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From my perspective there is absolutely no point buying a brand-new car unless you have very specific demands for colour, trim, spec etc., or insist on enjoying the feeling of being one brief step ahead of the Joneses next door. I think I have bought about 3 cars less than a year old during the last 50 years:
1983 Cavalier estate, ex-rep's car: 9 months old, 23K on clock, £4750 instead of about 7500-8000 new. Kept 4 years until 70K, no problems except losing oil past valve stem seals.
1988 Nissan Prairie 1.8 (while kids were at uni): run-out model, demo 8 months old. No problems - but a bit sluggish.
Pug 207 SW diesel (present car) 7 months old ex-hire, 13K on clock. Bought just before Christmas 2008 during crunch: £9000, £14000 list. No problems ever since, now on 53K.
But if people have money to give away, I'm happy to pick up their cast-offs.
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From my perspective there is absolutely no point buying a brand-new car unless you have very specific demands for colour, trim, spec etc., or insist on enjoying the feeling of being one brief step ahead of the Joneses next door.
Although unlikely I'd buy a new car for me the reason I'd buy a new one would be to have a car with a full warranty and also to know exactly how the car has been treated at all times. Nothing about trying to keep with with anyone next door.
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Although unlikely I'd buy a new car for me the reason I'd buy a new one would be to have a car with a full warranty
Precisely the reason I bought my current car. Less than one-year-old and before its first service due.
Probably driven like it's stolen with the 8K miles it had on the clock, but at least it's been properly run-in.
Edited by bathtub tom on 28/06/2015 at 00:23
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From my perspective there is absolutely no point buying a brand-new car unless you have very specific demands for colour, trim, spec etc., or insist on enjoying the feeling of being one brief step ahead of the Joneses next door.
Although unlikely I'd buy a new car for me the reason I'd buy a new one would be to have a car with a full warranty and also to know exactly how the car has been treated at all times. Nothing about trying to keep with with anyone next door.
Yes, nothing about keeping up with the Joneses for me. A nearly new car is perfectly fine for keeping up with the Joneses, nobody else would know unless you tell them.
I'm not convinced that it's worth buying new just to get a few months of extra warranty. You can probably buy an extended warranty if you want more anyway.
Being the only owner is the only thing that appeals to me. Pre-reg is also fine IMO.
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Same here. I've bought 2 new cars, nothing to do with the Jones. I kept the first 10 year running it into the ground, so the Jones were probably looking at me with disdain for many years. The current one should do me at least 7 years, holefully much more, depending on VW quality. They have worked out cheaper than the used car, because repairs for worn out items such as wheel bearings were very expensive.
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“... and I get an untouched car.
Yes, very nice. The snag I find is that quite often after changing one's car, someone else 'touches' it, usually accidentally, occasionally on purpose.” Andrew-T
When one buys a new car it is important that one doesn’t have a nervous breakdown when eg., someone dings it in the supermarket car-park.
When my Volvo 440 was 3 months old I was cleaning it and noticed a deep scratch from the headlight to the tail light on the near-side. It was just as though someone had used a nail. The car was white and the undercoat was white so I polished the scratch and left it because it was un-noticeable in normal use. When my son sold the car after about 15 years the scratch was still there.
When my present Subaru was three weeks old I’d parked in the driveway and there was a windstorm that dislodged the pointing from the gable wall/roof, and it fell onto the windscreen and bonnet. The windscreen wasn’t broken and the bonnet was scratched and dinted slightly over 11 inches in front of the wiper. I left it because it would have been too much trouble to claim on the insurance. It now 9 years old and almost 100,000 miles on the odometer.
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Leasing rates are often so low it can make sense to wait until the type of car you want crops up amongst the brokers supported by the manufacturer. You can get cars which list at £35k to £45k for £250 to £300 a month, after a 6 or 9 month deposit which is less than the depreciation on a mid range Focus.
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What puts me off some new cars are the owners are the guinea pigs, the long term testers - reporting back issues to the dealers to sort out.
I don't suppose its too bad if you're getting a courtesy car and its all fixed under warranty. But its still a bit of inconvenience.
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Yes, I was really referring to the mechanics i.e. no numpty stressing the gear box, or other components. It also means my car is run in properly for the first 1,000 miles.
I ignore marks, you soon realise it is not worth repairing them, as that will ensure more marks will appear the day after the old ones are repaired. :)
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New makes sense if you do enough miles or if you're after finance, when you can often get a better rates (like 0%) on new rather than nearly new car.
OTOH, if you do relatively few miles a year and you're a cash buyer then buying a 2 or 3 year old car probably makes the most sense – it's already done the majority of it's depreciation while still having most of it's life left.
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No-one, so far, has said they buy new cars for no other reason than they want one, they have the money to spend on a new car or two every few years and they enjoy having a car that has no "history". No clocking, no faults that were so persistent the best solution was the sell the car, no hidden repairs (hopefully, anyway), and a nice man in a suit handing you the keys and waving politely as you leave his premises.
(OK, I might be speaking slightly TIC with the last point).
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For me new cars in this country are very poor value for money. Many people would be surpised at the prices charged in locations such as the Middle East for equivalent new models. Whilst tax free countries often have vastly different considerations and operational margins I still would never buy a new car in Britain. Buyers in Britain are typically ripped off by a large margin paying vastly more for no better equipped cars.
