Looking for a cheap second car solely for work.

mike gunnz

mike gunnz

mike gunnz

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I’m looking at buying a second car purely for work to keep the miles off my 530i. My commute to the office is only 6 miles each way but I cover a fair few miles as part of my job.

All I need is a mile-muncher for the numerous journeys I do which range between 10 to 60 miles back and forth from the office. I estimate that I’ll be covering around 500 miles per month.

I work in a fairly rural location so lots of A/B roads with little traffic.

Budget is £650 max and requirements are: cheap to maintain, diesel or petrol, manual, bulletproof engine and economical.

Only me driving so no particular space requirements.

No ‘bargain’ 6 cyl/V6 barges. I already own one of them. :p

Colour or spec is unimportant.

I was thinking that something with the 2.0 HDi engine would be appropriate such as the Citroen Xsara?

What other cars should I be considering?
 
Old 406 oil burner

Simple cheap and epic mpg

Won't throw you any major bills either and still one of the comfiest cars I've ever taxied
 
for £650 it'll be whatever has longest tax and test and doesn't look like its about to fall apart.

For that kind of budget it will really be a lottery, you may get 2 years of trouble free eco motoring or you may lose it all within a week when the cambelt snaps and the rear subframe falls out and its uneconomic to repair.
 
Yep, doesn't seem worth the bother for such low miles.

That said, I had a wee Polo 1.9D (circa MY2000) that I used to use for commuting. It was slow as sin, but at £400 with a decent MOT on it, and running it on 50% vegetable oil, it really was cheap as chips.

My brother in law uses a Merc C200 diesel (MY1995) that he also runs on 50% veg oil. That is a more comfortable beater for sure. He paid £1100 3 years ago for it though. There are motors similar available, but I wouldn't really expect them to be much less than £1k anyway.

I now use a 2003 Passat TDI, which was bought for £900 (plus auction indemnity). It's a nice comfortable motor. No veg oil though :(

Doesn't matter what you buy in this price range though. There WILL most likely be problems with the car, as it will no doubt have gone well past 100k.
 
mike gunnz said:
I’m looking at buying a second car purely for work to keep the miles off my 530i.
Click to expand...

Is this the only reason? is this because you want to keep it pristine or save a bit of money?

I can understand wanting to look after it and not expose it to too much abuse, but for 6k a year imo its not going to be worth it. You'll get to enjoy it too rather than driving around in a banger.
 
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As everyone else has said, use the 530i! 6k is perfect annual mileage to keep it running well (very low miles can do more harm than good). A sub £1k shed will probably experience far more issues than you need.

If the 530i was actually a mint M5 with 5k on the clock, I would understand...:)
 
Must admit it doesn't make a lot of sense to me either.

OP - can you explain your logic? Have you *properly* done the maths on this? Have you remembered to factor in things like the extra tax and MOT costs for a 2nd car?
 
i agree with the rest .. why spend 650 on a wrecker for 500 miles a month unless the 530 is on a lease for like 2000 miles a year.
 
Thanks for the feedback. Maybe my thinking is skewed on this issue....

It's partly a money saving exercise and partly an attempt to reduce the additional wear and tear on my car which I'd like to keep in good nick.

I receive a reimbursement rate of 46.9p per mile and an Essential Car User Allowance of £963 per annum which is taxable. I've no idea whether I'm making a small profit, breaking even or losing out by using my E39 as I've not done the projections and wouldn't know which variables to take into account.

Perhaps running a second el cheapo car is a false economy, or an idea driven by emotion rather than cold hard figures. Maybe its both :o

There's a lot to be said for just driving my 530i everyday and enjoying it (and I do love driving it), but 500 additional miles per month feels like a big expense, that said, those who've said 6k additional miles per year as insignificant do have a point.

I need to do the maths. :confused:
 
Yep, the math wont work.

By the time you take insurance, tax and depreciation into consideration, you'll be surprised at the fuel economy you would need to achieve to claw that back. Never mind MOT's and possible repairs. For example, assuming 30 mpg on your 530i, and you get a 50 mpg diesel, your only saving £430 per year on 6k miles. MAYBE enough for insurance and VED, if your old enough, have the right postcode, and get a cheap tax motor. But that doesn't take MOT, repairs and depreciation into consideration.

6k per annum is nothing, and if your work is paying you £3700 (minus tax on £963 of it), then you are doing pretty well out of it. And you can drive your 530i safe in the knowledge it's all paid for.
 
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