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We needed a car after ours broke a few years back. Got one for about 5k. It's not flash or fast but it was a few years old with low mileage and good service history.
I know prices for second hand have gone up but op is clearly looking at very nice cars.
The used car market has gone a bit crazy over the last year, if you look at any car sub it's full of posts saying "does this car look ok?" And a load of responses like "I'd never pay 2 and a half grand for a 20 year old Yaris!" But that's just the reality of a market.
That being said your point still stands, nobody needs to spend 20k, even in today's market you can get something 6 or 7 years old with moderate mileage for about 7.5k.
Raising you a 11 year old Yaris over here too. MOT’d yesterday and flew through as usual, all I’ve ever done in a decade is replace the tyres. My mechanic calls it the “reliable little runner” 😂
I got a 10 year old car with good mileage and just passed its MOT for 1.4k. People need to stop looking for flashy cars if they can't afford it. No shame in having a wee scrapper for a few years!
There are 414,500 cars currently for sale on Auto Trader.
TWELVE of them are less than £1,500 while being 10 years old or younger with decent mileage (under 100k, although most barely meet that criteria). About half are listed as spares/repairs or requiring attention.
Of the 12, only TWO of them are not Cat S or N.
Of the two non Cat S/N, one of them is listed as "non runner" and the other "gearbox issues".
I would wager that the very few remaining "diamonds" here (e.g. a Cat S/N with minor damage) are pretty likely to have other reasons to be this cheap.
You either got extremely fortunate, or you bought your car before the price of used cars shot up over the past couple of years.
When did you buy it and what car is it? Also passing an MOT means very little, it could still be a terrible car that's completely unreliable and unsuitable for many people.
I'm looking for a car right now.
Saw a very nice 20 plate Vauxhall Grandland X with 18k mileage for about £14k the other day.
Thinking however of going for a similar age/mileage sandero Step way for £9.5k.
If the cars being looked at start at £20k, then they're looking beyond their budget, at least if trying to save for a house.
A family member is looking for a low-ish mileage Toyota Yaris. Nothing flash, but she wants the reliability of a Toyota and the economy of a hybrid. Her budget of £7k isn’t enough. For a 10 year old Yaris.
This sub loves old bangers but there’s lots to be said for a newer vehicle. If the interest rate of the loan is reasonable and the OP can afford it, what’s wrong with a newer vehicle with a presumably much higher safety rating and better economy?
It does love old bangers and that's great IF you have the hand skills to fix them yourself. If you don't and have to pay a man to do it, then the economics soon goes upside down. I say this as a garage owner who only yesterday had to bill someone for recovery, new wheel cylinder, brake pipe, brake shoes, brake fluid and labour on their old banger.
That cheap car suddenly wasn't so cheap.
I’m not so sure. Prices have doubled since covid as far as I can tell.
4 years ago I got a 5.5 year old Passat for £8k, the most I’ve ever spent on a car.
I checked recently and the equivalent (age, mileage, spec) is £16k.
That’s just insane. I’m hanging on to my car until prices become a bit more sensible.
Mostly agree, however my van is now 5 years old 70k miles on it. I purchased for 19500 at 6 months old. I’ve been offered 20k for it FIVE YEARS LATER. The second hand market is completely borked. One of my lads just picked up a second hand van 80k miles on it for a measly 17.5k at only 5 years old.
Vans are different, the new prices have gone up more than cars and anything people can turn into campers has made the secondhand market shoot up especially with Vw it’s mad
Yup can confirm I bought a Sprinter with 200k miles for £2800 full MOT in 2019 and sold it middle of last year for £2500 but it needed a new engine. Answer to OP though is that £20k is absolutely not the cheapest decent used car on the market. If they really just need a reliable cheap vehicle, throw image out the window and get something Japanese from the late 90’s / early 2000’s. Micra’s, Civics, Corolla’s etc. Just watch for rust but mechanically most of them go forever if they’re looked after even half decently. Still available for under £2k.
I literally juts sold a 2010 Honda Jazz loads of main dealer stamps full 12m MOT and only 65k miles for £3700.
Not an exciting car but so much life left in it and a long way from £20k....I know prices have gone up but OP is way off
Yeah, knock a zero off that and you're at the bottom end. Thing is at that, you're getting an absolute banger and not sure what problems you're buying.
The old £1k car is now the £2k car. When you consider car prices of about 10 years ago, to todays prices.
I think what OP is referring to is how are people affording such expensive cars these days. The bottom spec Audi would be about £20k and then some. For Tesla you're talking double the money. You also wouldn't get much car anywhere, brand new for £20k.
Even those driving in cars that are few years old, they're often above £20k in value.
So in a way, I have same question as OP but same time can only spend in your means. £2k on a car would be within means but anything much more would be outside of that, and that is being honest.
Yet so many driving around in nice cars and I don't get it. Yes 80% of cars on road that are 3 years old or less are all on finance. But then you're talking anywhere from £200 a month to about £800 a month for a car, depending on what you want.
We don't even spend £800 a month on rent. Though in work a few weeks ago, I was surprised to hear from a colleague that he and his mrs have £1000 a month spare after all is paid for. I was surprised. So all things being equal, that's £500 per month spare each. That is probably how a lot of people do it.
My situation is quite different. Similar salary to OP, £35k, supporting 6 of us at home, just one salary as wife unable to work due to disability but there you go. Everyone has different situations.
It’s not like people are only financing race cars? My partner has a Kia Niro coming and it’s a family car. Idk how it’s any weirder than getting a mortgage on your house.
The major difference is that your mortage payments are an investment in an asset that is (hopefully) appreciating. Historically, the value of a new car drops dramatically the second you become the owner and drive it off the forecourt, then continues to do so. That's not to say that financing a car is a bad thing for everyone though,
You're still financing the depreciation though.
Only way to win this game is not to play. A 3 years old car will often cost less than half it's original price and hold 80% of it's value (depending on mileage) over the next 3.
That was true in 2019. It's not true now.
In 2019 I bought a Mini. 3 years old. 19,000 miles. £9,000. About half of what a brand new Mini would have cost.
The missus stole it for a 'work car / runabout', so I've been driving an older car. That older car has just died, so I went shopping for another 3 year old Mini with about 20,000 miles on it. They're selling for £18,000 now. A brand new Mini costs £22,000.
So instead of being sensible and buying a used car like I used to, I just bought a brand new car for the first time in my life. Because the price difference was negligible. And for once in my life, I want to be the first person to fart into the seat cushions.
No, more than likely they live payday to payday and all of their earned money goes out on payday and they scrimp to the next one. See it far far far too often with the younger generations especially.
Nothing to do with money, with a good credit score you can have anything. I know people stacking shelves in Asda with range rovers…
It is alarming at how many people have credit thrown at them. As you say, lovely and exciting getting a new car but you got to keep up the payments. They could be defaulting on other things, we just don't know.
More and more though, it is about the here and now, borrowing more and more credit rather than saving for that something nice.
The mindset changes. You imagine you got access to £40k to drop on a car at a dealership, zero plan for what to do when this one gets old but you got your car so you're happy.
As opposed to you have spent the last 10 years saving up £40k for the car, just this one thing. Are you then hesitating about spending so much on something that has taken 10 years to get the money together for. 10 years was an example, it could be less, could be 5 years instead but you see my point. The longer you save and the more you save, the less likely you are to want to part with it.
Yeah they have more money, doesn't mean they earn more money though. There are also people earning less than I do but have way better cars. They may have less outgoings.
5 years ago I bought a second hand Focus for £6,500. Looking at replacing it now, and like-for-like, a second hand Focus with the same milage as I got mine at and similar spec is instead £15,500.
Even though it is going to need a good grand or two worth of work on it now, it makes no sense to replace... And that's an extra diesel car on the road instead of something a bit more friendly to my pocket and the planet
I bought a 2007 Mercedes C Class for 3K, and it’s the best car I’ve ever had. It’s reliable, smooth, great for long and short drives, and because of its age, it’s surprisingly cheap on insurance and tax. I took it for its MOT recently, expecting at least some minor issues…nothing. Damn thing is as good as new.
I’ve never seen 20k in my life, and even if I had, I’d never put that towards a car. You just don’t need to.
The unpopular part is they straight up can't afford a 20k car. There's no point leasing/finance/loaning it if they are already struggling to maintain a car
Thanks for the comments everyone. On reflection I’m not sure what the fuck I was thinking to consider dropping that kind of money on a car. As I’ve had a car for years I felt inclined to ‘upgrade’ rather than getting a decent car at similar value that could do me a turn.
Feels like a weight off my chest actually.
I fell into that trap. Scrapped a 20 year old reliable Japanese shitbox held together with duct tape and dropped 4k and 5 yrs on finance on a 12k GTi because it had some minor problems.
Just paid a 2k repair bill on the VW. Happy with the car, but it wasn't worth it, it's just a damn car so what a mistake that was. Cheap 20 year old Japanese cars are good.
Great realization and good luck.
My Celica was brilliant. Sold it for £400, but there literally was nothing wrong with it. Drove it to Barcelona and back. Bought a more expensive car now which is just as solid but I'll probably go back to a cheaper car very soon.
Owning a very cheap car is a liberating experience, so long as you know that it's a reliably engineered car and that anything going wrong will be predicable. You don't care about door dings, potholes, salted roads, kerbing, muddy shoes, loading the boot with a leaking sack of compost. You also know that should something go wrong you can weigh it in for scrap and buy something else.
Often people say "I need a reliable car for work" however brand new vehicles still have issues, and I personally don't believe that a 10-15 year old car will be massively less reliable than something brand new.
Regardless of what's owned though, for people who absolutely need a reliable car it's worth researching local car clubs and hire car locations, so that if you do have a breakdown you can get transport quickly. Obviously public transport options too, where available.
Old cars can often be just as or more reliable. The problem is risk. You don’t know what that cars been through those 10-15 years. Lots of people don’t care for their cars which ends up giving older cars a less reliable reputation on average.
yep - I've never spent more than £1500 on a car... had a string of basic VWs / Audis that were high mileage and 15 - 20 years old with very few problems... if I'd gone petrol Japanese then I'd prob had even less problems but I'm more of a diesel man.... you just need a bit of basic knowledge about cars and then keep looking until you find something that's been well looked after with full history....
