To buy a car outright?

[tumericmasala]

I'm in a conundrum. We need a new car - our car is 10 years old we've spent a lot on it this year. The manufacturer and an independent mechanic have both said that the repairs are not with it.

My family say buy a car outright. So we're looking at 3 year old cars (to take into account depreciation but to account that it's still fairly new). My BF always leases but it doesn't make sense. I suppose we've always bought a car about 3 years old then just ran it til it's end of life.

But now I'm thinking rather than a huge £20k outlay on a new car (I want a decent and safe SUV) are we better off leasing?

*worth and BF is best friend

Leasing is only worth it if you want a new car every 3 or 4 years. Buying a newish second hand car outright which you keep for years is most cost effective.

I would buy. With leasing you will have to pay a lot if you decide to buy after three years and modern cars last lots longer than three years if well maintained.

Not very coherent, sorry.

We always buy a few years old car out right and then run them in to the ground. We looked at leasing and like pp decided it was only worth it if we were bothered about having a new car every few years...which we aren't!

There will be as many opinions as there are people, so in the end, do what suits you best.

My last few cars have been on PCP and I understand all the stuff about not owning the car and all the other things that people say, but it suits me. I can have, within reason, the car I want with the spec I want and I can change it for another model or another brand.

Obviously cars depreciate and you have to factor the cost of the monthly repayments, but there are deals available and service plans, so you don’t need to worry about those costs for a while. I know people who happily spend £10,000 on a holiday, but wouldn’t want to have a lease car. Horses for courses. I enjoy having a car that has up to date features and that, if something goes wrong, it gets fixed without having to find extra cash.

We always outright buy 3-4 year old cars and keep them until they die, but at the £8k or under level.

I must admit I get a wrinkle on my forehead with someone describing an SUV as "decent and safe" - you're buying a Chelsea tractor love, with no visibility of other people's kids on the school run. Rrrrgh. Judgmental I know, but.

We always have to buy new because of adaptations we have to make but we also feel the warranty that comes with new cars is very reassuring - because of our adaptations we can't just use a loan until any repair is made. I think we would do this now even if we didn't need to. Yes the price drops, and you're avoiding that by getting a 3 years old one, but leasing seems to me, as pps have said, to be about wanting to upgrade a car the way you might a phone, i.e. preference rather than necessity (ooh except perhaps for poeple who rack up the miles on their jobs?).

What I can't understand about leasing is the restriction on the mileage you can do per year. My friend ends up having to use public transport to avoid going over her mileage which seems counter-intuitive to me. I like the freedom of owning my own car and driving to Europe on holiday if I feel like it.

I agree with Spoonbender that Subs are not especially safe, I also read somewhere that they are more prone to roll. However that wasn't your question! I think buying outright is the way to go, leasing tends to work out more expensive over the long term.

I always lease. I have no desire to run a car into the ground and to have the hassle of break downs/repairs. However, if you don’t mind that and plan on keeping the car for a long time then I’d buy outright and nearly new.

Subs = SUVs Autocorrect is so annoying!

I'd buy a car outright if possible and run it till the end. You can take out service plans to keep costs down.
But you don't have to fork out £200 + each month on a car that you don't own. And let's face it could become a burden if your financial situation changes.

Blimey what are you doing to your cars of they're life expired after 10 years?

If this one purchased for 20 odd grand at three years old only lasts another 7 years like its predecessor, that's 3 grand a year before its moved a millimetre with nothing to show for it at the end.

Our last two cars have been a year old and bought outright. Last time, sold the twelve year old car and started again because it was starting to cost money. It was a cheap model whereas my latest car is the car I've always wanted, so I hope I'll keep it longer.

ive just bought a 3 year old car not 20k does it need to be that much i dont know if you wold comprmise

my car is a golf only paid 11k

havea look round on auto trader and the like car giant etc theyre all checked and have hpi checks done at the car showroom dealer

Buy nearly new (about 3 yrs old or newer) with FSH. Research which cars are reliable and easy and not expensive to fix. Buy with money not a loan/HP. Avoid cars that people buy because they 'look good' as they are not as likely to have been looked after, and avoid cars that were sold to the previous owner by a used car supermarket. If you can, get a mechanic to check the car before you buy.

If you're going to spend £20k, then buy something better than an SUV.

The main difference between leasing and buying is whether or not you want a brand new car every three years.

A used car will last you as long as you look after it. Get repairs done as soon as anything starts going wrong and get a yearly service done. I've just sold a car that was 12 years old, did about 120k miles and was still running perfectly. It was well looked after though.

The other day I looked at lesson and hire purchase and figured out he exact cost over the term of the contract compared to buying outright. I’ll keep buying outright.

Lease *

Boys. That's your friends fault and no-one else's. I've sold cars for years and the mileage restriction is set by the customer. Advertised prices are at the minimum mileage because that's going to have the lowest monthly payment, but I've had people on PCP with an agreed annual mileage of 25000 before. Equally, I've had people who do 12000 but wanted it set at 8000 to get to the monthly payment they wanted. It would only have been another tenner a month to get to where they needed to be mileagewise but they preferred to be in negative equity for longer to save a tenner a month - each to their own.

Thanks folks. I think our car it's a BMW 3 series really should last longer and it's about 95000 miles.

It's the body work really and also young children.

It's interesting you says SUVs are not so great.

Yes we will look into FSH.

We ideally want a 7 seater although don't need a 7 seater.

It's the big question isn't it - what is the best car to buy?

I personally prefer the 2nd hand option. This is because

1. I don't want to be tied to monthly payments possibly long term
2. I am quite careless and my own car is full of scratches and breaks etc..

Also not sure if you would be tied to expensive garages for service and repairs

If you prefer new you can see if there is a 0% buy option.

Don't want a car older than 3 years and looking at low mileage. It's to counter act the main depreciation element of the first 3 years and then we'll keep it.

Don't want to think about monthly payments.

Want a safe family car.

I like bangernomics myself. I bought a 2004 Seat Arosa in 2015 (50,000 miles on the clock), so 11 years old at the time for £1,300. In the nearly 4 years I've owned it I've spent around £600 in repairs on things like new brake discs and pads, new tires, a new high pressure fuel line, a gear box oil sump and general service stuff.

I get 13 weeks off a year from my job so I plan maintenance and repairs around those so it works quite nicely.