How do you pay for your car?

David1234 said:
My initial query about how you, as in other posters, finance their cars has been derailed. Partly by me and partly by others.
Click to expand...
Paid 10k cash for a 3 year old car in 2011. Has been very reliable since. No issues that would have justified spending 30k on a new car at the time.

Would never use any finance that required monthly payments (although I understand that 0% finance might be better financially).

Have considered changing recently. Would have expected to have to spend 20k for a similar 3 year old now. Was considering a new electric for 25k (scrappage & grants) but don't drive enough to justify it.
 
galway_blow_in said:
Even I had 50 k in cash to buy a new suv, I'd choose the sub 3% pcp option, having cash is a very important security blanket
Click to expand...

I agree that a cash security blanket is a good idea but Would you opt for a €50k car in this instance? Would it not be a better idea to get one for say €20k and save a few 1,000 a year in depreciation?
 
David1234 said:
How people consider a new car to be a necessity is a bit crazy to me.

Affordability doesn't appear to be an issue to the lenders so I have set my own parameters which I am sure others will disagree with.

Perhaps my view is coming across as self righteous and this really wasn't my intension. I have also found myself in the middle of a PCP dispute...an area I have very little knowledge of.

My initial query about how you, as in other posters, finance their cars has been derailed. Partly by me and partly by others.
Click to expand...

It comes across as puritanical, almost every car ever bought depreciated in value, no reason not to buy new and if everyone saw buying new as rank indulgence, cars would soon be like the dodo
 
David1234 said:
Would you opt for a €50k car in this instance? Would it not be a better idea to get one for say €20k and save a few 1,000 a year in depreciation?
Click to expand...

That's a different argument and seperate from the whole pcp debate

I've never bought a new car but wish I had this time last year as the specific car is no longer available at that price due to radical VRT and road tax changes in respect of this particular type of jeep
 
I've done the new cars for years always with cash, I'm semi retired a few years now and in January 2013 bought a low mileage 2010 Mercedes e250cdi for 24k cash, it's worth around €12k now, my thinking is not exactly how you finance it, buy well, maintain well and judge your costs through depreciation, in my case around €2500 a year, it has 113k Kms, looks and performs great ( unlike myself ) and has loads of life left.

Bangernomics...
 
David1234 said:
This is interesting. What type of 2 year old car would you expect to get for €200 p/m over 5 years? Does that include any sort of servicing or warranty?

Cheers
Click to expand...
It would be mid range diesel with high mileage and a few small marks on it that comes in to a large dealership, i am not fussy about colour or a few small marks because they will plenty more by time herself is finished with it.
 
galway_blow_in said:
It comes across as puritanical, almost every car ever bought depreciated in value, no reason not to buy new and if everyone saw buying new as rank indulgence, cars would soon be like the dodo
Click to expand...

I’m more asking why buy a €50k car instead of a €20k one when you only have €50k cash that you don’t wish to part with?
 
Palerider said:
I've done the new cars for years always with cash, I'm semi retired a few years now and in January 2013 bought a low mileage 2010 Mercedes e250cdi for 24k cash, it's worth around €12k now, my thinking is not exactly how you finance it, buy well, maintain well and judge your costs through depreciation, in my case around €2500 a year, it has 113k Kms, looks and performs great ( unlike myself ) and has loads of life left.

Bangernomics...
Click to expand...

galwaypat said:
It would be mid range diesel with high mileage and a few small marks on it that comes in to a large dealership, i am not fussy about colour or a few small marks because they will plenty more by time herself is finished with it.
Click to expand...

It would seem that both you you have spent the guts of €12k on your cars over the last 5 years and I would imagine they are similar enough spec.

I will probably never buy a new car and pay in cash where I can but the financing options some have given provide a good argument for it.
 
Palerider said:
I've done the new cars for years always with cash, I'm semi retired a few years now and in January 2013 bought a low mileage 2010 Mercedes e250cdi for 24k cash, it's worth around €12k now, my thinking is not exactly how you finance it, buy well, maintain well and judge your costs through depreciation, in my case around €2500 a year, it has 113k Kms, looks and performs great ( unlike myself ) and has loads of life left.

Bangernomics...
Click to expand...

