My mate said at the weekend he's trading in the merc, It's a c class 180 2 years old with 28k on the clock just to get the exact same model again!!
Why i said fair enough if your going for a different spec or a change, But to get the same model seems crazy.
Me im as tight as a camels bits in a sandstorm so i buy at 4yrs and keep for 3 yrs, Then move on to something else.
Do you swap a car that in my opinion is not run in yet?, It's a finance job too it's the image thing of owning a "brand new car".
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Your friend probably bought it on a 2 year PCP. He has little option but to swap it.
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Yeah the final payment will be very high on that car so its probably cheaper just to keep paying the monthly payments and change every two years. My mums friend does exactly the same but at least she buys a completly different car every time.
I have a PCP myself but the final payment is banger money so I don't know if I will get a brand new car in four years time or just keep mine. I would imagine after four years I would get bored.
A friends dad used to buy cars on PCP and had an 1989 Siera LX which I thought was cool but he then swapped it for a 91 Orion which was awful. For some mad reason he bought it and ended up keeping it until 2007.
Having a new car every two years can make sense but I still think he is crazy for getting an identical car!
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Anyway it's just a Hamburg taxi.
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What is PCP? Forgive my ignorance....................
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Pay Cash Permanently
:-)
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Mon 21 Jun 10 at 22:18
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Personal Contract Purchase :).
Its a way of buying a car with reduced monhtly payment but with a big baloon payment at the end. In my case I bought a very cheap car so the baloon payment is very low but on a Merc the baloon payment will be high. Its supposed to be the actual value of the car. In my case the baloon payment is lower than the car will be worth.
Its a very cheap way of financing a car if you like changing a lot or you can't afford monthly payments but for many people its really just like contract hire.
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Personal Contract Purchase, Bigtee. Pay a deposit - sometimes very small - and define a 'Guaranteed Future Value' for the car. Your monthly payments are to pay back the difference between this value and the purchase price, plus interest on the whole amount including the GFV.
The catch is that you don't own the car until you also pay the GFV, which could be a five-digit sum. If you don't have that to hand - and if you did, you probably wouldn't be using PCP in the first place - your options are to hand the car back or to use what equity you do have in the car as a deposit on a new one, so the cycle begins again.
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I see thanks for that, well he's a lawyer but won't part with the cash finance for everything beats the hell out of me!
pcp- pay cash permantly works for me too..............
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But the payments are low it can work out cheaper than constantly financing the entire cost of the car, and then handing it back after two years as you will be paying a lot higher monthly sum, money which could be invested else where.
It works really well for somebody like me but if I earnt more I probably would have just taken out the full loan so after the times up at least I own the car out right.
The other disadvantage to a PCP is milleage limits and other things. If I have a crash for example I must tell FIAT Finance straight away as they own the car.
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Would it work out the same just to hire it for 2 years and swap again?
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>> Would it work out the same just to hire it for 2 years and swap again?
>>
Pretty similar - a fair number of people are going for Personal Leasing now.
One significant difference is that you cannot keep the car with a lease - it has to go back. With a PCP you can make the final lump sum payment and keep the car if you want to.
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>> Anyway it's just a Hamburg taxi.
Apparently taxi use is at its most popular in Heidelburg. Evidently no one walks anywhere if a cab is available. It's apparently because they are all Heidelburgers.....
( That was a German joke, a rare thing, treasure it )
:-)
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>> ( That was a German joke, a rare thing, treasure it )
Rare? If thats a prime example of the breed, lets hope its extinct real soon.
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>> If thats a prime example of the breed, lets hope its extinct real soon.
Heh heh.... I didn't get it either. You have to be a Hiedelberger it seems.
I know a very good German joke. But I've told it before.
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Oner of my elderly volunteers has a new Nissan Pixio. I asked her how it compared to her last car, a Micra. Hates the new car, has always had Micras and regrets going for something different.
So why did you change then, says I? Well it was now 3 years old so time to change. How many miles had it done, 2700 was the answer, two thousand seven hundred miles in 3 years!
She must be a salesmans dream!!
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Wow really little point in having a car at all if she does that mileage. In three years time I would expect my Panda to have well over 10k on the clock and I thought that was embarrassingly low!
I did own one car though and I only did 250 miles in it but just never felt safe in it.
I would expect my bike to do at least 500 miles a year!
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If I could afford to (and he presumably can), I would do the same.
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Did i see the word lawyer somewhere above, he could afford a fleet of the things.
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We change our cars regularly, purely down to boredom, it's expensive but no more so than (say) smoking...
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We never set out to keep a car a specific time * at the time of purchase but 18mths or 2yrs seems to be our natural change point. Ideas change, needs change then add to that a change for its own sake and a swap is done.
*Well up to the point when I bought the new C5 in Dec which will be kept on a 3yr contract.... we'll see how that has suited as the year roll on... will the 2yr itch start??
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...We change our cars regularly, purely down to boredom, it's expensive...