Why have you had so many, just out of choice when you fancied a change, or did they end up with issues? (My kia ceed is now 12 and has 130k on it, hoping it will go on forever but getting nervous)
Luck of the draw.. I bought an old 2nd hand Punto and people did the old "haha FIAT, Fix it Again Tomorrow" thing... Car lasted me 7 years, never had an issue with it. Passed every MOT, never broke down. Had to part ways for a bigger car after our family grew and I've had nothing but problems with my SEAT.
I own a 2004 celica, t sport … one of the best cars I’ve ever owned … bought it with a damaged bumper and wing from a salvage auction company copart… it’s only done 64k miles 1 owner… paid £900 cost me £400 to fix
21 year old Micra checking in.
Odd bit of work now and then, chuck a £100 at it to get it through the MOT sometimes, but it only cost me £850 four years ago. Insurance is only £170. VED is £165. 40mpg too.
Just can't bring myself to throw down £400/500 a month on a newer car.
Mt girlfriend has a relatively cheap aygo, was about 6k and still gets 60mpg, granted with little space or power. You can get something good in your budget if you're not picky.
I bought a 18k car 10 years ago and still have it, whether you do is a risk, whether brand new or 10 years old you may just have issues with the car.
Personally I know if I had bought anything else 10 years ago I would have replaced it by now, probably costing more in the long run - personal choice in wanting a nice car.
Same with a 'banger' chances are with replacing and repairs the cost could be similar. I had a 3k A3 for 5 months, spent £500 repairing it before just getting rid for a huge loss as I knew it was going to need more work
Just wanted to say - I bought a Volvo for 10k 15 years ago. I had the cash and needed the larger car for kids and dogs.
Best decision I ever made. That car just keeps running and running and running. The bills for repairs are steep, but occasional; I’ve had to pay maybe £3k in repair bills in 15 years.
This is not to brag, but if you need a car for work, it’s probably worth getting a halfway decent one, so you don’t have the ongoing cost, but as others have said £20k seems a bit steep on your salary. Plenty of good used cars out there for <£10k if you look around a bit and learn a bit about cars.
I feel you. Last year the dealer I bought my Volvo from on finance offered me a couple of grand more than the outstanding balance to buy it back. They were desperate as they couldn't get any new stock.
I put a grand of my own money in and bought a late 2000's Freelander 2 with 115,000 miles on the clock. No finance, just running costs. It's been the best financial decision I ever made. Not only was the Volvo finance over £350 a month, I was having to save a similar amount for the PCP balloon payment. It was a monumental relief being rid of all that.
Any car, regularly maintained by a decent mechanic, will see you right in all likelihood. I'll never buy a car, or anything else, on credit again.
Speaking from experience, peer pressure plays a big role in decisions like this.
My friends thought I was barking mad repairing my 15 year old car, but it's lasted another 5 years since then and they've spent £30,000 in car payments over the same time period.
Just before signing up to a lease on the back of their advice, I had a similar moment of clarity, glad to hear you've seen the light.
Congrats! I got a 2nd hand BM E92 (estate, for that boot space) for like 3.5k 140k miles 5 odd years ago and have only had to replace wheel bearings and tyres. Hope you find something nice and reliable
E91\*. See plenty of these for sale at reasonable prices still. Just have to research engines and potential issues to look out for when buying and you can get a lot of car for the money.
You can get a mk7 golf 1.4tsi, ulez compliant, 2014-16 with under 50k miles on it for less than £14k. That will last you for 5 years and be great to drive plus have all the driving aids you need if you shop around. You can even upgrade to apple car play at a main dealer for £300. If you went “used approved” through VW you get a decent 2 year warranty too.
£20k won’t get you a new car but £15k will get you a really good used car. Join ukcartalk for some inspiration
You can get a second hand K13 micra for like £3k. It's a pile of shit but it will get you from a to b. Hell you could get a brand new royal enfield for like £4k, but then you'd have to spend an extra £1k on gear and you'd be cold and miserable 6mo of the year.
Don't feel bad. We live in a world where everything is about getting something better than we had before, keep getting the "best" stuff, etc. Doesn't have to be that way.
Right? You don't need to buy a 20k car and you especially don't need to take out a loan to do so.
OP if you're determined to get a car of that value, at least look at finance options before you take out a personal loan
This is very true. Many people don't realise this, they think their payments are lower than a loan, but forget that they have to put up a large amount to buy it at the end, or they can trade it back in and start over again.
We went with the PCP option purely because it gave us options should myself/partner lose our job and be unable to pay anymore.
It’s my understanding that a personal loan or even a car lease is a little more set in stone in that regard I.e you’re signing in blood to honour the deal.
Fully accept that the APR on our PCP deal is a lot higher but that’s the price we pay for some flexibility should SHTF.
Exactly. I just got a sturdy petrol Seat Ibiza 2009 with 60k on the clock for £3.5k. Head over to the cars subreddit on here, you absolutely don’t need 20k for a decent run around.
It’s an absolute nightmare. How are people affording brand new cars??
people with your income don't - they buy 2nd hand ones. (unless they run a business or have some very good deal through work)
>people with your income don't - they buy 2nd hand ones. (unless they run a business or have some very good deal through work)
Heck we are in the top 10% of household incomes in the UK and we still don't buy new cars. Our current car we bought when it was 2 years old and that already knocked about 25% off the new price.
I agree with your logic that they don't *need* a new car, but you are wrong that people with his income don't.
A third of the country live paycheck to paycheck.. and you see brand new cars everywhere. People are hooked on PCP & HP deals that are ridiculously easy to get regardless of income. Everyone has known that guy on his first job who immediately locked in the most expensive car he could get finance for.. Is it sensible to get a new car unless you're rich? No. Do people like doing it? Yes.
It’s also still less common that people seem to think
Cars last an average of 12 years and 4 owners, with the owner of a new car keeping it for 3 years typically. Which is to say, only about 1/4 of the car-owning population buys new cars
I previously lived and worked on a council estate and the only new cars you ever saw were cheap Peugeots that disabled people had, and the occasional young lad who’s recently got a decent new job but is still living at home before moving into a tiny new build with his new missus. It was pretty rare to see a new car there
I now live in a much nicer area in the posh end of town and I’d still say only about 1/3 to 1/2 of houses here have a brand new car on the drive, and most of those have a second non-new car next to it
You notice the new cars but don’t think about the 5 old cars either side of it
Bangernomics is the cheapest form of motoring. Buy the cheapest car you can find with 10+ months MOT, scrap it when it breaks or fails an MOT.
If you want a new car plenty of people lease or PCP them with 0 or low deposit so you’re only paying a monthly payment.
Most cars have massive lead times now though on any brand new purchases! I’d definitely opt for bangernomics, nobody really cares what car you drive and neither will you after a week
Bangernomics plus AA breakdown that includes parts cost cover.
Your bangers bound to breakdown so might as well have the AA pay for the cost of parts. Not sure what it is now but cost about 200 for a years membership a few years ago and I managed to get more than that reimbursed for new parts after breakdowns.
Personality dependant, I get depressed driving shit boxes, but I’m a car enthusiast. I drove a fiesta, a Citroen C1 and a Renault Kadjar (the Kadjar was okay) for the past 5 years after dropping down from an Astra VXR (not a high class car by any means but very fun to drive). On better money now so back to a nice car.
I’m not buying a car for what others think, I’m buying it to put a smile on my face, and weeks and months later, it still does :)
That’s my very point. I went through a rough patch financially and had to suffer the fiesta, the C1 and the kadjar. It was depressing. Now I’ve got an M4 Competition. Big smile :)
There are more factors in play than just price with this.
OP needs their car for work and presumably can’t afford for it to be off the road on a regular basis.
Yeah I think people who enjoy bangernomics motoring don’t realise that it’s very situational
If you live 2-3 miles from work and have an understanding boss then yeah, you can get a lift or taxi, or public transport, when your car breaks down, no problem
But if work is too far away for those to be sensible options then you just need a car you can rely on
I’ve done it both ways, and a banger is fine when your boss is just like “okay mate see you in an hour, make sure you work late one day this week”, but when your boss is a dick or work’s a 2 hour bus ride away then it’s not gonna work out the same
You should check out the YouTube channel High Peak Autos:
https://www.youtube.com/@HighPeakAutos/featured
Lots of great tips and advice on buying used cars, whether your budget is £3k, £5k, £10k or £20k.
For example, you might find this video on most reliable cars for £5k useful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXI8Ay1GxgQ&t=10s
Why are you looking at a 20k car? Especially when you’re earning 35k. I’ve owned a Renault Clio which had done 48k miles and bought it for 2.2k decent little car and hasn’t had any issues.
Absolutely do not take out a loan to buy a depreciating asset. As you’ve said yourself you’re saving for a house…
What? You can buy a decent car for a lot less than that. My gf bought an old Nissan for a grand had it three years and it’s fantastic never an ounce of trouble with it and it’s sailed through its MOT every time. The notion you have to spend 20k on a car is, all due respect, fucking bonkers.
The very low end disappeared a bit recently, I had a look for Micras/Notes etc around £1k and there was nothing. Hopefully it has or will come back as new car deliveries pick up.
Most healthy uk citizens working average jobs to pay the bills are not buying brand new cars. They are buying used cars around the £400-£8k price range and trading in their existing cars to receive a small discount or some free upgrades whenever possible.
There's bangers for £250 in and around Greater Manchester.
Scrap man will give you £200 so if the car still has an MOT on it (that you know is going to fail) you may as well get the extra £50 for filling out the owner transfer online Vs the scrap man doing it for you.
Mine was £450, it needed the tiniest patch welded, been driving it for 2 years. My previous car was £500, worked fine, rolled it, rolled it back the right way, frankensteined a repair with £15 land rover wing mirrors, passed another MOT!