I'd call that just buying secondhand rather than Bangernomics! I'm not sure what the cut-off figure is or should be, but surely paying over €10k can hardly be considered Bangernomics? As it happens, I had a 300E Mercedes some years ago and operated on that basis. I think it cost me around €3k. It was about 15 years old at the time and had over 200k on the clock. The most expensive thing about it was the car tax: depreciation was about €500 over the period I owned it (about 18 months). There have been whole books written about Bangernomics: I don't know a huge amount about it, but I think one of the principles is that if the car just dies on you and has to be sold for scrap, the amount you lose is within the range of "normal depreciation" for a more regular car
 
Of course you are right, I was being tongue in cheek, bangernomics to me are disposal cars that live with you as long as possible and then die, dispose of them for scrap value, buy a banger, it breaks down...too expensive to repair, repeat....
 
David1234 said:
Would the car not cost you the guts of €1,000 a month in depreciation in the 1st year? With the cheaper car it would be considerably less
Click to expand...

That implies there is always a second hand option, many want a specific make with a particular spec, you could be waiting a long time
 
If you can afford it and you like a new car then buy a new car.

But don't forget that new cars in Ireland are among the most expensive in the world due to VRT and VAT at 23% on top.


The cost of owning a car is really how much it depreciates by each year. Cars depreciate rapidly at first, then the rate slows off. So the depreciation on a new car in Ireland is a lot. Because new cars cost a lot.


For me the most cost-effective approach is probably a three-year old UK import which you then keep for five years. You miss out on the very high depreciation in Ireland on the first few years, and generally avoid the reliability issues in older cars. Importing a car from the UK is time and hassle though and understandably not everyone is interested.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
Importing a car from the UK is time and hassle though and understandably not everyone is interested.
Click to expand...

I went up North...drove up in the old car & drove back down in the "new" car. The garage had all the paperwork ready and everything organised for my VRT. Very seamless transaction.
 
Firefly said:
I went up North...drove up in the old car & drove back down in the "new" car. The garage had all the paperwork ready and everything organised for my VRT. Very seamless transaction.
Click to expand...

The stinger re buying in Northern Ireland is the book value is higher down here and the VRT can be even higher than you first imagine, thinking of buying a two year old jeep grand cherokee towards the end of this year in the North and the VRT is nearly the price of the jeep itself due to book value in the south and emissions
 
galway_blow_in said:
The stinger re buying in Northern Ireland is the book value is higher down here and the VRT can be even higher than you first imagine, thinking of buying a two year old jeep grand cherokee towards the end of this year in the North and the VRT is nearly the price of the jeep itself due to book value in the south and emissions
Click to expand...

My VRT was about 300 euro higher than I was quoted on the vrt.ie website alright. Still much cheaper than flying over & ferry back and accommodation though.

If I was spending 20k+ I would probably go to the UK alright as you could get exactly what you wanted. It wasn't worth it for what I was spending though
 
Like Firefly, I bought my last car up the North. For what I was spending it wasn't worth going to GB, and there wasn't a comparable car in the south, or should I say, for the money I would have got a much lesser spec'ed model with far greater mileage.

I'll qualify this with the fact that I like small cars, I only drive 20~30kms most days, so I have a specific need, which doesn't include status, range, long distance comfort or family transport.
When I left the smoke out of my previous car ( '96 Fiat Punto - blew the head gasket), I scrapped it. I took the train to Belfast, bought a Hyundai i10, 2009, with 17k on the clock. This as around 4 years ago. Total cost, including VRT was €7k.

I spend 300 on insurance, 200 on tax, and around 1000 on petrol a year. Services are cheap, as are tyres (when I last got a set, the guy in the BMW next to me said it cost the same for one of his as the four of mine).. It is the essence of cheap, dependable motoring. I have taken it to Dublin a few times, no problem, but mostly it is just one person (me) in it every day. I've loaded it with 16 bags of bark mulch, and a full set of wardrobes from Ikea (not at the same time!). And the guy who services it is always amazed at the pep in it (1.2 ltr engine in a small, light car).

I toy with the idea of buying electric, but as long as it keeps going, it is cheaper to keep it.

Some friends take the p*ss about having a dinky car, but I point out I'm the one who can afford a few holidays a year (while they're servicing a loan for a 30K + car).

So I'm buying for my specific needs, spending the lowest money to get the most of what I want.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top