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Original poster

What do you recommend? Need a car, no (real) money.

35 replies

Haruka · 04/02/2023 18:32

I bought a house less than a year ago due to the insecurity of renting. Didn't overstretch myself; I am comfortaly able to overpay, even if the property is in need of some repair.

As is the case often when you buy a new place to live in, I have only just began to build up savings again. I had a car accident a few days ago - totally my fault, insurance is fine, but I will need a new car.

I have managed to build up around £1500 in savings since buying the house and carrying out essential maintenance, but obviously that's by far not enough to buy another vehicle, let alone road tax and insurance. Insurance won't pay out yet, the garage won't collect for 3 weeks for assessment after they think it's a write-off, but the hire car is only here for 3 weeks. So I am very pressed for time, especially with needing to get to work promptly and without fail.

I have looked into my options.

-credit card, though most seem to have £1200 as a baseline, which won't be enough
-personal loan
-PCP
-car on hire indefinitely

I am veering towards personal loan, but is that wise? What haven't I thought of? I have a well-paying job of around £42k and a good credit history, though not perfect, because ironically I have never needed credit before.

OP posts:
bellac11 · 04/02/2023 18:34

Personal loan is probably the most cost effective and gives you the freedom to buy a cheap car

FenghuangHoyan · 04/02/2023 18:38

Personal loan. It's that or checking which body parts you think you can do without.

I'm in a similar position, but no hire car and a bit more money. It sucks doesn't it? I'm thinking cash and a small loan from the car place or the bank to bridge any gap.

PerfectYear321 · 04/02/2023 18:39

In your shoes loan

DemonHost · 04/02/2023 18:40

My 20 year old VW Golf has done 180k miles and last week passed its MOT with nothing needing doing. You can buy one half the mileage for your budget. Depends if you are a number plate snob though.

Badbudgeter · 04/02/2023 18:42

I got a personal loan last year when the car died. You can overpay and reduce it quite quickly.

Elisheva · 04/02/2023 18:42

Buy a very cheap runaround to tide you over until you car afford the car you want?

Magenta65 · 04/02/2023 18:42

in a similar position. I would look at a loan or PCP. Some really lovely cars about for £7-£10k

Original poster
Haruka · 04/02/2023 18:47

Loan it seems to be. I don't care about number plates, just want reliability. My last run-round was an 07 plate Fiesta.

I am toying with that, a Corsa or a cheap Japanese, but the same cars are double the price now.

OP posts:
FenghuangHoyan · 04/02/2023 20:23

@Haruka Japanese are the most reliable and if then it's Toyota and Honda. You pay a premium for them as I found out looking today. Honda Jazz is supposed to be the most reliable used car.

PUPorCappicino · 05/02/2023 02:50

Ford cheap & cheap to repair
Buy under 2k

Putdownthecake · 05/02/2023 08:15

Do you the option to money transfer from your cc ?for example my card option is 4% fee with 0% for12 months. For every 1000 id send to my debit card, it'd cost £40 then end of 12 months just switch to a new 0%

cheaper than a loan if your cc offers this

larkstar · 05/02/2023 10:15

My wife insisted on spending £13.5k on her last car. I do not value cars at all - they are tools like a hammer or a screwdriver. I buy all my cars in the £750-£1500 price bracket. Our cars have been equally reliable. I currently have an 09 plate 207 HDi sport - cost £1500 just over 3 years ago currently only has about 44k miles on the clock, great body work, runs like a dream and I can get 55-62mpg out of it. Before that I've had couple of Micra's, a VW Polo, all been reliable - had them for 7-10 years. If you can't afford to spend a lot on a car - don't.

BarbaraofSeville · 05/02/2023 10:32

If your car is likely to be a write off you need to chase your insurance company to get their fingers out and pay up.

How much was your car worth? DPs car was written off when someone ran into it. He sent photographs of the damage to the insurance company and they sent a (quite decent actually) settlement within a couple of days and came and took the car away. No need to mess about for weeks on end waiting for a garage to assess the car.

But if you do end up getting a loan, you need to review your budget to make sure you can repay it comfortably, accounting for any other work you still need to do on your house, and whether you expect your mortgage and other bills/food etc to keep on rising significantly, plus whether you expect to see any pay rises.