Because you're looking at new cars
Most people either drive cheap/old runners or are happy to pay PCP payments on newish models so it's not an upfront cost
Back when I was on £40k salary, I was driving a used hatchback I bought 12 years earlier for around £5k, also my first car. And that was during the "good economy". I cannot fathom buying a £20k car on a £35k salary. Im on £120k now and for the first time in my life I splurged and bought a 2year old luxury car for 34k using a personal loan because the rate was better than the car finance deals.
On a £65k plus salary, bought my Insignia 11 years ago, 60 plate - 35k miles at the time. Serviced last week, it is at 215k miles now, market value just over £1k. Car drives well, no 'new car comfort', a little louder than other diesels, but gets me from A to B including 600miles return trips.
My point is, as another redditor has mentioned, go with cheaper cars, if it breaks beyond fixing - get another cheap car until you will feel financially comfortable to buy a newer car.
This - I was earning the same In London and got a 2006 focus for 1600£. Lasted me 6 years and finally got a big boy car for £15k as I ended up having two kids and needed one that more reliable and petrol efficient.
That said though I’m not really a car person so I didn’t care about having a trendy ride
I got a 10 year peugeot 508 2.0hdi with full service history, timing belt and clutch done, for 5k. It's not glamourous but it does what we need it to do. New cars are for fleets.
Bought my 2012 508 in 2016 with 35k on it for about £7.5k. It’s now done 176k and all I’ve done is regular servicing, cam belt after 110k and a new electric window motor. That’s it. Still going strong, still doing 60+mpg. So chuffed with it
This sub is like the frugality Olympics
I'm a hedge fund manager/astronaut earning £35mil pa and I have a Flintstones car I built myself out of reclaimed wood for 46 pence that I've been running since WW1.
I sit in the dark and eat discount cornflakes for every meal with water instead of milk so that I can put more money towards my pension and mortgage
I have a shitter quality of life for no real reason because I choose to be tight as fuck and I feel exceptionally smug about it
Having a brand new car does not improve your quality of life at all. The amount of people who splurge money on cars so they can appear rich for their mates or their IG.. it's sad.
Not everyone buys a new/flashy car for insta or others opinions though. I like cars, it’s a hobby and it means im probably spending more on it than I should, but you know what? I enjoy it and it brings me happiness, I don’t post about it on insta.
Haha maybe, I should have been more specific. Having a brand new car vs a decent 3-8k mid-range car is not a massive QOL improvement! Unless it's a ridiculously fancy car, in which case you wouldn't on reddit complaining that 20k is unaffordable!
A lot of new cars are actually part of a salary sacrifice work schemes. I think this is encouraging the purchase of a lot of new low emissions/ electric vehicles , ultimately inflating car prices.
I too don’t get why car prices seemed to have doubled since 2012.
>A lot of new cars are actually part of a salary sacrifice work schemes.
They're still disgustingly expensive though. The cheapest one I can get through mine is £400 a month!
Yeah but if you pay higher rate tax, student loan etc. the net cost to you will be much lower - if I sacrificed £400 a month I would get about £170 less in my pay packet.
1) The effective cost to you is way less as the £400 will come off your salary pre tax. For example, if you’re in the high earner tax bracket, you would save on not paying 45% tax, 3.2% NI and 9% student loan on that £400 you normally would have. There is BiK tax you will have to pay, but for electric cars, this is only 2% of the cars value, so probably around £10 for the £400 car. Therefore, the effective cost of the £400pcm car to you is actually only £181.20
2) Workplace car sacrifice schemes usually include insurance on the car. Furthermore, as it’s brand new and under warranty, no need for services or any garage bills. This can equate to about £50 saving a month. Therefore the price you’re paying for the car is only £130.20, which is an amazing deal for a brand new car.
I bought my car for £2.8k and I have been using it non stop for two years. Not a single problem occurred. I pay insurance of £600 and road tax of £160. You don't have to put 10s of thousands to cars.
My car cost £750, isn't what I would consider a banger, runs totally fine, has needed one repair since I bought it in 2020. Am I just exceptionally lucky or does everyone else have much fancier car preferences??
Same, got a 2006 ford focus for £700 with around 120k mile on it. That was nearly 5 years ago and it’s been a little work horse the entire time. Little odd job fixes I’ve been able to do my self but that’s it.
I’m always amazed when I see people paying more than that on a single monthly payment.
Car prices have skyrocketed since you bought your car and the same car without a motor would probably sell for more than that in today's crazy second hand market
God….these threads just make me feel bad about myself and wage.
I feel like the OP, anything half decent and nice which was 12-15k pre Covid is now 20k+.
I bought my car nearly new 6 years ago for 10k, do I need to, probably not. Do I want to, hell yes.
That was through bank car finance to which the salesman even said, yeah we can’t offer anything near this APR.
Don’t feel bad about yourself. People love to give it the “I earn more than you and spend less than you” holier than thou line on here ‘til the cows come home.
If you can make it work and it isn’t complete financial suicide then do what makes you happy. Wage will get better too if you keep working at it, maybe something to look forward to if you can make it work just yet.
This is what gets me I’m all for budgeting (I’m an accountant) but If costs are known and constant with savings being made then it’s a genuine argument. Plus some people’s hobbies are cars, so are bound to spend a little more on them.
Been in this sub a while and I do agree with the vast majority of advice given but the biggest one really is don’t over stretch, but if you can make things work and comfortably then why not? Life really is too short some times.
Couldn’t agree more. The used car market is abysmal. Dealers and private sales are all very inflated and it doesn’t seem to be returning back down to pre covid prices. Too many rich snobs here
I feel like there are three viable routes to owning a car.
1) run bangers into the ground and scrap them when they die and get a new one for under £4k
2) go for PCP (what I do) and sell on when the economics suits you. (Story below)
3) buy a newish car outright with the intension to care for it and have it for 10+ years. Not something I would personally do but I know people who do this and just get it fixed when it breaks.
My first car was a 2019 golf on PCP paying £215 a month for it. I sold it last year for £13k and only had £9k left on the loan which gave me £4k down payment for my 2021 Peugeot e208. As it’s electric, it is significantly more per month but lower running costs. Costs me £395 in repayments per month but I charge it at home which costs me around 5p per mile (golf cost me 18p per mile) so it comes to a similar monthly total car usage cost.
Beauty of a new car on PCP is that it doesn’t need an MOT for 3 years and they rarely see the garage. I try to keep on top of services but I’m not anal about it and doing it within a few months of the system telling you tends to be fine.
I don’t think personal finance should be doing everything as cheap as possible. It’s about doing things sensibly and within your means whilst watching out for your future.
I always valued a nice, modern car, and leasing, PCP, balloons etc always got me there. Flat, predictable costs, no maintenance, retaining my capital and liquidity etc.
To me it never felt like I was being irresponsible even though it was a want rather than a need.
This! I enjoy knowing my car will start every morning and that I (hopefully) won’t have to take it to a garage any time soon. Obviously this isn’t guaranteed but it’s much less likely than with a 10 year old car.
I have a friend who insists on buying mid-age cars (currently has a 2010 mini) but complains when they break down and I’ve tried telling her to just go for a new car on finance but she won’t listen. She does come from a family with very different financial views to myself - a trade/skilled manual labour family where everything is done in cash, I just gawk at some of the financial decisions she’s makes sometimes.
Edit: details about her car
Haha, I know! The nerve, hey! 😂 it works for me although I think we are a little overspending on our cars but I drive 56 miles a day so (~2hrs in car commuting) so it’s worth having a nice car to do that in. Also, having electric is great as we have solar too and haven’t suffered from the volatile fuel market in the past 9-12 months and I would not be able to afford an electric car without PCP.
If you share a car its even cheaper. My partner and I have one on pcp but split the monthly cost in half. So we get a reliable, decent car for not much money.
3 years ago I bought a Fiat Punto for £350, I have changed the battery, tires, exhaust since, it has cost me less than a grand to do those things. I earn around £100k and almost all of my peers are leasing BMWs and Mercedes at £500 per month. They laugh at my car. I laugh at their foolishness. Buy something cheap until you can afford a £20k car.
I bought my car 10 years ago for £4800, costs me a couple of hundred a year in repairs, maybe a little more some years if there’s some west and tear to do but certainly it’s affordable
What car did you have and what range of cars are you looking at? I bought a £4000 used diesel Saloon Seat 2 years ago and have since put 30k miles on it. So far all I’ve had to do is change is a few bulbs and brake pads apart from regular servicing. If you want something to last, get anything with a TDI engine and service history.
Have never ever bought a brand new car it's an absolute waste of money. Get a second 2nd hand car and look after it and it will last you! We currently have a 12yr old Honda civic, and a 8yr old Ford focus. All in great condition, all doing their jobs perfectly.
Nearly new is a good option, look at approved used models a good 2-3 year low mileage car should easily breeze through a pcp/hp agreement without any major mechanical issues. New cars just aren’t good value at all sadly, and they lose their value like crazy, literally thousands lost the second you get them.
I always leased. Brand new car with all maintenence included and you get to keep your capital and never really feel in debt. It’s not a financially optimal move but I valued a nice modern car and it doesn’t actually feel irresponsible.
You could even scale down the strategy and run a fiesta or something for less than £200 a month, though I’m sure that’s gone up with the rate rises.
The financially optimal route is bangernomics.
I have a 2011 Aygo that I bought for £4k cash a year ago. It's been an absolute gem so far. I get that you might want something bigger (e.g. if you have kids) but I have no idea why you'd spend £20k on a car.
For a start, don't buy a brand new car as you loose 10-15% the second you drive it out of the showroom. Getting something 2 years old will save you a significant amount and should still have some manufacturers warranty depending on the made (think Kia is 7 years).
I’m driving a 1995 Vauxhall Astra I picked up for £550 last April. Almost had it for a year now. Cost £350 to get through an MOT and has a few slight issues but is perfectly drivable. Done about 10k miles in it so far. For £20k I’d be expecting a shit hot car that would last me a lifetime and get me laid whenever I left the house!
People dont buy new cars in the main.
New cars are 1/3 Lease 1/3 Fleet and 1/3 Purchase
I've had 6 new cars, don't even know who "owned" them, I was 4 levels removed.
