We have to get a new car for my wife (something with a bit of performance nearly new). The question is what will the car market do over the next six months. Since we will be buying something that will be a bit thirsty costly to run I am thinking of buying something for £1000-1500 to keep her mobile until early next years and then spending real money (£10k or more) when hopefully prices have dropped more. What do people think?
|
Probably not a bad idea. Long time ago we lived in a very rural location. No public transport. My wife's then newish car was stolen from a railway station and we had to get her mobile pdq. We bought a second hand Fiat Panda for a few hundred quid with a view to it being a tide over until we found out what would happen re the stolen car.
Upshot was that the Panda remained in her keeping for four years. It did eventually begin to disintegrate due to rust but never let her down mechanically and had given her 52 thousand trouble free miles on top of the 40k or so it had on it when bought.
A local exchange student bought it from her for £250, did it up, and subsequently toured Europe in it. He then sold it on for £150 at the end of that Summer to another student friend of his who ran it for all his uni years. For all I know it may well still be kicking about.
At least three owners therefore had very cheap motoring out of that car. I suppose even its original owner was probably happy enough with their end of things.
Suppose what I mean is you might buy a cheapy and end up keeping it.
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 21/09/2008 at 18:46
|
|
|
I have been thinking along these lines also but have not come to any firm conclusions about buying a cheaper car now to tide me over or to just wait. My 10 year old Fiat Brava died back in June and I wish I could have kept it going another 6 months or so. Oh well.
FWIIW, I have been keeping my eye on 1 year old Toyota Versos which I have seen come down as low as £10,850 with about 12,000 miles on the clock for a T3 petrol and about £12,450 for a T3 Diesel.
Today, I have noticed two Toyotoa dealers selling 2008 Verso diesels, the SR model which comes with parking sensors and some other bits and pieces, for £14,850 which is about a 5K fall from the new asking price. The lowest had 1,000 miles on the clock an the highest was 3,000 miles.
I mention the above because I think it is a good indicator of the sort of price drops that are going on now. Frankly, I am amazed at the prices which seem to be coming down on a monthly basis. The credit crunch is simply going to get worse and worse, much worse than many people yet realise, so I think the way forward for both car and house prices in the next year is just down, down, down. Millions of people are I a few weeks back and was, pardon my English, gobsmacked by the prices of the cars for sale. By travelling 50 miles up the road I could save myself literally thousands on the price of numerous makes and models. To give you an example - VW Passats that my local dealer wanted 16Kish plus for were on sale at MP for 11K new. At the time I was there they had a load of Focuses, all specs and engine sizes, for from about 8K to 12K which, again, was a huge saving on any Ford dealer in South Wales.
The other thing to bear in mind is that whilst the oil price is coming down now, and probably will stay down for 12 - 18 months, once the recession is over he price of fuel will not doubt soar again.
|
|
To hell, in a low-tech handcart (with defective immobiliser and juddering DMF).
|
|
Wonder who first thought of the phrase "to hell in a handcart" ? By way of a bit of way off topic trivia. Don't seem to be any Mods about at present so it should be OK to ramble for a bit ! ( Sorry Jez ! )
|
Doesn't it come from the time of the Black Death when the dead were loaded into carts and hauled away to giant mass burial pits?
|
Sounds plausible Tawse. Short of a better and more believable explanation I'll go with that for now !!
Ford Cortinas were very successful ( Motoring link )
;-)
|
|
|
|
Don't seem to be any Mods about at present
Behind you Humph.
|
Oh hi there !! Just talking about you as it happens.....gulps and goes off to cook dinner.....
;-)
|
Hi Jez, how are things progressing with the " I don't know who was driving" issue.
You have posted twice now, in regards, getting another car. Isn't it a bit premature until you find out whether either or both of you get a ban?
Save the cash for the fine IMO.
|
|
Surely it's far too much effort to find, buy, insure, and then sell an old car again in 12 months' time, to hopefully save a few quid on the kind of car you actually want right now?!
|
|
|
|
|
|
_COLON_no_upscale()/cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/fallback/coming-soon.jpg)
