Random one – how does Joe/Jo Public (or whoever is reading this) buy their car?

– Lease

– Bought from savings/selling previous car

– Bought using bank loan (what kind of terms are decent?)

– Bought using finance (what kind of terms are decent?)

– Bought using loan from family

– Stolen?

Same applies for bikes too I guess.

I’ve previously normally been in positions where it made most sense to buy a car or bike outright (typically as a student where I didn’t have  regular income but would have a student loan, savings, or decent summer job). Now having a regular pay cheque but not a huge amount of accessible savings, and looking to buy a car, I’m genuinely curious how most people buy their cars (or other expensive purchases). Are most cars on the road bought using finance? Or are people better at saving up that I would assume?

Also, if they use some kind of finance/loan, what kind of percentage of their take-home pay are the repayments likely to represent.

Cheers,

Duane.

I live in a modest house.

bikes i generally buy used

wife buys hers through C2W

cars i generally buy used bangers although i bought near new and on finance this time as it made more financial sense as i will be earning more for the money in the bank than i am going to pay the finance co…

Cars – don’t have one. Mrs has one from a salary sacrifice scheme

Bikes – 0% credit cards, or cold hard cash.

My view has always been bangernomics, or lease/buy new. The middle ground is just riddled with financial risk.

Unless you’re shagging a mechanic.

Cash for me, for both.

Also a modest house.

Cars are only a couple of hundred quid so bought outright whenever i need anither one. Bikes are a lot more so a mix of saving up, selling the old one and using second hand bits where I can

Only two things I’ve had a loan for was a student loan to live (pre the tuition fees of today the poor buggers) and a mortgage. Everything else has been bought by the unfashionable concept of living modestly, saving up and buying something when I had the money in the bank to afford it.

I’ve paid cash, bike shop structured payment plan, Finance, C2W and by/sell/swap bits

Honestly take whatever gets you the best deal

Cash. Although I did go into my overdraft to buy my car so not strictly my cash.

There’s been a huge industry shift in the last few years to PCP (which is a sort of lease).

You rent a car for an agreed number of years and pay for the depreciation it suffers during that period plus interest.

Some people see that as a perfectly normal thing to do. They want a car, they know they will be bored of it in 2, 3, 4 years or whatever so it’s effcient to just pay for that bit. It’s still their car.

Some people hate the idea, it’s like cheating – you end up with a flasher car than your postion in life should give you, or they see it as being reckless or wasteful, or a load of other reasons.

Some people will save up for years, spent £10k of their own money, buy a 3-4 year old car, keep it for 2, 3, 4 years or whatever and sell it for £5k sometimes that’s cheaper than PCP, if you’re unlucky with a big mechanical it can cost more.

Some people are into Bangernomics, they’ll spend £1k on a 10-15 year old car, sometimes it last for a few years, sometimes the gearbox eats itself after a fortnight… you pays your money…

None of these are ‘right’ it’s entirely down to the mindsent of the owner.

The only people I think are a bit odd are the ones you buy a brand new car for cash, that’s like burning a few grand to be the first bum on the seat, but still it’s up to them.

Personaly I’ve done 3 from savings, 1 from personal loan and a go at bangernomics, but when my wife wanted a new car I suggested a PCP to match her expenses for travel for work.

One thing the various tribes rarely talk about. New cars are usually nicer and better than older ones. Shocking I know.

Yep cash for both. Lived the credit trap previously, now everything we own is paid for with cash.

Both myself and Mrs W drive modest cars, 12 plate Kia estate and a 14 plate van for me.

Bikes or other luxuries mean saving for. I put £100 a month into a saving pool, once a year I buy a new bike. Mrs always tops up but as long as I’ve contributed she’s happy. I also get significant discount so that helps ensure I get a semi decent bike. I also sell off my old bikes. A bike tends to last 3 years before it’s replaced (one year hardtail is swapped, 1 year full sus, road bike etc)

I don’t like the leasing approach, people no longer have assets and just spend money on cars a lot people can’t really afford to drive. I know a lot of people do it and most can afford it, just doesn’t seem to make sense for a £45k income to have a £25k car.

Lease on car currently and will stay the same until the deals dry up. (Have done for at least 10 years).

Cash on bikes.

My average lease bill is about 200 a month for a year.

So I spend more on bikes/parts per year than cars.

Bikes are usually cash. One was C2W, on was 0% deal for a year.

