Getting back on the road...

Joshy

Joshy

Joshy

Soldato
Joined
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Right, I'm due a bit of a pay rise in a month or so. Its really not much in the real world, but its going to seem like a lot to me, and since I've managed to get this living alone lark more or less financially smoothed off I think I'm going to contribute it entirely on getting me back on the road sooner later than later :).

The issue is that I'm not sure what route I should take.

The first one being the most obvious. Take all spare, available cash (around a grand) and put it towards a working car that I'll get along with and enjoy (thinking along the lines of maybe a 172 Clio, MK2 MR2 non turbo, possibly another Soarer) not go mental with it, save the spare money and put it towards something else at a much later date. Problem is that I KNOW I still end up spending most if not all of the spare money on doing up said 'runabout' and in the process sort of defeating the object.

Another alternative is to take on a bit of a project. The main attraction being that I seriously could do with some sort of time killer. I've got the space, I've got the tools, I've got a vague bit of skill in order to pull something moderately big off.. A grand or so on a base and I could funnel the few hundred extra a month from the pay rise . Means I'll still save on insurance, tax and fuel too because I don't need a car car on the road just now.

The final alternative that I both hate and love is to take out a bit of a loan (around the £5,000 mark) and buy something 'nice' (It'll no doubt be subjective ;)). Looking at loan rates I can cover the loan repayments with my pay rise alone and still have money left, but it wouldn't be loads (although Overtime could help with that). I love it because I've never been in a position to spend that sort of money on a car before and it seems to buy a lot of cars that I'd like to own, but I hate it because it involves borrowing money. And I hate borrowing money.

I know the answer may seem obvious (Do No.1 and don't spend unnecessary amount of money on it!) but to me it is not. I'm at a bit of a crossroads at the moment and would appreciate any advice :0

Thanks

Josh
 
if you don't need a car then why bother? Everything you have said just there sounds like a waste of money. The project car thing especially, I've seen it a hundred times, spend loads on a cheap car, get bored of it before or just after completion and sell it at a large loss, having not enjoyed the fruits of your labour.
 
A loan is quite a big commitment, I personally wouldn't go down that route at the moment in your shoes (from your posting).

How about option 4?

You've managed this long without a car so start banking the spare cash and payrise money and in a few months time buy a decent car that won't need spannering.
 
DRZ said:
How about option 4?

You've managed this long without a car so start banking the spare cash and payrise money and in a few months time buy a decent car that won't need spannering.
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I could put spare cash away, but at the end of the day even after a full year of saving I would 'only' have stashed around £3,000. Enough to buy something I'd like up front, but a year seems a long time away considering I'm 'struggling' not having a car not even 2 months into not owning one.

It means that I've got to mix option 4 with another hobby which I'm somewhat reluctant to do :o.

[TW]Fox;19838196 said:
Would you get a loan? Only 51% of applicants get the Representative APR.
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Possibly not. Its something I'd have to look into further if I decided that was the route to go down.
 
If you can only put away £250 a month, I would suggest that a loan is not a particularly sensible idea at this stage. Nor would a 'project car' be even remotely a good idea.

You don't have a lot of disposable cash each month, be sensible about things, buy a cheap sensible car that won't suck all your money away and start putting away some savings. Don't throw every last penny at a car just because, you'll almost certainly regret it later.
 
Joshy said:
I could put spare cash away, but at the end of the day even after a full year of saving I would 'only' have stashed around £3,000. Enough to buy something I'd like up front, but a year seems a long time away considering I'm 'struggling' not having a car not even 2 months into not owning one.

It means that I've got to mix option 4 with another hobby which I'm somewhat reluctant to do :o.
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If you could only save up £3k in a year, I would do that and not run a car for a while.

Getting a loan seems like lining yourself up for disaster - what will you do when the car breaks?

Work your socks off, get the overtime in and get it banked and when you have enough money to buy the car you want, do that and keep on working your socks off :)
 
Hang on lads. I may have spoken a little bit soon trying to apply some thought, logic and reasoning into how I choose to spend my money. I say that because I've seen a Soarer I want.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEXUS-SOA...omobiles_UK&hash=item2eb722f06a#ht_500wt_1156

One of the mega rare Active suspension cars. The holy grail. And its cheap. And local. And tatty (but I can save it. Honest).

