To want to buy a second hand car?

[Looking4wards]

DH and I aren't sure if we should be buying a second hand car.
We have a 17 year old car at the moment and a new baby. It's very very small car, the pram doesn't fit into the boot so it's hard taking DS out anywhere. Visiting relatives at their homes without a pram is ok as we just use the car seat, but anything else would need a pram.
We were thinking of getting a bigger car. Probably be looking at around £10k.

The issue is we have a lot of debt already including a mortgage where the monthly repayment is almost 40% of our take home pay (fixed for a few years so can't re-mortgage), a £15k personal loan and
£3.5k credit card debt.

We're not sure if taking on more debt to buy a car is sensible, but at the same time would love to be able to take baby out.
WWYD?

Did a search on Autotrader... found one that fits our needs for 5k... is that still too much?

Please pay off the credit card debt now before you get sucked into a debt problem. No buying any car until that’s done.

For where to buy cars, and great advice on loan repayment, check out moneysavingexpert.com

Yes it’s too much. You don’t have money yet...please repay the cc debt. Drive only when you need to, and keep using the car until it dies or you’ve saved up for it. Then avoid any credit card debt in the future!

Just limit your spending to 2K. Go on Auto Trader and use the filters to find a garage near you that sells the cheaper end of the market. You can probably get a big estate or people carrier 2009 car that has around 90K on the clock. Before you do any of that check out the insurance and road tax of the car you are interested in. My husband has just bought a car that has £30 a year road tax so we'll save every month by not having to pay a bigger amount.
Also check out a mid range car before buying a massive car that uses more petrol and has higher insurance. Something like a Ford focus should be able to fit a massive push chair and shopping in.
Definitely look at smaller prams too. I think that the Quinny Zapp is a good choice as it folds small enough to fit in a foot well of a car.
Don't believe that you can't get anything good for less than 2K.
Please please please look at your financial situation before it gets out of hand.

Me and dh are the sort of people who treat a car as a tool to get from A to B. The most we have ever spent on a car is £1000 - and that lasted ten years - second hand. Our current car cost £500 and is perfectly adequate - it will probably also last about 5 or 6 more years. I just don't understand people who get themselves in huge debt for a vehicle!! Who cares what it looks like or what is has - if it's big enough and does the job

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201806187613205?advertising-location=at_cars&price-to=5000&postcode=ex331jw&body-type=Estate&model=AVENSIS&page=1&price-from=3000&make=TOYOTA&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used

I've got one of these with 230k miles. 55mpg. Reliable. Loads of safety kit. Huge boot.

www.argos.co.uk/product/6997629

Save yourself £9960

You can hardly afford 5k on a car with all your debts. It's not your money. Use your brain. Pay off your debts then you can have nice 5k cars.

If you have equity in your home you can take additional lending, regardless of whether you are on a fixed rate. The additional lending will just go onto a separate rate from the rest of the mortgage.
You can get a really decent used Ford Focus or similar for around £6k
When I only had 1 kid I managed with a fiesta. Again you could get a 2010 model for £4K roughly
No need to spend a fortune but it sounds like you def need rid of the banger lol

Had a chat with DH... we've decided to wait a few months and re-assess our financial situation after Christmas. Meanwhile we're going to work on paying off all of the cc debt fingers crossed.

Wish us luck!

Why do people keep suggesting that you go to smaller dealers for a decent cheap used car! Big dealers have them too!
You could also try the auctions
Where in the country are you?

If you have equity in your home you can take additional lending, regardless of whether you are on a fixed rate. The additional lending will just go onto a separate rate from the rest of the mortgage.You can get a really decent used Ford Focus or similar for around £6k

Do not ever borrow against your house for something so completely unnecessary.

We bought a second hand car when our second child came along as we had a tiny clio and couldn't cope, would break our backs putting baby's car seat in, we bought the smallest pram we could find on our budget and still wouldn't fit, it took us months and months to find one but we finally did, I had a limit of 3k but we ended up going over that and bought a car at 4.5k, it was 3 years old, had 30,000 on the clock so to us, practically brand new. Look at local car dealers near you, check how long they have been trading, go on local Facebook pages to your town, see if people recommend them, download the vehicle smart app, type in the reg of a car you are interested in, it can tell you it's mot history to see if it's ever failed on any serious faults (it cannot tell you, however, if any faults/repairs outside of a mot so please bear in mind it isn't a guarantee all is ok) a local family run dealer round here takes what type of car you want and how much your willing to pay and will go find a car for you, anything like around where you are?
Go on the debt free wannabe forum on moneysavingexpert, brilliant advice on there, very friendly and helpful people, I go on there just to read their tips and am amazed how much debt people have managed to get out of by making tweaks here and there. X

I sold my last car on eBay for parts (didn't even break it down) for £250 , it didn't even work. Sirens no more than about £2000-£2500 you can get a decent size car with low mileage for that, under ten years old. Don't go to places that offer finance etc or car giant and their I'll, look for local dealers and the cars they've bought part exchange or a private sale with full service history etc. Dint get yourself into even more debt for something that will only depreciate in value

Yes to getting a cheaper car than 10k one. Also if your 0% credit card is about to start charging interest it may pay you to do a balance transfer to another 0% card. Martin Lewis website often lists which 0% deals are the best.

Just seen ur update, good luck! Go to a second hand baby sale and buying a cheap buggy for visiting relatives could tide you over until you can afford a car.
My partner bought an old car quite some years ago and unfortunately had nothing but trouble with it, cost us a fortune and cut out on a motorway.... Alternatively, I had an old cheap ford ka and it served me well for 7 years until rust problems occurred. It's luck of the draw with cars unfortunately. Good idea to hold off for a bit until debts are reduced.

Sounds like a good decision OP. Personally I'd do that too and start off with a small folding pram (we had the zapp xtra, was a stroller but a travel system, only worry was tipping), and then look into cheaper cars once your current one is no longer an option. Good luck with your CC repayments!

I bought my second hand car 8 years ago for just under £3k. I
t is now 14 years old, still going strong and my best buy (Toyota Corolla) I love it.

It has a scruffy paint work outer, air con, powered Steering, decent size boot - which my dog loves, radio-cd, glove box, no fancy inner workings and sun roof.

It fit my pram and buggy when I needed it to, but my kids are older now and no longer use those.

You don't need to spend 10K on a car!!

My friend had a Mothercare travel system and she used to fit in an old Ford Ka. She used to put the folded frame on the other back seat. She now fits the frame in the boot of an original Hyundai i10.

Why don't you speak to someone for debt advice. When you are spending money not yet earned it is easy to get carried away. Buy what you can afford, or stick with what you already have.

My car cost £800, it's low mileage. Ive had it for a year, it's had a new clutch for under £300. 4 cars before that were the same price. You don't need to spend 10k

My previous car was Ford Focus cost under 1k

Once you’ve paid down your debts, you could also look at leasing a car. It saves you outlaying a lot of cash up front. Example: new Dacia Sandero for £130 per month

I think it's wise to wait a while op, you can adapt and make do with the car you have for now It still works and it's functionality can be worked around with little cost.

Iv got a hp on a 5k ish car and it's great with all its perks and only doing its first mot this year but its just as much a financial commitment as a mortgage imo.

Do t lease cars have big upfront payments anyway?