I'm sure it is, but I kept my last Focus for eight years which meant buying the CC3 was like starting from scratch - that was expensive, too.
I've reached the startling conclusion that nice car ownership is a dear job, however you do it.
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>>
>> I've reached the startling conclusion that nice car ownership is a dear job, however you
>> do it.
>>
Absolutely agree Ifithelps, we've occasionally kept cars longer in the past (5 years is our maximum IIRC, SWMBO's cars do a very low mileage - 4 or 5K pa), it all depends on our circumstances at the time, the cost compares favourably with (for instance) smoking or Sky HD and a season ticket for football fans but I perceive (perhaps wrongly) that people somehow see spending on cars as profligate ?
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...that people somehow see spending on cars as profligate ?...
I think that's because there is an alternative in that we could buy a cheaper car and still be mobile.
No point in starting a bangernomics thread, but even if I'd bought a Panda like Rattle's - nice car - I'd have an extra £10K in the bank and lower running costs.
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I have always kept my cars until they die. The latest one having been purchased at under three years old, who knows what might happen.
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Similar reasons why we keep dilly-dallying about our next car purchase really. My wife ( and I ) would like her to have a new car. We can afford a new car. She knows ( more or less ) what she wants. So what's the problem ?
She has a car. It goes very well. It does most things anyone could ask a car to do. We have no self esteem issues with it despite its age, mileage and modest lineage. It's worth peanuts but it costs peanuts to keep it. If it were to "die" we can buy a replacement at the drop of a hat. Plenty of cars available last time I looked.
So our motivation would be purely based on "we can so we will" and nothing wrong with that I guess but it also occurs to us that we have a mortgage which could just as easily be reduced by the amount ringfenced for the car. We like interesting holidays so that money could go a long way towards several of those for example.
If and when we buy one it'll most likely be on a whim frankly.
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>> We like interesting holidays
>>
Don't we all!?! ;-0 Nudge, nudge, wink, wink!
I alluded to this a week or so ago when talking about my (used) Merc in the 'bad bits about your car' thread. It's a lovely car, but I do sometimes feel guilty in it, despite the fact that I can afford it.
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Can't imagine what you mean BB ! My only remaining vice comes in a packet marked "Marlboro" Everything else is but a distant memory.
:-)
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"Marlboro"
Marlboro man? He'd probably wear something like this
www.rsoles.com/acatalog/Eagle%20gold%20black.jpg
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Dear Lord ! Why do I bother................
:-)
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>> Dear Lord ! Why do I bother................
>>
>> :-)
Actually, he would. Change your brand, they are foul things anyway. (I know I was a 30 a day marlboro man)
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I'll have you know I've given up successfully on many occasions......Once for nearly three days so don't be lecturing me bud !
Awfully sorry about the thread drift .....um.....again......
:-0
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>> "Marlboro"
>>
>> Marlboro man? He'd probably wear something like this
>>
>> www.rsoles.com/acatalog/Eagle%20gold%20black.jpg
>>
Why? Do Marlboro make your toes turn up?
:-D
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Nice pair of boots... been buying my jeans from Marlboro Man's shop for over 20yrs now...
www.sheplers.com/
Nice line in shirts too...
www.sheplers.com/mens/long_sleeve_chest_borders/western_long_sleeve/apparel/
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"Nice line in shirts too..."
Very very very nice.
I've been on the lookout for proper flared jeans, no one seems to make them anymore. Boot cut is ok but I really like flares - tight fitting to the knee and then a good 26" flare. Just can't get 'em.
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Lionel Blairs?
Can't get a good pair of loon pants, either.
And as for a tie-dye T-shirt - forget it.
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Ahh loon pants... my last pair were bright green cotton canvas.... had matching green platform boots too. So the Sheplers wear these days is actually quite restrained.
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...Ahh loon pants...
Not sure what the difference was between flairs and loon pants.
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>> "Nice line in shirts too..."
>>
>>
One of those hats would look good on you.................
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...Marlboro man? He'd probably wear something like this...
The only thing the Marlboro man would wear is a shroud.
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>> Similar reasons why we keep dilly-dallying about our next car purchase really. My wife (
>> and I ) would like her to have a new car. We can afford a
>> new car. She knows ( more or less ) what she wants. So what's the
>> problem ?
Problemmo numero uno.
She does not have the feintest idea what she wants.
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>> My mate said at the weekend he's trading in the merc, It's a c class
>> 180 2 years old with 28k on the clock just to get the exact same
>> model again!!
>>
>> Why i said fair enough if your going for a different spec or a change,
>> But to get the same model seems crazy.
>>
>>...
>>
>> Do you swap a car that in my opinion is not run in yet?, It's
>> a finance job too it's the image thing of owning a "brand new car".
>>
I have started doing this every three years for my wife's car. It's not a status thing, simply we live abroad, I travel a lot for work and I want something reliable which, should it fail, she rings the garage, they come and pick it up, give her something to keep her mobile in the interim and give it back at no cost as it is still covered by the manufacturers waranty.
