How can anyone afford a car?

[PoisedGoldBiscuit]

So we've leased cars for the last 14 years or so. Have paid a non-refundable deposit of between £500 (for a regular hatchback) to around £900 for a SUV. I pay just under £300 p/m now for a Qashqai that includes maintenance (so services, MOTs, most repairs not covered by the warranty or caused by accidental damage). I also don't need to pay car tax.

I'm conscious of the fact that this is a debt that I'll essentially never pay off as I'm not gaining any equity in the car and just hand it back. I've looked at other options and they seem so far out of reach.

• buying cars second hand, friends who have done this seem to regularly spend £££ on maintenance issues, even for cars that are only a few years old.
• buying cars new but with a warranty, the monthly payments are huge and the car seems to drop so much in value that it's not worth the payments.

-taking out a PCP/ other scheme where you can hand the car back or pay a balloon payment, again, these seem to have huge monthly payments. Dealerships have never been able to get anywhere near the lease payments (and then have a huge balloon payment).

Am I missing something?

Bought a car cash upfront. Sold it 5 years later and got a decent price due to lack of cars at the time. Worked out what it had cost me. It was the same as leasing for that time. Next car was full coverage leasing and staying with that. We enjoy our cars, retired and use a lot. It's a high end comfortable car. We can afford it. Had my years of driving old bangers.

I totally agree. I’ve done the buying outright a 5 year old car and the repair costs were ridiculous. I bought one car for £15k spent about £5k on things going wrong once it hit 90k miles and sold it 3 years later for 3500. What a waste of money. My kids have a 10 year old group 1 car. I paid £3500 for it in 2019 but the last service was £800 and it has now hit 70k miles. I think it was a good buy but now I’ll replace it. To be honest I drive 100 miles a day and given I can afford not to, I don’t really want to drive a basic manual group 1 car for that driving. I’m spending 3 hours a day in it and I prefer something a bit more comfortable

I bought a 6 month old tiny 4 door Peugeot with no mod cons about 10 years ago, it has never failed an mot and is £20 a year to tax apart from new tyres here and there and petrol it is very cheap to own. Mind you I only do about 3000 miles a year as I am fortunate to live very close to my work.

I agree. There seems to be a lot of judgment on Mumsnet about people wanting expensive cars for status and there obviously is some of that.

There’s also a bit of refusal to understand that for some people having a nice car is lovely or important to them.

I love air con and enjoy not sweating my arse off in my old Clio.

I like that my lights switch on and off when it’s dark and when I park. I haven’t had a flat battery for years.

It starts every time, I can play Spotify, it’s comfortable for my family etc and it’s fun. I don’t car what other people think of my car.

I refuse to feel any guilt or shame for liking a nice car to drive and I think it’s weird that people judge it so much.

I've toyed with a lease car but the paintwork would get damaged where I live. The joys of communal parking.

No one judges you for driving a new car. Namely, no one cares. This isn't what OP was asking.

Any simpleton can work out why a newer vehicle may have more reliability or comfort than an older one.

OP can't fathom how to afford a vehicle.

I know what the OP is saying.

And people do judge (on mumsnet) a lot about people having ‘flashy’ cars and expensive finance .

If you can afford it fine and good luck to you. It is just the threads you get on MN about people trying to manage their money. They give out details and car finance is on there!

With free servicing and MOT included in finance deals, extended warranties and choosing good brands, I’ve barely spent a penny.
My last car was nearly 5 years old when I sold it and I don’t think I had to pay for a thing in all that time.

It’s not free though, it’s included in the lease price. If I compare the lease price, say £350/month over 3 years with with the cost of buying a my car plus servicing and MOT the costs aren’t hugely different but I then own the car and can sell it or exchange when the time comes for a newer model. If you compare over 5 years, leasing is much more costly.

My car has air con, Apple play, sat nav, parking sensors, it’s comfortable and reliable. I like cars, and have had newer, fancier cars before kids but if the question is affordability leasing and PCP aren’t the most affordable way to do it, which is what the OP was asking.

Im not sure its judgement, its more a query why those things you cite are not thought to be available by buying a cheaper older second hand car. I have all those things in my car, Ive never had a flat battery in it, Ive never had it not start, Ive got air con, can play spotify (if I wanted which I dont), automatic lights. But its 16 years old and cheap

Nice if you can afford a newer car but OP was asking how people did afford a car, so people are answering the question. No judgement, a matter of fact, this is how you afford it.

