How do people afford to PCP brand new cars?!

[JusWunderin]

DH recently mentioned looking into us getting the car I’ve had my eye on for many eyes now. But we’ve looked at prices for financing one and my good god alive it’s not what I expected!

I’m struggling to imagine someone having £400 a month to comfortable pay for a car, we had a budget of about £200 a month.. which I thought would get me something pretty nice!😂

My heart is a little sore, I’ve never really had anything ‘proper nice’ we don’t buy anything designer, branded/luxury. We live modestly, both work full time in what we thought were good jobs on relatively good money for where we live. this car was the one thing I just thought would be my little bit of luxury in life.. but it turns out it’s quite far out from ‘a little bit’ of luxury 😂 it’s big luxury and now I’m pretty gutted as I can’t imagine us ever having that sort of money to fork out every month for a car 😅

If you lease/brought a brand new car recently.. how? What job do you do? How much do you earn (if you don’t mind me asking)? I need to know where I’m going wrong 😂

We take home £250,000 a year and we have cheap Mazdas. I don’t want expensive cars.

work in IT

Which I am. Motorsport is our family hobby. Lots of track days and drift days mean you have to have very sharp reactions.

I choose a nice car that I like and get a 1 or 2 year old with low mileage for a much cheaper price. I would rather do this and have a nice spec than get brand new. In the past I thought owning the car made more sense but the one time I did this via a bank loan, I wanted rid of the car before the loan was completed so was a waste of time, especially factoring in the MOT and service costs I was then liable for. That being said, my most recent car I have now bought outright as I drive 600-750 miles a week for work and PCP’ing that would need me to sell my house lol. If you do buy, make sure you get them to add on additional benefits, I’ve managed to get included MOT’s, included servicing, paintwork protection and alloy protection for minor scuffs and scrapes.

In addition, the make really impacts it. I like VW’s which aren’t by any means the most expensive but also not budget. My wife got a new electric MG for £150 a month which really opened my eyes to how mad it is that I pay the extra because I just like to stick with VW after I had one years ago.

We have a lovely big very expensive car… but it’s a company car, we don’t own it and didn’t choose it. I think lots of people with nice cars are the same. I couldn’t afford a lovely car… our second car is a Dacia

It may be a luxury to some people but an A3 is not a luxury car. I’m not saying that to be mean, I used to have an A3 and I loved it.

I think Audis are beautiful cars, but sadly it is true that they have become “common as muck” to quote another poster! It’s down to PCP contracts. I have come across lots of very young adults with Audis. No mortage, living at home with mum and dad still, but an Audi on PCP.

Regarding haggling, during my recent car purchase, I came to believe the dealer when he told me that prices are now set by Volvo and he has no ability to reduce the prices. Sounds like Ford are doing the same. I was only making an inquiry that day, with no intention to buy anything for a couple of months. However, Volvo were offering a £5000 discount on the model I wanted at the time, so I went ahead and ordered it, but not without insisting on getting a bit more for my part ex than top book price and various extra accessories thrown in (they can always do that). I have had my beautiful car 😍 a month now and weirdly it’s worth more now than I paid for it, as the discount has been removed and Volvos hold their prices so well. How times have changed 🤷‍♀️

£27k car
You pay £11k in fees
Then final payment is £14k
I think it’s a mugs game.

Same. We call it “flash on finance” honestly think you look like a tit parking your fancy car outside your 3 bed semi that probably costs the same per month.

I’ve had similar thoughts. Don’t really understand why the person wouldn’t priority upgrading their house before their car, but each to their own.

Ah yes, there's nothing like feeling poor when it comes to buying a car. We are like yourself, doing relatively well, but still couldn't afford a decent car.
We settled for a finance in the end so not brand new and still £400 ish a month. It does take getting to use to the financial adjustment when you haven't been paying monthly for a car before.

We're spending around £300 per month leasing our Bz4x but that covers everything but charging. It wasn't costing much less to keep our 12yo petrol Avensis taxed, insured, fueled up and roadworthy. If we hadn't used Ds2's motability entitlement we would have used salary sacrifice which would have got us a smaller and less suitable car but most of the costs would still have been covered.