I think they call it no hassle motoring. Absolutely not the cheapest option but bringing the risk to a minimum.
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>>Absolutely not the cheapest option but bringing the risk to a minimum.
The risk of WHAT?
The remote risk of having an expensive part go wrong, and your having to pay for it? You're paying for it by the massively increased depreciation costs of running a new car.
Run a new car if you want to, but don't kid yourself that it has a financial benefit.
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I think you missed the bit about us living abroad, me being away from home a lot, my wife not being fluent in the local language, and knowing how the motor trade can prey on the unknowing.
Would you run a three year or older car ?
Last edited by: gmac on Tue 22 Jun 10 at 18:24
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OK, you are Honest John and get three hats.
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I've been pondering this lately, thinking of another Octavia and running the existing one in parallel until it dies. A lot of folk around this fairly wealthy area operate on the new car every 3 year contract hire model I thought maybe I'm missing something here and it really is cheaper but I just can't believe that it is: Example; an Octavia hatch is £257 per month on Lings, plus 3 months up front. That makes it £10000 over 3 years and then I still have no car!!!! Conversely I can go to Mr Skoda and pick up a year or 2 old Octavia for 9 to 10K, keep it 5 years and sell it for about 2 or 3 K. So I lose about 6 or 7K over 5 years instead of £3000 x 5 = £15000 by going contract hire. Am I missing something?
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That new car from lings is subject to how many services ? Can they be bought up front.
That 2 year old Octavia has how many miles.
Car's get more expensive the more miles they have covered (as we are all too painfully aware).
I bought a two year old Volvo S60 coming up for four years ago. Full Volvo service history blah blah blah 25k on the clock.
First service I had at 36k 375€ for the service and 420€ for a front brake overhaul. Warranty no use as wear and tear items which didn't show up on the pre-sale inspection funnily enough.
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>>That 2 year old Octavia has how many miles
>>First service I had at 36k 375€ for the service and 420€ for a front brake overhaul.
Thats Volvo dealers for you. Skoda won't charge anything like that.
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I think that's how you get twenty-seven year old Volvo's. They've been rebuilt five or six times over to get to that age.
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>> Am I missing something?
>>
Only that for some people, it's not strictly about the money. They're buying peace of mind - an easy, no hassle life.
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>>> Example; an Octavia hatch is £257 per month on Lings, plus 3 months up front. That makes it £10000 over 3 years and then I still have no car!!!! Conversely I can go to Mr Skoda and pick up a year or 2 old Octavia for 9 to 10K, keep it 5 years and sell it for about 2 or 3 K. So I lose about 6 or 7K over 5 years instead of £3000 x 5 = £15000 by going contract hire. Am I missing something?
Not missing something as such but examples are not a direct comparison.
The Ling example means you will have the pleasure of two new cars over that period, they will never be more than 3yrs old and always be under warranty. That compares with your purchase route which will give you 4yrs of a car out of warranty and end up running a 7yr old car.
None of which may be an issue for the money you save.
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In addition you have to consider that there will be a few other bills along the way such as cam belt change, and other consumables such as brakes and tyres. Over the three years on my lease I hope to spend nothing more than 2 services and maybe a couple of tyres.
My lease also includes VED for the duration and breakdown cover - 2 other costs that a non leased car would have to have spent on them.
All in all I dont disagree that leasing is more expensive than other ways of running a car, but for me that extra cost is worth it as I like hassle free motoring, and I like to have new cars.
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Thats the argument for buying my car £128 a month, and even if I do 20,000 in the four years I am supposed to have it for my bills should be limited to servicing and maybe a new back box or brake pads.
Its just cheap motoring full stop but its cheap without the nasty.
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If people buy only what absolutely necessary, the entire economy will collapse.
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I think at £128 monthly, the leasing model starts to make more sense for basic transport. We are also running a Panda and I'm sure my depreciation is close to that over the past year. Although that should tail off if I were to keep it for the 3 years.
If I could lease an Octavia at that price it would be happy days!!
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The total cost would be £8200 over the four years if I decided to keep it. However the Panda would then be mine and a four year old 20k Panda should be worth around £3k which gives a cost of £5200 for the car. It still works out cheaper than leasing.
I suppose I could have bought a J reg Toyota Carina for £300 and that would have been cheaper still!
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I tend to keep cars until they either no longer suit my needs (MX-5 when first DP Jr came along, for example), or they become unreliable (Renault Scenic). Or when SWMBO's whinging becomes tiring (Volvo S60) :-)
I admit if I had the cash to splash, I would be kissing goodbye to five figures in depreciation and interest every 3 years or so for something shiny and new, but my current financial position just doesn't allow it. Besides, it's nice to have two cars, even if they are no longer in their first flush of youth, which are both nice to drive, are depreciating at maybe 5% PA tops, and most importantly are paid for.
When the kids are older, I will go mad and be a total embarrassment to them both. :-)
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Swapping the car every 2 years - rtj70