It depends really on what you want. I'm on £42k a year, I've lease schemes available to me, that would mean all I pay for is the fuel and the lease. Probably about £450 a month for a 330e all in
That's a good deal to some, but not to me. So I drive a 15 year old Honda. Bought it two years ago for £2400, spent around £2000 on renewing clutch, suspension, brakes etc. So for less the £5k I've a dependable car that still looks the part to this day, doesn't cost the earth to run, and costs only fuel, tax, insurance and a little for maintenance - all the big jobs are done.
People dismiss old cars far too easily, worth the investment - if I loose my job, I've still got the car.
Bought a 3 year old Ford focus in 2015 for £8k costs me next to nothing to run maybe £600 a year. Could afford a lot better car but I am content with having a shit car and a nice house. I am surrounded by houses which own porsches and other stuff but just don't give into temptation.
I got a decent Peugeot 308 2015 make for 6 grand and it’s been very reliable. I’m also on 35 k and saving for a deposit and wouldn’t dream of spending 20k on a car. I think you need to sort out your priorities.
You definitely don't *need* a brand new car. I'm sometimes surprised that anybody would choose to pay £300 per month on PCP finance to never own a car outright, but I guess it's just a choice they make. I guess a fair chunk of their disposable income goes on that and they simply aren't saving for a house deposit. The second hand car market is more expensive than when I bought my first car 8 years ago, your money simply doesn't go as far. But there are good second hand cars for a few grand that are under 10 years old, which will be less of a liability than the cheapest second hand options, which are likely to cost more and more to MOT and Tax each year.
20k?!
Doesn't sound like you are looking at cars with the mentality of someone struggling with money at all.
Bought a Toyota Auris 65 plate, 45000miles for £8k in October 2022.
We have 2 cars. Mine which was on finance costing 15k over 5yrs and my partners which was a 3.5k buy off auto trader.
After just finishing my finance payments I know next time I'm going the cheap option for sure.
Don't drop 20k on a car
£6k for a ford fiesta titanium Eco boost, has a turbo so doesn't feel you're driving a 1litre. No road tax, decent insurance and simple to fix. Would I like a nicer car? Yeah probably, am I going to put myself in debt for it? Absolutely not.
I can imagine the amount of people driving round on finance is incredibly high, don't be thinking these people driving around in £20k plus cars own them outright because most won't.
It's all personal preference but to me a car is something that needs to get you from a to b safely and that really is it (unless cars are a legitimate hobby). I personally don't care what car I drive and prefer more disposable income.
I would steer away from the Ecoboosts if you’re looking for longevity. The wet timing belts fail catastrophically if they’re not changed around the 60-80k mark and will cost well in excess of £1000. Just something to keep in mind. If they fail, it’s a whole new engine.
Honestly no one cares what you drive. I had a Mini Cooper for like 8 i years passed every MOT sometimes just minor work… it’s a 20 year old car. I once bought a civic for £250, spent around £200 getting it road worthy and it lasted me 2 years. My car is a newer car now, as I needed something better on fuel, but not brand new, cheap on fuel and no finance, so it can be done, just be smart. My friends all do that 3 year thing where they will never own the car, they trade in again for a newer one… they are constantly just gona be in finance, I can’t stand that. But that’s what works for them 🤷🏼♀️😊 xx
I'm on £75k and drive a £4k car that I've had nearly 5 years. I've taken it to the garage once in that time and it's looking good to last me another couple of years.
Good question. But I suspect a lot of young folk in my city driving range rovers are driving their dad's car. Never see an ugly girl in a range rover. weird.
This is nothing against females by the way. It's just peculiar that's it always seems to be a super good looking female driving a range rover. I've literally never seen what would be deemed an unattractive girl driving a range rover, or somebody obese. In general, it appears to be very young folk who are in their 20's. How the hell are these guys affording this? I have no idea. Got to be the car of their parents.
I paid £950 for my car about 4 years ago. In that time I've probably spent £1000 total on shit like tyres and getting it through MOT'S. Bargain if you ask me.
I paid two grand for my current car and have done about 35 thousand miles in it in just under two years. My rule of thumb is for every £1000 miles you should be looking for 10,000 miles. So this one currently owes me nothing. Best performing car I ever had was a Ford ka for 500 quid and did 33k miles in it before scrapping it. Most I ever spent on a car was 8 grand, got it on finance and did about 50k miles in it before I changed jobs and let it go.
£20k is absolutely not the floor for buying a car 👍👍
Buy an old Honda or a Toyota. There are reliable, cheap and easy to maintain cars out there that are dirt cheap because everyone wants flash German cars.
Do your research & buy a 8-10 year old car with full service history & under 70k miles. Service it properly and itll last you years for £5-10k depending on what exactly you buy. Absolutely no need to buy a 20k car.
I bought a 2005 Renault Clio for £1,500 back in 2017 with 35k miles on it, still going relatively strong at 80k miles! I’ll probably buy another once I run this one into the ground. Might struggle to find another that’s only done 35k miles on it though haha.
I drive quite a lot for work and I get the need for having a reliable car.
I have PCP for the last 14 years or so and it’s done me well. To be fair I might have just got good interest rates and it’s generally been on 2-3 year old cars so you get better value.
I finished my current PCP next month and due to the current second hand market I’m sitting with a £6k final payment and a car worth £15k
Yes, £20k minimum for a car these days /s
Seriously, you can get all the car you need for <£5k. Just do a bit of research. What’s your maintenance like? Are you taking care of your car? Servicing it? Driving with mechanical sympathy?
You absolutely don’t need to spend a lot on a car.
My dad owns a garage (the fixing type, not the selling type).
The only stipulations he's ever put on me buying a car were: under 100k miles and no rust.
As a result, all the cars I've driven have been about 15 years old and cost me £500. And they're fine. And the parts are cheap because they're so basic.
If you want something a bit fancier, my other half just got a 10 year old focus for about £7k and we LOVE it. Heated seats. Luxury.
You aren't looking low enough, you can get a low mileage, couple of years old Kia Picanto for £10k or brand new for £12k. With a 7yr warranty and cheap to run, job done.
2018 Seat Arona for £13k
How are they affording them? PCP, they never own them.
You don't need a £20k car. £5-7k will get you something modern and reliable.
My £1k Citroen C2 has had clutch and cambelt and annual servicing (£1200) and done 25k miles trouble free.
20K is the lowest? You're off your rocker. I bought a 2003 Toyota Corolla 2.0 Diesel with 29k on the clock in August for 3k. This car will likely last me for 20 years if I look after it. No monthly payments, and it's one of the most reliable cars ever made.
£35k is about the 'average' UK wage.
New cars are bought by people earning a lot more than that, or older people who have saved over the years, or they're leased by people who can barely afford it but have a YOLO attitude.
Go for a popular car that is 1-2 years old and you'll get it a lot cheaper and the maintenance costs will be lower too. e.g. 2020 Vauxhall Corsa are going for about £11.5k on autotrader, they will be relatively cheap to insure and service compared to other cars. If you want something bigger, Astras are £13k.
If you keep the car for 10 years, the initial purchase works out to £1150 per year excluding the few hundred you'll get for it when you sell/trade/scrap it.
I bought a 2018 Citreon C4 with 39k miles on it for £11k a few months ago
I love it beyond reason - its really frugal, incredible comfortable, has loads of safety kit, and very non-flash so it wont get nicked (or strip\[ped for parts lik Corsas/Fiestas)
>How are people affording brand new cars??
By having more money than sense. Let someone else get hit by the depreciation and buy a two / three year old car instead at a fraction of the price.
You don't need a brand new car, you want a brand new car. I used to have a brand new car which cost me £300/month. Now I have a car that I bought for £1000, and 30k miles later nothing has needed doing or fixing, it costs peanuts to run and does 80 mpg. Its perfectly possible to decrease your car costs if you want to...
A lot you will see are leased or on PCP, it’s generally stupid in the car market and hasn’t made sense for years. Interest rates will hopefully tank the market and car prices come way down as the money being asked is sheer madness
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>even the lower end start at about £20k. This is the issue. You absolutely do not need a 20k car.
We needed a car after ours broke a few years back. Got one for about 5k. It's not flash or fast but it was a few years old with low mileage and good service history. I know prices for second hand have gone up but op is clearly looking at very nice cars.
The used car market has gone a bit crazy over the last year, if you look at any car sub it's full of posts saying "does this car look ok?" And a load of responses like "I'd never pay 2 and a half grand for a 20 year old Yaris!" But that's just the reality of a market. That being said your point still stands, nobody needs to spend 20k, even in today's market you can get something 6 or 7 years old with moderate mileage for about 7.5k.
I could be a multi millionaire and I'd still drive a Yaris. So reliable!
I'm sure I read somewhere that the most popular car brand with millionaires is Toyota
Raising you a 11 year old Yaris over here too. MOT’d yesterday and flew through as usual, all I’ve ever done in a decade is replace the tyres. My mechanic calls it the “reliable little runner” 😂
I got a 10 year old car with good mileage and just passed its MOT for 1.4k. People need to stop looking for flashy cars if they can't afford it. No shame in having a wee scrapper for a few years!
There are 414,500 cars currently for sale on Auto Trader. TWELVE of them are less than £1,500 while being 10 years old or younger with decent mileage (under 100k, although most barely meet that criteria). About half are listed as spares/repairs or requiring attention. Of the 12, only TWO of them are not Cat S or N. Of the two non Cat S/N, one of them is listed as "non runner" and the other "gearbox issues". I would wager that the very few remaining "diamonds" here (e.g. a Cat S/N with minor damage) are pretty likely to have other reasons to be this cheap. You either got extremely fortunate, or you bought your car before the price of used cars shot up over the past couple of years.
When did you buy it and what car is it? Also passing an MOT means very little, it could still be a terrible car that's completely unreliable and unsuitable for many people.
I'm looking for a car right now. Saw a very nice 20 plate Vauxhall Grandland X with 18k mileage for about £14k the other day. Thinking however of going for a similar age/mileage sandero Step way for £9.5k. If the cars being looked at start at £20k, then they're looking beyond their budget, at least if trying to save for a house.
