Buying a car

[tomscaper]

Hi

 

My girlfriend and I are currently looking to buy a new car, and are looking for some advice how to go about this. We were in a dealership yesterday but the guy serving us was pretty much trying to pull a fast one and get us to sign before getting the full details.

 

Neither of us have ever bought a new car before, we would prefer to buy a car which is interest free but there doesn't seem to be that much in our area.

 

One we looked at the interest rate as 11.9% APR although he did first say the interest rate was 7 but that ended up 7% Flat.

 

To be honest it is a bit confusing and hard to trust what they are saying.

 

Any tips?

[Hightower]

I think you only get interest free when you put a massive deposit down or something. You can have my '97 Clio for a small fee?

[somabc]

You can have mine, its been modified to run on hay not petrol.

 

http://englishrussia.com/images/car.jpg

[tonyd]

Don't do it! The deprciation on new cars is horrible, I know, I lost far too much on my last one. Nearly new offers most of the benifits, but with the initial deprciation already gone. I'd only contemplate it for a car that was being offered at a heavy discount. As for 0%, I think you'd be very lucky to find deals like that in the current finanial climate.

[ChrisH]

Don't do it! The deprciation on new cars is horrible, I know, I lost far too much on my last one. Nearly new offers most of the benifits, but with the initial deprciation already gone. I'd only contemplate it for a car that was being offered at a heavy discount. As for 0%, I think you'd be very lucky to find deals like that in the current finanial climate.

 

I will second that. You will loose a lot of money in the first year. Far better to buy a car a year or 2 old.

[Scotmk]

Unless you are made of money, I would not recommend buying a new car. You will loose 30 - 40% of the value the instant you drive of the forecourt in it.

 

You are better of buying an almost new 2nd hand car (even an ex demo model from the showroom). You can end up with a higher spec car for much less.

 

Thats my opinion anyways.

[flyinghaggis]

It depends on the car but whatever you're buying I'd try and look at 2-3 year old models of the one you're looking at so you can gauage how much it's going to lose in depreciation over 3 years. You can then decide whether to get a new one of save some cash on a second hand model. If you're being quoted figures of 12% APR I'd be inclined to go for the second hand option if you don't want to buy it outright.

 

What make/model of car are you planning on buying btw?

Edited June 26, 2008 by flyinghaggis

[Andrew_C]

Agree with the above. Local Renault are offering a 0% on Clio until the end of the month.

 

I'm looking too, I just can't afford to put 400 gallons of anything into a car per year. Must get something more economical than a 2l hot-turbo Saab. Anyone want to buy one? It may have had a careful owner...

[tomscaper]

We were also looking at a 3 year old ford focus, but again the interest over 5 years was crazy, of course buying it out right would be the better option but we can't afford that as were saving for a house (which is another story)

 

Our problem currently is that the places we have spoken at, they will tell us one thing and the next moment tell us something totally different.

 

We tried asking questions but not really sure what to ask. Any advice on the things info we need to get out of them, such as warranty info, interest, etc.

 

If i was buying a PC i would be fine but i have no clue when it comes to cars.

[maz8462]

My daughter bought a brand new Astra.....interest free!!!! Had nothing but trouble with it, so after 18months traded it in for a brand new Peugoet convertable, flashy little thing. This with what she owed on the original Astra ended up costing her over £23.000. Diddled or what!! Now she's in debt up to her neck, and driving round in a V reg Vectra a right heap!!! Had to sell the Peugoet for less than £10000 to stop herself from getting in any deeper. My advice, DON'T BUY NEW!!!! As you can see my daughter didn't listen either!

[Ueline]

Like everyone says - don't buy new - 2yrs old is good

Organise your own finance to take the confusion out of the equation - they're less likely to be able to rip you off. Get your own loan and go with the 'cash' - then you can get a good deal.

If you find something you like then always haggle, ask for new mats or something to close the deal.

[strawberry]

have a look in a magazine called the parkers price guide, should give you an idea of which cars to buy. At present some some cars are very cheap because they use too much fuel so people are looking to sell. a new car will lose around 30% of its value in 2 years, add onto that the interest and you will be mighty skint.

 

Also you can get a classic for not a lot of money, i'd love to have an older golf GTi if i was earning enough to fuel it!.

[plexer]

Don't buy new but don't buy too old either the diesel we just bought was 18 months old and the meriva we had before that was 6 months old when we bought it.

 

Having the bulk of the warranty is good.

 

Ben

[StewartKnight]

I only buy new.

