Buying a new car

Thank you all for your kind and informative messages, which I have noted for future reference. Since my original enquiry, we have had to pay almost £1000 out for work to our 9 year old Laguna (so no holiday this year!), but the engineer advised that we keep it for at least three years to get value from it, as it isn't worth much at resale. It's a superbly comfortable car, top of the range, and ideal for our tall family - I think we'll be keeping it, but I will have all your hints to refer to in the future. Thank you again.

You will get a better price if you go for a PCP than if you pay cash. You are then perfectly at liberty to pay off the PCP with no interest or charges within 7 days, thus securing a much bigger discount on a new car. Carwow are a good website for sourcing new cars with big discounts. The dealer I went to showed me how to deal with the immediate repayment, there is nothing dodgy about doing this.

Pre-reg cars are ok if you are planning to keep them for a few years. I kept mine for 6 years, so having 2 owners on the log book and a 48k on the mileage was not a problem, l still got a decent price for it at trade in. In fact, l lost more money on a brand new Kia after 3years which was bought as a cash sale than l did on my trusty pre-reg Honda.

Yes Dahlia I did this with my car.

You pay a deposit and then monthly payments based on how many miles you will be doing and agreed over say 3 or 4 years. There will be a balloon payment at the end of the term based on the value of the car and it usually works as follows ......

a) give the car up and walk away.
b) give the car up and if you are lucky there will be enough value left in the car to use as a deposit to start again with another new car .
c) arrange finance or use savings to pay the balloon payment outright and keep the car.

I do quite low mileage and decided to get a bank loan and pay my balloon payment at the end of 4 years. My car is now 8 years old and I think I made the right decision .

Good luck x

I bought my present car from a dealer and the previous owner, a lady around my age decided after 2000 miles and two years she no longer wanted to drive so I bought it for a good price. It was a part exchange with my old car and the remainder was paid in cash.

There are some excellent PPP deals around.
I have one with Mini and have a lovely Clubman, the monthly payments are really low, it includes all servicing.
There is a residual (balloon payment) but this is carried over in to the next car.
It will a perfect if your annual mileage is 10k or under.
My car is a second car, the bigger mileage goes on my husbands vehicle.
Shortlist the cars that you would like and go along to the different dealerships.

My son does all this for me as he has contacts in the motor trade. I’ve found this most helpful as I need my car for work. I’m coming up to three years in December and he will change my car again for me. Hope this helps.

We use PPP also and as interest rates are low it works well. If, however, you are on a tight budget nearly new, one owner cars are the way to go.

You do not have to pay the residual amount.

With the lease deal PPP the car gas always been worth more than the payout and then the difference is the start of the next deal if we decide to do that.

I'm in exactly the same position, although only one income. I've happily gutted my home and redesigned it, but buying a car terrifies me. I will be taking notes from your thread!

Be wary of a PCP or lease deal, after 3 or 4 yrs you will have around half the value the car still to pay. That is why cost per month is so low, on a budget a used 3 or 4 yr old car is a much better bet, that aside choose a reliable brand.

I think it partly depends on the finance deals that are around when you want to buy. It turned out to be cheaper for my dd to buy a brand new car than a pre-reg because the interest rates on the pre-regs were higher. Also, you’ll still lose value on a pre-reg as it’ll have had two owners when you come to sell.

Be wary of low mileage cars. It can mean that it has only covered short distances at infrequent intervals. That’s not good for the engine and other parts can deteriorate esp if it’s not been serviced due to low mileage.

Good luck on your search! ? ?

You can also save a lot of money on the price of a brand new car by buying one ‘PreRegistered’. These are brand new cars register by the dealer to themselves in order to keep their sales quota up with the manufacturer, and earn a long term discount with them. The car will be brand new, delivery mileage only, and full warranted just like any other new car.
You don’t always get a choice of the full colour range, but l have always found something to suit our needs.
The big bonus is the huge discount on the original price, 3K plus extra freebies on a small hatchback last time l bought using this scheme. Locally we have a large Toyota dealership who regularly have such cars in stock, and some super little Aygo cars for well under 10k on the road.

We always have our cars on Personal Payment Plans. We have sometimes then bought the car at the end of the term and kept them a while then used them as a down payment next time. We find it works for is.

What Oopsadaisy said - plus, if you can find a car that has been in the Motability scheme, you can do well. One locally, top of its range, 3 years old, immaculate and with 13,000 miles on the clock. You'd be driving what is almost a new car but cost you half what it would brand new.

Don’t forget that most new cars lose an enormous amount of money as soon as you drive them off of the forecourt, a good 2 year old car will save you a lot of money.

I found this from Money Saving Expert ( very reliable site);

www.moneysavingexpert.com/car-finance/car-leasing/

I wonder if Which has done a report on this?