PoisedGoldBiscuit You seem to completely miss the option of buying a new car from savings and thereby avoiding finance or repayment costs?
Yes, the car depreciates in value but you are never left owing more than it's current value as you own it outright.
This is certainly how we buy our vehicles, we have never taken out a finance agreement and therefore, as soon as we have bought our new one, we are saving for the next one.

if you really need a car you need one.
you need to get a sheet of paper (or excel table) and compare all costs.
newer cars need more specialised, or brand specific garages, with older ones you can go independent.
insurance - black box can reduce it. low milage as well, so consider if you can get below a certain point by walking/cycling/public transport.
insurance - stronger motor often morr expensive.

smaller cars usually need less fuel - get the smallest that meets your needs.

finance deals.
calculate over the whole term. not just the initial outlay and monthly pay.

But it’s costed and budgeted for so no nasty surprises. Yes of course it’s not free, I should have said included in the payments. For me it saves a lot of stress and worry.

I don’t see anything wrong with the way the OP is financing her cars now which is what I said in reply. If it works for her, why does she need to change it?

She asked how people do it differently, which is the question people are answering. There’s no judgement about how people chose to buy and run their car, some like the predictability of a fixed cost, even if it costs a bit more, others prefer the lower cost even with some unpredictable maintenance costs.

I read an article recently that said in America the average car finance repayment was $1000 per month. Made me sick just thinking about it!

My mortgage has never been that high, never mind a car payment.

This. Has worked well for a Citroën Picasso, SMax and now a Honda CRV. The Picasso was the worst but so cheap to buy, it worked out the same annual cost. The Picasso did 60k, the SMax 100k and the CRV will keep going for a year or three more. All purchased 18/24 months old.

>>whispers<< replacement is covered by regular savings.

Cars are serviced regularly and I'm happy to drive old cars.

I know, I read the OP and answered the question. It’s ok to expand the discussion you know.

The OP didn’t really say the current way didn’t work for her, just that she’s never owning the car. That’s only a problem if it bothers you because it’s not an asset that appreciates in value.

It always feels like a simple choice of paying a not insubstantial amount of money every month to effectively hire a car that you never own, or pay a not insubstantial amount for a car on HP, or outright if you incredibly lucky, which you can then hopefully run for many years at a fraction of the cost of lease/ pcp, but no guarantee it won’t cost a lot. We’ve had both, wife has a lease car through work which is much cheaper than pcp/hp, but always concerns about watching the mileage and any damage.What happened to the days when people could just buy and run a car. Cost I guess

I used to buy good second hand cars and hold onto them but when the last one started costing too much I got rid and thought I'd try the PCP route.
Got a 2 year old car, low mileage worth £15k at the time for £159 a month.
So far it's costing me couple of hundred quid for service, MOT and couple if tyres. Super reliable.
It's been worth it to me not having to worry about what could go wrong next.

We have always bought a pre used car like ex show room demonstration cars etc with very low milage and owned by garage. Then we keep it for about 7 or 8 years then sell and buy another. During the time we have it DH gives it a regular service with new oil filter, oil changes, lubricant and antifreeze and screen wash tops. We also have 1 garage service per year to check if fan belt or break pads or discs needs replacing. It works out cheaper than monthly contracts.

My £500 20 year old Nissan Micra lasted 8 years with about £1000 spent on it over those years. Everyone found it hilarious and sneered, but what I found more funny was the same people crying over an £800 plus bill every six months or so that they had to pay as it was a lease (? I don't know the term..) car.
It's a weird one to me - seems to be mainly a status thing. I get if you have to drive thousands of miles a year and need reliability but on the whole it really is about whose car is the biggest, or fanciest or poshest.
I'd be too scared to get in some of them with the insane buttons and stuff!

What happened to the days when people could just buy and run a car. Cost I guess

Lots of people on this thread have described doing exactly that. I wouldn’t buy a brand new car because the depreciation immediately is so high, but a couple of years in someone else has taken that hit and the car is still very reliable and in many cases still has some of the manufacturers warranty.

I think leasing and PCP became ways of giving brand new, very high costs cars the illusion of affordability but folk can still do it the old fashioned way.

Maybe I’m lucky but I bought a 6 year old car in 2022 and aside from tax and servicing etc I have paid £400 for a new clutch and that’s it. Think most members of my family are similar, maybe paid a bit more for repairs if they bought an older/more mileage car.

It seems like people are assuming old bangers when you talk about buying a car second hand. The car I bought second hand over 10 years ago had 8 years warranty, air con, electric windows, Bluetooth connection to stereo/phone, sat nav, heated seats, tinted windows. I was in no way slumming it.