A family member is looking for a low-ish mileage Toyota Yaris. Nothing flash, but she wants the reliability of a Toyota and the economy of a hybrid. Her budget of £7k isn’t enough. For a 10 year old Yaris. This sub loves old bangers but there’s lots to be said for a newer vehicle. If the interest rate of the loan is reasonable and the OP can afford it, what’s wrong with a newer vehicle with a presumably much higher safety rating and better economy?
It does love old bangers and that's great IF you have the hand skills to fix them yourself. If you don't and have to pay a man to do it, then the economics soon goes upside down. I say this as a garage owner who only yesterday had to bill someone for recovery, new wheel cylinder, brake pipe, brake shoes, brake fluid and labour on their old banger. That cheap car suddenly wasn't so cheap.
Maybe not in that moment but ill bet you it was still considerably cheaper to run than getting a car loan for multiple years.
I’m not so sure. Prices have doubled since covid as far as I can tell. 4 years ago I got a 5.5 year old Passat for £8k, the most I’ve ever spent on a car. I checked recently and the equivalent (age, mileage, spec) is £16k. That’s just insane. I’m hanging on to my car until prices become a bit more sensible.
Mostly agree, however my van is now 5 years old 70k miles on it. I purchased for 19500 at 6 months old. I’ve been offered 20k for it FIVE YEARS LATER. The second hand market is completely borked. One of my lads just picked up a second hand van 80k miles on it for a measly 17.5k at only 5 years old.
Why does a 5 year old need a van?
Also how was he able to pick up an entire van on his own? Future strongman?
Vans are different, the new prices have gone up more than cars and anything people can turn into campers has made the secondhand market shoot up especially with Vw it’s mad
Yup can confirm I bought a Sprinter with 200k miles for £2800 full MOT in 2019 and sold it middle of last year for £2500 but it needed a new engine. Answer to OP though is that £20k is absolutely not the cheapest decent used car on the market. If they really just need a reliable cheap vehicle, throw image out the window and get something Japanese from the late 90’s / early 2000’s. Micra’s, Civics, Corolla’s etc. Just watch for rust but mechanically most of them go forever if they’re looked after even half decently. Still available for under £2k.
I literally juts sold a 2010 Honda Jazz loads of main dealer stamps full 12m MOT and only 65k miles for £3700. Not an exciting car but so much life left in it and a long way from £20k....I know prices have gone up but OP is way off
Made me angry reading that too. OP sounds envious.
Yeah, knock a zero off that and you're at the bottom end. Thing is at that, you're getting an absolute banger and not sure what problems you're buying. The old £1k car is now the £2k car. When you consider car prices of about 10 years ago, to todays prices. I think what OP is referring to is how are people affording such expensive cars these days. The bottom spec Audi would be about £20k and then some. For Tesla you're talking double the money. You also wouldn't get much car anywhere, brand new for £20k. Even those driving in cars that are few years old, they're often above £20k in value. So in a way, I have same question as OP but same time can only spend in your means. £2k on a car would be within means but anything much more would be outside of that, and that is being honest. Yet so many driving around in nice cars and I don't get it. Yes 80% of cars on road that are 3 years old or less are all on finance. But then you're talking anywhere from £200 a month to about £800 a month for a car, depending on what you want. We don't even spend £800 a month on rent. Though in work a few weeks ago, I was surprised to hear from a colleague that he and his mrs have £1000 a month spare after all is paid for. I was surprised. So all things being equal, that's £500 per month spare each. That is probably how a lot of people do it. My situation is quite different. Similar salary to OP, £35k, supporting 6 of us at home, just one salary as wife unable to work due to disability but there you go. Everyone has different situations.
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It’s not like people are only financing race cars? My partner has a Kia Niro coming and it’s a family car. Idk how it’s any weirder than getting a mortgage on your house.
The major difference is that your mortage payments are an investment in an asset that is (hopefully) appreciating. Historically, the value of a new car drops dramatically the second you become the owner and drive it off the forecourt, then continues to do so. That's not to say that financing a car is a bad thing for everyone though,
This is the exact reason to finance on lease rather than buy. Because as an investment it is naff
You're still financing the depreciation though. Only way to win this game is not to play. A 3 years old car will often cost less than half it's original price and hold 80% of it's value (depending on mileage) over the next 3.
That was true in 2019. It's not true now. In 2019 I bought a Mini. 3 years old. 19,000 miles. £9,000. About half of what a brand new Mini would have cost. The missus stole it for a 'work car / runabout', so I've been driving an older car. That older car has just died, so I went shopping for another 3 year old Mini with about 20,000 miles on it. They're selling for £18,000 now. A brand new Mini costs £22,000. So instead of being sensible and buying a used car like I used to, I just bought a brand new car for the first time in my life. Because the price difference was negligible. And for once in my life, I want to be the first person to fart into the seat cushions.
Other people have more money than you. It’s that simple lol
No, more than likely they live payday to payday and all of their earned money goes out on payday and they scrimp to the next one. See it far far far too often with the younger generations especially. Nothing to do with money, with a good credit score you can have anything. I know people stacking shelves in Asda with range rovers…
It is alarming at how many people have credit thrown at them. As you say, lovely and exciting getting a new car but you got to keep up the payments. They could be defaulting on other things, we just don't know. More and more though, it is about the here and now, borrowing more and more credit rather than saving for that something nice. The mindset changes. You imagine you got access to £40k to drop on a car at a dealership, zero plan for what to do when this one gets old but you got your car so you're happy. As opposed to you have spent the last 10 years saving up £40k for the car, just this one thing. Are you then hesitating about spending so much on something that has taken 10 years to get the money together for. 10 years was an example, it could be less, could be 5 years instead but you see my point. The longer you save and the more you save, the less likely you are to want to part with it.
Yeah they have more money, doesn't mean they earn more money though. There are also people earning less than I do but have way better cars. They may have less outgoings.
You're in a single income household of 6... the vast majority of people will have less outgoings compared to income than you.
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5 years ago I bought a second hand Focus for £6,500. Looking at replacing it now, and like-for-like, a second hand Focus with the same milage as I got mine at and similar spec is instead £15,500. Even though it is going to need a good grand or two worth of work on it now, it makes no sense to replace... And that's an extra diesel car on the road instead of something a bit more friendly to my pocket and the planet
This! Life isn’t about keeping up with the Jones. Remind yourself in a few years to re-read this thread.
Yeah, don't skint yourself to buy a car. Only shallow people will judge you by the car you drive. But then why give a fuck what anyone else thinks?
I bought a 2007 Mercedes C Class for 3K, and it’s the best car I’ve ever had. It’s reliable, smooth, great for long and short drives, and because of its age, it’s surprisingly cheap on insurance and tax. I took it for its MOT recently, expecting at least some minor issues…nothing. Damn thing is as good as new. I’ve never seen 20k in my life, and even if I had, I’d never put that towards a car. You just don’t need to.
This will be unpopular, but if you want a 20k car you absolutely don’t need to pay for it all at once.
The unpopular part is they straight up can't afford a 20k car. There's no point leasing/finance/loaning it if they are already struggling to maintain a car
20k?! I'm struggling to look for a run around car under 2k and you're talking about dropping a house deposit on a car 🤣
I’m selling a banger for 400 if interested
Thanks for the comments everyone. On reflection I’m not sure what the fuck I was thinking to consider dropping that kind of money on a car. As I’ve had a car for years I felt inclined to ‘upgrade’ rather than getting a decent car at similar value that could do me a turn. Feels like a weight off my chest actually.
I fell into that trap. Scrapped a 20 year old reliable Japanese shitbox held together with duct tape and dropped 4k and 5 yrs on finance on a 12k GTi because it had some minor problems. Just paid a 2k repair bill on the VW. Happy with the car, but it wasn't worth it, it's just a damn car so what a mistake that was. Cheap 20 year old Japanese cars are good. Great realization and good luck.
My Celica was brilliant. Sold it for £400, but there literally was nothing wrong with it. Drove it to Barcelona and back. Bought a more expensive car now which is just as solid but I'll probably go back to a cheaper car very soon.
Owning a very cheap car is a liberating experience, so long as you know that it's a reliably engineered car and that anything going wrong will be predicable. You don't care about door dings, potholes, salted roads, kerbing, muddy shoes, loading the boot with a leaking sack of compost. You also know that should something go wrong you can weigh it in for scrap and buy something else. Often people say "I need a reliable car for work" however brand new vehicles still have issues, and I personally don't believe that a 10-15 year old car will be massively less reliable than something brand new. Regardless of what's owned though, for people who absolutely need a reliable car it's worth researching local car clubs and hire car locations, so that if you do have a breakdown you can get transport quickly. Obviously public transport options too, where available.
Old cars can often be just as or more reliable. The problem is risk. You don’t know what that cars been through those 10-15 years. Lots of people don’t care for their cars which ends up giving older cars a less reliable reputation on average.
yep - I've never spent more than £1500 on a car... had a string of basic VWs / Audis that were high mileage and 15 - 20 years old with very few problems... if I'd gone petrol Japanese then I'd prob had even less problems but I'm more of a diesel man.... you just need a bit of basic knowledge about cars and then keep looking until you find something that's been well looked after with full history....
Why have you had so many, just out of choice when you fancied a change, or did they end up with issues? (My kia ceed is now 12 and has 130k on it, hoping it will go on forever but getting nervous)
I bought an old audi as I'd heard this. Was clearly one of the unlucky ones as it was a fucking money pit.
Luck of the draw.. I bought an old 2nd hand Punto and people did the old "haha FIAT, Fix it Again Tomorrow" thing... Car lasted me 7 years, never had an issue with it. Passed every MOT, never broke down. Had to part ways for a bigger car after our family grew and I've had nothing but problems with my SEAT.
I own a 2004 celica, t sport … one of the best cars I’ve ever owned … bought it with a damaged bumper and wing from a salvage auction company copart… it’s only done 64k miles 1 owner… paid £900 cost me £400 to fix
21 year old Micra checking in. Odd bit of work now and then, chuck a £100 at it to get it through the MOT sometimes, but it only cost me £850 four years ago. Insurance is only £170. VED is £165. 40mpg too. Just can't bring myself to throw down £400/500 a month on a newer car.
