To wonder why people don't buy cheaper cars

[JaceLancs]

This has come up on a few threads recently about people saying they can't afford a car
Why not just buy something older smaller or cheaper?
The most I would consider spending would be £5000 and I would have to borrow or save that - if my current 14 year old car becomes unrepairable in the near future I would buy a put me on for around £1000
DD last car was £800 DS just bought first car for less than £500
They are all very reliable and cheap to run and repair
DD and my car both come into cheap insurance and tax brackets

"They are all very reliable and cheap to run and repair"

I've not been so lucky... some good, some bad. Newer the car, the more good things & more reliable.

OP you have been lucky with your family's cheaper cars. It would be a bit naive to buy a £500 car and expect it to be reliable and cheap to maintain!

My car is 17 years old, cost me £3k about 8 years ago and is absolutely fine.

When it goes I'll probably spend about £3K on another one.

But I don't use if for long distance and also my DH has a car in better nick that we use for motorway etc. So quite lucky really.

i don't get it either, but i agree different things make different people happy and my DH loves his slightly more expensive than necessary car, and he doesn't have any other hobbies. I can see that something like the aston martin db9 is a thing of beauty even though i'm not sure morally i could ever agree with buying one.

I normally set a limit of £500-£600 for a car.My present one cost £425 about 7 years and 80,000 miles ago and I love it.MOTs can be expensive,but it has only let me down once in that time.It is now 18 years old and has done 230,000 miles.

I think second hand is much wiser as long as you are a bit selective about the make. I have spent less on all the second hand cars I've had (including repair bills) in 15 years of driving than my BIL spends on a new car every three years. Looking underneath it for rust before you buy, checking when the cam belt was replaced, checking bodywork for signs of resprays (and hence panels having been replaced/ pulled out after knocks) and checking out the service history pays dividends. Also I tend to stick to Japanese cars as they're more reliable and better made, though do your research as, for example, the post 2003/4 Nissan Micras now have Renault engines in (not so reliable).

I spent years running cheap old cars. They were reliable as XH is a mechanic and would make sure everything was safe.

Nowadays I prefer a newer model with more safety features etc. I have had two brand new ones which I ran for 6 or 7 years so did get my money's worth.

DH most recent cars have been virtually new - so the ex demo/ showroom manager's company motor. That way he got top spec but at a huge discount.

He does have spreadsheets to calculate costs and depreciation though

I only care about reliability, safety and fuel economy - couldn't care less what it looks like. Think I got a good deal on my car because it's incredibly ugly - I'm the only person below 70 I've ever seen driving one too. Suits me fine. If I could afford it (I can't) I'd go electric though.

If you buy an older car, you take more of a gamble and may pay out a lot in repairs quite soon after buying it.

Or if you buy a new car it could be recalled due to a safety defect.

My car cost €800 and has cost very little in terms of repairs. It's a 1ltr so extremely fuel efficient and has a brilliant safety rating. Even with my very high insurance costs (I'm a new learner driver with no NCB) my entire running costs for the year are less than the annual finance payments alone would be on a new car. A tenner was all the gadget that lets me tune my phone into the audio system so I can use it as a music player and sat nav cost. My car looks nice, gets me from A to B just as fast a new car would and was affordable with the spare cash in my current account.

Why not just buy something older smaller or cheaper?

Surely someone has to buy new cars so that you can buy older cars?

Fine for you to buy cheaper, older cars, but why are you wondering about other people?

Also, clearly some people want or need bigger cars, for comfort, family size, carrying luggage.

Do you really need this explained to you?

Disclaimer, my current car was bought as a 1 year old used, and is about 15 years old now. I'm waiting for it to pack it up to change.

Oh and as to why people don't buy cheaper cars - they can be a false economy.

After a few years cars do start to fail and repairs can really add up. If someone is in a situation whereby a car is a major expenditure then surely it's better to know the costs upfront rather than have to suddenly find a £1K here and there for repairs.

