Is buying a NEW car worth it??

[Ciganjo]

Over the holidays, I've been round to Citroen to test drive DS3 DSport. Fantastic car, no doubt. But I'm struggling to get my head round why would anyone buy one brand new...

To my understanding, here's how buying a new car works:
The dealers were very careful trying to avoid what was actually going on behind the paper work. I cannot buy a car in cash.... 16k will take a long time to save up, so most people go for the finance. The interest you pay on finance depends on how much deposit you want to put down on the car, so for around 9k deposit you will pay the rest of the price in instalments + 0% APR...... 9k is still however out of reach to pay in cash.
The only thing the dealers were interested in, whether or not I can afford to pay £319 each month..... if I were to pay that each month, it would take me about 4 years to fully buy out the car.

But what if I want to own the car only for 3 years? Fair enough they say. If you decide you don't want the car after 3 years, simply give it back to us, and you wont have to pay a penny more. And this is the bit I didn't work out until I left the dealers..... so basically I'm paying £319/m which works out at about 11k after 3 years...... and I don't even get to keep the car. So I basically rented a car for 3 years and am 11k out of pocket.

Ok, so what if i buy out the car. i will pay out the full 16k in finanace + %APR which works out at about 18k after 4 years in total. But after 4 years the car will depreciate to about 6-8k, so if i resold it, i would be about 10k out of pocket

So according to my understanding..... the only way you could buy a new car that makes sense, is if you can pay the whole lot in one go....... that way you have the flexibility to resell it before it depreciates too much.

Any thoughts?? Would you still buy a brand new car?

 

[Loz]

I personally would never buy a new car & I've only once had a car on the never never.
But oddly I find the older cars more interesting & if you know what to look for some real gems can be found for very little money. But Someone has to buy new cars & keep me supplied in second (third, fourth, fifth) hand ones so I'm not going to knock them too much for their choice.

 

[bigbadjoe]

Not inless your a clinical moron, or technically retarded.

When I come to power as PM, I will put a 200% tax on all cars under the value of £30000. This will deter knuckle heads from getting into debt, then getting it written off by the government. Id watch a lot of car company's bugger off, and watch garages reopen, and used car garages re open. Employing the local, and not the corprate.

The government want you to buy new cars as it keeps main manufactures in busness. You get into about £15000 worth of debt over the next 5 years. The car company gets paid. The guys you loaned the money off get paid by the tax man when you file for bankrupsy. Who loses out? YOU! Because you have wasted your money for the last 5 years to get what? A new car that you will never own.

Only buy a new car if it is your dream car. If your dream car is say a 2L insignia, then buy one. Then return to your crap life because anyone with a dream car as a insignia must be a right sad case.

If your dream car is a 2L Evo 10, then wait till they come down in price and buy one. You wouldn't re-morgage your house just to afford one would you. And if you would, then I hope you lose everything.

We are now a culture of want want want now now now. Things take time.




Sorry to have a rant, its just I oppose people getting into debt to buy an item that will only drop in price, as you pay more than its worth off.

P.S. Don't buy the Citren. The indercaters are in the wrong place and the back end looks terrible. Go buy yourself an older C4. They are good cars, and you will pick up a tidy one for cheap.

 

[Yugguy]

Depends. I've paid for one new car, when I got my 172. It was the last of the line and was a serious bargain at 11k. And it was lovely to have a car that noone else had driven.

my job circumstances at the time made it make sense. It wasn't on finance. Wouldn't do it again tho and I'd never take a huge loan for a car. Unlike a house cars only ever lose money.

 

[dagger]

I'd never buy a brand new car again

did it once - as i had money to burn, so that wasn't an issue, BUT you get all the teathing problems involved with a new car, i had to goto the dealership a few times to get it sorted out - not what you would expect from a new car.

Get one that is about 3 years old, then it's run in and alot of the problems are sorted

 

[bigbadjoe]

I had 10K to burn. If Id have bought a new car, it would now be worth 5k. Instead I bought my Evo for 9K, and its still worth around 8K.

Lost about £1000. I can handle that!!

 

[Prince]

The depreciation is way too much for me. I'm with Loz. I prefer older cars as they have more character. Not to mention parts are cheaper and knowledge is already out there. My car was £20k+ from new... I'd never have paid that for it! 16 years later I'd be lucky to get £2k for it.

 

[HDi fun]

I've only bought new on one occasion. If money was truly no object I'd probably buy new again but at the moment I cannot afford to do so.

My current car was over £40,000 new with the list of options the previous owner specified. That's more than I paid for my first house!

 

[bigbadjoe]

I've only bought new on one occasion. If money was truly no object I'd probably buy new again but at the moment I cannot afford to do so.

My current car was over £40,000 new with the list of options the previous owner specified. That's more than I paid for my first house!

Its great isn't it. I love driving around in a £38000 car that I paid the same at 5 years of age, as you would pay for a 1 year insignia!! Or a brand new cheap car!

 

[obi_waynne]

People often buy new for peace of mind motoring for 3 years or so. To me this seems like a pointless reason as even new cars have issues.

I prefer to buy at 3 years old and avoid the heavy new car depreciation.

I guess its nice choosing the spec, colours and gadgets.

 

[turbonutter69]

Hahaha piece of mind motoring for 3 years...... Yeah right.

 

[stamford]

Cars are a consumable and should be treated as such, same goes for its value. I have bought new as had enough with crap older cars. However todays cars are more reliable and last longer and if I was in the market for another I would buy something in the region of 3-5 years old. As said it would have been through the recall era and had the new car niggles sorted.

My MG was around £18k new, I bought it when it was 2 years old and paid £7k for it and its worth £1.5k if I'm lucky, but I knew what I was buying and still have it, so not bothered as it has paid for itself. Why not lease a car?

 

[Zwaf]

People often buy new for peace of mind motoring for 3 years or so.
.

Good! I wish there are more such people. After 3 year time we get more to choose.

I buyed new car once - my Ibiza. Depreciation are huge and I decided to keep the car. Agree with statement that 1-3 year old used cars are (maybe) the best solution.
In my point of view, buying new car got sense only if you wanna to be only guy who have farted on your seat. Even than you can not be sure - someone have had to load and unload that car from a lorry.

 

[obi_waynne]

I would still never buy new, there are some clever finance deals and PCP plans around which spread out the cost and pretty much allow you to pay the depreciation as you go. It is much better IMO to get a loan or save up and then buy a 3 year old car and keep it for about 5 years.

I am currently looking into buying a car which will appreciate but I'm finding it hard to accomplish this as many "classics" will require a lot of work to maintain them and keep them in good condition.

 

[Cubefish]

My first car was a Smart, bought new. It kept breaking down, so in the end I sold it back to the dealer and bought a new Citroen C1 instead.

After three years, Citroen started sending invitations to buy a new car, in the expectation that I am one of those people who buys a new car every 3 years. I'm not. I intend to keep the car until it is considered a classic (ie, a very long time!)

I would consider a 2nd hand car if the mileage were low enough. When I have looked at 2nd hand cars, I'm shocked that two year old cars have 45k miles on the clock whereas my 5 year old vehicle has just 15k (and the wife's 8 year old Toyota has 12k.) My expectations are probably too high; I can't expect other vehicles to have low mileage and one careful owner
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