AIBU to think car finance is our only option now?

[PoliteSquid]

We always buy older cars outright, have done for years. My car is basically fucked and is costing a lot in constant repairs. But we have no savings…. So I think leasing or finance is our only option now.

Where do I start with this?

Have you worked out how much you can afford a month?

Car finance is a very expensive way to do it and if you don't have a lump sum up front the monthly payments will be huge. Are you a homeowner? Could you look at taking out a bank loan instead?

Yes start with this then see what you can get for your money.

I recently got a second hand car with a bank loan rather than finance, it was less interest for the repayments.

I would look at getting any sort of a loan which is minimum interest and using that to buy a car outright and then paying that loan back. Even better if it has no early repayment limits on it so you can put whatever you can afford into the loan and get it paid asap

Go with Ford, they have the lowest interest on new cars.

Not always- we weren't planning on buying a new car at all this time but no deposit from us and 4 years interest free before final payment. We couldn't find a reason not to go with this

Unfortunately that means having to drive a Ford.

I've always done this but you have to have a new car fund alongside so you have the money to replace it when it goes bang. The other thing to do is get the dash lights switched off and take it to we by any car, they gave us a surprising amount for a 13 year old Citroen

Which brand was that? We've never done finance before but considering a small electric as a second car and spent our pot on a 3 year old family car last year

They don’t necessarily. Loads of cars have 0% deals available. Just google it, the ford explorer is yes one of them but there are plenty of others. You normally need a deposit though… so not sure if it’s an option with no savings. You can get no deposit options but it’ll be at a higher interest rate.

I’d never buy a new car. The minute you drive it away you lose thousands on it.
I’d go for a second hand car, take out a bank loan and work had to pay it back asap.

It would be much cheaper to get a bank loan. You should work out how much you can afford per month then how long you are willing to pay back to figure out you budget.

Do your employers offer any car schemes - they can be cheaper because they include everything, insurance, servicing etc.
Have a look at octopus for EV leases?

Be realistic about what you actually need from a car 99% of the time.
You can hire something bigger for the one week you need a bigger car for holiday or get a taxi to the airport with luggage.
But you'll save on the smaller car the rest of the time.

Despite needing a car for work there’s no car allowance or schemes to help with buying one.

Good point about a bank loan… I’m not set on a new car. In previous years we’ve bought ex-motability cars that are about 3 years old. But since buying this one it has had thousands of pounds worth of repairs, as well as stuff going wrong in the house which is why there’s no savings left. I feel like a new graduate instead of a middle aged professional when it comes to money!!

My current car is a Ford 🤣🤣

How does one go about switching off the dash lights?! That would be very useful indeed…

Plug an odb reader in and clear the errors