Cars as much cash as possible plus loan. We never seem to get far enough ‘ahead’ to buy total cash.

Car – lease. Got a corking deal on the last shape Honda Civic, pre registered but brand new. Saved 7k. First leased car.

Bikes – cash.

Cash – other than a couple of bites at C2W.

– Bought using bank loan (what kind of terms are decent?)

I got a loan for 5% over 5 years so total amount of interest is in the 100’s which is fine by me.

I also live in a modest house.  Unfortunately it still cost a shit load of money…

Most recent bike was interest free credit.

Motorbike I did interest free credit card for 48 months a few years ago.

If I was buying a car I would lease.

Bought van to to convert into camper. Bank loan. 2% interest or something.

Means I get warranty etc…. hopefully no big repair bills and monthly payment is affordable with secure job(teacher).

Previous van had a few big bills, worked out that a loan on a brand new van wouldng be much more so eent with that.

Same reason I would lease – predictable outgoings.

If I know my employment status is safe, interest is low and I know I can comfortably afford monthly payments.

Bikes – Normally used and bought from eBay with credit cards on 0% deals.

Cars – Very lucky to have a semiretired mechanic as a FiL. This means we get cars where the owner doesn’t want to pay for costly repairs. I help with labour and pay trade price for parts. All bought with cash. If it wasn’t for Mrs F I’d drop having a car in a heartbeat. Annoying and expensive crap!

you buy your cars by living in a modest house Drac , interesting as much as i also have a modest house it doesnt seem to make my car cost any less.

I’m starting to think I may need to explain my post.

Buy cars that are 2-3 years old, trade in old one, cash for difference. For bikes, cash.

I too live in a modest house, and I’m not really stretched financially.

Cash for bike stuff, I see it as a luxury & don’t want to have to service debt for the sake of my penchant for shiny bits of alu and carbon. Having no kids makes this much easier to fund

Car wise, one was bought at 2 years old with a gift of money from the in laws on our 10th anniversary & 8 years later is still going (will keep until it dies) & the other we took a loan out for as it was the most efficient from a monthly cost point of view for the car we wanted. We’ll keep that at a minimum until the loan is paid off but likely to be longer.

I’ve got old cars and an old house. I don’t do much overtime at work. I know lots of people with nice cars and nice houses and no lives, I’m alright thanks.

“I’m starting to think I may need to explain my post.”

Well itd probably be more helpful than your usual snipey sarcastic posts 😛😘

I bought a new car for cash.  Tbh it doesnt feel like a huge hit in year 1 or 2 as i ll keep it for say 10 years and get maybe 35% back for it.  Depreciation isnt a cash flow till you need to replace it.  Saying that i have no idea what its worth as it is now 4 years old.

I m following the cali owners forum and some of the used ones are priced higher than they were bought new for.  They have gone up alot in the last few years, and deals are to be had on new ones at the year end.

Sure i heard the other day c 85% new cars are sold on pcp.

Earn more

I tend to take a loan for a decent amount, buy a decent motor and run it to the very end of its life.

usually means we have 3-4 years with no loan payments to make.

however, current car is french, so will be worn out by the time it’s paid for.

planning to buy a newer car next year, but will pay cash. Will almost definitely be Japanese.

bikes are always bought cash, as we don’t need them. Pcp depends very much on the mindset, i look at a pcp deal as throwing money away so you can have a new registration plate on someone else’s car.

not for me.

Van…..cash.

Bike…..borrow the money off my wife (which reminds me, I really should pay her back sometime).

Buy appreciating assets, lease depreciating assets. You’re a mug if you buy a car. If you buy a car you’re paying twice as you’re paying for the depreciation and the cost of the servicing. If you lease or PCP you’ll pay roughly what you’d pay if you took out a loan, get the servicing thrown in, will be running the car within its warranty period, get the first few years without having to do an MOT so risk free motoring..all you have to do is put fuel in it and tax it (sometimes you don’t even have to do that).

Obviously bangernomics is another approach…but you’re driving banger for a start rather than a brand new car and you’re taking all the risk on the running costs and sitting in the dried and ground in bodily fluids of about 6 previous owners.

Depends how you view driving. I want to pay for driving and what a car does for me rather than the car itself…I’m not bothered about ‘owning’ the car – best if I don’t – it depreciates and it’s a liability. I just want to pay for the what the car does and not what it is and I want others to take the risk.

“i look at a pcp deal as throwing money away so you can have a new registration plate on someone else’s car.”

