To ask what you would do about this car.

[teaandcakeat8]

I own a car on a personal loan.

I only bought it 6 months ago.

Loan is 265 per month for 5 years. Some of the debt in the loan is from money lost on a previous car.

I've just got a new job in London and I likely won't need a car.

If I sell I'll save £180 approx. On the monthly payment (will reduce payment of loan but keep the same years on the term). But I'll be paying this to cover the money lost and won't have the asset.

If I keep eventually I'll own the car obviously but it will have depreciated.

What would you do?

Pretty sure you can't sell if it's on finance - unless you settle the debt quickly after sale.

I can sell because it's a personal loan. So that's irrelevant.

I'd sell it. You also need to factor in the cost of running, taxing and maintaining the car, which can really add up!

Ah, I presumed by loan you meant car loan.
Weigh up all your costs and time each month, see how long driving vs public transport would take and how much each would cost, go with whatever looks best based upon cost and time

Sorry I feel like I'm drip feeding but I'm not!

I won't take the car to commute as there's no parking. It would purely be for weekend use.

I planned to sell my expensive car and buy a very cheap runaround.

But now not sure...

If you don't need a car, it's probably best to sell it, even though you might lose money on it - if you don't own a car, you don't have the costs of running it.

You might not save anything by paying off the loan early though. It might be that you could just put the money in a savings account and use it to pay the loan.

In London, I would seriously look into doing without a car all together and using public transport, taxis, car club or hire cars as necessary.

Add up how much insurance, tax, maintenance, MOTs, breakdown cover and fuel might cost and think about whether the alternatives would be less. If you've already got a monthly travel card for work, public transport within the relevant zone will be at no additional cost for a start.

I think your plan sounds very sensible. When I lived in London I worked out the cost of insurance, tax etc was more than getting a taxi every time I needed a car. Then you've got the depreciation.

It's annoying to sell an asset but at least you will reduce your overall debt.

Sell it. Learn from all this mornes you keep losing on brand new cars and don't do it again!

I didn't buy it brand new, but still it's lost money in the 6 months. I think I would rather buy a very cheap runaround and plough the money into savings.

Sell the car and pay a lump off the loan, but keep the repayments the same. You'll still be saving on tax, ins, petrol and servicing but will pay less interest and clear the debt more quickly.