To think £15K is excessive to spend on a car?

[SunflowerOwl]

DH and I seem to disagree massively over what a 'reasonable' budget is for our new car.

Our requirements are that it will last us a good 10-15 years so not too old (I cant be doing with having to car shop again in a few years time!), is safe and has a big boot as we have a large pram and a dog.

Every car he sends me that he likes seems to be in the region of £15K whereas I was thinking we would need to spend half of that! He tells me I'm out of touch and that's just what decent cars cost these days.

Is this true? Is this really what the average family spend on a family car?!

Thank you for all the recommendations I will look into all of them!

I've been having a browse on auto trader and seems like he (and most of you!) are right that we are going to need to spend more than I thought to get something that suits our needs AND will last so we dont need to go through this again in a few years!

Honestly if it’s going to cost more than £1k per year of ownership for a car plus tax, insurance, MOT, fuel etc I would be doing the sums to see if it would be cheaper to just get a taxi everywhere!

@IhateAntivaccers

Some people never grow up and obsess over "finishes and tyres " like teenagers despite being middle aged. All it takes is a vandal in a supermarket, a dodgy garage, an accident, freak mechanical issue and your cash goes up in smoke.

I dont care about status symbols, if people want to spend 15 k on a look at me car as they drive down the road with no one giving 2 hoots fair enough. You can get reliable cars for under 2k , what else is a car for other than transportation. Id prefer to spend the cash on other stuff

If anyone can find me one for less than £2K I will bite their hand off for it!

I honestly dont give a shite about it being a status symbol or finishes and tires, I'm actually loathe to spend this money knowing that my permanently muddy spaniel and soon DC will be spoiling it but it seems like needs must if we want something practical.

Try CAT S write off used cars. Some very nearly new cars where the bodywork has had to rebuilt after an accident. Basically insurance companies avoid the hassle of repairs and write them off. This devalues the car but if you’re looking for something where re sale value is not important, CAT S is the way to go.

I've been trawling autotrader for mini vans but some of the van type cars look quite good for your budget Renault Traveller, Ford Grand Torneo Connect types. Foldable seats, space for all manner of family guff. Decent looking seats.
Not the prettiest things but OK.

I have a 64 plate Ibiza Toca, which is a mini estate but with Ibiza engine and parts. Its a sports trim, sat nav, leather etc. Had it 5 years. Regularly serviced but no problems. However, it's only about 75 bhp so hills when fully loaded are really slow. I only do 6k a year, so should last another 100k, so could go for longer

@MaBroon21 I think you need to get a grip dear

This is the boot of my car, pram underneath and spaniel/shopping on top. I bought mine for £6,000 with 7,000 miles. I’ve had it for 6 years now and nothing’s ever gone wrong apart from the break pads!

It was an ex-disability car so well maintained and it had a 3 year warranty. For moving particularly big things all of the seats in the car including the front passenger fold down into the foot wells so it’s like a van. It’s not attractive but works well!

The first car we had as a married couple was a brand new H reg celica

Our first car as a married couple was a brand new two door Celica bought in 1977.

Op when using auto trader simply set the price parameters to a very low amount and search, if you cant find anything increase by a small amount each time. The idea that you pay for what you get is a myth despite some of the nonsense written on here, I know people who have spent peanuts on large cars lasting well over a decade and others spending a small fortune in and out of garages

Aren't brand new Kia and Dacia type cars much cheaper than that?

Apparently this may be worth consideration:
www.parkers.co.uk/dacia/duster/review/ I never driven one but I understand they are best value bang for buck in the UK non electric car market. However you may need to consider newer technology hybrid electric models from this French Renault Romanian Dacia sub brand for longevity although the bi-fuel liquefied petroleum gas cars offer economical mileage as usually half of petrol prices with same fuel economy, power performance and feel.

Otherwise many of the German Volkswagen group cars especially cheaper pre owned nearly new non electric cars offer good reliable value. Try Spanish Seat or Czech Skoda as they share many components and are made to very similar standards but at slightly different lower price points. I have driven many Audi, VWs, Skoda and Seat as holiday rentals and they all drive and feel much of a muchness apart from the more sporty versions.

