Need a new / different car clueless please help!

[Mirrorballsocial]

My 2012 car is getting to the end of it's life. Although it doesn't have loads of miles on it 55k it's having issues more frequently which all add up.

I told myself I'd sort a different car in 2024 and here we are. I have always bought outright either old or medium age (6 years etc). I could do this again but I know nothing about cars and find it stressful. As not only do you have to decide on the make and model but then if it's in ok condition etc. I don't have anyone who knows about card I could ask!

So I'm wondering about the finance options as then it's new and you just take care of servicing etc. So on theory less unexpected issues, like the clutch going or whatever else has happened to mine recently! Could this be a good way to just have a car I don't have to think about much?

None of my family do anything but buy cars outright so I've always just done this so know very little about financing. What are others experienceds of it? Is it actually an easy option?

Thanks

I know I am not being helpful but a car reaching end of life at 11 years old blows my mind. We have 3 cars in my household and they range from 14 years to 35 years old.

As for financing, depends on your lifestyle. I think for a younger family they can be a really neat solution. For my household I prefer to buy outright and keep forever. You need to consider what it will be used for and do you have children, how many and how old. Car seat requirements will be different than two lanky teenagers.

What blows your mind about it?

By reaching the end of it's life I mean it is having more and more issues which although small are overall expensive. It also means it's inconvenient and potentially unreliable. Eg if did a drive of a few 100 miles it would probably be fine but I'd worry I'd get a problem and be a bit screwed.

I'm sure if I had other cars in my household,l when it's endlessly at the garage, I could tinker myself or I could chuck endless money at it, it's not technically at the end of it's life. But for me in terms of needing a useful and reliable car it is.

I have no children and won't be having any so it's just me and my partner to consider. You say you prefer to keep outright, as did I previously buy it's feeling like a pain in the arse tbh!

Bit of a hopeful bump...

I looked into finance deals for new cars when I last needed a new car and concluded they were a bad deal. This was a while ago but I don't expect the maths has changed much.

A new car loses at least 20% of its value as soon as it is driven for the first time, as it is no longer new. This loss in value is built into the finance deal for you to bear. However a nearly-new used car (2-3 years old) keeps its value much better and is still under warranty so just as reliable. The "interest free" deals you get on brand new cars are actually more expensive than getting a (not too high a rate) interest-bearing loan on a cheaper car because of this enormous depreciation factor.

I bought a 2yo Toyota Yaris Hybrid 8 years ago which I was expecting to replace this year but it's still running perfectly with no problems so I am going to keep it for the time being, it's a lovely car and really cheap to run.

Hi, I recently looked at this. The recommendation is to buy a car outright with cash if you can and ideally a car that isn't new as it loses its value very quickly, as someone already said. I decided not to do this.

The alternatives are PCP which is car financing, which is very expensive and at the end you almost certainly will have to either make a balloon payment or transfer the PCP onto another new car. So I reckon that sounds like a big old con and the next PPI waiting to happen. And you have to put down quite a bit of cash and the monthly cost is high.

Or you can lease, which I am about to do again. The benefits are that you get a brand new car, it's not your responsibility (other than to look after and service although you can go for service included options. If you don't you do have to go to a proper dealer for servicing though which is more expensive) and you hand it back at the end of 3 or 4 years. You do have to decide how many miles per year you'll do but you can specify type, whether it's in stock, monthly cost etc.

So that's what we're doing for our next car. We're going to test drive at a dealership then lease the one we like. This site is good:
https://www.leaseloco.com/

@YireosDodeAver I'd second a two or three year old Yaris hybrid.