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just change for change's sake, quite often - bit like a shirt or jacket, but not requiring such frequency?
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Used to change my cars regularly but as time goes by I am only changing when absolutely needed.
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Only change mine when the manufacturer's warranty runs out. Every 3 years suits me well. But, I might get bored when they get round to 5 year warranties!
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DE - you must believe that paying depreciation makes more sense than paying repair costs? ;o)
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Big rant starting now:
I think this deserves a serious reply and maybe a thread of its own. "Making more sense" just doesn't come in to it at all. I know buying new (and from a dealer!)every 3 years does not make pure financial sense but I like new cars and like the idea of no hassle (none of this broker / internet / import stuff either).
I can afford to buy just about any car in any showroom but am constrained by town driving, town parking and also image when seeing clients. Would you employ a building firm where the boss turns up in a fancy / pricey bit of exotica to quote for your job?
Anyway, the point I want to make is that although I'm fortunate enough to be comfortably well off I get just a wee bit irritated when Back Roomers constantly refer to "makes no financial sense", "loses too much in depreciation" etc. etc.
You must like motoring to be here - just enjoy it.
I bet you didn't buy the cheapest house beacuse it was cheap - the decision was not purely price based. Which Backroomer hunts out the cheapest toilet paper, breakfast cereal, meat. Do you but the cheapest newspaper or car mag ? I think not. Hey, get yesterday's newspaper it's free.
Mind you, constant references to Lidl may mean you do.
Rant over - I feel so much better now.
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Big rant starting now: I think this deserves a serious reply and maybe a thread of its own. "Making more sense" just doesn't come in to it at all. I know buying new (and from a dealer!)every 3 years does not make pure financial sense but I like new cars and like the idea of no hassle (none of this broker / internet / import stuff either). I can afford to buy just about any car in any showroom but am constrained by town driving, town parking and also image when seeing clients. Would you employ a building firm where the boss turns up in a fancy / pricey bit of exotica to quote for your job? Anyway, the point I want to make is that although I'm fortunate enough to be comfortably well off I get just a wee bit irritated when Back Roomers constantly refer to "makes no financial sense", "loses too much in depreciation" etc. etc. You must like motoring to be here - just enjoy it. I bet you didn't buy the cheapest house beacuse it was cheap - the decision was not purely price based. Which Backroomer hunts out the cheapest toilet paper, breakfast cereal, meat. Do you but the cheapest newspaper or car mag ? I think not. Hey, get yesterday's newspaper it's free. Mind you, constant references to Lidl may mean you do. Rant over - I feel so much better now.
I only take issue with one point in that post. Leave Lidl alone! I chose the screen name No Dosh partly out of respect to my late father, who always pointed out that the way I handle money I would never have any cash and partly due to the fact that I'm earning a pretty good living whilst acquiring toys and gadgets like they are going out of fashion.
Despite this, I think Lidl is great! Good fresh food if you know what you are looking for and some bloomin' marvellous bargain tools in amongst all the tat and £1.99 childrens' slippers.
:o)
BTW, the "oooh, it'll cost you" mentality is driving me nuts too.
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I have been misunderstood. I used the word "Lidl" as something of an euphemism for "cheap" mentality which I accept is not quite right. Lidl can offer super value - I go there very occasionally (I even know about Thursdays!).
The veg. especially when just delivered is often way beyond the quality of the supermarket giants.
Trouble is, when faced with one check-out girl and a queue 12 deep I often walk out again. Saving money is one thing - spending my time to do it is altogether another.
Quality comes in different guises it's not always "you get what you pay for".
PS I take life too seriously - my blood pressure is up and I can't relax - honest.
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>>Trouble is, when faced with one check-out girl and a queue 12 deep I often walk out again. Saving money is one thing - spending my time to do it is altogether another.
Yup, me too. The fruit & veg at East Street market, Walworth has to be the best & cheapest around - and you don't have to queue for it. Waitrose (second choice for shopping) comes a close second on quality but not on price!
It depends what you use your car for, and how often. I'm sure I might think about running a newer car if I did 100 miles commute each way each day. If I spent that long in it, I would get annoyed with the speaker that doesn't work, for which I haven't got round to buying a replacement. If I had somewhere else to keep the car other than the public road whence I've had two cars stolen this year, then I'd at least think about running something newer (& inevitably less swanky?). But low miles, infrequent use and unhappy parking militate towards an old banger.
Building firm boss turning up in swanky car.
I wish I could find a building firm boss who would turn up in any sort of car!
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Several other contractors I know run their "nice" car at weekends and use battered old TD repmobiles for their commute. Most popular are the xantia and the mondeo.
Can't quite bring myself to do this, but may change my mind if I ever get something exotic....
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If you'd bought that Merc you wouldn't want to run it when it rains; you'd want to keep it garaged. You wouldn't want to put loads of miles on it either - just think how often you would be adjusting the points etc. etc.
Problem with my theory is that my car is a much more comfortable drive than any Vectra (however new) I've driven.
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DE - By all means, if you can afford to buy brand new cars from a dealer every 3 years, then do so, it's your money.
Most BackRoomer's points about depreciation refer to the fact that the majority of people simply can't afford to/don't want to lose a large amount of money buying something that will be a rapidly depreciating asset.
Your point about which house you would buy is slightly irrelevant i think, as generally a house does not 'depreciate' in the way that a car does (unless bought brand new aswell).
But as i said at the start of this post, its your money, so do whatever you feel happiest doing
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Out of interest Dulwich Estate, what car do you choose that suits town driving, town parking and the boss of a building firm quoting for jobs?
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New Jan 2002 - Audi A4 Avant 2.0 Multitronic Auto. Very conservative, but have since got wise to diesel so have identical car (different colour) but with 1.9Tdi 130 due for delivery 1st week September.
Ideally would like a choice of two cars - one work, one fun - but haven't got the space here in London. There's a Jazz to be accommodated too.
Forgot to mention, I also need to go about 550 miles each way to Charante, SW France every now and then.
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Not sure if that reads right - maybe it does. I meant to say I am conservative in that I always thought petrol was the only means of fuelling a proper car. I thought diesel was only for vans, buses, lorries and those who were in need of saving money. Now I've driven one I'm a convert.
PS I read the Torygraph so that makes me one too.
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Do your customers ever remark on your choice of car?
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Probably not as it's so 'convservative'.
But I did think that next door's builder with his convertible brand new 3 series (into which he loaded his tools) was a bit too swanky.
Similarly I would worry about a builder who drove an old Cortina. Being a builder is easy money (no offence DE I don't mean it's easy, but there's certainly lots of money in it) so one who cannot afford a semi-decent car is doing something wrong. And builders of course always do run better cars than their customers, so you expect your builder to have spent money on his car. Silly, isn't it!
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Very rarely. Sometimes the occasional comment "nice car - too good for carrying tools". I don't carry tools - I'm management. Ideally I just want the car to be somewhere between invisible and "his firm are doing OK, so they're not a bad firm, but there again he's not ripping us off because it's only an Audi and not some flash car."
Time for a new thread: does you car project an image of you?. Is it a desirable one etc.
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