Advice about current car predicament

FatFishMonster · 8 Jul 2016 at 11:53

Hello all,

I have a predicament with my current car, I have recently moved house and moved in with the Mrs, and I am now further away from work, my route to work is a little bit of lanes (not country lanes, 40mph lanes with occasional stopping for a van and such or bits that are narrow) Then after that its pure dual carriageway all the way to work. Google maps claims its just over 22 miles each way so that makes my daily commute about 45 miles.

Now, I currently drive a 15 plate corsa 1.4 LE which I pay £215 for on a PCP deal with around £10k as a settlement quote and WBAC claim to give me just under £8k for the car, and ive had it for just over a year, so unfortunately there is negative equity and all of my savings have been going into a help to buy ISA so I cant use that to pay the equity and I average about 41-43mpg over the course of the tank and its just over 400 miles to empty on the tank I think.
The corsa was good for just buzzing around town or the short distance to work etc, but now that I am further away from work with mainly dual carriageway driving to work, it doesn't seem like a good use of the money to have a high monthly payment on a car that is potentially not ideal for my needs.

I was potentially looking at getting a used diesel of some description as this would potentially reduce my fuel bill and as it would have to be on a finance deal it would also reduce my monthly finance bill.

So i was potentially looking at a 1.6/1.4 TDci Zetec S Fiesta (2010ish) which are around £6000 depending on age and miles etc....

or I also looked at BMW 1 Series diesel, however those seemed quite pricey when compared to the fiesta in terms of features etc....

I imagine there is also a Polo or a Golf that would be in the same bracket but haven't done much research into those.

In hindsight I wouldn't have gone for a brand new car when I did, but I was living with my parents and the car I was driving before was a real heap so I needed to do something. But hindsight is a wonderful thing

Any suggestions?

paradigm · 8 Jul 2016 at 12:00

I'd stick it out until you are either at the hand-back point (50% of the way through the balance) or you are back in positive (or break-even) equity.

Your car is fine for purpose, 22 miles is hardly a slog cross-country, and 40+MPG is fine.

tom_e · 8 Jul 2016 at 12:01

Keep what you've got you'll only be losing money overall by the time you've chopped and changed.

Howard · 8 Jul 2016 at 12:03

paradigm said:
I'd stick it out until you are either at the hand-back point (50% of the way through the balance) or you are back in positive (or break-even) equity.

Your car is fine for purpose, 22 miles is hardly a slog cross-country, and 40+MPG is fine.

This. 10-odd thousand miles a year isn't exactly mega commuting mileage so you don't really need to immediately go out and buy a diesel. The Corsa is fine for that sort of commute until you're in the right position to change it for something better.

iaind · 8 Jul 2016 at 12:03

Stick with it - moving from a Corsa to a Polo or Fiesta wont achieve anything. They're no more suited to longer commutes, they're the same class/size!

Skillmister · 8 Jul 2016 at 12:05

11,700 miles per year (commuting only, 5 days per week)

current 42mpg = £1454 per year
say 55mpg for the dag? = £1110 per year

Doesn't seem worthwhile having to fork out £2k to pay the negative equity off to "save" that

FatFishMonster · 8 Jul 2016 at 12:17

To be honest, that was the more sensible thought I had, ride it out and get rid of it as soon as I can,

It just not exactly fun drive or even pay for a car that
A) you dont overly like (the interior is really nice but lets face it the front end looks like its really sad)
B) Has a high monthly payment, when a car which you much prefer (the zetec) would only be around £150 a month and be more fun to drive.

tom_e · 8 Jul 2016 at 12:18

FatFishMonster said:
It just not exactly fun drive or even pay for a car that
A) you dont overly like (the interior is really nice but lets face it the front end looks like its really sad)
B) Has a high monthly payment, when a car which you much prefer (the zetec) would only be around £150 a month and be more fun to drive.

That say's to me you'll end up chopping it in never mind what we or your sensible side says

iaind · 8 Jul 2016 at 12:18

Why did you get into it in the first place then - if you dont like it and know its not a good deal?

FatFishMonster · 8 Jul 2016 at 12:29

tom_e said:
That say's to me you'll end up chopping it in never mind what we or your sensible side says

No not all, when it comes to money, sensible is the way forward for me at the minute

iaind said:
Why did you get into it in the first place then - if you dont like it and know its not a good deal?

I originally had the corsa D, 1.2, and that was 199 a month (a much much better deal as it had lifetime warranty and was 0% but the engine was just rubbish for me) then they offered me the new one 8 months after i had that one (i averaged 36mpg in the D, terrible engine that was imo to small for the car) so claimed that they would give me the new one for the same price as what i was paying on the D, and i said to them to even consider it I wanted a 1.4, they then originally tried to sell it me at 255 a month, i was like, no and left the dealership, 2 weeks later had a phone call to say for an extra 15 a month we will give you the 1.4, newer car, bigger engine which would be better on fuel (as proven by my average mpg) seemed like a good deal at the time.

[TW]Fox · 8 Jul 2016 at 12:48

FatFishMonster said:
I originally had the corsa D, 1.2, and that was 199 a month (a much much better deal as it had lifetime warranty and was 0% but the engine was just rubbish for me) then they offered me the new one 8 months after i had that one (i averaged 36mpg in the D, terrible engine that was imo to small for the car) so claimed that they would give me the new one for the same price as what i was paying on the D, and i said to them to even consider it I wanted a 1.4, they then originally tried to sell it me at 255 a month, i was like, no and left the dealership, 2 weeks later had a phone call to say for an extra 15 a month we will give you the 1.4, newer car, bigger engine which would be better on fuel (as proven by my average mpg) seemed like a good deal at the time.

This is how salesmen earn their crust, folks.

Skillmister · 8 Jul 2016 at 12:50

FatFishMonster said:
i said to them to even consider it I wanted a 1.4, they then originally tried to sell it me at 255 a month, i was like, no

FatFishMonster said:
2 weeks later had a phone call to say for an extra 15 a month we will give you the 1.4

FatFishMonster said:
No not all, when it comes to money, sensible is the way forward for me at the minute

(Y)

Wow the extra 6mpg you get in your new car is saving you a whopping £238 a year

FatFishMonster · 8 Jul 2016 at 13:45

Skillmister said:
(Y)

Wow the extra 6mpg you get in your new car is saving you a whopping £238 a year

I know right, MASSIVE SAVINGS

As ive said, at the time, it seemed like a good deal. Evidently I was wrong