VW Polo - What's the best thing to do with our Polo?

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Sun 11 Nov 2012 16:05
VW Polo - What's the best thing to do with our Polo? - lordwoody

We have a 59 reg 2010 VW Polo, 1.2 (70hp) 5 door that is coming to the end of it's 3 year HP contract. The final payment is £5600 for us to own the car. We currently pay £200 per month and as we are self employed and times are harder than when we took on the finace, getting rid of the £200 monthly payment will be quite welcome. We also have a Volvo 940 estate that is very reliable and in excellent condition that we own outright. Our quandry is, if we decide to get rid of the car, what is the way of going about it. We can hand the car back to VW but we feel it is worth more than £5600 so that means we are giving VW money that would be useful to us. If we took out a loan the repayments on £5600 would be about £150 per month, and then, in theory, we could either keep the car or sell it for, say, £6250, pay off the loan and have a bit of additional cash. Another option is to trade it in, against either an Aygo ( we've had one before and like its cheapness) or an Up, on the assumption that we will get a better trade in valuation and may possibly get the deposit on another car and lower repayments ( Aygo's are about £129 per month, Up's possibly similar)We may need to move in a few months and would prefer to live in a town ( we are very rural at the moment), in which case we will only need 1 car and, for practical reasons the Volvo may be the more useful to keep ( we have 2 dogs) so this also needs to be factored in. Any other suggestions are welcome.

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Sun 11 Nov 2012 16:25
VW Polo - What's the best thing to do with our Polo? - Happy Blue!

Firstly, it seems like a lot of hassle to buy a car for £5,600 and then sell it for £6,250. The loan arrangement fees may well account for most of the "profit". If you don't need the car, you are not throwing a great deal away to simply hand it back.

If you do need a second car then it makes far more sense to use whatever equity there is to take a smaller car at a lower monthly payment, as you will get a nice new car with a warranty etc. However, if even the cost of £150 per month is too much for you what with moving house etc, then see if you can manage with one car for a period.

Would the dealer let you extend the deal by a few months at a lower cost - so you could decide within six months what you wnat to do?

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Sun 11 Nov 2012 16:43
VW Polo - What's the best thing to do with our Polo? - lordwoody

There is a 2 year extension option but at a monthly price of £250. We haven't spoken to VW yet so they may suggest other things. The £5600 does include all the fees, so selling the car at that price would generate £600, an amount I'm reluctant just to hand to VW ( in fact more than that, because they will sell it for more than I can). On the other hand I may not be able to sell it for that much.

Edited by lordwoody on 11/11/2012 at 16:45

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Sun 11 Nov 2012 17:24
VW Polo - What's the best thing to do with our Polo? - pinkpanther_75

I don't believe there is enough equity in the car to warrant buying it, with a view to then attempting to sell it on for a profit (and realise £600).Any profit could quickly be swallowed up in advertising costs and extensions to insurance policies etc.

The 3 cylinder 1.2 is probably the least desirable engine in the range, which would make the job of shifting the car that much harder.

In terms of the cars actual market value you could try entering the details into one of the online car buyers websites and seeing what they offer. Adding around £1K should give you an idea of a realistic private sale price.

If you are considering a VW UP! I would also have a look at the Skoda Citigo. Very similar car and slightly cheaper. Skoda dealers would I'm sure be happy to make a reasonable bid on your Polo. I've noticed one or two of them seem to retail non "Skoda's" on their used car forecourts.

Edited by Seant on 11/11/2012 at 17:27

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Sun 11 Nov 2012 18:58
VW Polo - What's the best thing to do with our Polo? - Avant

This seems to hinge on whether you're going to move to a town or not. It would be a poor deal to buy a new car and then sell it after only a few months. I think you need to decide that question in principle before deciding on the car.

If you do go for a city car, the Hyundai i10 is worth looking at: my daughter got one (new) recently and it was a lot cheaper than a Citigo and still quite a bit cheaper than an Aygo. You could also consider something bigger and secondhand, which would fit the dogs and one day replace the Volvo if that starts getting expensive.

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