Active discussions

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

Talk
Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Original poster

How would you pay for this car?

44 replies

CateringPanic · 09/06/2023 04:30

Fiancé needs a new car. It’s non negotiable, he needs it for work and his current one requires over £1000 worth of repairs and it’s not worth that much.

Our joint income is about £70k and we currently have a bathroom we paid for on finance at £230/Month.

We currently have about £6k in savings after having shelled out on various home improvements over the last 18 months including £3k on a new boiler last month. This hasn’t come at the best time but it is what it is.

Fiancé doesn’t want to commit to financing a new car. He thinks it’s too expensive at the moment with the money required for the deposit and the monthly repayments with the other financial priorities we have - our wedding and we desperately want a new kitchen!

We have seen a second hand we are interested in for £5k. Options are:

  • Pay it in cash and wipe out almost all remaining savings
  • Buy it on hire purchase for about £100
  • Credit card and request a balance transfer to 0% (one of mine currently has an offer on until the end of June) and commit to directing all the money we would usually save to paying it off before the 6m ends.

WWYD?

OP posts:
User65412 · 09/06/2023 04:36

I would do the balance transfer but if 6 months is tricky I'd do it over a year or 2. You can transfer the balance to another 0% card before it runs out.

Original poster
CateringPanic · 09/06/2023 04:51

Thank you and thank you for replying at 4:30 in the morning. I can’t sleep churning it all over 😅

OP posts:
Original poster
CateringPanic · 09/06/2023 05:04

Ooh I just looked and my other card has an 18 months offer!

OP posts:
highlandspooce · 09/06/2023 06:35

I'd spend a grand if my savings in fixing the existing car. People often say 'it's not worth that much' when it actually is to them. You would be spending £1k not £5k. Wait until the bathroom is paid off before embarking on more debt. You can fix the car for a grand.

Original poster
CateringPanic · 09/06/2023 07:01

@highlandspooce interesting perspective and I see what you mean but it feels like throwing good money after bad. It could have another problem in 6 months…

OP posts:
Boogiebot · 09/06/2023 07:05

To be fair the new car could have problems too and you'd still be in the same boat.

The car that needs fixing how likely is it to happen again?

Badbudgeter · 09/06/2023 07:06

I think it depends on the car, I’ve tried to keep a car going, spent a fortune replaced intercooler, got it through the MOT at a cost of £1200 and it died 4 months later. Sometimes it’s better to know when to cut your losses with a car.

Original poster
CateringPanic · 09/06/2023 07:08

@Boogiebot another very good point.

I would say quite likely. It’s a very old car (2005). It belonged to my grandad and then I had it when I needed a car and somewhere along the way I gave it to my fiancé because his previous car died and I fancied a new car (we didn’t have such pooled finances then). It’s been very loyal over the years but you can’t ignore it’s age.

OP posts:
Original poster
CateringPanic · 09/06/2023 07:09

@Badbudgeter this is the fear, we have already replaced the battery this year and it has some issues with the tracking that aren’t bad enough to fix yet but are obviously an issue

OP posts:
Kazzyhoward · 09/06/2023 07:17

CateringPanic · 09/06/2023 07:01

@highlandspooce interesting perspective and I see what you mean but it feels like throwing good money after bad. It could have another problem in 6 months…

But a "new" £5k car could cost you £1k in six months - for that price it must be several years old and/or high mileage. Does it even have a full service history?

Original poster
CateringPanic · 09/06/2023 07:23

@Kazzyhoward yes it has a full service history and low mileage. It is from 2014 which is obviously not new but feels a lot newer than 2005…

OP posts:
indigovapour · 09/06/2023 07:24

highlandspooce · 09/06/2023 06:35

I'd spend a grand if my savings in fixing the existing car. People often say 'it's not worth that much' when it actually is to them. You would be spending £1k not £5k. Wait until the bathroom is paid off before embarking on more debt. You can fix the car for a grand.

This is what I'd do - it's the cheapest route to a car that works and the same thing could go wrong 4 more times before you'd spent as much as you'd spend on the newer car.

BarbaraofSeville · 09/06/2023 07:44

But if you buy another car, you have a car that is worth £5k, that you could sell for £5k if you needed to.

If you spent £3/4/5k keeping an old car going, you've still spent the same amount of money, but don't have a saleable asset. You've also suffered the inconvenience of your car being off the road several times and the knock on effects of that such as being late for work, inconveniencing clients, spending ages and a load of money on public transport, etc etc.