I guess it'd be a bit of options 1 and 2, mixed with the financial ruin possible from option 3 if the mind bogglingly complex suspension failed during my ownership.

I'm never going to learn, am I? :p.

Thanks for the words guys :).
 
It's cheap at the moment, 4 days of bidding to go yet :p

I can't help but feel that will be a money pit though, it's a cheap tatty Soarer with some expensive suspension.

Don't do it :p
 
Joshy said:
Hang on lads. I may have spoken a little bit soon trying to apply some thought, logic and reasoning into how I choose to spend my money. I say that because I've seen a Soarer I want.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEXUS-SOA...omobiles_UK&hash=item2eb722f06a#ht_500wt_1156

One of the mega rare Active suspension cars. The holy grail. And its cheap. And local. And tatty (but I can save it. Honest).

I guess it'd be a bit of options 1 and 2, mixed with the financial ruin possible from option 3 if the mind bogglingly complex suspension failed during my ownership.

I'm never going to learn, am I? :p.
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facepalm.gif
 
Things not to buy when you've only got 200 quid left at the of the month and no savings Part 45:

'An Active Suspension V8 Coupe'
 
Okay, please bare with me and try to walk me through this, instead of going 'loljoshy' and bracing for impending fail :)

To me personally this doesn't seem like too much of a bad idea.

I am used to not having much spare cash but I've always managed.

I know the cars and I know I like them. It is not like I am buying into a completely unknown concept.

I'd love to say that I was eyeing up a tidy old Mondeo for £500, but unfortunately I cannot see that ever happening.
 
Could I not have my cake and eat it too?

After bills say I have around £300 a month 'spare'. 100 or so of that goes for insurance on the Soarer, so £200. Then maybe £50 fuel.

So that's give or take £150 a month towards the slack cash/Repair fund. Not loads, but something.

AND that excludes bonuses and overtime which again could go directly into the fund.

To me it looks like that could work well?

(P.S, I know the figures have changed a bit from what I said I could save. I underestimated. )
 
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I'd love to say "save money, then buy a car" but in reality I know I could not sit and wait without a car so I can't really go offering such advice.

What I would say though is that borrowing money to buy a car with all of your remaining money is a terrible idea.

I'd find something cheap and fun - your 172 idea isn't a bad one and you could probably find a tidy Ph1 172 for £1500.
 
This is all personal opinion really but I guess thats you are after so what the hell.

Having 300 quid left at the end of the month is, personally, enough to make me think that cars with £1200 insurance premiums and V8 engines are unaffordable.

But then I guess this makes me a massive hypocrit because I had about that left when I went back to Uni whilst I had the 530i, so hmmm. I did however have a savings fund for it which meant my monthly wage (such as it was doing 20 hours a week!) wasn't needed for it, but I guess the principle is the similar.
 
It really comes down to your personal priorities, I hugely enjoy owning a car but not the the extent I would even contemplate trying to run something that was going to push my finances to the extent that I was barely able to save anything at the end of each month.

If I was living with a couple of hundred quid a month spare, the last thing i'd want to do is load myself up with an old 4.0 V8, with active suspension and no doubt a ridiculous insurance premium. It just seems like a recipe for a short term disaster. Not only that but also a recipe for being 2 years down the line and finding yourself in exactly the same position of having no savings and not a particularly huge amount of disposable cash.

I suppose in a nutshell, I wouldn't want to make a car the focus of my finances to that extent so early in my life.

edit - You're what, 19 or 20 at the moment? I'd much rather be putting away as much money as possible, at least for a while, to try and build a little financial security for myself. You're in a decent enough position that you're earning a reasonable wage - make yourself comfortable and secure before you start throwing wedges at big V8 coupes etc. Walk before you run IMO.
 
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[TW]Fox;19839331 said:
Use this as an opportunity to build up some slack cash.
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100% this. Buy cheap car that is cheap to run. If this leaves you with £250 a month kicking around then that isn't to be sniffed at by any means.
 
It's always good to have enough money stashed away that being made redundant is an inconvenience not a life changing 'arghghghghgh' moment.
 
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