To not want to empty the bank to buy a car?

[Shannny]

We have around £8k in our bank. By the end of the month this will go down to about £6k - then we’ll get paid and it will go back upto £9k before dwindling down again with mortgage, bills and groceries etc.

Generally we add around £500 a month to the “max balance” but sometimes we lose that and we’ll be same as month before or less.

Anyway, we both desperately need new cars. Both of our cars are over 10 years old and are starting to fail and cost a lot in repairs. We’ve only had them for around 4 years.

I’m starting to think it’s false economy buying these old cars. One of them has cost us more in repairs than we actually bought it for. We’re talking thousands.

So we need to replace at least one of them. Looking at Ford Kuga. DH says the max we can spend is £7k and it has to come out of bank. No credit. This will wipe out our bank account (that we’ve spent years building up) for another old car.

I think we should get one on zero interest credit and spend around £10k. This will get us a much newer car with less miles.

YABU - DH is right, use the money you have in bank even though it will wipe you out and leave you with no safety net

YANBU - get in on credit so you get a decent car for once.

I went with the 0% credit option and never looked back for the same reason. I can budget my monthly payments but couldnt budget for extra grand here and there my old car was costing me. Mine is brand new so has 3 year warranty and I also get my services on a plan so pay monthly for that. It's been so much less stressful

I think you’re right.

Also why not put the money you want to keep aside in a separate “savings” account so it reminds everyone not to spend it?

I would go with your suggestion, 0% interest and keep savings.

A newer car won't necessarily be more reliable. Go for a used car with FSH that is relatively inexpensive to repair.
A Ford Focus or Fiesta would probably be cheaper than a Kugo

It would but we need a big car for the dog. I have a focus now and it’s a bit of a squeeze

How big is the dog?

have you checked there are even 0% deals out there on middle-aged cars? I've seen a couple on new cars but not so much on used. With rates high that might be difficult and it may be cheaper to use savings

having said that it depends how safe those savings are - if you think you can put away £5k a year (£500 a month with a couple of months skipping like your description) then it shouldn't be too bad. If that tends to wander up and down like a yoyo and you dip into it regularly, then better to keep it safe and accessible

Buy a second hand Toyota they are the most reliable cars, we always have them. Mine got written off because it was crashed in to in a car park when parked minding its own business and DH just wanted a new car a few years ago, I saw his old car working as a taxi a year later and it was incredibly old.

Leonberger (st Bernard sized)

Bet that wasn't the answer expected about the dog. Definitely a big one! (And beautiful).

As long as you manage it sensibly which it sounds like you will, I'd do as you suggest,

I would do the zero interest credit, as long as you can manage the payments.

A seven/eight-grand Kuga (or whatever) isn’t necessarily going to be the last word in reliability either, and you might end up doing many of the same repairs again that you’ve already done on your current cars.

Personally, I’d keep the older ones going. I run older cars, and I have a sort of monthly slush fund and do preventative maintenance out of that.

Sorry, a ten-grand Kuga or whatever

How about a Kia Sportage? I just need a big car that don’t break the bank. We do love Kuga but not sure if it’s the best way to go finance wise

I can see both sides of this so I'm not voting.

Do either of you have any relatives or friends from whom you can borrow some money (interest free ideally, or at a lower interest rate than a bank) so as not to need credit? Apologies if you've already thought of this and it's not viable. It's just that it's how we get our cars.

Sorry ignore me! I've just seen it's interest free credit.

If you’re looking at a Sportage size car I’d highly recommend the Hyundai Tucson, super reliable and cheap to run. I bought a year old one 6 years ago and have never had a days bother with it.

In general I’d go for a newer car on finance than buying an older one outright, I can budget for repayments but not for random repairs especially when I rely on the car for school runs etc the inconvenience of having it off the road is worth paying more for the car.

I thougt it would be something like a St Bernard or Great Dane.

I'm another one who has an old car. Usually bought from someone I know and trust. Not had a bad un yet. I'd forgotten that new car prices had gone up a lot since I last looked.

It's not a good time to buy a used car right now. You'd probably be better off looking at a new one. An estate car might be an option.

I would seriously consider going down to one newer car. Even if it means occasional taxis, it's still cheaper.

I’m with you on this.

I bought my last car when it was 5 years old and over the years I spent thousands more on repairs than I spent on it in the first place. I accept that I should have moved on sooner but it had sentimental value. 😞
It was scrapped at 13 after a repair quote for about 5 times the value of the car. It had a good run, but these repairs were getting more frequent and more expensive.

After all that I wanted peace of mind so I opted for a new car on a good finance deal, with a decent manufacturer warranty. If anything malfunctions in the next few years, it’s covered. Always check what is and isn’t included and the terms of warranty period/mileage, but overall the warranty was a big selling point and they tend to be longer with new cars.
Plus no MOT for three years, which was always an expensive time with my old car.
On a purely indulgent note, it was my first brand new car and I loved being able to choose it. It’s orange!

As long as you can comfortably afford the payments and you’re confident your financial position is not likely to change (obviously anything can happen, but YKWIM), I’d say go for it. Keep your emergency fund for just that.

Just saddle the dog up like a horse

Hyundai and Kia are the same brand, sometimes it is the exact car with a different look to it, (Kia Venga and Hyundai i20 are the same car) weird difference being that Kia offer a 7 year warranty and Hyundai a 5. I always wonder why some car manufacturers still only offer a 3 year warranty. Way to stand by your brand.

Dh has a Kia sportage. Great car. I would do what you have suggested and put the car on a 0% with a view to how long it will take you to pay that back and then you keep the savings.

The one thing I will suggest doing is get an independent mechanic to look over the car. The easiest way to do this is AA which I think cost us just under £200 for the vehicle and all the other checks that you can do. This meant that recently when I bought a 2 year old car with a full service history I could reject it based on a fault picked up by us on the test drive, backed up by the AA report and then a failure by the dealership to be able to fix said fault. I got a full refund. Just because a garage has serviced it does not mean a car does not have faults.

Can we....can we see the dog? 👀

0% interest is sensible - especially since you have the cash siting there earning interest but available to pay off the loan should the need arise.
There's not going to be too much difference (other than availability) in reliability/age/condition between a 7k and a 10k kuga though.

I would go crazy knowing I spent all my savings. Your idea is better.