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 are both car fans and own nine cars between us. We pay just over £800 a month for two cars on finance/PCP, which is about a 6th of our monthly net. I don’t feel I need to justify something I want, enjoy and can afford, but I will say lovely to never worry about MOTs or things going wrong.

@PotatoPudding you’re living my dream!

😂😂😂

Well, we became parents late and made a few good car investments that really paid off. DH can also do a lot of the restoration work himself, which obviously helps.

We lease a Ford focus for £229 a month including all maintenance/tyres etc for 2 yrs/12k miles. I found it on a lease compare website. Really hoping for a similar deal on our next one.

The full price with deposit came in the same as what our old car cost us all in all with depreciation and maintenance, I'm so glad to have a reliable car now.

@oObyeOo I usually don’t give grammar twats with no opinion on the actual thread any time… but brought/bought is the one bit of UK English grammar I absolutely cannot wrap my head around so I apologise but at 28 years old I feel I’m never going to learn the correct one to use in context now 😂 you’re going to have to grin and bare it.

Yes my DH is a mechanic so thankfully I’ve never had to worry about car repairs, MOT/services ect as I’ve been with him since I started driving in my teens 😂

and here I thought having kids young was going to pay off! Hopefully when they’re grown up and moved out we’ll have some more income to splash!

@JusWunderin it wasn't me that raised it because I'm not a dick, but to help, think of bring (br) for brought, you were bringing something, not purchasing, and buy for bought (no r) you were buying something. I was an adult until I realised this too...

I’ve been leasing my car for almost 10 years now ( Ford options ) I pay just under £300 pm, & for that I get a brand new car every 3 years.
Never had a problem, and the peace of mind of a reliable car is worth every penny.

I’m on an average salary but manage to afford it.

@AmusedMaker do you still have to pay for the MOT, servicing and repairs on a contract like that?

Yes this was something that to me, was ideal. In that a lot of people don’t like PCP because of the end of term balloon payment ect. But I simply will not keep the car forever. I get bored easily and change my mind a lot. So the option to just give the car back and have another new one is ideal to me.

DH on the other hand absolutely despises PCP and is trying his hardest to sway me off of it 😅

Ah Yes! I have heard that before and must have forgotten. I will try to remember this time to avoid annoying any MN special grammar judges. 😂

jobsjkfo

Yes, but you can add on an extra payment per month to cover service charges. I can’t remember how much as I didn’t do it this time, but it wasn’t a lot.

At the end of the PCP term, you just take out finance for the balloon payment, assuming you want to keep it.

OP you want to change your car regularly, don't you think it's a bad idea to get tied into a 3 year contract?

Plus if your DH is a mechanic, you don't need to worry about one of the primary reasons people drive new cars on PCP etc is that they're worried about older cars breaking down, big bills, being ripped off by garages etc.

So why don't you use that to your advantage? He doesn't want you to have a PCP because he knows it's an expensive way to run a car.

So how about you get a personal loan to buy a slightly older car of the type you want? Your DH will be able to check over any car you're thinking about buying to make sure it's a good buy. And he'll be able to fix it when it goes wrong.

Exactly this.

Cars are stupidly expensive now a days even second hand ones are expensive, you can’t get a run around for £500 anymore with a years mot.

One car we got 7 years ago on pcp then finished paying off the finance with hp. We got one as we’d had a serious run of bad luck with cars purchased outright 🤷‍♀️ I refused to sink anymore money into ones which just continually went wrong, and I wanted something bigger for lugging all the kid stuff about. I recently looked at upgrading that car for a new one and the monthly cost came in around £400. No way could I do that, I think we paid £250/300 originally.

2nd car is on hp at £240 a month I did this to get my credit score up, I don’t have long left to pay off. This is Dh car, and his toy/weekend car.

3 rd is owned outright (any my favourite car 😂) cost me £500 to have fixed a couple of months ago…but I just can’t bring myself to sell it, but with the car insurance hike coming up I probably will.

Most people I know have company cars, they are given a yearly allowance and get one from that or have a list they can choose from.

I used to deal with debt situations, people will bankrupt themselves to pay the pcp/hp for a shiny looking car. It was pretty much universal and is completely ridiculous. Generally people get more car than they need and more than they can afford.

PCP is a scam and a trap, don't get involved in it for the sake of a flash car.

Was it brand new and what model and where from?

Though I/we inc all of my family have never leased/etc a car - someone was talking about this a couple of years ago saying that all of the looking after of the car was down to the leas holder and it had to be done as per spec

What deposit was paid and was it a brand new car

so are you say if you have a puncture they repair/replace, pay for the tyre?
Are you saying if you go through a pothole, hit the kerb and damage trye the people you lease car from pays for the tyre? Are you saying the car provides pay from premature wear of tyre due to the wheel alignment being wrong?
Incredible?

In that case I would doubly take @taxguru advice and look for decent second hand with a bank loan rather than PCP.

Which? periodically look at PCPs ans the car market and I've yet to see them find PCPs better value overall. They also highlight the legal triangle problems and risk of being locked into a deal when financial circumstances change. You can't just sell the car or negotiate an extension to the bank loan. I've known people experience both these issues - especially the legal triangle which was exactly the issue of problem new cars they hoped to avoid.

They obviously work for some people but look also at a decent SH over three years old with a bank loan if you need it. Buying this way and keeping until it drops is still the most cost efficient (and much the greenest) way of buying and running a car.

When I got brand new (13 years ago) it was solely because I wanted to. Is that OK?

I am not interested in cars either but people like different things don’t they? I also don’t understand why some people are so interested in handbags, shoes, clothes, makeup or beauty treatments. But lots of people are so there must be something in it.

I like spending a fair bit of money on dinners in really good restaurants. Some people would see that as a waste of money but I enjoy it and find it to be worth the money. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I never worry about MOTs or things going wrong. We buy outright new, and keep them for typically 10-15 years. Because we have them properly serviced at dealership garages and drive carefully, they don't go wrong (not for us anyway). Currently looking at our 16 year old Citroen C3 through the lounge window. Never failed it's MOT, never broken down, never been in the garage except for it's annual service.

I don't know what people do to their cars (or don't do), so that they think anything over 3 years is going to cost thousands and break down constantly.

No one said anything about them breaking down or costing thousands, but there’s a reason warranties are usually 3-5 years.

As a car fan, I couldn’t imagine having the same daily car for 10-15 years. My current daily turned one last month and I already have my sights on my next car.

This is absolute horse shit as long as people are sensible

Yes, I use PCP and have done for a number of years now. Love having a new car every 2-3 years, it's my one luxury

I’m struggling to imagine someone having £400 a month to comfortable pay for a car

Many people have far more disposable income than you think.