Newer cars are also safer and cleaner and cost effective to run. (except some VW diesel )

That's my issue with my current car. It eats petrol.

We are retired so only need 1 car now.

We always buy brand new and change every 3 years. We pay cash unless there is a 0% finance deal.

Our latest one we have had for almost a year and they offered £2k discount if we initially took out a leasing agreement which we paid off in full 3 months later so saved around £1500 in total.

Depreciation is awful and especially as 20% of the initial cost is VAT 😡 but DH loves nice cars and he can easily afford it so all fine plus it never costs a penny as he usually manages to get a free or heavily reduced service plan for the 3 years we will have it. (Also our latest car gives 60 miles plus to the gallon )

We had many years of buying runarounds when first married but we don't eat out very often or buy designer goods, paid the mortgage off years ago although we do spend quite a bit on holidays so this is one of our little indulgences. Each to their own really.

Depends. When I was young my dad bought bangers from the mart for a couple of hundred quid and kept them running himself. We happened to live in an area where two of the 5 neighbours were mechanics, and one had a steading all fitted up with a proper car lift thingy. That neighbour lent Dad his lift and each of the mechanics would give him advice about how to do things. Even so, my childhood was enlivened by frequent breakdowns, exhausts falling off and being tied back on with baler twine, doors that didn't shut properly (dog nearly fell out once), windows that wouldn't go down etc etc.

I now live 3.5 hours drive away from my dad and don't know any mechanics. I don't know how to do any of the minor repairs Dad managed to do himself. I did have a car in 2014 that cost £275 and ran for a year (battery wasn't great but I jumpstarted it as required and I didn't spend anything on it), but when its MOT came around I was quoted £700 - it wasn't worth it. If I had someone to teach me a bit or lend me tools, I would try to learn these things, but as it is, I have just got a car on finance - 2013 Hyundai, purchase price £4200. I'm hoping this car will keep running for the next 7-10 years without costing a fortune to get through its MOT.

I wouldn't buy a brand new car, though - to me, a 'new' car is anything from this decade.

I did buy new once. Never again. It broke down before it had left the garage.
The most I have ever spent on a car since and prior to the one I have got now is £1200.

Chosen carefully, taking into account mileage, age, how many previous owners and if that all looks good the address of the vendor and the feel of had these people were they boy racers or were they middle aged ladies who were selling because they just wanted a newer car. Or did they look like they had used the car to transport junk to the tip or they had only used the car to commute a few miles to work.

My last car cost £920 and passed it's mot virtually every year. It did need work doing on it every year like tyres brakes etc and the odd other repair but it was only once per year and never more than £350.

I had that car for 9 years and got £75 for spares or repairs when I sold it

It makes me weep when friends seem to go through thousands every year on cars then complain the family is struggling..

Because old cars can be false economy as they go wrong and need (sometimes) expensive repair. If you can repair yourself then great, if you know someone with reasonable rates and won't rip you off then great. But often you end up being ripped off and having unnecessary work because they see you coming basically.

I would always try and get the newest car I could even if that meant taking out a loan.

We recently bought a new car. It's a BMW and cost E15k.
Buying it was DHs idea. He has always wanted a BMW and although he works hard to support us he never gets anything for himself and I think he just felt that he deserved it.
We have just finished off paying for our other car which was new when we got it. It's 3 years old now so it's mine now and my old small car got traded in.
I would have liked to enjoy not having a car loan for a while and saving a bit of money but we can afford the repayments and running costs and it's nice having 2 good cars. We've had some bangers and the repairs and maintenance can be expensive.

YABU, older cars can be a false economy. They start off fine and then they start costing a bomb. I need my car for work (driving miles to see clients in rural areas) and I cannot tell you how stressful it was everytime my old banger had an issue. Winter was a nightmare. When my car died, I needed one straight away and didn't have time to save up. I could easily afford the monthly payments on finance though. I don't have to dread icy mornings wondering if I can get the damn door open. Don't underestimate the cost of not having those worries if you need your car.

