Finance options?

Mp4

Mp4

Soldato
Joined
21 Apr 2006
Posts
8,460
Location
Eastbourne
Hi all,

Well my Corsa 1.2 2003 - Sxi has given up after 9 years of myself owning it,
and just is not cost effective to fix it any more. And times have changed since.

I'm after a car on finance, or no idea if I can get a used car on finance maybe?



1) I now have a daughter to cart around so after something family orientated.
2) 5 door
3) Fairly good mpg that is better than my old Corsa :D
4) Will do doing motorway runs (but nothing huge 5 hour trips) about 4-5 times a year.
5) Mileage I do around 5,000 a year or less.
6) I am used to Petrol and if I moved to diesel I know I will be stupid and fill it wrongly.
7) I like gadgets! (satnav,parking sensors, radio,ipod connection)
8) Ideally no car tax

I have been advised to look at Honda (Jazz), Kia (Ceed) Skoda (Octavia) and my in-laws have Nissan Quashqui which i really like.

Other than that ive not a clue! :D
 
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Octavia. Best out the bunch by far IMO.

You can get finance, sure. Depends on how much you want to pay per month though?

The CHEAPEST way to finance your next car, is by credit card. Buy it on a 0% card, pay your monthly payments, so long as they are above the minimum, when the 0% runs out, swap it over to a 0% balance transfer card.

An example of this would be for say, a £10k car. The next cheapest way is by a bank loan. Compare the market do £10k over 4 years at £223.75 per month. £740 in interest over the term.

Now if you put the car on a card (assuming you can negotiate zero charge for paying by card), and pay the same back every month. The best 0% purchases card (again, on CTM) is the Santander at 23 months. So pay £223.75 per month for 23 months and you have paid off £5146.25 leaving £4853.75.

You can then get a 0% BT card, currently Halifax does one with 1.5% transfer fee, with a 28 month term. So when you transfer the balance, you then still have £4926.55 to pay (so £72.80 charge to transfer). Continue paying £223.75 per month, and you will be paid off in a little over 22 months.

A little bit of a faff, admittedly, but really not much. And will mean you only really pay £73 in interest, rather than £740 for the next cheapest option. So £670 for maybe 1 hours worth of sorting out a balance transfer.
 
Shall see what i can find for skoda not sure what year reg to get
I was thinking of getting a 4% loan via Sainsburys and then just paying back with intrest ofc. I know a few are doing 0% but no idea for how long.
 
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0% will only be on new cars though. If you can get that on a second hand car, then fill your boots.

The example I worked through above was around 3.6% I think? £10k over 4 years. Like I said, cheaper trying to do it through credit cards, but money is relatively cheap just now anyway.
 
For 5000 miles a year a diesel will actually cost you significantly more. They are also (generally speaking) more complicated engines so are more likely to go wrong and cost you more.

The rule of thumb is somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 miles a year is needed for diesel to make any financial sense.
 
Good thing he said he didn't want a diesel then. But I think that number is only really relevant on cars of a medium sort of age.
 
Cheers guys :) I'm going to see what I can do but at moment it will be finance via a dealer. I will look at loans too. But already have a loan to pay 3k left :(
 
Dealer finance on a used car will be exorbitantly expensive, so as xs2man suggested look at either a personal loan or buying via a 0% credit card.
 
Dealer finance on a used car will almost always be hideously expensive compared to a bank loan or even low % credit card.

The other thing to bear in mind is that the finance is secured on the car (which is why it's easier to get finance on a car over a bank loan). What this means in reality though is that you're options are limited should you want/need to replace the car before the finance is up - or should your circumstances change and you can no longer afford it. Now, you may not think that will apply to you now, but thing of it this way - it's more expensive AND less flexible. So why bother unless that's the only way of you getting finance?

If you still have a loan outstanding, you could talk to the lender and ask if you could rearrange it you include extra for a car purchase (be warned though, you'll pay more this way in interest charges etc).


I've just randomly compared a £7.5k loan against a typical used car finance via lookers. The difference over 36 months was £30, which is over £1k over the term. That means you're effectively paying 13% extra for the same car.
 
Dealer finance is often expensive but not always. You can normally haggle over the rate and it depends which finance companies they use.
 
Vauxhall are doing 0% on a Mocha.

Will be looking at Honda,skoda,Kia,ford and seat - manly Leon
 
If you're going to be keeping it as long as you kept your corsa I'd look into a Honda civic because it will probably last without falling to bits/needing constant repairs.
 
I tend to be keeping it like I did with the corsa, 10years + :)

I do like the Honda Civic but not sure what model??

Probably aim for a 2013/14 edition depending on monthly payments.

If i can but will take each out for a test drive any car will be a huge step up

Might add Toyota Corolla 2014 to my list too.
 
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Today..............

been looking at Auto Trader and

Honda Civic 1.6i-DTEC SR 5dr - £14000.

Hmm think I will have to budget quite badly to get anything near £15k so possible Honda out of the question.

And added (8) No Car tax if possible or less than £100
 
Ford Focus 1.0 Ecoboost? Ticks all your boxes and IIRC is about £20 per year to tax. Can get one for a lot less than £14000.
 
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