Alternatively South Korean Hyundai and cheaper Kia sub brand offers excellent value propositions too. Much of the engineering is former German BMW etc. The Kia Stringer is particularly cool car usually under the radar with poor residual used values and worth a look if you can find one within budget.

If you want looks and inexpensive then Italian Alfa Romeo has some of the most beautiful cars. They are not always built to VW group Germanic mechanical and fit and finish and durability quality but they win in the looks department.

If you want to future prof and not be hit by ridiculous taxation penalties then plug in hybrid may be the way forward although the UK being far from the Norwegian clean energy car culture means that impracticable home charging options will be a detrimental downfall as well as not knowing much much of the electricity is from new energy sources as it makes no difference bar driven car pollution if the electricity is coal powered etc. Only US Tesla has a practical charging network within the UK as all other electric cars have less charging options given the ongoing roll out of charging infrastructure. Electric cars are still new and with initial technology investment costs and so not being mass market are priced at a premium and only worth considering if your driving profile is high daily mileage eg taxi driver etc.

Finally check out Anna on Roads on YouTube for more general information: www.youtube.com/annaonroads

lol @ the people mad enough to buy new cars when it loses 50% of its value as soon as it leaves the garage forecourt btw

@sst1234

Try CAT S write off used cars. Some very nearly new cars where the bodywork has had to rebuilt after an accident. Basically insurance companies avoid the hassle of repairs and write them off. This devalues the car but if you’re looking for something where re sale value is not important, CAT S is the way to go.

Depends who has put it back together. That murky world is not for your average punter and the OP sounds like a very average punter..

lol @ the people mad enough to buy new cars when it loses 50% of its value as soon as it leaves the garage forecourt btw grin

I like making people happy and I’m glad something is putting a smile on your face.

As for losing 50 percent of the value of a new car - it’s honestly not a problem and I imagine that most of the people who buy new cars don’t give it any thought at all let alone a second one.

I bought my Ford Focus brand new (7 miles on the clock) for 13k 10 years ago and she's still going strong. She has lots of extras too probably standard now like Bluetooth, Sat Nav, auto windscreen wipers and headlights etc. I looked up the identical model today and it's almost double that 🙈

I bought my mazda for £4 000 in 2014 and it's still going strong. No indication that it will be on it's way out anytime soon

45k is an unnecessarily large amount to spend on a car outright 😒🤬

@IhateAntivaccers

lol @ the people mad enough to buy new cars when it loses 50% of its value as soon as it leaves the garage forecourt btw

They really don't, but yes- for many people buying a brand new car isn't the smartest choice and at the right time of year they could probably buy a pre reg that meets all their requirements for a significant saving. Some specific cars- specs etc etc would almost certainly need a new purchase to get exactly what you want. The next sensible point is the 3 year old ex lease cars- many of which have lost the mythical 50% you're talking about... But we just sold a 3 year old van with 33,000 miles on it for £1200 less than we paid for it new, not every vehicle's value drops like a stone

I bought a two year old Honda Civic for £12,800. It'll last us a long time, as long as we don't have any more kids!

We bought a car for £500 that lasted 4 years. It was practically a classic car and built like a tank - I loved it

I think that expecting to keep an internal combustion engined car for the next 10 to 15 years is a bit optimistic, they may well be taxed to truly extortionate levels. I’m planning on keeping my elderly very low mileage petrol engined Focus (ULEZ compliant) until it falls to pieces or the tax becomes crazy, but if it died today I’d be looking at buying something with a maximum life expectancy of five years to tide me over while the electric market matures.

I spent 10k on my last VW which was 3-4 years old with above average mileage
Very happy with it 3 years later and will keep it for at least another 3 years

Our car is a cat s - DP had a minor incident during lockdown, knocked off a mirror and dented the door. Insurance wrote it off without sending someone to see it. It was fixed for a few hundred pounds!

I've only read the last couple of pages, but I think you're potentially pushing 10-15 years of a petrol or diesel car without getting penalised later in its life in respect of emissions. Something to consider maybe.

@Watchingyou2sleezes

Murky world? What do you think this is? Who do you think repairs write offs? Colombian drug lords?