Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

If you have a car on finance, why?

301 replies

Cupboarddoorknob · 19/12/2025 16:24

Genuinely curious and not a dig.
I’ve only ever owned three cars, my first car my parents bought for me was an old banger, then the other two I’ve bought myself one for £6k which I saved for and then ran it until I realised repairs were silly and sold it on for £3k to cut my losses, I used that £3k and a bit of savings to buy my now car which cost between £3 and £4k and seems to be doing well so far. DH has always bought his cars cash as well.
We have friends who have up to £1k a month going out for car payments, all the while they are stressing about their outgoings, not able to save, not living in poverty obviously but it strikes me as total madness to have this monthly expense on a depreciating asset, even if it does bring a level of enjoyment.

OP posts:
NearlyMonday · 19/12/2025 18:26

GalaxyJam · 19/12/2025 17:44

I don’t want to own a car. I don’t want to be responsible for the upkeep and maintenance. I’d rather lease (rent) one. I drive it, if something goes wrong, they take it away; fix it and bring it back. After 3 years, I give it back and get a new one. Suits me perfectly.
I am not struggling for money though, or moaning about the payments.

Same here, and I pay £370 per month for a car that was brand new in the summer.

AccidentalPrawnYouFool · 19/12/2025 18:27

Because I can afford a car on finance. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Btowngirl · 19/12/2025 18:32

Initially, disposable income when I was young & liked driving newer nicer cars and not having the hassle of MOT’s etc. Had paint & alloy protection and MOT’s/servicing included. Then I continued as did a lot of driving around the country for work & wanted newer and no stress of breakdowns etc. I’ve bought my last finance car outright now though!

BellRock1234 · 19/12/2025 18:32

GalaxyJam · 19/12/2025 18:14

No deposit on mine as it’s leased through my work scheme.

Same. No deposit.

Motheranddaughter · 19/12/2025 18:37

Mine goes through my business
I love my car and paying it on finance helps my budgeting

MsCactus · 19/12/2025 18:40

Why do we have a car on finance?

So my DH is a high earner, but we have X2 DC in childcare - in order to get the 30 funded hours we have to salary sacrifice to bring us under £100k earnings. This means we have more each month than if we didn't salary sacrifice, because of the childcare funding.

We previously bought a car outright - the engine blew almost immediately, cost a fortune and we lost so much money on it. It wasn't a brand new car but not particularly old. Buying a car was definitely not worth it for us money wise.

My DH's work do a salary sacrifice car scheme - we got a new car on finance on that. It brings his income down, which allows us to get free childcare (so more £ each month overall) and we get a new car, with all the warranties and security that comes with that.

You honestly couldn't convince me to buy a second hand car again.

epicpaydat · 19/12/2025 19:47

We have car payments of nearly £700 but our monthly income is £8000 net (the rest of our outgoings are pretty minimal) so honestly, I just don’t think about it, £700 is not a concern to me and I like new cars with all the features. We own one of our cars outright.

mumofoneAloneandwell · 19/12/2025 19:48
Notrich GIF by Oi

Povvo 😭😭😭

Vera87 · 19/12/2025 20:22

Because I don’t have the money for a brand new car but need a car to commute to work. I usually buy a 2-3 year old car on finance over 3 years when it’s paid off. I then keep it until it’s knackered, currently this one I have is now 11 years old but failing.

Vera87 · 19/12/2025 20:22

Btw my max monthly amount is £210

museumum · 19/12/2025 20:22

We have a camper a that’s not great in terms of emissions (its diesel) and needs a bit of work every year to keep going but we love it.
we have a small car on finance (250/month) as it needs no maintenance and more importantly it’s brand new and extremely fuel efficient. In three years we’ll probably go electric so don’t want to buy petrol outright now.

BDenergy · 19/12/2025 20:27

I lease cars. I like having a fixed monthly payment and no surprises. My car isn’t flash but it was expensive as irs electric and would be out of my price range to buy it.

Different people have different priorities.

Didimum · 19/12/2025 20:31

Our financed EV is through my DH’s work. £600 a month pre tax, so only takes £300 off monthly income. That covers insurance and everything. Only spend £30 a month charging it. We were spending £250 a month in petrol before, plus insurance, road tax and repairs annually.

Best thing we ever did.

Radiator981 · 19/12/2025 20:35

First time I’ve done it and it’s an EV I got free supercharging for a year and I literally have done 13000 miles in 8 months. I lease it through my limited company and it’s just made such a difference to my life as I spend so much time on the road.

toomanydicksonthedancefloor1 · 19/12/2025 20:40

I love cars, and I want a newish prestige car. Not to show off to other people, because it brings ME joy. Couldn't care less about a new kitchen or bathroom or designer handbag. Cars are my thing. Everyone is different.

NewCushions · 19/12/2025 20:54

As everyone else has said, there are lots of reasons based on personal finances, personal circumstances, and preferences.

