AIBU to spend £20k on our first car?

[starksausage]

I’ve never owned a car before. I’m in my late 20s now. Don’t own my own home but have enough for a deposit. Been with DP for 8 years.

We need a car for various reasons now and have found a used one we like for £20k. AIBU to spend this much money? We bring home roughly £10k a month and this would cost about £500 a month

Yes but engines are easily fixed and replaceable, batteries aren't. The eight year old EV will only ever be worth as much as someone has money to lose. Is it worth a £1500 gamble, will I go broke if the battery fails? So the value is just the risk premium. But the five year old kia will still have two years warranty left and is very very low risk. So the kia will be worth far more than the out of warranty EV.

Why would the battery fail though? There is no reason for it to

Get yourself a £5k car and save the rest for a house deposit. Also, as inexperienced drivers, your likely to have little dings that won’t matter so much on a car you’ve spent less on.

Personally Id go for something less than 3 years old with low mileage. Ours had its first MOT on Monday and has less than 12K miles. We paid £17K with our car traded in. I wouldnt go for finance unless it was a 0% deal you could pay off quickly. And look at insurance costs and maintenance costs before deciding

20k is fine to spend on a car. But you’re mad to buy it on finance, especially if you’re thinking about getting a mortgage in the next few years.

You earn a hefty amount between you, so wait a few months and just buy it outright.

If you apply for a mortgage it will be massively impacted by a car finance agreement.

Use savings if you don’t want to miss out on this particular car - and then repay your savings account not a car finance company. Better to borrow the money from your own pot.

I was about to say a £20k car was fine .... until I read you don't own your own home. I'd prioritise that over everything.

Not unreasonable at all, however 20k on a used car is a bit much. In saying that I don’t know what kind of car it is. Finance is always a take on, try for PCP, you can change your car in 4 years, the payments are lower and you won’t be paying back a car that has aged rapidly before you’re free from the payments. I don’t know where anyone is finding cars for 5-6k with low mileage atm 😵‍💫 believe me I’ve been looking for months