car finance

Dropping 8k on a focus sounds like a bad thing to do when you're already in negative equity on your existing car.

You need to finish the finance on your Fiesta and run it for a few more years until you have some savings (it's pretty much the ideal budget motor) or terminate out of the agreement and run something cheap (what's much cheaper than a diesel fiesta I don't really know though).

By the looks of it you can't afford to upgrade, you're just going to end in debt hell.
 
Do what Fox says and keep the car until you are halfway through your finance (about July/August payment) then Voluntarily terminate it.

Normal procedure for this is to contact finance company and they will tell you where to take the car to. Bear in mind that the car has to be in a reasonable condition for it's age/mileage i.e. they won't take it back if you have wrecked it.


Personally I would be looking at financing no more than £5000 and preferably around the £3500 mark if I were you.



Edit: You are paying £170/month now.


Quick calc:

£5000 car will cost you roughly £172/month on a decent rate over 36 months or £138 over 48 months (8% flat rate per year)
£7500 car will cost you roughly £180/month over 60 months (9% flat rate per year, anything over 4.5 years tend to have a percent lift on rate)

Try and stay away from 60 month deals... It's what got you into this problem in the first place....
 
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[TW]Fox;22325333 said:
You contact barclays.

If you don't have any savings for a deposit either you should be really careful what you buy, from where and for how much. I certainly don't think financing £7500+ for a Focus is a good idea.

Can you not wait a few months and save up a bit of money for a deposit?

You'll just get bent over on a deal with no deposit as they'll know you'll take anything :(
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agreed, look at the VT option and see what Barclays say
 
Pretty much agree with all the advice you've been given in here - it seems as though you simply don't have enough financial clout to buy a new car, actually it seems as though you should never have bought the current one (on the deal you took anyway). We've all been there, or I certainly have anyway and it's something you'll learn from.

VT or keeping the fiesta are both equally viable options, if you cannot save up enough cash to fund even a deposit on a newer vehicle and need a car then I would suggest keeping the fiesta and accepting the cost. If you can afford it then keeping aside an extra 50 or even £100 a month will really shortern the term (if you make a lump payment) or alternatively let you get permission to sell and then make up the shortfall yourself. This will cost you more than VT but it could still be a worthwhile compromise.

In future the best way to approach car finance is to look at the price you are likely to pay from a dealer, then work out what you think that same car is worth privately and add the difference in as part of a deposit - you'll then need to look at how much the interest is going to cost over the term and include say 50% of that as a deposit amount too.

As an example I paid close to what you're looking at for the £7.5k focus - put down just over £2k which means I am never in a position where I would never not be able to sell the car and clear the balance - if I was to get rid now though (for example) about a year in I estimate I would only be able to recover about £1.5k of that once the finance is paid off, plus i've obviously paid more than that already to the finance company. Cars ain't cheap, especially when financed it's a shame you've ended up in this mess tbh but hopefully it wont happen again!
 
Im really amazed people are able to get involved with finance agreements without having an understanding of the process or what they are letting themselves in for. I was half expecting the OP to say he had bought from availablecar.com

You signed up for 60 month agreement i recommend at the very least you finish this first to avoid oweing them money.

Finance isnt evil so long as you go into it with your eyes open.
 
SarGara said:
Im really amazed people are able to get involved with finance agreements without having an understanding of the process or what they are letting themselves in for. I was half expecting the OP to say he had bought from availablecar.com

You signed up for 60 month agreement i recommend at the very least you finish this first to avoid oweing them money.

Finance isnt evil so long as you go into it with your eyes open.
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people are naive and financing is the quickest way to a 'new' car. Just some people unfortunatley do not understand what they are signing for. 60 months doesnt sound long when you say it, but when you say 5 years people seem shocked!
 
Some really sound and well thought out advice from Fox here. Please take his advise, and try to save £1k and just pay cash for your next car.
 
[TW]Fox;22327700 said:
Don't quote flat rates, they are for developing countries and car salesmen to con people with.
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I only quoted it to show how I got the figures mentioned as the pedants on here would be all over me if I didn't... can't win it seems.
 
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