I've had my car from new (on finance) and I like knowing I've got a 5 year warranty, no MOT and services are paid for. It'll go back after 3 or 4 years and I'll do the same again as I'd have to have a loan anyway so I might as well have finance on a new car.

I buy new and change every three years. I spend quite a lot of time in the car and want piece of mind, safety and reliability. The car is saved for so I never use finance. I negotiate for a good deal and get discounted service plans included.

I paid £250 for my car but that was through a friend of someone we know. It had been in the same family since new and had full service history. Normally for this price I wouldn't have even looked at it.

Prior to that I paid £1500 for a Peugeot 206 Estate and would advise no-one ever to get one of these. It was nightmare. Head gasket went, water pump went, alternator went and then finally major fault with computer which completely stumped the garage.

I eventually got £60 scrap value and the man who collected it for the scrappage company described it very fittingly as a "dog"!

I would love to spend £5000 on a car!

As long as they can afford it and don't have their priorities wrong, good luck to them. On that last point though, I do think it's sadly too common nowadays to hear people complaining they can't make ends meet whilst they have a new, well-specced car each, the latest iPhones, full Sky package etc etc etc. Their choice though.

Personally, a good car has been low down my personal list of priorities for a long time as I've had more important things to spend money on. I tend to buy a low-to-mid-range car around 3 years old and run it till it's ready for the scrapyard. I can do a lot of maintenance/repairs myself as I grew up in an era where if you wanted to own a car and weren't loaded you bought a banger, a Haynes manual and a socket set and just got on with learning basic mechanics.

Now that the youngest child has reached adulthood I will probably treat us to a nicer car than we've been used to in the next year or so.

We bought a new car on finance in 2014 for security after multiple failures with second hand cars.

2011 - £300 on second hand car which lasted 3 months
2011 - £1800 on second hand car which ended up needing multiple repairs, finally blew out on motorway and needed £2000 worth of repairs
2013 - £2500 on second hand car which needed some repairs and then starting leaking oil. Car needed new engine!

At this point we didn't want to spend any more money on second hand cars. So we bought a new car that was end of line so we paid about £13.5k instead of £18k it would have cost. We then saved in addition to monthly repayments and paid the car off in 3 years instead of 5. Big selling point for us was the lifetime warranty. So far no repairs...

Because a small car won't fit in all the stuff/people they need to carry about sometimes. (Even if when you see them they are driving alone with no luggage, doesn't mean that other days of the week they've not got to fit in 5/6 people and lots of sports equipment.)

Because old cars can end up costing more in the long run if you drive a lot and have lots of repairs/petrol costs.

Because they need something with a powerful engine if they regularly need to tow something. (eg caravan, trailer, horse box.)

Because they regularly need to go off road.

Because they need to drive long distances regularly and want to drive something comfortable/arrive without their back being knackered.

Because they need to be able to rely on the car with no other way to complete tasks they need each day so would rather pay a little more for peace of mind that it'll start every time. (It sounds like you have 3 cars in your household at least so if one didn't start, it wouldn't be the end of the world, someone could give you a lift, and possibly you live somewhere with public transport options.)

Because they enjoy cars and nice ones make them happy. (I see my car as a tool. I recognise other people enjoy them.)

In the past, a £300 banger could be patched up and would run for years!
Nowadays with in built computer obsolescence, unless you go REALLY old, an old car is a false economy, and likely to become un-repariable soon.

(grr @ built in obsolescence!!)

A new or nearly new car saves you having to write off your car for scrap, and are cheaper to repair. A brand new car will have a pretty good warrantee so you don't have to worry about being hit with unexpected bills. - easier to budget a regular car payment than constant irregular repairs on a 6/7 year old car.

A lot of cheapish cars are false economies! Unless you can find one old enough to not run on computer which has been well maintained (like my previous car, which actually wasn't that cheap!)