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?

Not certain but they're very expensive.

Xc60 is perhaps a better option?

There seem to be a few on auto trader.

Am more convinced now that buying outright is the best option and now it's about finding the best car.

We bought a 6 month old Touran (7 seats) ex loan car for £18500 or so. we have had it 8 years with nothing all at go wrong. We could sell it for £5500-6000 today. Works out way cheaper than pcp.
Its a far nicer to drive on country roads than a xc90 which feels very mushy so worth a look if you want a 7 seater.

I always go second hand. Brand new just depreciates too quickly.

I wouldn't underestimate older cars though. Think you had a bad one, but my golf is 10 and has barely done anything. I know a golf will be too small but maybe look at older passats or something else.

PCP is the biggest con ever. Well, that’s mine and dhs opinion. There are loads of 3/4 year old cars ready to be leased on any forecourt, and they were the previous PCP cars. They’ve made loads of money out of that one car already on PCP, then they lease the same car next 3/4 years down the line at 10% and make more money out of that also.

I bought my Merc with cash and part exchange. I don’t change cars frequently so a car dealerships worst nightmare. I do a hell of a lot of research on the type of car I want and stick with it for 6/7 years.

at pp saying they choose "low mileage reliable" makes.

Does anyone go car shopping thinking they are desperate for a high mileage completely unreliable car?!

I have a very reliable 2005 car bought for 2500 with 35000 miles on the clock nearly 4 years ago. It is dull but nice to drive (1.6 engine) and basically costs me petrol and an mot/service every year. Had to replace the battery once and also a couple of new tyres. It also has a built in DVD player! PCP just does not make sense to me. I have colleagues who spend £200 upwards on a car they will never own. Obviously is money was no object a new car would be nice but that is the cost of a holiday every year.

You’re deluding yourself about car safety - spend some money on an advanced driving course done by RoSPA or the IAM if you really care about saftey. Fed up with the yummy mummy wankpanzer drivers around here who shouldn’t be let loose with a shopping trolley, let alone tonnes of metal at the school gates.

But to answer the question, we buy outright and use a trusted local garage for maintenance that we can’t do ourselves. Never had any serious issues with Fords or Skoda.

I'd suggest going to have a look at a car auction (google BCA for your nearest). Once people's HP and leased cars are given back at 3yrs old they usually go to the auctions. As we know, HP and leased cars have had regular services and limited mileage, so are great buys. They usually go for £3-4K less than what you'd pay for them in a dealers (you will see car dealers buying loads and putting them onto car transporters to take back to their forecourts, where they will charge a lot more). They are usually warranted. We've had some fantastic bargains from the auctions.

Longdistance Totally agree.

So if someone a bit vulgar wanted to lease an SUV, are there any particulalry good leasing company's you could reccomend?

Mayhemmumma .

Does anyone go car shopping thinking they are desperate for a high mileage completely unreliable car?!

No, but they may go out looking for a cheap car.

I realised some time ago that most cars stand still for 23hrs a day. I now can't justify getting into debt or spending my savings on something that just stands still doing nothing and losing money hand over fist.

We used to buy 2-3yr old cars then run them until the they died. But because cars have become so technical, even a 3yr old £20k car can catch you out.

I always buy outright
Usually 3-4 years old
High end manufacturers mid to top of range
I don’t mind high mileage if there’s a full service history
I drive a lot both work and leisure and couldn’t lease economically due to this

My first car was high milage. DH was getting a company car at the time I passed my test so he transferred it to me as it would have been low value. I got her up to 150,000+ miles before the repairs got pricey around the time she was 10. I then had the budget for a modest, medium sized nearly new car. Two cars in 15 years.

At the point DH found that a company car wasn't worthwhile he bought another nearly new. He did need a loan as it wasn't an ideal moment, but was well within our budget to pay off and save up. This time when we got the most recent car, there was the asset of the older one to trade in.

I'd be very reluctant to lease.

@mrcharlie you're right but often at weekends we drive a lot. To see family and on the motorway. I also drive to clients for my job.

Ideally I want a high safe car.

PS for all those SUV haters at school cross me off we've walked everyday come rain wind or shine.. including snow!

Yep, suv haters who drive to school and judge everyone else. My xc90 is a hybrid and I tow with it. I love my car.

OP male sure you look into fuel consumption if you're going to be driving a lot. Quite a lot of the cars you have mentioned are woefully hard on fuel.

I purchased a brand new Kia, outright in July. Very happy with my choice. Was pre registered, so got a very good discount off the price. It also comes with a 7 year warranty.
Im not sure Id ever go down the leasing line. Friend leases a Nissan Juke, they don’t have a limit on mileage but pay out quite a high figure each month and recently when they wanted a new car, but to buy instead of leasing they realised how much dead money they’d paid and owned nothing outright.
Take a look at Kia, it’s the first car I’ve ever purchased from brand new,always got 3 year old cars before.

I’d never buy a brand new car because of the rate of depreciation. All my cars have been a year or more old. The last car I bought was 12 months old and 8k cheaper because it wasn’t brand new. It onlY had 5k miles. It pained me to part with £16k but was worth it I think

You only need to save up for the first one. Then instead of paying the lease or HP, you save the equivalent monthly amount instead, so you have the money (along with the PX) for your next one a few years later. Overall, it makes no difference - except you save all the finance/interest charges.

I think by the time I'd saved up for the first one, cars will be redundant and folk will be going round on hoverboards.

I've always paid cash for cars, just not very much cash. My trusty Toyota is coming up to its 23 birthday having given me 7 years of faultless service. I'm hoping it reaches its silver anniversary.

OP if you're not worried about brand have you considered a Dacia sandero stepway or duster. They are cheap to repair, very reliable and you get one with all the bells and whistles for a very reasonable price. I think we'll be getting a duster ice I'm back from mat leave. Friends of ours have a very flash Audi and a sandero stepway, guess which one was great in the ice and snow last year....

Do all new cars (by which I mean less than 3 years old) do > 50mpg? My 12 year, 120k miles old car is now doing closer to 40mpg than 50mpg, and given that fuel is the biggest running cost (for me at least) I'm trying to work out if it's time to swap.

(I guess SUV used to pull trailers may not do >50mpg - I assume if you need to go off road to get to work fuel consumption isn't as important)

Nothing really to say that hasn't been said. Although to add to the anti-PCP arguments I'd be worried about deductions for condition when returning the car, looking at the number of scrapes on my own! Hope you find something good OP.

I own my car outright and actually similar boat to willstarttomorrow, it's old but very low mileage for the age.