 

I'm rubbish at fixing cars, and we live in a rural area, with 2 kids and a baby. We don't want to break down, so we buy new, with the 3 - 5 years warantees

[plexer]

You don't have to buy new to get a warranty.

 

Sometimes you will get a good deal if you go with the garages finance becuase they get a commission to sell it, this is ok but organise your own finance in advance once you've signed the garages paperwork to get your good deal pay that finance of with your own.

 

Obviously check out any early repayment fees etc...

 

Don't forget, mats, flaps and a tank of fuel.

 

Ben

[PeterW]

Yes as already said don't buy new, I should know we got our family wagon new and the depreciation has been massive (last time I let the missus make decisions on anything worth over £10!).

 

2 or 3 year old motor should be fine I'm sure you could get somehting like a focus, not sure about interest free finance (unless your gonna put it on a cc and transfer the balance every year), maybe you should look at getting a loan I think it would be about 6-7%.

[torledo]

have you thought about leasing ? You'd get a new car without being tied into a loan.

[chrbb]

Loan from your bank? Cheaper than a garage arranged HP agreement.

 

Have a look at the cars that are part exchanged when the next new registration comes out, some people still change their cars every 3 years.

 

Also car supermarkets that sell cars from 6 months to 5 years old, sometimes an ex lease car can be a good deal, they're serviced regulary with no expense spared.

[Andrew_C]

Loan from your bank? Cheaper than a garage arranged HP agreement.

And even cheaper than that, a supermarket. Two cars ago, I ASSUMED that my bank was the best place to get cash and went out and replaced a dead car. Two days later, Sainsury's Bank PLC sent me a letter offering something like 2% less than Lloyds. Quick cancellation under consumer protection stuff, and saved a packet!

 

YMMV of course, and I am not offering financial advice, nor advocating or criticising either institution. So there.

[witch]

I agree - if you want the warranty, go for something at least a year old. But NOT new. Get a cheap loan from somewhere (check the price comparison websites) and remember that, due to the credit crunch, second hand car sales are down - so go in there with guns blazing!!

[crc-ict]

I'll also agree with the don't buy new advice.

 

I bought a brand new Clio a year ago. Got a new job with much better salary a week or so back, and decided to find out about getting a Megane CC. Went to the dealers yesterday to find that at 1 yr old, with 6k on the clock, it's worth half the new price, and £750 less than the finance balance. And that was with a £2.5k deposit from px on my old car! Rip-off.

 

I'd say buy at upto about a year old. My Dad bought a six month old ex-demonstrator Laguna for less than half the new price a while back! Just anything but brand new, as you lose loads.

[rhyds]

My parents have just bought an 07 plate astra 1.9 diesel, it's an ex GM fleet car so they know it's been looked after, and their price to change with their old 02 focus 1600 was about 9-10k. I would go against a manufacturer finance deal unless it is SERIOUSLY good value, it's hard to find finance anywhere these days.

 

Those that say "I buy new because I need a reliable/warrantied car..." are forgetting that a 1-2 year old car still has a portion of the manufacturer's warranty to run, and firms like the RAC allow you to buy aftermarket warranties. Also, if you want a reliable car the only thing you have to do is LOOK AFTER IT. Service it when the book says with good quality components and if somthing's not working, get it fixed. The number of engines i've heard of "blown up" due to cooling failures is amazing, especially when the owners say "I'd noticed that the heater stopped working a week ago..."

[tomscaper]

I think i will either try to go down the line of save up some money and pay right out, or get a loan from a bank and pay the car off, any garage seems to try to rip you off when it comes to finance.

 

The APR on one car was 11.9% where barclays was something like 7.3% sure i will still have to pay so much extra but there is a big difference.

 

Another option is pay so much off and get a small loan to cover the rest so pay £3000 and get a loan of £5000, rather than a £8000 loan.

[chrbb]

We've bought ex fleet cars they are usually good. I've got an AA warrenty with my current car (3 year old car) you don't have to stick to the manufacturer's dealerships for servicing etc any garage that's VAT registered is ok.

Try to find a car that was coming to the end of it's run, the manufacturer's stick a few extras on and make special editions to make the last of the current cars sell, if you buy a special edition secondhand you get the nice bits without the huge depreciation. My son's just bought a fiat punto, last model before it became the punto grande, it's got a sunroof, co ordinated bumpers mirrors etc. looks abit different to the standard blue puntos that you see.

[hotwired007]

You could always buy a pre-72 classic... Tax exempt then...

 

or by an old diesel 1600 golf... you can pretty much run them on veg oil...

 

plus insurance of over 14 year old cars is cheap as some companies offer 'classic' insurance policies...