How did you buy your car?

[littlebylittleandlittle]

I do a lot of driving and I see so many big, really nice cars on the road and sometimes wonder how the majority of people buy cars these days? Do people use PCP or HP deals to buy/lease them monthly or tend to buy outright?

I'm looking to buy a new (er) car but have always preferred to buy my cars using trade-in value plus cash so that I own it up front, usually in the region of 8-10k.

But when I see lots of cars worth 30, 40, 50k upwards on the roads I wonder if most people buy cars on PCP now? How do you get round the mileage allowance? Some seem to be set quite low at 6000 miles a year.

So yes just curious as to how people pay for cars these days. On monthly payments or buy up front?

My car is on hp, and I can guarantee those big cars are too. My daughter kept hinting about how she saw all these girls getting these amazing cars that their parents bought them...I filled her in!🤭🤭🤭🤣🤣🤣

We were very lucky and bought an almost new ( 9 months old, low mileage) large car up front. So no monthly payment or restrictions. But many people I know have cars via work, or they are in a lease hire purchase and upgrade every 3 years.

Depends what you want, if you want the latest and are not bothered about owning your own car then lease hire and the various options are there. We are not bothered about having the latest, I just wanted a solid, reliable car that would last a long time.

I do the same as you when I can afford it; if I can't I get a personal loan and then save as much as I can to pay it off early. For some reason I'm OK with a personal loan, but not with having one on finance - I don't think I'd feel like the car properly belonged to me for some reason!

I'm quite old and when I first started owning cars finance wasn't such a thing, so maybe that's why. And I would never want a brand new car unless I was minted (muddy dog owner and professional scraper of alloys!) so that helps I guess, I usually go for one a few years old.

I buy outright. The independent mechanic I use thinks this is hilariously old-fashioned.

I buy outright, usually spending around 5k on a used car. High mileage reliable brands.

So far havent gone wrong (so far)

Never had a car on finance - always bought outright and run it into the ground.

That’s what keeps him in his job though isn’t it - most people with rentals change after 3 years?

I've never bought a brand new car so can afford to buy them outright.

Outright. Saved up. Same sort of ballpark amount. Wouldn't want to be committed to finance and want to be able to sell when I want to. I wouldn't want some stupidly expensive massive thing though.

By in cash (well bank transfer) now. When I had less money I got a personal loan. Paid off over three years and then traded car in to reduce price of next car.

I always pay ‘cash’ buy my car outright because I don’t like to live beyond my means.

This is now unusual according to the garages I’ve recently bought from. Buying a car on finance is the norm apparently.

A quick Google search says 93% !!!!! Of cars are now bought on finance.

It all stems from ‘I want it now’ IMO and people spending beyond their means.

I budget 8 k and trade in mine but I drive a small (nice and newish) car
I couldn’t buy anything more expensive
I pay off using a bank load 40 a week

We always buy outright, as I prefer to keep monthly financial commitments low and save. It's also a lot cheaper that way, I hate paying interest on anything. I am aware we are fortunate to be able to buy pretty cars outright and some people won't have this option.

However I do know quite a lot of people who do HP/PCP their cars.

It just comes down to how you prefer to do it really, and what you are willing to pay.

They're buying them on Finance, and the more people who do this, the more e people think they should have these massive expensive cars.

We just bought ours 7m ago, paid £6.5k car 10 years old and 25000 miles. A Vauxhall zafira. Yes it's not as "nice" as my sister in laws 2018 VW Tiguan, but then she paid £25k for it on finance, and her running costs are greater than mine. She's paying more insurance, more maintenance costs (eg replacing tyres, way more expensive) and is committed to £350pm repayments! And then complains they can't do something because they can't afford it etc

Honestly people are just vain.

We buy outright. There used to be good discounts for this, but now the salespeople push PCPs because they get commission I think. We were once persuaded to take the pcp but cancel almost immediately... turned out to be a bit of a misselling nightmare because they didn't understand the terms of their own products and it wasn't clear in the information we were given (dh is a careful reader of small print). Anyway, they ended up having to give us some compensation but it wasn't worth the stress.
We plan our cars with the aim of having them for 10 years. Sensible ones - currently Toyota Corolla hybrids which have a 10 year warranty. Our young adult DD bought my previous car off me - we wanted to be sure she has something safe and reliable so this is how to guarantee genuine low mileage, one careful owner.

I'm quite old and when I first started owning cars finance wasn't such a thing, so maybe that's why.
Car finance has been around a long time but it was simpler, more like a direct loan through the garage iirc. My very first car, in 1986, had - amazingly - a zero percent deal. I think the downside was it didn't then have the cash discount.

Smallish loan and trade in. But second hand.
Have leased fancy cars in the past- massive waste of money.

PCP is essentially renting a car, and then 3 years later you rent a new one again. It is a choice, but not one I would choose to make.

I got a new to me car recently with a personal loan over the shortest period I could afford.

We always buy new and always cash (well, bank transfer from savings).

Buying your first car from savings means you can then start saving for it's replacement straight away instead of trying to play catch up.
All running costs are just paid for when they come along.

Buy outright. I don't have a big/new/expensive car though. I think big expensive cars are pretty stupid really.

Buy outright. These are always older cars.

We save and buy upfront (and always sell the old one to upgrade which part-funds). However I think that is relatively unusual unless it’s a cheap/old car (ours is not).

Minor parking dings can be massively costly on a pcp car too. The one dd has now got its door dented in a car park somehow - it's irrelevant to us.

Mind you, if you're buying secondhand be aware some of the brands (eg bmw I think) actually design cars with components that should last for the term of a pcp and then likely need replacing - it's how they make a lot of their profits nowadays.

Interesting and timely given DH just bought a "new" car (21 plate) at the weekend; we now own it outright - trade in, deposit and technically on finance to ensure warranty, protections etc., then paid it off first thing on Monday morning with savings.

We have friends who are paying upwards of £800 a month for salary sacrifice scheme cars; they're tied in now but it's mindblowing how much people will pay for a brand new car. They're tied in for the length of the lease now - including insurance which has just skyrocketed.

Maybe big headed of me, but it is a source of pride for us (and I recognise how lucky we are) that we own both our cars, and the only debt we have is the mortgage. Other friends are up to their eyeballs in debt because of how materialistic they are: new car, new clothes (high brands) and other things that quite frankly they can't afford.

Outright or loan so when it’s paid off it’s yours.

I used to do trade in plus cash and a loan. Then I discovered leasing - change the car every 3 years, no responsibility, no worries if something goes wrong. Hand in the car and then pick a new one. I was stung with a £1600 repair bill on a car I owned that was over 12 years old - after that I didn’t want the stress if throwing money after something that will depreciate.
You can lease a car from approx £150 a month depending on make and model - obvs if you lease a BMW for example it’s going to cost £££. I just go for the cheapest deal. Leasing is different to PCP (not sure of the exact details) because there’s no final settlement figure. All servicing and warranty included. My mum thinks it’s a waste of money but for me it’s peace of mind and no responsibility for a car that depreciates anyway.
I use What Car Leasing and they deliver the car to you eg on the day the new number plates come out.