Original poster
Haruka · 05/02/2023 14:25

There are no cheap cars around the £1500 mark anywhere near me which don't have significant faults - I'm talking extensive, visible rusting in several places, Cat S advisories etc. I'm not too adverse to a few marks here and there, but what I have seen this weekend was a definite no.

I have been told that, given it's my fault, I will likely not see any money back from the car scrapping, is that correct? I am chasing the insurers again this week, pointing out to them that their own, chosen garage, is costing them money in hire car costs.

OP posts:
Kazzyhoward · 05/02/2023 16:28

Haruka · 05/02/2023 14:25

There are no cheap cars around the £1500 mark anywhere near me which don't have significant faults - I'm talking extensive, visible rusting in several places, Cat S advisories etc. I'm not too adverse to a few marks here and there, but what I have seen this weekend was a definite no.

I have been told that, given it's my fault, I will likely not see any money back from the car scrapping, is that correct? I am chasing the insurers again this week, pointing out to them that their own, chosen garage, is costing them money in hire car costs.

When mine was written off (not my fault, it was the idiot neighbour who forget to put on her hand brake), I was in no hurry to chase her insurers for a write off figure as they provided the hire car for the duration and 7 days after the write off settlement. I ended up with the hire car for 2 months as they were in no rush to inspect it and then there was a delay in them negotiating a write off settlement (which I deliberately slowed down so I could keep the hire car longer!). In the end the settlement was higher than repair cost, so I bought the car from them, had it repaired myself, and ended up with a small profit!

I'd suggest you get some repair quotes from small/independent repair shops (not those who are the insurance firms authorised ones who are very expensive). You may find that they can repair it within the settlement figure which lets you keep the car if it was otherwise OK with life left in it before the accident.

Dogsarebetterthanhumans · 05/02/2023 16:51

I work in insurance and started off in General Insurance (Motor, Home, Liability). By all means repair the car if you wish to however just a note that if the garage writes it off and you then repair it, the ‘write-off’ will remain on the shared insurance database which can be viewed by all insurers and you will be dealing with a higher premium. Not saying I haven’t seen it done in the past though; it’s just something to bear in mind. Good luck with your car whatever you decide to do. X

PurBal · 05/02/2023 16:57

Loan. And I was going to suggest a Ford, nice and reliable. £1500 isn’t much for a car these days unfortunately 😞

Original poster
Haruka · 05/02/2023 18:34

I know, I bought my last one for £2800 - nothing comparable these days 😥

OP posts:
larkstar · 05/02/2023 22:47

I’ve bought 2 cars by asking around family and friends.

Dogsarebetterthanhumans · 06/02/2023 07:54

As a PP says, DEFINITELY get an independent mechanic to check out the car before you buy. If the seller won’t allow it, walk away. Xx

Augustbabyy · 06/02/2023 08:15

@Haruka was your car insurance policy 3rd party only? If fully comprehensive then you should receive a pay out for your car regardless of fault.

MsMarch · 06/02/2023 08:23

Yes, you should get the pay out even if it's your fault, albeit minus whatever your excess is.

Look at second hand skodas. They tend to be a bit cheaper and are insanely reliable. We've driven them for years. I recently got an audi and I've been shocked at the need for constant small repairs. Nothing crazy and nothing insanely expensive but much much more than anything we've ever had to do for the skodas or for the Volkswagons we had before the skodas.

PitYerTapOan · 06/02/2023 08:26

larkstar · 05/02/2023 22:46

LOL did you really search for a diesel car?

Yes, that will be cheap to buy 🙄

Other than models that have such obsolescence, second hand car prices are about 200% higher than they were two years ago.

OP I don't quite understand why your insurance won't cover you but if it won't then I'd get a personal loan.

Lavender2021 · 06/02/2023 08:30

Just make sure you get GAP insurance - don't buy it from the car garage as they charge so much more. Gap insurance will pay out if anything happened to the new car. Insurance pays out first then the gap insurance tops up the rest so your never left with a debt to pay.

Anyone can buy gap insurance even if you pay cash so your always protected.