To ask how you afforded your car?

[letsgogogo]

Me and my partner aren't rich by any standard but we do ok. I wouldn't say we are poor.
Even so we can't afford to buy a new car or a decent second hand car. However, I see so many people driving around in new range rovers and Audi's, BMW and various other really expensive cars and I just wonder how can people afford them? AIBU to think that most of these cars were attained through finance? Or if you have a nice car that you didn't need credit for, how did you manage it?

we have an ancient land rover and an even more ancient volvo. Its pretty much held together with string and dog hairs but it doesnthe job so far

Classic mumsnet, brilliant

P.S you forgot to mention it tows the horsebox well too

We've always bought 2nd hand less than £5k and then replace every 3yrs or so. DH doesn't need a car for work so went down to 1 car a few years back. We decided to lease our latest car as a trial. It's a new Seat Leon Cupra, super fast and all the gadgets I've been missing with the older cars I've been driving. It costs us £256pm which I don't think is bad for a £30k car. We might continue to lease after this one goes back or buy 2nd hand again, we'll see what lease deals are around and if they're affordable.

We borrowed the money from my in-laws and paid it back over 5 years with interest.

We’ll be part-exing that and getting a new one on finance next year. Should be £200 a month.

My sister and her partner have company cars.

I cannot understand why people are so eager to own a deprecating asset outright (and waste savings that could be used for a family emergency on it) when there are 0% finance options with warranty available.

We have one Comapny car new one every three years. Currently large Skoda. Next one may end up being large Audi estate sadly as they are giving them away. Would like an electric but lease costs are massive currently.

Also have a second car which we bought for cash at 11 months old will keep for 10+ years. Previous car was a 2007 Zafria which we’d owned for 10 years.

Because that car that we own outright has given us 6 years of good, reliable service after we bought it at 18 months old with only 10k on the clock and is still under warranty as Toyota offer reasonably priced extensions to their initial 5 year warranties. It's also fairly cheap to run, despite being a large car.

We still have savings for a family emergency.

We could have afforded a new car but we don’t like to waste money on them as they depreciate massively as soon as you drive them home! And we don’t like paying interest. Didn’t want to use savings so got a 0% credit card which had, I think, something like a 30 month 0% period on it and put it on that. Garage tried to charge us for using it but we stood our ground and then paid it off over the 0% period. Probs saved us about £500 in interest versus finance and meant our savings were still gaining interest (albeit paltry rates!)

And the PP who has paid 265 per month to lease, would have paid what our car cost us and at least half as much again, after 6 years.

@Praiseyou

Maybe because some people don't want a monthly payment, to be tied to a finance company, have bad credit, have little or no credit history, want a car they can't get on finance (iirc finance only covers cars up to ten years old), have jobs were they get paid irregularly.... I'm sure I could think of more...

I cannot understand why people are so eager to own a deprecating asset outright (and waste savings that could be used for a family emergency on it) when there are 0% finance options with warranty available.

Because it works out cheaper if you want to keep it for several years. Because you can get some exceptionally good deals by paying outright at some times of the year when the dealers are desperate to sell (just ahead of their quarterly deadlines).

Time and time again, I've compared leasing against buying outright and every single time, buying outright has worked out cheaper over the ownership of the car. It may be a depreciating asset but you can still get a good part exchange for it if it's looked after and similar/low mileage to the typical lease deal.

If you really need a brand new car every 3 years, then yes, probably lease is best, but if you're happy to keep the car for 5, 7 or 10 years, probably buying outright will be far cheaper.

I cannot understand why people are so eager to own a deprecating asset outright (and waste savings that could be used for a family emergency on it) when there are 0% finance options with warranty available
What is hard for you to understand? Many people have paid for their cars and dont want to have monthly payments especially if their income is variable.
My car is serviced regularly and I have weekly checks done. I havent had to make a payment n 5 years since ive owned the car so that's saved me a fortune and I can afford repairs ( or a new car when needed) I've gt entry if money for famiy emergeicies if I need it. I refuse to get a new or newish car for the foreseeable future as sometimes our cars get trashed at work, sometimes accidentally, sometimes deliberately. It's an occupational hazard I guess!!

We could have afforded a new car but we don’t like to waste money on them as they depreciate massively as soon as you drive them home!

Only if you pay list price. If you haggle and buy when the dealers are desperate to hit targets you can get some pretty hefty discounts. The last new car we bought had a list price of £20k. We paid £15k - so a 25% discount due to hard bargaining and knowing when the quarterly registration deadlines were! We could have sold it the next day and got our money back, so no "depreciation" at all on driving it away. In fact they had a low mileage ex-demo on the forecourt which was £1k more expensive!

I always assume most people with nice new cars have them on PCP's/finance as who has that much cash?

I do have a well off relative who still does his car(s) on PCP generally as he says buying outright if you change every few years is crazy as they loose most of their value in the first few years. He occasionally buys special cars outright if he thinks they will hold their value or he will keep them for a long time.

We have one nice car which we saved to buy (2nd hand() outright as we planned to keep it until it died, but the new diesel rules have ruined that and also made it worthless and probably un-useable in a few years 😩.

I pay £200 a month interest free for a very reliable, cheap to run car. We’ve had massive old gas guzzlers before. We needed something reliable and stress free because there was so much other shit going on in our lives. I feel a bit guilty about having a brand new car but we will keep it for many years. We have the money to pay off the balance when due. It’s been awesome to have something shiny and new and chosen by me for the first time.

There is a lot of emotion tied up in cars isn't there.

One could make an argument for spending a certain amount for safety, size etc, but where is that line?
A decent second hand car can be bought for just a few thousand pounds ( I aways buy cars for hundreds, not thousands), I couldn't imagine buying a car that costs more unless I was Lotto type rich.
Status, luxury, comfort ( not that important unless you have a medical condition or driving many hours a day) are all important to many it seems.

My dad bought mine for me.

Paid £400 for mine it’s 18 years old and I love it. Driven all over Europe with it. She’s a workhorse. Only ever cost me brakes and tyres. Insurance cheap too even though it’s a 2.3 7 seater. Doesn’t need to be costly to be reliable if it’s looked after.

Took a low interest loan out and bought a car outright. Probably best way to go unless you're rich or have savings and can buy a car without getting into (manageable) debt.

Finance or tax rebate. Were due an £11k rebate when we put our next taxes through, we will spend 8 of it on a car and the other 3 in the pot for retirement.
Never again would I finance another car unless we really were on the bones of our arses and it was the difference between getting to work and not.

Last car my parents paid for and I paid them back monthly until I sold it then gave them a lump sum back. Current vehicle is leased through my business but classed as a commercial vehicle so low personal tax and we can claim vat etc back through the business. Over the last 20 years I've had a variety of very old, couple of year old and brand new cars, some cash, some hp, some pcp but all just depends on circumstances at the time. I like a nice car and factor it in as a life expense. XH would buy any old banger and run it into the ground then buy another cheapy but he couldn't care less about cars!

Savings but ds has high rate mobility so that will offset some of the spending. It was bought for its functionality and we plan on keeping it till it dies.

I've been thinking about this recently too...………

My current car was given to me by my in-laws. A 2003 VW Passat, it only has 103k on it now and I'm praying it lasts me another few years until I can buy another one outright. My other car was a Renault Scenic, I bought when I passed my test for £450 with 130k on the clock, I got 4 years out of it before it went to the scrapper in the sky...….. I got £100 for scrap for it.