DH and I know nothing about cars. So we are never going to buy a cheap second hand car because quite frankly, we wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a car that will work well and one that is going to need lots of expensive repairs.

Which means we always have to finance becuase we can't afford a newer/more reliably reliable car outright.

But then, becuase we are the people we are, we get loands and pay off those cars. So we have two cars. One we bought new on a 0% finance deal and, at the end of the deal, we refinanced the remaining amount and we paid that off. That car is now, on paper, worth very little but it's been a fantastic purchase for us and we've been driving it for 10 years, it's reliable, cheap to run, very few repairs and is a very comfortable, large family car.

My car we financed but will be paid off shortly. We paid £14000 for it and had a large deposit from our previous car. Financing was over 4 years and now it's ours, and worth about £9k. Ideally, we'll drive it for another 3-5 years at least, but there are a few issues with it so we might not. We haven't decided yet.

Meanwhile, my sister prefers to pay a flat amount o fmoney every month for years, knmowing that she always gets a new car every 3 years that is reliable, fun to drive, comfortable, big enough etc etc etc. She just sees it as a cost she has to pay every month and that's fine - it's cheaper than buying the car or financing it on a loan.

Barnbrack · 19/12/2025 21:00

We have a salary sacrifice electric car on finance because we have long commutes and both have cheap/free electric charging on site at work. We were spending £100 a week on petrol and our old car gave up the ghost. Our car payment on salary sacrifice plus charging is around £100 more per month than our petrol bill used to be so felt pretty cost effective way to have a reliable vehicle and we commute opposite days so 1 car between us.

BlackCat14 · 19/12/2025 21:09

Because my car got written off a couple of months ago and I didn’t have £8k lying around for a new one. So I got a second hand Nissan Juke on finance for £190 a month.

Minnie798 · 19/12/2025 21:34

FancyCatSlave · 19/12/2025 16:40

Because it does not make sense to put cash in to a depreciating asset. If you are buying older, bottomed out cars it is fine. But for newer cars, £40k cash on a car is madness, financing the depreciation is almost always a better call.

I only drive fully electric cars and don’t want to own when the technology and choice is improving all the time. I want to change frequently.

I usually spend up to £300/month on an electric car, which is much better than the cost of fuel and maintenance of an old banger.

This.

EmeraldDreams73 · 19/12/2025 22:27

When I've done this (as a low earning rural dweller who has no interest in cars), it has always been because I couldn't afford repairs to the current old banger. If you can't save enough consistently (self employed here), unexpected bills are horribly stressful.

I've had some excellent older cars which have been great choices and v economical. I've also had some absolute turkeys incl the most recent one which I bought with a personal loan topping up the insurance money after a lorry fucked my reliable old car. It died after a year, having cost me a fortune in repairs despite being supposedly reliable (Kia) and left me with loan payments that I've now rolled into a 0% credit card deal. Tried so hard to be sensible and got absolutely shafted.

I emptied my old ISA and used my very last £1500 for another ancient car (122k on the clock) which for now is ok. The worry every time I get into it and it makes a new noise and the unwanted financial strain is awful. I wanted to keep my old faithful going till finances improved but the lorry put paid to that.

I'm trying to keep going for as long as I can, but when it dies I'll have no choice but to get something as cheap as possible on finance because unexpected repairs for the last 2 years have wrecked my paltry savings. I don't give a shit what it is, but being under warranty and knowing I won't have unexpected bills I can't pay will be a great bonus. Sometimes you just need firm figures to budget with and something you can trust not to go tits up at the least convenient time (I also lose £ if I don't work and have no annual leave).

Of course, some people want to be flash and cars matter to them. Fair enough. But for me it's all about reliability and predictability. I hate cars!!

ELMhouse · 19/12/2025 22:35

I like nice cars, and fortunately I get a car allowance with work so am able to get a nice new car every 2-3 years, which again I prefer.

GalaxyJam · 19/12/2025 23:19

It’s viewed as a moral weakness on here to like nice cars. Or nice anything, really. We should all apparently be living frugal, minimalist lives, whatever our income and circumstances.
We lease a car because it suits us, and we can afford it. That’s basically all there is to it. I don’t know when it became normal for other people to think they have a say on what other people spend their own money on.

BumpyaDaisyevna · 20/12/2025 09:08

NHS salary sacrifice scheme here is why we do

NearlyMonday · 20/12/2025 09:24

toomanydicksonthedancefloor1 · 19/12/2025 20:40

I love cars, and I want a newish prestige car. Not to show off to other people, because it brings ME joy. Couldn't care less about a new kitchen or bathroom or designer handbag. Cars are my thing. Everyone is different.

YES - this is me too!

LiveLuvLaugh · 20/12/2025 09:27

If you can afford your first car outright then you can use the equivalent of a monthly payment to save for the next. I’ve always owned 3 year old cars outright then run them into the ground, last 2 have been ex motability vehicles.