Wow the judgment here. I live in a 3 bed semi and I love it, it’s exactly what I need. Why would I spend money upgrading to a bigger house that I don’t need? Instead I have a nice car on PCP and a nice house and still within budget 🤷🏼‍♀️
The hypocrisy of judging people for wanting a flashy car to impress people when that money could apparently be spent on a flashy house. The snobbery on this thread is what gives mumsnet a bad name tbh.

It’s not judgement. It’s either jealousy or zero experience of driving a nice car. I drive a sports car and pay nearly £500 a
month for the privilege. I don’t drive it to be flashy. I drive it because it’s a fucking amazing piece of machinery that goes like shit of a shovel and handles like a dream.

I could easily afford one (or three...) but very happily don’t own a car.

Try re-lease ie used car leasing on a merc. Fantastic value, if you bear in mind it is effectively a car subscription. BUT these cars go within a day or an hour.
As many have said you need a calculator to work our the real yearly cost and total ownership.
You gotta really want a model to go down the PCP route

@SantiagoSky I live in the middle of nowhere, a car is a must here, I’d never get to work otherwise.. or nursery would take 1.5 hours to walk to 😂 I do appreciate those who don’t have cars even when they easily can. It must feel pretty accomplishing knowing you’re not adding another car to the over crowded roads and doing your bit for the earth! I applaud you.

Owe. I didn’t mean for this thread to become snobby or stuck up. I’m sorry if anyone feels that way! In fact I didn’t expect there to be this much debate on the subject!

Thankfully we’re already in the housing ladder and upgraded to a 3 bed semi after selling our first home 2 years ago. I think the super snazzy car will have to wait until both kids are in school and we’ve had a few pay annual payrises! 😂 Financially we’re not so much struggling, but I don’t want to struggle for the sake of a car to be honest!

@Nottodaythankyou123
MN is very judgmental of cars, but think nothing of dropping a similar amount on holidays or unnecessary renovations.
No idea why.

Very good point.

Ive driven plenty of nice cars. Who’s to say I don’t drive a nice car? You can get a 3 year old Q7 for £45k. What are you driving for £500 pcm on PCP. I’d suggest it’s not that fancy give the Q3 I posted above is £462.

You’re right of course. I’ve thought about what you said and changed my opinion.

I just think it’s a really bad use of money that could be better spent elsewhere. Property has a much better return, you build equity in property, not cars. I buy my cars cash I just hate expensive credit. I have the same view with mobile phones etc.

i understand I’m pretty privileged and understand some people NEED a car to get to work but you don’t need a new luxury car that’s costing a fortune interest and you will never own.

It always makes me laugh when I hear the cost of PCP on the adverts (and then the small print mentions the deposit)

The devil is in the detail. People need to know the exact cost of a car, what the mileage costs will be if they exceed the allowance, the deposit, monthly payments and then what happens at the end to see if it's a good deal.

If you think £200 - £300 a month for a car is ok, and then after 3 years, you just hand it back and get another new one, then that's up to you. If you can afford it. Just like renting a property, It will never be yours if you don't want it to be yours.

Yeah I get that - I just think that making snidey comments about people looking like tits for having a nice car outside a modest house isn’t really the one.

Cars aren’t your thing - fine, and yes logically PCP isn’t the most effective way of purchasing but as this thread has shown there’s a multitude of reasons why people use it.

And yes, of course a car is really just a means of getting from A to B and no one needs a flashy one but the billion pound car industry would suggest a lot of people disagree with you - and not all of them are just “showing off”. I spend a good 1.5-2.5 hours in the car everyday, I like to prioritise spending a bit on a car that makes that more comfortable. Other people will prioritise their money elsewhere 🤷🏼‍♀️

It’s £1100 a month for a Tesla…glad it’s the company who pay 💰🙄

I'm also flying economy premium to San Francisco- does anyone want to rip into me for that choice?

Every single day people make choices based on their own sets of circumstances. Some we relate to and some we don't, but thank heavens we are able to, I say!