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Why pay £2k for an old car when you can buy a new one (with warranty) for a little over £4,000? There's an interesting juxtaposition of two readers' letters in HJ's Expert Advice pages of today's Dly Teleg. Man wants to spend £2000 on first car for daughter, and reliability is main consideration. Cars in this sector can be expensive to run, HJ points out. Then, in next topic, a reader points out you can buy a new Suzuki Alto for £4,250 on the road and with three year warranty. Makes you think it's better to borrow more than your budget and go for such a buy. If £2000's your top budget, surely wiser to spend £1,500 and keep some back for possible/likely bills.
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But isn't that always the quandry? You can 'spend that little bit more' and get X Y or Z. If you can't afford the extra £500 then it might as well be £5000 - I think thats the way it is for some people? The limit is the limit and no more.
Although I understand the logic behind it all - by paying a 'little extra' you get the peace of mind of that manufacturer warranty / free servicing / free insurance etc. that can be an 'off set cost' - done it myself once or twice. but it's like the age old argument that such and such car will pay for itself in so many thousand miles in the fuel savings you would make etc. etc.
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And who says new cars are necessarily more reliable than well cared for and serviced second hand ones? I don't care how cheap a new car is, I don't want the heart rending depreciation. Someone else can have that!
--
\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
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And who says new cars are necessarily more reliable than well cared for and serviced second hand ones? I don't care how cheap a new car is, I don't want the heart rending depreciation. Someone else can have that! -- \"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
Totally agree there v8man, I would think that if you can buy a new Suzuki Alto for £4,250, or whatever, you could probably buy a 2 year old one for around £2,000, with the remainder of the manufacturer's warranty etc.
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Where can you get an Alto for £4,250 then?
I don't get the Telegraph, so can't read it.
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A dealer near me sells Altos, not sure of the exact price but certainly well under 5k. I did a Pass plus course in one belonging to a pupil a couple of years ago and although a bit tinny it seemed to run ok.
People often give sound financial reasons for buying used, but others are prepared to pay the extra for the pleasure of owning a new car. Three years warranty adds peace of mind and makes ownership costs easier to budget for, knowing that there will be no nasty and expensive problems ready to step out and bite the wallet.
It's only money in the end, and when your three score and ten are up there are no points on offer for leaving a fat bank balance.
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Instead of a used van costing some £4 to 5K, I opted for a lease purchase scheme that needed that for the deposit then 24 monthly payments of around £370.
Why? How long have you all got??
Being without a car is a pain but you can usually get lifts to work, compromise on journeys, do all you grocery shopping on the internet etc etc.....
Being without a van that you use for all your work - no money - full stop.
The times I have needed to take the van back I have ALWAYS being given a courtesy van, even when it was off the road for 10 days having its nearside repaired. The dealership seem to be hell bent on keeping me mobile come hell or high water.
In addition, being new rather than 4 to 5 years old I have eliminated the problem of replacing it after a few years. Hopefully I wont have to. If I do, it will be worth more, so buying the new one won't be such a problem.
Servicing within the warranty period won't cost the earth.
A member on another forum commented on a lease purchase scheme figures and worked out that he could raise some of the deposit with the sale of his van, and the monthly payment figures were equivilent to his repair and MOT costs and the costs of hiring a van whilst his was in for repair.
Hugo
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If you bought the £2000 car, you'd have £2450 left to spend on either repairs or other stuff.
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isn't there a strong case to be made for the "comfort" factor: knowing that with a new car you have better chance of reliability?
especially applies to people (probably most owner-drivers)who know, or care, little about what's happening under the bonnet.
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