I have heard that there is a new Fiesta out at the end of September this year. At the moment there's a really good offer on a new Zetec S for £11,000 with £700 off with no part ex or £1500 off for my L reg Ford Escort Diesel with 75,000 miles on the clock, £750 off the finance, free insurance for a year, and low 5.9% finance which sounds good.
I like the car, and I know that if I like it and want it, I should go for it, but is it a wise move? Especially with the new model due out? Perhaps that's why there is the special offers as outlined above!
Any advice greatly appreciated.
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Ema,
As you say "if you fancy it and can afford it".......... do it. Most car purchases are led by the heart not by the head.
But if you look at the figures it might not make such sense. Visit Parkers used car price site and project a loss of value for that new Fiesta, £4000 + in the first year or thereabouts?
Your Escort diesel should be really easy to sell privately with that sensible mileage, even better if it has a service history. Then look round without that added distraction of the trade in/no trade in comparison and go for a really mean deal.
HJ will be better placed to advise on what to pay and where for the Fiesta. I'd buy something at 6 - 12 onths old and save loads.
David
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I just picked up a 00W Fiesta 1.25 Zetec with 8k on the clock for £6250 today. Screen price on these is £7k. Why bother with the -S!!!
This car is fantastic......handles like a dream and a lot let less than a Zetec-S!!
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Ema,
I think Phil C has demonstrated what we're all saying about the huge loss buying new.
He has bought a car that I bet looks brand new, with a private plate friends would never know it wasn't. Yet the price was about half that of the deals you've been offered.
As we seem to agree buying even a small car new is actually an expensive luxury.
The problem I see with the deals that attracted you are that the first years losses are so great you end up with very little left after clearing finance when you trade in next time.
Several people I look after cars for have traded from something like a '95 Golf/306/ZX to a new/nearly new at dealers prices. They were almost paid off on the older car and the equity just paid the deposit on the deal. After two years they want to trade in again but find the payments have fallen behind depreciation and they are back to almost no equity. "No problem sir/madam we have a finance package that will suit you with no deposit" they are told!
Because of the large amount they needed to borrow the term is extended and the problem is compounded with the next car.
I have one contact who followed this path then took out a second bank loan (at the same time as dealer finance!) to cover the shortfall on the next deal. They ended up owing about £13000 (with interest) on a car that will only attract trade in bids of £5000 next year. It would take payments of £700 month to avoid a shortfall.
Yet if they had sold the old car privately and put two or three grand to it for something like Phil's that could be paid off in a year. Back on track!
David
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Good point, but, if the asking price is £11000, you get £750 off for finance, free insurance for the year and £700 off the original asking price, that brings the car's price down to about £9000ish. And if I've got £5000 to put down on the purchase, isn't finance on the remaining £4000 cheap if I'll be paying about £100 a month for 3 years?
I did see a W reg Fiesta Zetec S for sale with 12,000 miles on the clock that was £8300. If you compare the above then it doesn't look too bad!
If the offer still stinks, can anyone come up with a better one? I have though decided to sell my own car privately, so I'm going to have to wait!
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Ema.
You have checked out the deal, made sure you can finance it and arranged to sell the old car privately. For a private buyer that's all you can do.
Problem with posting your query here is that there are so many (me included) willing to give you answers that just raise concerns and don't actually help if you fancy a new car and need to go to a dealer.
Many of us have trade connections and can easily throw about prices you'll never see without going down the auctions and mixing it with the boys. The real trade value (as opposed to trade-in) of a car may be what a dealer contact will give in cash at 4pm on a rainy Saturday when his team has just lost! The retail dealers are never going to discuss such prices with the public. Another problem is that to get best value from "our" advice you need to have contacts for decent maintenance at sensible prices, perhaps such that you can buy these bargain cars from sources with little/no warranty.
HJs post makes the Fiesta sound worse than you will experience if you do eventually purchase one. After all most cars made today are quite decent and you will find it much more refined that the trusty Escort diesel.
If you are certain in standing up to the opinions posted here then you really fancy the Fiesta so buy it, it obviously will give to pleasure and if you can afford it who are we to say you shouldn't.
David
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Why pay out £9,500 for a new numberplate when your Escort at 75k should have loads of like left in it?
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£ 11 000 can get you a really fantastic car - think Golf or something of much better quality, Fiesta is a really old car now, so once the new one comes out you'll be left with a massively out of date car, which will plummet in value.
Your Escort is not a tired old heap, there is plenty of life left in it, I ran one to 144000 miles so I can be sure of this - and I still got over £ 1000 for it - don't let a dealer con you into parting with it for a couple of hundred pounds, invest £40 in a valet and offer it for sale privately in Autotrader, for £ 1 500 ono. make sure you are not on your own if somebody comes to look at it and once you are rid of this car, - shouldn't be difficult to sell, you can start looking to do a really good deal on a nearly new car. remember you lose most of the money on a car the moment you drive it away. Let some other fool pay this.
I guess you wouldn't have written to this website if you were 100% convinced you were not about to get swindled. .......
Good luck
Marcus
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A new Focus-like Fiesta is on the way. The current car is now running a 12 year old bodyshell, itself a poor Ford copy of the Peugeot 205 shell with rust traps where the Peugeot had none. Not only that, it might have been built at Dagenham where there is hardly any incentive for the workforce to give the job their best effort.
HJ
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Noooooooo! For Heaven's sake don't buy new. Leave that to companies (who can afford it) and idiots (who don't care).
No doubt you are as hacked off as the rest of us about fuel prices. Well, if you do go ahead and buy the car new, then think on that each time you complain at putting £15 worth of petrol in it, that you will have lost around £50 in depreciation in the same time (Assuming 40mpg, 12K miles p.a.).
Let someone else stand that loss and get yourself a two year old car for £6K that has already suffered the lion's share of its depreciation. Then spend £2500 each year on a fantastic holiday instead.
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For the Zetec S which seems to be holding its value for the upto 1 & 1/2 yrs old the deal doesn't seem too bad and with the insurance taken care of and some decent finance you aren't losing as much as if you were paying for full list for it, and you are getting in effect nearly a 20% discount. Also you have main dealer peice of mind, the full warranty and the benefit of having your name first on the V5.
If you were looking to only keep the car a couple of years then nearly new would be the way to go but for long term its probably worth paying the £x extra in this case as the £x seems to be in the region of under a grand.
Simon
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Will you not be forced to go through Ford Credit for the finance.....saying that I think they're doing low-interest deals at the moment on some Fiestas. check it out with your main dealer.
Still think you should go for a 1.25 Zetec!!! Buy a cheaper Fiesta now and spend your money on the new one which comes out later this year/early next year!!
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