To ask what car you drive and if any payment?

[Carsearch]

I’ll start:

BMW X1 2022
Year left on PCP, paying £350 a month

Need inspiration for what to do next, tempted to buy a used outright!

A 2017 Ford Kuga that was bought with a bank loan but paid off in the first 6 months. Wouldn't normally do that but needed a car and we knew we would have the money soon.

A 2017 Kia picanto bought outright

A mini cooper convertible. I bought it when it was 4 years old, low mileage. No finance, bought outright. Love it

I love the look of the Mokkas, especially the green ones.

Looking at hybrid ones at the moment.

Toyota MR2 Mk3.

It's 24 years old so no outstanding finance :-)

Paid £2,500 for it a few years ago.

2023 Audi A1, bought outright. Love it

Mine is a 2010 Civic that was bought when only a year old. Serviced yearly and looked after. Really great car and would love another new one when this one finally packs up but I think they are too expensive now sadly.

My mechanic said they really don’t build them like this anymore.

2025 Honda HR-V. Bought outright when it was 9mths old, from a Honda dealership. It was over 10K cheaper than if I'd bought it brand new, and had less than 3k mileage.

1993 MK 3 VW golf
Bought outright, it's appreciating in value but I don't think I'd sell it.

You will be amazed at what people will glean from social media about your life. And yes, some people do bother and go to lengths to do so. Criminals usually.

Citroen C3. £320.00 every four weeks = 4,160 Pa.
Motability Car.

As I say, one of mine hit 195k miles before I got rid. And, no, I didn't WFH or live near work, hence why I did 195k miles in just a few years, and yes, my workplace was on an industrial estate with no public transport. I think I've only ever called out the RAC once, in over 40 years. My current trusty little 18 year old car has never broken down and never needed more than "service" replacement parts and still sails through it's MOT with not even any advisories.

The average age of a car on the road today is 13 years!

You really don't need new or to keep replacing after 3 years for reliability.

Volvo V40 Cross Country. Bought outright.

If only that was possible everywhere. Took DD over an hour to get to college on the bus. It's a 10 minute drive in the car. Takes we 25 minutes to drive to work, when I looked recently it would take almost 2 hours on public transport and I'd need a combination of bus and trains.

I would love to be able to use public transport more its just not that feasible where we live.

I will never buy a car outright, it has never worked out well for me. I’ve always ended up paying an absolute fortune to keep it on the road and inevitably it costs me a fortune in maintenance

I always go for a 3 year lease with 3 months down. That way I only have to pay one service and no MOT. I drive 12k a year mainly on motorways and quite frankly when I’m spending that much time in the car I don’t want a basic little manual runaround. My money works much harder in the bank than on a depreciating asset

I set a budget and find a lease within the budget. I currently pay £330 a month for an EV. There’s virtually no running costs. Service at 2 years was £150 and it’s about £5 in electric a week

Thanks!
nothing that I can relate to in my neck of the woods then

Nor here. Likewise by train it would have taken me best part of 2 hours to get to the next nearest big town that took just 25 minutes by car. That's because it was 3 separate train journeys as both towns were on branch lines so forced changing twice in each direction. It's insane that there are no direct trains from one major town to the next major town despite the tracks being there. Go back to the 60s and 70s and there was direct trains, but some pillocks thought that people would be content to wait around draughty main line stations!

Unfortunately, whilst there's a direct bus service, it goes all around the intervening villages, which likewise takes 2 hours!

Mazda £880 used. Before that various tiny cars that got me from a to b, for under £1000, which lasted years. I would never get a car on finance. it seems insane if you have a bit of cash and an get a decent older one.

It's the only family car too. We did have two - the last one DH had cost £550, was 16 years old and lasted 5 years.

Why do people always assume a new car is more reliable. 🙄

We have always kept our cars until they give up or have a cost that means they aren't worth repairing. We have never had major problems with breakdowns. A reliable car is one well serviced and looked after. Even our 16 year old focus with over 230,000 miles on the clock has never broken down.

DH recently worked out that it cost him ~£180 month to keep running. Including everything appart from fuel. You couldn't get a large car on HP for that price, ours is an estate, he always takes into account the original cost of buying it as well.

Someone asked about how people afford to buy a car outright. I had my previous car for 9 years and had been planning to keep it longer but it unfortunately got written off following an accident. The whole time I had it I’ve been paying into my savings for my next car. My new car was just under £14k so had the insurance pay out plus those savings which meant I could pay outright.

I’m another one who has never had car finance as such. Although I had a bank loan for the previous car which I paid off in 3 years as that was better than what the garage offered.

2016 Skoda Octavia estate bought outright. It must be our 4th one. We always buy something oldish but reliable for cash and then drive it until it starts to fall apart.

Hyundai i20 Premium
.
Leased for 3 years at £253 a month (£759 initial payment).

8,000 miles a year allowance.

Hand it back after 3 years, nothing extra to pay (unless there's damage over fair wear and tear, and over mileage allowance).

No road fund tax (included in the monthly payment).

No MOT

No spending half the day in the usual tyre-fitters being ripped off to replace tyres and brakes (unless I drive like a lunatic).

Ditto with batteries, windscreen wipers, and other consumables- can't be dealing with that.

Under warranty - everything works as it should.

Just needs servicing twice over the 3 years.

Leasing payments cost £9614 over the 3 years. If i bought the car outright when new and sold if after 3 years, the depreciation will likely be more than that, plus the hassle of selling it and dealing with time wasters and tyre-kickers.

@Badbadbunny
Go back to the 60s and 70s and there was direct trains, but some pillocks thought that people would be content to wait around draughty main line stations!
Quite possibly the chief pillock was Richard Beeching.

2025 BMW X4 ex demo top spec was 8 months old with 8k on the clock when were we bought it out right last November for 49k. We also paid extra for 2 more years warranty as we usually keep a car for at least five years. Nice car but wouldn’t have one again.

2021 Škoda Karoq, bought outright (inheritance), love it.