Still have not really made a move on anything here. sounds like my granda's rover 25 is going up to Aberdeen for my aunty who's car's gearbox and clutch has just gone bang, so my parents are now driving it up from Sunderland to Aberdeen to give it to her. She was offered it before as a 2nd car but turned it down for the same reasons. She's in a similar position to me - no help close by it's just her + husband and 2 year old kid all the way up there! Hope my Granda's rover serves her proud!
The Ford Ka I spoke of has been sold too, but that was going to be pointless anyway - insurance prices were getting daft again (more on that below)
You mentioned in your last post, though, about having an 'asset' because the car will probably still have low mileage when you choose to get rid. For me, that's even more reason to buy used.
Obviously with these 'you never own the car' deals the person that benefits from this is the one that buys the car at 3 years old when the person before them has spent £XXX per month for 3 years, then handed it back. It will be 1 owner and have FSH.
If you did something like this and kept it for 3 years you could sell a 6 year old, still low mileage car for something, be that a deposit towards a better car or money in your pocket if the circumstances change. Yes, this will be lessened by the interest you have paid over the 3 years, but how much you pay is to an extent up to you.
I can't ignore your very good point about coming along and taking a car someone else has just paid the depreciation on (like I may be about to), however... I can't seem to make the finances work. I'd need to take a loan for around 7k, and then after 3 years I'd be left with a 6 year old car and a loan. a further 2 years and I'd have no load but I'd have a car worth X amount - how much is an 8 year old £9k RRP car going to be worth? and how much will I have spent on it in the mean time? I know it makes sense to buy a nearly new car I bought mine at 1 year old and saved thousands, but I got mine with cash from a family loan which is very cheap - and I can't do that again.
Buying from a private seller is a risk and you cannot draw up any contract. Once they sell it to you, it becomes your problem, even if the engine randomly eats it self 5miles from their house. Caveat emptor!
It's always a risk buying a 2nd hand car, especially some cheap small thing for running around in. But therein lies he beauty in that it's soo cheap. For your first 2monthly payments on some little city car you could have a 2nd hand car that will then cost you £0 to hire each month after. You can then put that money saved into an account to use for a rainy day, keeping some spare for servicing or any little niggles you get.
At the end of the 2yrs even after servicing and MOT/TAX, you're likely to be greatly out on top vs your £200pcm on some little city car. By that time the initial financial hit of the new house will have gone, your financial outgoings will be known and manageable and you'll be in a better position to either flog his car on for what you bought it or keep it as super cheap motoring.
I'm looking into doing this now once again but I'm loosing the battle against the insurance companies - the risk is that in 2 years it may half, in 3 years it may be less, or it could be the same - eitherway I'll be paying more per month and will end up in the same position as I'm in now, albeit with less financial risk.
For example, right now, to buy this car:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/used-ca...er-fpa-201404053092759?atcido=soc-cars-twt001
would cost me £148 per month extra just to insure it. it's almost certainly going to need work too, which 14 year old fiesta doesn't? I picked that as an example as it's already got a long MOT and 6 month tax so it *may* be the case that I'll never have to spend a penny on it in a year - but that's a total unknown.
made mistake on image, it's 1.25 not 1.2
[fully comprehensive, less than 4k miles per year (3rd party F&T is more expensive)]
that's adding it to my aviva policy which incurs a slight discount; Laura's done some comparisons tonight and they have all come out around the same amounts. this insurance thing is a real sticking point! Adding an up at this point would cost me about £40 / month to insure, but it comes with free insurance for 1 year so I'd be pocketing the £40 and saving it to pay for the next policy, which should be lower after we both have another years NCB etc.
One point I've picked up on as well which would put me off a new car on lease/PCP/etc.
You've mentioned a couple of times that she's not the most confident driver. Without this meaning to sound like a criticism of her driving, would you be happy with:
a) Her driving around in a tinfoil can with no crumple zones (which is basically what these little superminis are)?
b) A car which isn't yours, that if she dings it you may be contractually obliged to repair using "approved" (read as expensive) repair centres or face huge bills at the end of the contract?
a: It's crossed my mind, but admittedly I have not looked into it; I'm [blindly] going off the Ncap rating of 5 stars for the Up, but I'll be honest before I google it - I'm not sure if city cars are in a different type of Ncap rating system or not. 99% of her driving will on 30MPH roads. I may be wrong but I'd assume a 2014 Up would be safer than a 2001 fiesta, polo etc? just guessing though I've not researched anything to do with safety.
b: I'm aware of that too and it's a small concern but not too bad. She's not the most confident driver based on only having driven my very well looked after car 3 or 4 times in the last 2 years, before that in her little skoda felicia she was fine; overly cautious if anything - never bumped that car! but she wasn't bothered if she did. not sure how she will be with a new car but she definitely would not be careless with it; far from it.
the confidence I speak of comes from the size of the car really. The city car class we're looking at is perfectly acceptable.
sorry about that. I've corrected the OP![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