I am sure some people may try to defend the cost of new cars in Britain but the figures speak for themselves. Even at a main dealers lowest negoitated margin it is still way overpriced compared to other parts of the world.
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For me new cars in this country are very poor value for money. Many people would be surpised at the prices charged in locations such as the Middle East for equivalent new models. Whilst tax free countries often have vastly different considerations and operational margins I still would never buy a new car in Britain. Buyers in Britain are typically ripped off by a large margin paying vastly more for no better equipped cars.
I am sure some people may try to defend the cost of new cars in Britain but the figures speak for themselves. Even at a main dealers lowest negoitated margin it is still way overpriced compared to other parts of the world.
Have you got any comparisons you can show?
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One comparison is of a 5 door Kia Rio SR7 in the UK the absolute rock bottom dealer price is £10,550 the Kia suggesed dealer price is much more. In KSA in the Middle East the same vehicle with a larger engine and automatic transmission at the dealer negoitated price is just under £7,000. That is a fair margin and this comparison is for a supermini and when you move onto the larger cars the margin is often even larger.
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A large part of it has to do with the UK vehicles being right hand drive.
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A large part of it has to do with the UK vehicles being right hand drive.
And also perhaps the amount of rials that can be had for the pound - the rate appears to have doubled in the last couple of years.
The OP's question cannot be answered until the new car is sold and the pence-per-mile figure calculated. If the result is acceptable then it has been worth it.
My records reveal the best and worst of our cars - the family 1983 GL5 Passat estate, bought for £5,500 with 13,000m and traded after 10years for nil at 192,000 - 3.1p per mile; and my Audi A6 2.8SE bought for £8000 at 77,000m and sold after 11yrs for £800 at 133,300 - 12.8p per mile.
At times of higher interest rates one should also consider the amount of money that part of the large capital sum 'invested' in a new car would generate if it was placed on deposit and a smaller sum used to buy a second hand car.
There are other considerations - higher maintenance costs of older cars versus higher insurance and obligatory servicing at huge cost at the main dealer for the first few years.
Obviously the worst value is the retirement present to oneself of a brand new big luxury car which, after several years of only 5000m per annum, might have cost 100p or more per mile when sold.
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Obviously the worst value is the retirement present to oneself of a brand new big luxury car which, after several years of only 5000m per annum, might have cost 100p or more per mile when sold.
I've thought of buying a posh car when the current one dies, 'celebrating' getting old, but I'm just not convinced it is worth it. Bigger cars cost a fortune to insure, service, run and maintain, and they are harder to park cos they are big. Maybe a cheap classic car as a local run around is the way to go.
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We change our cars every 5 years normally and in the past 20 years have bought either new or pre reg. Its served us well since we have not had any big bills and although we suffer depreciation I honestly believe that changing every 5 years tends to minimise this as much as possible.
About 20 years ago the wife had a new Golf GL TDCi. 90 PS, sunroof, electric windows, one airbag but NO ABS, cruise, AC, alloys etc, by todays standards woefully equipped. It was a pretty new model at the time and discounts were not available anywhere (believe me i tried) so we ended up paying about £14500 for the car. It served us very well, nothing other than the usual costs but it did need a new rear exhaust box. About 57 mpg on a run and 45 mpg overall, cannot remeber exactly but I think the VED was over £100 even when it was new. Peformance was good eneough but the smoke that it emitted when you floored it used to frighten other road users.
Move on 10 years and the wife had a new Ford Focus C-Max 1.6 TDCi 110 PS Zetec (we went to get a pre-reg but they did a brand new one cheaper - end of 1/4 bonus), ABS, AC, electric windows (front only), 4 airbags, alloys but still NO cruise, better but by todays standards still poor. Big discounts were available anywhere, ended up paying about £13000 for the car (£4000 off). It served us very well indeed, nothing other than the usual costs. About 57 mpg on a run and 45 mpg overall (sound familiar) and the VED was £100. No smoke but even though it had an extra 20 PS it was little (if any) quicker. But it did weigh much more. It was bigger than the Golf both inside and in the boot.
Wife has just had a new Nissan Note Acenta Premium 1.2 DIG-S. The equipment on it is simply stunning, all the usual plus sat nav. Big discounts are available, paid about £12000 (£4000 off). Hope it serves us well. MPG still needs calculating over a decent mileage but so far its looks like its doing about 43 mpg overall and has managed about 56 mpg on a run to the wifes mothers, not bad for a petrol, best bit is under the current rules its £0 VED for ever. Performance seems better than the C-Max and its loosening up nicely. It weighs about the same as the Golf and with and extra 8 PS it should be better. Space wise its way bigger inside and in the boot than the Golf and with the sliding rear seat you can make it eiethr massive legroom or large boot. Compared to the C-Max if you try and make the rear legroom comparable it does loose a bit of bootspace but not a huge amount.
So having just paid £2500 less than we paid 20 years ago for a bigger and better equipped car its proof enough (for me) that prices have fallen and specs have vastly improved.
Edited by skidpan on 08/07/2015 at 13:33
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