a write off (eg it would cost more to repair than it was worth) it cost me very very little. New tyres about once a year as I do a lot of driving - but that's pretty much it. Much much cheaper than paying £200+ per month!

Just to add if I'd not had an accident it would probably have lasted much longer. It had 140k on the clock and ran like a dream.

If I hadn't hit a dangerous pothole it would still be going now.

Hi Op. I had a similar dilemma and posted here in the summer. The difference was I'd never bought a new or newish car before and always had older cars I kept until they gave up.
After a lot of research I went for a loan with low interest rate over 3 years for 10k. I pay just under 300 a month. I paid more for the car as went to VW dealer so got the warranty and also travelled 300 miles from home to get it as cheaper price than London.

I bought vw golf estate and it's a 2015 plate.
I think I made the right decision and time will tell but my intention is yo keep the car for a good 10 years. it had a fairly high mileage but serviced etc at VW.

www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/whats-the-best-way-to-finance-buying-a-car

Go for a lease rather than pcp you can easily do it for 200 a month