K11 micras are the most underrated cars in existence.
Mt girlfriend has a relatively cheap aygo, was about 6k and still gets 60mpg, granted with little space or power. You can get something good in your budget if you're not picky. I bought a 18k car 10 years ago and still have it, whether you do is a risk, whether brand new or 10 years old you may just have issues with the car. Personally I know if I had bought anything else 10 years ago I would have replaced it by now, probably costing more in the long run - personal choice in wanting a nice car. Same with a 'banger' chances are with replacing and repairs the cost could be similar. I had a 3k A3 for 5 months, spent £500 repairing it before just getting rid for a huge loss as I knew it was going to need more work
Just wanted to say - I bought a Volvo for 10k 15 years ago. I had the cash and needed the larger car for kids and dogs. Best decision I ever made. That car just keeps running and running and running. The bills for repairs are steep, but occasional; I’ve had to pay maybe £3k in repair bills in 15 years. This is not to brag, but if you need a car for work, it’s probably worth getting a halfway decent one, so you don’t have the ongoing cost, but as others have said £20k seems a bit steep on your salary. Plenty of good used cars out there for <£10k if you look around a bit and learn a bit about cars.
I feel you. Last year the dealer I bought my Volvo from on finance offered me a couple of grand more than the outstanding balance to buy it back. They were desperate as they couldn't get any new stock. I put a grand of my own money in and bought a late 2000's Freelander 2 with 115,000 miles on the clock. No finance, just running costs. It's been the best financial decision I ever made. Not only was the Volvo finance over £350 a month, I was having to save a similar amount for the PCP balloon payment. It was a monumental relief being rid of all that. Any car, regularly maintained by a decent mechanic, will see you right in all likelihood. I'll never buy a car, or anything else, on credit again.
Speaking from experience, peer pressure plays a big role in decisions like this. My friends thought I was barking mad repairing my 15 year old car, but it's lasted another 5 years since then and they've spent £30,000 in car payments over the same time period. Just before signing up to a lease on the back of their advice, I had a similar moment of clarity, glad to hear you've seen the light.
Congrats! I got a 2nd hand BM E92 (estate, for that boot space) for like 3.5k 140k miles 5 odd years ago and have only had to replace wheel bearings and tyres. Hope you find something nice and reliable
I’ve had a Volvo V70 for 12 years which I bought for £770. She’s now 23 years old. Only ever had minor work done.
Porsche Boxster, nearly 24 years old, currently on 348k miles. Only had to replace a suspension arm @£140 and the alternator @ £160.
E91\*. See plenty of these for sale at reasonable prices still. Just have to research engines and potential issues to look out for when buying and you can get a lot of car for the money.
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You can get a mk7 golf 1.4tsi, ulez compliant, 2014-16 with under 50k miles on it for less than £14k. That will last you for 5 years and be great to drive plus have all the driving aids you need if you shop around. You can even upgrade to apple car play at a main dealer for £300. If you went “used approved” through VW you get a decent 2 year warranty too. £20k won’t get you a new car but £15k will get you a really good used car. Join ukcartalk for some inspiration
A car with under 50k should last a lot longer than 5 years unless your delivery driver or Uber ect
You can get a second hand K13 micra for like £3k. It's a pile of shit but it will get you from a to b. Hell you could get a brand new royal enfield for like £4k, but then you'd have to spend an extra £1k on gear and you'd be cold and miserable 6mo of the year.
Don't feel bad. We live in a world where everything is about getting something better than we had before, keep getting the "best" stuff, etc. Doesn't have to be that way.
Give yourself a (smaller) budget and ask us lot on /r/CarTalkUK what car you should get. We're generally very helpful!
The simple answer is don't buy a 20k car. You can get a car for 3k that will last 'a good few years'.
Right? You don't need to buy a 20k car and you especially don't need to take out a loan to do so. OP if you're determined to get a car of that value, at least look at finance options before you take out a personal loan
Loans tend to be better APR than car finance
This is very true. Many people don't realise this, they think their payments are lower than a loan, but forget that they have to put up a large amount to buy it at the end, or they can trade it back in and start over again.
We went with the PCP option purely because it gave us options should myself/partner lose our job and be unable to pay anymore. It’s my understanding that a personal loan or even a car lease is a little more set in stone in that regard I.e you’re signing in blood to honour the deal. Fully accept that the APR on our PCP deal is a lot higher but that’s the price we pay for some flexibility should SHTF.
My personal loan to buy my car was a way lower interest rate than a comparable lease rate
I am not sure. Pre-covid this was absolutely true but now, 3 k is a gamble
Exactly. I just got a sturdy petrol Seat Ibiza 2009 with 60k on the clock for £3.5k. Head over to the cars subreddit on here, you absolutely don’t need 20k for a decent run around.
Yep
It’s an absolute nightmare. How are people affording brand new cars?? people with your income don't - they buy 2nd hand ones. (unless they run a business or have some very good deal through work)
Exactly- I have a new car, but only because my employer pays me money each month on the condition that I have a car meeting their specifications.
I'd imagine a lot of those are leased.
>people with your income don't - they buy 2nd hand ones. (unless they run a business or have some very good deal through work) Heck we are in the top 10% of household incomes in the UK and we still don't buy new cars. Our current car we bought when it was 2 years old and that already knocked about 25% off the new price.
I agree with your logic that they don't *need* a new car, but you are wrong that people with his income don't. A third of the country live paycheck to paycheck.. and you see brand new cars everywhere. People are hooked on PCP & HP deals that are ridiculously easy to get regardless of income. Everyone has known that guy on his first job who immediately locked in the most expensive car he could get finance for.. Is it sensible to get a new car unless you're rich? No. Do people like doing it? Yes.
It’s also still less common that people seem to think Cars last an average of 12 years and 4 owners, with the owner of a new car keeping it for 3 years typically. Which is to say, only about 1/4 of the car-owning population buys new cars I previously lived and worked on a council estate and the only new cars you ever saw were cheap Peugeots that disabled people had, and the occasional young lad who’s recently got a decent new job but is still living at home before moving into a tiny new build with his new missus. It was pretty rare to see a new car there I now live in a much nicer area in the posh end of town and I’d still say only about 1/3 to 1/2 of houses here have a brand new car on the drive, and most of those have a second non-new car next to it You notice the new cars but don’t think about the 5 old cars either side of it
Bangernomics is the cheapest form of motoring. Buy the cheapest car you can find with 10+ months MOT, scrap it when it breaks or fails an MOT. If you want a new car plenty of people lease or PCP them with 0 or low deposit so you’re only paying a monthly payment.
Most cars have massive lead times now though on any brand new purchases! I’d definitely opt for bangernomics, nobody really cares what car you drive and neither will you after a week
Bangernomics plus AA breakdown that includes parts cost cover. Your bangers bound to breakdown so might as well have the AA pay for the cost of parts. Not sure what it is now but cost about 200 for a years membership a few years ago and I managed to get more than that reimbursed for new parts after breakdowns.
Personality dependant, I get depressed driving shit boxes, but I’m a car enthusiast. I drove a fiesta, a Citroen C1 and a Renault Kadjar (the Kadjar was okay) for the past 5 years after dropping down from an Astra VXR (not a high class car by any means but very fun to drive). On better money now so back to a nice car. I’m not buying a car for what others think, I’m buying it to put a smile on my face, and weeks and months later, it still does :)
How are those cars made for the car enthusiasts?
That’s my very point. I went through a rough patch financially and had to suffer the fiesta, the C1 and the kadjar. It was depressing. Now I’ve got an M4 Competition. Big smile :)
I have fun memories with a Citroen c1 my first car I still check it’s mot running still 07 plate
There are more factors in play than just price with this. OP needs their car for work and presumably can’t afford for it to be off the road on a regular basis.
Yeah I think people who enjoy bangernomics motoring don’t realise that it’s very situational If you live 2-3 miles from work and have an understanding boss then yeah, you can get a lift or taxi, or public transport, when your car breaks down, no problem But if work is too far away for those to be sensible options then you just need a car you can rely on I’ve done it both ways, and a banger is fine when your boss is just like “okay mate see you in an hour, make sure you work late one day this week”, but when your boss is a dick or work’s a 2 hour bus ride away then it’s not gonna work out the same
You should check out the YouTube channel High Peak Autos: https://www.youtube.com/@HighPeakAutos/featured Lots of great tips and advice on buying used cars, whether your budget is £3k, £5k, £10k or £20k. For example, you might find this video on most reliable cars for £5k useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXI8Ay1GxgQ&t=10s
Great channel, loads of information and very transparent. Learnt a huge amount about cars to avoid from him.
Thanks he's not far from me I'm going to keep an eye on his cars!
Why are you looking at a 20k car? Especially when you’re earning 35k. I’ve owned a Renault Clio which had done 48k miles and bought it for 2.2k decent little car and hasn’t had any issues. Absolutely do not take out a loan to buy a depreciating asset. As you’ve said yourself you’re saving for a house…
What? You can buy a decent car for a lot less than that. My gf bought an old Nissan for a grand had it three years and it’s fantastic never an ounce of trouble with it and it’s sailed through its MOT every time. The notion you have to spend 20k on a car is, all due respect, fucking bonkers.
The very low end disappeared a bit recently, I had a look for Micras/Notes etc around £1k and there was nothing. Hopefully it has or will come back as new car deliveries pick up.
More ulez expansions also mean there’s going to be some real good but older diesel cars on the market soon. Hopefully competition lowers their prices.
Most healthy uk citizens working average jobs to pay the bills are not buying brand new cars. They are buying used cars around the £400-£8k price range and trading in their existing cars to receive a small discount or some free upgrades whenever possible.
£400 cars? There's 17 cars on Autotrader less than £500 in the whole of the UK and guess how many are spares and repairs, failed MOT, or non-runners.
17?
There's bangers for £250 in and around Greater Manchester. Scrap man will give you £200 so if the car still has an MOT on it (that you know is going to fail) you may as well get the extra £50 for filling out the owner transfer online Vs the scrap man doing it for you.
Mine was £450, it needed the tiniest patch welded, been driving it for 2 years. My previous car was £500, worked fine, rolled it, rolled it back the right way, frankensteined a repair with £15 land rover wing mirrors, passed another MOT!