A 2014 car with low mileage and FSH sounds like a good buy, especially considering how high used car prices are at the moment, so I think I'd buy that, and wait for the kitchen if it's still useable and a 'want' rather than a need, which it almost always will be. Then when you've paid off the bathroom and wedding, possibly built your savings back up a little, then you'll be able to look at a new kitchen.

I know half of MN runs around in cars they buy every 10 years for £600, that never need anything more than a windscreen wiper, but most people aren't that lucky unfortunately.

BarbaraofSeville · 09/06/2023 07:48

Also, can your fiance get a new credit card offer, so the debt is in his name not yours? If he applies for a new card you can often get one with no interest or fee for a year or two.

And maybe have another look at your finances to see if you can trim some expenditure here and there. On £70k income (and no DC?) you should be able to save quite a bit each month, so you'll be able to build up savings and be able to do things like replace cars, kitchens etc without borrowing.

Magenta65 · 09/06/2023 07:48

I would keep your savings. Either do the credit card and transfer to another 0% if you can when needed or I would HP the care. £5k is better in your bank than theirs if you have a reasonably way to pay it back. Sounds as though you’re being sensible. My cars an 08 if I had a 1k repair bill is be scrapping it too. Sometimes you know when enough is enough with cars.

whereeverilaymycat · 09/06/2023 07:52

We chose to stick with the existing car and pay less. It's worked out so far, but it is our second car so doesn't get used quite as much.
Do you know anyone that's knowledgable about cars that can give you an honest appraisal? I feel that if you're not trading for a much newer car, you're still at risk of problems emerging that cost ££ and no savings to do it.

Original poster
CateringPanic · 09/06/2023 08:23

@BarbaraofSeville your point about the asset is pretty much our thinking.

I don’t feel like there is any “good” decision but we are leaning towards the 0% credit card option.

In terms of building back we can quite comfortably put away £1k on a “normal” if we didn’t have other stuff to pay for (looking at you new boiler) and obviously if we do something special or make a wedding payment it is less.

Broadly:
Take Home: £4200
Mortgage and Bills: £1600
Food: £400 (I know we could spend less here)
Savings/“additional spends: £1000
Spending money: £600 each

Doesn’t always work out mind you!

OP posts:
Original poster
CateringPanic · 09/06/2023 08:24

The “new” car will have a 12 month warranty if that makes a difference

OP posts:
highlandspooce · 09/06/2023 08:26

CateringPanic · 09/06/2023 08:24

The “new” car will have a 12 month warranty if that makes a difference

Not really. On a 2014 car most things that go wrong are going to be 'wear and tear' and not covered by the ware anyway.

oviraptor21 · 09/06/2023 08:32

Sounds like you're overcommitting anyway. You already have a bathroom on finance and want a kitchen and a wedding on top of the car.
Time to rethink your budget. On £70k you shouldn't really need anything except a house on finance although I appreciate that if you didn't factor in interest rate rises then things could be tight at the moment.
If you continue to put things on finance you risk getting into an unmanageable debt situation.

gogohmm · 09/06/2023 08:32

I'd fix the existing car and replace once bathroom is paid off

IVFNewbie · 09/06/2023 08:34

fix the current one.

ElmTree22 · 09/06/2023 08:43

CateringPanic · 09/06/2023 07:23

@Kazzyhoward yes it has a full service history and low mileage. It is from 2014 which is obviously not new but feels a lot newer than 2005…

Low mileage isn't always a good thing, sometimes it means the car has been sat stagnant for a long time between driving, which isn't a good thing for cars. If it's too low I wouldn't recommend going for it.

Otherwise I would just go for it and put it on a 0% interest credit card and work hard at paying it off, because HP interest rates are stupidly high.

caringcarer · 09/06/2023 08:58

BarbaraofSeville · 09/06/2023 07:48

Also, can your fiance get a new credit card offer, so the debt is in his name not yours? If he applies for a new card you can often get one with no interest or fee for a year or two.

And maybe have another look at your finances to see if you can trim some expenditure here and there. On £70k income (and no DC?) you should be able to save quite a bit each month, so you'll be able to build up savings and be able to do things like replace cars, kitchens etc without borrowing.

This the car is for your fiance not you OP. Let him get a 0 percent card in his name. If you split up you'd be left with his debt. Don't risk that happening.

fyn · 09/06/2023 09:02

I got a ‘warranty’ with my car, it didn’t cover anything that was wrong with the car (read already wrong). I’d only get one from a main dealer second hand now.