And how is this any different than throwing money away so you can have a new registration plate (to you) on your own car? its a moot point. irrelevant. With PCP you have equity in the car. and at the end of the day its a car, you throw money away on cars no matter how you buy them. For me PCP allows me for the same monthly outgoing to drive a brand new car under warranty, serviced for free for the same monthly outgoings as getting a loan and buying a 5 year old car out of warranty where I pay for all the servicing and take all the risk.

<p>And what happens if you need to pay your PCP deal early? Can you just hand it back and they’ll take it with a smile at no cost to you?</p><p></p><p>I buy mine outright, last two using 0% deals but cards seem to be less flexible now and I’m stuck at what I can pay off in around 21 months. After that it’s just maintenance which isn’t too bad if you do the stupid stuff yourself, the more you do the more you save. Sure it costs in time but it means I have money for other things.</p><p></p><p>Bikes and other luxuries are bought cash. I put £100 a month by for personal fun money but there’s always room for a bit of leeway if finances are looking good.</p>

And how is this any different than throwing money away so you can have a new registration plate (to you) on your own car? its a moot point. irrelevant. With PCP you have equity in the car. and at the end of the day its a car, you throw money away on cars no matter how you buy them. For me PCP allows me for the same monthly outgoing to drive a brand new car under warranty, serviced for free for the same monthly outgoings as getting a loan and buying a 5 year old car out of warranty where I pay for all the servicing and take all the risk.

For me the trick is to never get behind the curve in the first place and have to involve a loan or finance agreement and still have the cash sat waiting (from whatever method you are using to save it) to be able buy outright a tidy and reliable 2-3yr old car.

I did the numbers when buying last car and given you have the cash waiting pcp just would not have made sense unless I prized a 67 plate on the drive more that a 15 plate for snobbery reasons and just had to have it.

I do think at this point PCP ought to be separated from PCH (lease).

With PCP you can usually hand the car back after a certain commitment.

There you go piemonster.

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/people-with-flash-cars-and-modest-houses/

I don’t think with cars there’s a right and wrong answer, just what works for each individual.

I paid £8000 for my Kia estate back in September 2015, second owner. Similar mileage cars on Autotrader are selling for £6500 to £7500.

Previously I’ve leased a few cars on PCP, probably would do again. I had a Fiesta that I paid peanuts for, probably about £110 a month. I had to service it though so running costs similar to owning the car.

The Kia has been a good reliable car, only consumables to pay for (brakes and tyres plus servicing).

My wife is on a huge drive to sort out our pensions, so we paid all debts off and a large portion of our spare money goes on our future. She also has a savings account where she puts in the price of our family car that was on PCP, Audi Estate, ridiculous monthly payment. That money now gets put into other investments. We will buy another car for £8000 or £9000 in 2 or 3 years. But I completely see that leasing would be similar loss / cost. It’s just nice not to have to budget for monthly payments.

I also bought new once, Very nice car, but lost a fair bit on that. Large deposit plus loan. Only had it a year and had to sell it as needed cash to pay for an expensive divorce.

I used to have very expensive bikes, but alas those days are long gone!

Cash with me. Generally buy something decent around 2 year old with low miles from the Auction. That way I dont end up twating some smart arsed salesman.

Quick look over, possibly even get chance to sit in it. Bid, Buy and drive away.

Company gives me a car and I buy my bikes with cash.

Currently juggling with paying £10k for the current one at the end of PCP or paying £10k deposit on a new PCP to keep the monthlies down.  New car vs current car conundrum where new car should be all the car I’ll ever need.

Think I’m likely to get the new one and spend 4 years saving to buy it at the end.

I bought my mondeo, paid it off in 4 years, then drove it for another 4.5 years without making any payments, In the entire time i owned it, i spent a total of £1200 maintaining it, that includes all the mot tests, tyres, and everything that went wrong with it. The total of paying for it and maintaining it was c£12,240.

My mate at work leases a corsa, £100 deposit, £169 a month for 36 months, then it goes back, or he can change it for a new one. That’s £17400 ish for 8.5 years.

now i’m not a snob, but a corsa ain’t exactly in the same league as a mondeo.

I haven’t included fuel tax or insurance, they have to be paid regardless.

all servicing and parts were at mates rates, obviously if you don’t have such a mate the comparison would be much closer.

Cash.

Would only consider finance if it was a productive business asset, ie its use earned income.