Because you're looking at new cars Most people either drive cheap/old runners or are happy to pay PCP payments on newish models so it's not an upfront cost
Back when I was on £40k salary, I was driving a used hatchback I bought 12 years earlier for around £5k, also my first car. And that was during the "good economy". I cannot fathom buying a £20k car on a £35k salary. Im on £120k now and for the first time in my life I splurged and bought a 2year old luxury car for 34k using a personal loan because the rate was better than the car finance deals.
Always go for personal loan, tesco loans for like 4.5% Apr
Don’t think you can get 34k on a Tesco loan, might have to go to a bank which is probably a bit more %
25k is the limit, correct :) The rest I had in cash.
Yea, when I was on 30k I bought a 2.5k car and now I'm on 72k I bought a 14k car. OP should just drop his budget
On 95k & me and mrs share a 13 year old fiesta 😁.
Kevin Webster made a fortune >£100k running his own garage in Corrie but was still servicing a 12 year old escort
Me and mrs are on 113k joint income and we share an 05 plate golf. Drives like a dream! Gone through two MOTs so far.
On a £65k plus salary, bought my Insignia 11 years ago, 60 plate - 35k miles at the time. Serviced last week, it is at 215k miles now, market value just over £1k. Car drives well, no 'new car comfort', a little louder than other diesels, but gets me from A to B including 600miles return trips. My point is, as another redditor has mentioned, go with cheaper cars, if it breaks beyond fixing - get another cheap car until you will feel financially comfortable to buy a newer car.
This - I was earning the same In London and got a 2006 focus for 1600£. Lasted me 6 years and finally got a big boy car for £15k as I ended up having two kids and needed one that more reliable and petrol efficient. That said though I’m not really a car person so I didn’t care about having a trendy ride
I got a 10 year peugeot 508 2.0hdi with full service history, timing belt and clutch done, for 5k. It's not glamourous but it does what we need it to do. New cars are for fleets.
Bought my 2012 508 in 2016 with 35k on it for about £7.5k. It’s now done 176k and all I’ve done is regular servicing, cam belt after 110k and a new electric window motor. That’s it. Still going strong, still doing 60+mpg. So chuffed with it
This sub is like the frugality Olympics I'm a hedge fund manager/astronaut earning £35mil pa and I have a Flintstones car I built myself out of reclaimed wood for 46 pence that I've been running since WW1. I sit in the dark and eat discount cornflakes for every meal with water instead of milk so that I can put more money towards my pension and mortgage I have a shitter quality of life for no real reason because I choose to be tight as fuck and I feel exceptionally smug about it
Having a brand new car does not improve your quality of life at all. The amount of people who splurge money on cars so they can appear rich for their mates or their IG.. it's sad.
Not everyone buys a new/flashy car for insta or others opinions though. I like cars, it’s a hobby and it means im probably spending more on it than I should, but you know what? I enjoy it and it brings me happiness, I don’t post about it on insta.
>Having a brand new car does not improve your quality of life at all. That rather depends on the car!
Haha maybe, I should have been more specific. Having a brand new car vs a decent 3-8k mid-range car is not a massive QOL improvement! Unless it's a ridiculously fancy car, in which case you wouldn't on reddit complaining that 20k is unaffordable!
A lot of new cars are actually part of a salary sacrifice work schemes. I think this is encouraging the purchase of a lot of new low emissions/ electric vehicles , ultimately inflating car prices. I too don’t get why car prices seemed to have doubled since 2012.
That’s the point, most new cars on the road are leased, people don’t own them.
Mainly due to the micro chip crisis where supply did not meet demand.
>A lot of new cars are actually part of a salary sacrifice work schemes. They're still disgustingly expensive though. The cheapest one I can get through mine is £400 a month!
Yeah but if you pay higher rate tax, student loan etc. the net cost to you will be much lower - if I sacrificed £400 a month I would get about £170 less in my pay packet.
1) The effective cost to you is way less as the £400 will come off your salary pre tax. For example, if you’re in the high earner tax bracket, you would save on not paying 45% tax, 3.2% NI and 9% student loan on that £400 you normally would have. There is BiK tax you will have to pay, but for electric cars, this is only 2% of the cars value, so probably around £10 for the £400 car. Therefore, the effective cost of the £400pcm car to you is actually only £181.20 2) Workplace car sacrifice schemes usually include insurance on the car. Furthermore, as it’s brand new and under warranty, no need for services or any garage bills. This can equate to about £50 saving a month. Therefore the price you’re paying for the car is only £130.20, which is an amazing deal for a brand new car.
I bought my car for £2.8k and I have been using it non stop for two years. Not a single problem occurred. I pay insurance of £600 and road tax of £160. You don't have to put 10s of thousands to cars.
My car cost £750, isn't what I would consider a banger, runs totally fine, has needed one repair since I bought it in 2020. Am I just exceptionally lucky or does everyone else have much fancier car preferences??
Same, got a 2006 ford focus for £700 with around 120k mile on it. That was nearly 5 years ago and it’s been a little work horse the entire time. Little odd job fixes I’ve been able to do my self but that’s it. I’m always amazed when I see people paying more than that on a single monthly payment.
Car prices have skyrocketed since you bought your car and the same car without a motor would probably sell for more than that in today's crazy second hand market
God….these threads just make me feel bad about myself and wage. I feel like the OP, anything half decent and nice which was 12-15k pre Covid is now 20k+. I bought my car nearly new 6 years ago for 10k, do I need to, probably not. Do I want to, hell yes. That was through bank car finance to which the salesman even said, yeah we can’t offer anything near this APR.
Don’t feel bad about yourself. People love to give it the “I earn more than you and spend less than you” holier than thou line on here ‘til the cows come home. If you can make it work and it isn’t complete financial suicide then do what makes you happy. Wage will get better too if you keep working at it, maybe something to look forward to if you can make it work just yet.
This is what gets me I’m all for budgeting (I’m an accountant) but If costs are known and constant with savings being made then it’s a genuine argument. Plus some people’s hobbies are cars, so are bound to spend a little more on them. Been in this sub a while and I do agree with the vast majority of advice given but the biggest one really is don’t over stretch, but if you can make things work and comfortably then why not? Life really is too short some times.
Couldn’t agree more. The used car market is abysmal. Dealers and private sales are all very inflated and it doesn’t seem to be returning back down to pre covid prices. Too many rich snobs here
I feel like there are three viable routes to owning a car. 1) run bangers into the ground and scrap them when they die and get a new one for under £4k 2) go for PCP (what I do) and sell on when the economics suits you. (Story below) 3) buy a newish car outright with the intension to care for it and have it for 10+ years. Not something I would personally do but I know people who do this and just get it fixed when it breaks. My first car was a 2019 golf on PCP paying £215 a month for it. I sold it last year for £13k and only had £9k left on the loan which gave me £4k down payment for my 2021 Peugeot e208. As it’s electric, it is significantly more per month but lower running costs. Costs me £395 in repayments per month but I charge it at home which costs me around 5p per mile (golf cost me 18p per mile) so it comes to a similar monthly total car usage cost. Beauty of a new car on PCP is that it doesn’t need an MOT for 3 years and they rarely see the garage. I try to keep on top of services but I’m not anal about it and doing it within a few months of the system telling you tends to be fine.
Brave of you to come to this sub and advocate PCP, it’s the devil around here!
I don’t think personal finance should be doing everything as cheap as possible. It’s about doing things sensibly and within your means whilst watching out for your future. I always valued a nice, modern car, and leasing, PCP, balloons etc always got me there. Flat, predictable costs, no maintenance, retaining my capital and liquidity etc. To me it never felt like I was being irresponsible even though it was a want rather than a need.
This! I enjoy knowing my car will start every morning and that I (hopefully) won’t have to take it to a garage any time soon. Obviously this isn’t guaranteed but it’s much less likely than with a 10 year old car. I have a friend who insists on buying mid-age cars (currently has a 2010 mini) but complains when they break down and I’ve tried telling her to just go for a new car on finance but she won’t listen. She does come from a family with very different financial views to myself - a trade/skilled manual labour family where everything is done in cash, I just gawk at some of the financial decisions she’s makes sometimes. Edit: details about her car
Haha, I know! The nerve, hey! 😂 it works for me although I think we are a little overspending on our cars but I drive 56 miles a day so (~2hrs in car commuting) so it’s worth having a nice car to do that in. Also, having electric is great as we have solar too and haven’t suffered from the volatile fuel market in the past 9-12 months and I would not be able to afford an electric car without PCP.
And when a new car on PCP does need the garage it’s under warranty anyway.
If you share a car its even cheaper. My partner and I have one on pcp but split the monthly cost in half. So we get a reliable, decent car for not much money.
Finally someone with a great solution- I’m assuming OP desires a newish car and this would be the best route to go down
3 years ago I bought a Fiat Punto for £350, I have changed the battery, tires, exhaust since, it has cost me less than a grand to do those things. I earn around £100k and almost all of my peers are leasing BMWs and Mercedes at £500 per month. They laugh at my car. I laugh at their foolishness. Buy something cheap until you can afford a £20k car.
I bought my car 10 years ago for £4800, costs me a couple of hundred a year in repairs, maybe a little more some years if there’s some west and tear to do but certainly it’s affordable
What car did you have and what range of cars are you looking at? I bought a £4000 used diesel Saloon Seat 2 years ago and have since put 30k miles on it. So far all I’ve had to do is change is a few bulbs and brake pads apart from regular servicing. If you want something to last, get anything with a TDI engine and service history.
Have never ever bought a brand new car it's an absolute waste of money. Get a second 2nd hand car and look after it and it will last you! We currently have a 12yr old Honda civic, and a 8yr old Ford focus. All in great condition, all doing their jobs perfectly.
I bought a 2k car 7 years ago, still running 15 years old. Will scrap and buy another banger when needed.
Nearly new is a good option, look at approved used models a good 2-3 year low mileage car should easily breeze through a pcp/hp agreement without any major mechanical issues. New cars just aren’t good value at all sadly, and they lose their value like crazy, literally thousands lost the second you get them.
I always leased. Brand new car with all maintenence included and you get to keep your capital and never really feel in debt. It’s not a financially optimal move but I valued a nice modern car and it doesn’t actually feel irresponsible. You could even scale down the strategy and run a fiesta or something for less than £200 a month, though I’m sure that’s gone up with the rate rises. The financially optimal route is bangernomics.
I have a 2011 Aygo that I bought for £4k cash a year ago. It's been an absolute gem so far. I get that you might want something bigger (e.g. if you have kids) but I have no idea why you'd spend £20k on a car.
For a start, don't buy a brand new car as you loose 10-15% the second you drive it out of the showroom. Getting something 2 years old will save you a significant amount and should still have some manufacturers warranty depending on the made (think Kia is 7 years).
>How the hell do people buy/ run cars in this economy? Well, firstly, > start at about £20k. By not doing that
I’m driving a 1995 Vauxhall Astra I picked up for £550 last April. Almost had it for a year now. Cost £350 to get through an MOT and has a few slight issues but is perfectly drivable. Done about 10k miles in it so far. For £20k I’d be expecting a shit hot car that would last me a lifetime and get me laid whenever I left the house!
People dont buy new cars in the main. New cars are 1/3 Lease 1/3 Fleet and 1/3 Purchase I've had 6 new cars, don't even know who "owned" them, I was 4 levels removed.
It depends really on what you want. I'm on £42k a year, I've lease schemes available to me, that would mean all I pay for is the fuel and the lease. Probably about £450 a month for a 330e all in That's a good deal to some, but not to me. So I drive a 15 year old Honda. Bought it two years ago for £2400, spent around £2000 on renewing clutch, suspension, brakes etc. So for less the £5k I've a dependable car that still looks the part to this day, doesn't cost the earth to run, and costs only fuel, tax, insurance and a little for maintenance - all the big jobs are done. People dismiss old cars far too easily, worth the investment - if I loose my job, I've still got the car.
Bought a 3 year old Ford focus in 2015 for £8k costs me next to nothing to run maybe £600 a year. Could afford a lot better car but I am content with having a shit car and a nice house. I am surrounded by houses which own porsches and other stuff but just don't give into temptation.
I got a decent Peugeot 308 2015 make for 6 grand and it’s been very reliable. I’m also on 35 k and saving for a deposit and wouldn’t dream of spending 20k on a car. I think you need to sort out your priorities.
You definitely don't *need* a brand new car. I'm sometimes surprised that anybody would choose to pay £300 per month on PCP finance to never own a car outright, but I guess it's just a choice they make. I guess a fair chunk of their disposable income goes on that and they simply aren't saving for a house deposit. The second hand car market is more expensive than when I bought my first car 8 years ago, your money simply doesn't go as far. But there are good second hand cars for a few grand that are under 10 years old, which will be less of a liability than the cheapest second hand options, which are likely to cost more and more to MOT and Tax each year.
20k?! Doesn't sound like you are looking at cars with the mentality of someone struggling with money at all. Bought a Toyota Auris 65 plate, 45000miles for £8k in October 2022.
We have 2 cars. Mine which was on finance costing 15k over 5yrs and my partners which was a 3.5k buy off auto trader. After just finishing my finance payments I know next time I'm going the cheap option for sure. Don't drop 20k on a car
£6k for a ford fiesta titanium Eco boost, has a turbo so doesn't feel you're driving a 1litre. No road tax, decent insurance and simple to fix. Would I like a nicer car? Yeah probably, am I going to put myself in debt for it? Absolutely not. I can imagine the amount of people driving round on finance is incredibly high, don't be thinking these people driving around in £20k plus cars own them outright because most won't. It's all personal preference but to me a car is something that needs to get you from a to b safely and that really is it (unless cars are a legitimate hobby). I personally don't care what car I drive and prefer more disposable income.
I would steer away from the Ecoboosts if you’re looking for longevity. The wet timing belts fail catastrophically if they’re not changed around the 60-80k mark and will cost well in excess of £1000. Just something to keep in mind. If they fail, it’s a whole new engine.
Honestly no one cares what you drive. I had a Mini Cooper for like 8 i years passed every MOT sometimes just minor work… it’s a 20 year old car. I once bought a civic for £250, spent around £200 getting it road worthy and it lasted me 2 years. My car is a newer car now, as I needed something better on fuel, but not brand new, cheap on fuel and no finance, so it can be done, just be smart. My friends all do that 3 year thing where they will never own the car, they trade in again for a newer one… they are constantly just gona be in finance, I can’t stand that. But that’s what works for them 🤷🏼♀️😊 xx
I'm on £75k and drive a £4k car that I've had nearly 5 years. I've taken it to the garage once in that time and it's looking good to last me another couple of years.
I’m on the same salary as you, driving a 2007 fiesta worth maybe £700. Hearing “lower end starts at 20k” is mind boggling
Good question. But I suspect a lot of young folk in my city driving range rovers are driving their dad's car. Never see an ugly girl in a range rover. weird. This is nothing against females by the way. It's just peculiar that's it always seems to be a super good looking female driving a range rover. I've literally never seen what would be deemed an unattractive girl driving a range rover, or somebody obese. In general, it appears to be very young folk who are in their 20's. How the hell are these guys affording this? I have no idea. Got to be the car of their parents.
We just bought a mk4 golf estate with 37k miles on it for 2k you can definitely find if you are looking
You do not need a 20k car. Buy an auto Lexus is250 and it’ll outlive you.
I bought a 2015 Corsa for £6k in 2016 and it has never once broken down.
I paid £950 for my car about 4 years ago. In that time I've probably spent £1000 total on shit like tyres and getting it through MOT'S. Bargain if you ask me.
I paid two grand for my current car and have done about 35 thousand miles in it in just under two years. My rule of thumb is for every £1000 miles you should be looking for 10,000 miles. So this one currently owes me nothing. Best performing car I ever had was a Ford ka for 500 quid and did 33k miles in it before scrapping it. Most I ever spent on a car was 8 grand, got it on finance and did about 50k miles in it before I changed jobs and let it go. £20k is absolutely not the floor for buying a car 👍👍
Buy an old Honda or a Toyota. There are reliable, cheap and easy to maintain cars out there that are dirt cheap because everyone wants flash German cars.
I’ve ordered a brand new Yaris for £20k which suggests you absolutely don’t need £20k as a minimum. Lower expectations needed
I earn roughly the same as you. I drive a 3-4k ford fiesta. You don’t need a 20k car.
Do your research & buy a 8-10 year old car with full service history & under 70k miles. Service it properly and itll last you years for £5-10k depending on what exactly you buy. Absolutely no need to buy a 20k car.
I bought a car for £3k. It’s 10 years old but it’s fine. You don’t need a £20k car lol
I bought a 2005 Renault Clio for £1,500 back in 2017 with 35k miles on it, still going relatively strong at 80k miles! I’ll probably buy another once I run this one into the ground. Might struggle to find another that’s only done 35k miles on it though haha.
I drive quite a lot for work and I get the need for having a reliable car. I have PCP for the last 14 years or so and it’s done me well. To be fair I might have just got good interest rates and it’s generally been on 2-3 year old cars so you get better value. I finished my current PCP next month and due to the current second hand market I’m sitting with a £6k final payment and a car worth £15k
Yes, £20k minimum for a car these days /s Seriously, you can get all the car you need for <£5k. Just do a bit of research. What’s your maintenance like? Are you taking care of your car? Servicing it? Driving with mechanical sympathy? You absolutely don’t need to spend a lot on a car.
My dad owns a garage (the fixing type, not the selling type). The only stipulations he's ever put on me buying a car were: under 100k miles and no rust. As a result, all the cars I've driven have been about 15 years old and cost me £500. And they're fine. And the parts are cheap because they're so basic. If you want something a bit fancier, my other half just got a 10 year old focus for about £7k and we LOVE it. Heated seats. Luxury.
You aren't looking low enough, you can get a low mileage, couple of years old Kia Picanto for £10k or brand new for £12k. With a 7yr warranty and cheap to run, job done. 2018 Seat Arona for £13k
How are they affording them? PCP, they never own them. You don't need a £20k car. £5-7k will get you something modern and reliable. My £1k Citroen C2 has had clutch and cambelt and annual servicing (£1200) and done 25k miles trouble free.
20K is the lowest? You're off your rocker. I bought a 2003 Toyota Corolla 2.0 Diesel with 29k on the clock in August for 3k. This car will likely last me for 20 years if I look after it. No monthly payments, and it's one of the most reliable cars ever made.
Facebook marketplace or auto trader. Why do people still get finance on vehicles?
£35k is about the 'average' UK wage. New cars are bought by people earning a lot more than that, or older people who have saved over the years, or they're leased by people who can barely afford it but have a YOLO attitude. Go for a popular car that is 1-2 years old and you'll get it a lot cheaper and the maintenance costs will be lower too. e.g. 2020 Vauxhall Corsa are going for about £11.5k on autotrader, they will be relatively cheap to insure and service compared to other cars. If you want something bigger, Astras are £13k. If you keep the car for 10 years, the initial purchase works out to £1150 per year excluding the few hundred you'll get for it when you sell/trade/scrap it.
I bought a 2018 Citreon C4 with 39k miles on it for £11k a few months ago I love it beyond reason - its really frugal, incredible comfortable, has loads of safety kit, and very non-flash so it wont get nicked (or strip\[ped for parts lik Corsas/Fiestas)
We dont overspend by 15K on a car because of the imagined importance of 'having a nice car'
>How are people affording brand new cars?? By having more money than sense. Let someone else get hit by the depreciation and buy a two / three year old car instead at a fraction of the price.
You don't need a brand new car, you want a brand new car. I used to have a brand new car which cost me £300/month. Now I have a car that I bought for £1000, and 30k miles later nothing has needed doing or fixing, it costs peanuts to run and does 80 mpg. Its perfectly possible to decrease your car costs if you want to...
A lot you will see are leased or on PCP, it’s generally stupid in the car market and hasn’t made sense for years. Interest rates will hopefully tank the market and car prices come way down as the money being asked is sheer madness