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I could do with a new car and must admit on the way to work I considered looking to see if there are bargins to be had and take the hit on paying a bit more per mile fuel wise.
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No, on the contrary, I feel it is important to sit tight at the moment. Who knows what will unfold in the near future. Admittedly I have already got a car which suits my needs, albeit that it is older than I would ideally like, and has more miles on it than I would prefer. However, keeping it maintained seems to me to be the sensible course of action at present. It has already lost most of its value and I fear that depreciation will be the single biggest cost on any newer car in the foreseeable future. Prices will collapse so if I can get another couple of years out of mine, its eventual replacement should be reasonably inexpensive.
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I'm sitting tight. There is nothing as surprising as a PM and a government fighting for their political survival.
And why take a four figure hit on a car to save £150 pa in road tax, and a few hundred a year in fuel? Keep what you've got and enjoy it. Two fingers to 'em!
Cheers
DP
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We are thinking about this. We have a Saab 9-5 estate which will be £400 VED soon, rarely does over 30 pmg at the moment, and has a high milage. We are thinking of changing for a much smaller car - eg Fiat Punto Grande (from brokers these start at around £6, 600) or even a 2007 1.4 Golf at £9k.
It is more the VED than the petrol really, plus we don't need such a big car now. I can see Shoespy's logic, but it's the thought that the VED will be about 20% of what the car is worth before long. Better to trade in now while it still has some value?
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it's the thought that the VED will be about 20% of what the car is worth before long. >>
What matters is what the car is worth to you, not what it's worth in a distress sale or a brutally low p/ex.
If you were going to change anyway you might as well do it. If you think the car's ok for another year, say, and you enjoy driving it, why not keep it? A Punto is a very different kind of car, I'd have thought and there will come a point when the value just goes pretty well flat in p/ex, won't there?
Shoespy might be right about things changing but times is going to be hard for a while. Spend your money to give yourself some fun.
Good luck.
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What about buying dozens of worthless big-engine barges in the hope that the Chancellor changes his mind about £400 tax, and that OPEC are right and that it is speculation not production that is keeping oil prices high.
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For me anyway, it would be a wrench to part with the Saab - it is such a great car to be chauffered around in by OH. Safety is a big issue with me and I always feel safe in it. It is probably worth £3k as a part-ex, so it's a question of what will it be worth when the tax costs £400. The insurance is pricey too.
I agree though, it is sometimes a false economy to buy a newer smaller car - you just see the low tax and 50 mpg and forget that it cost you £5k up front to get that. The OH likes the thought of a new super-mini. He had seen a good review of the Hyundai i10 - £35 VED, 65 mpg, air-con, £6.5k new. However, I think that is too small for us - 2 kids, he is over 6ft, plus I expect depreciation is high. The Punto from a broker sounds good, but again I think the depreciation is not worth it and I would prefer to buy a bigger car used.
Motorpoint have 2007 Golf 2.0 SDI diesels at around £9,300 just now - though I am assuming the 1.9d is a better car as it costs more. As we keep our cars for around 3 years or more, I wondered if this would be a better way to go.
I didn't mean to hijack the thread, but I expect that quite a few people are having the same thoughts as us. Depreciation is the biggest cost in running a car, but when superunleaded is 129p it makes you think about changing.
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Motorpoint have 2007 Golf 2.0 SDI diesels at around £9 300 just now - though I am assuming the 1.9d is a better car as it costs more.
My neighbour has one of these (a freebie from his company, so he doesn't care), and it confirms beyond any doubt that 75 bhp really isn't enough to pull a mkV Golf shell along. Even lightly laden, it's painful, and has to be thrashed to get anywhere. Harsh and unrefined too.
The 1.9 is a far better car. The 2.0 TDI better still. Neither will use significantly more fuel than the SDI, and all three fall into the same VED band.
Cheers
DP
Edited by DP on 16/05/2008 at 12:02
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Thanks for that. I expect that is why they are cheap. The 1.9 is another £1,500. I did wonder about it and looked up the 0-60 time - it was about 16 secs. I have seen 08 Mondeo diesels for £9,300 too, but I guess that is the old model and the actual mpg doesn't seem that impressive for a diesel.
We need to sit down and do our sums, calculating what the Saab costs us per year against buying a newer, smaller car. I bet we end up with a Yaris. (no offence to Yaris owners intended).
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Even if you want a Hyundai I doubt you'll get one soon because they are in demand. But go for a test drive and see what you think. Your family sounds too big for the car.
I thought of buying a Renault Modus diesel because it's so economical and cheap VED. But I drove it and it may well be one of the most dull cars on the planet to drive. So what's the point?
A colleague bought Punto sports edition a few years ago and he told me that when he came to change he practically cried when he heard what he'd be offered in p/ex.
There are frying pans, but then again there are fires.
Good luck.
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"There are frying pans, but then again there are fires".
LOL. Exactly.
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I guess a few people pooh-pooh the panic sellers but we are at a tipping point here.
It?s the old equation of fuel vs purchase price. Cars are getting cheaper and fuel more expensive.
As running cars gets more expensive the differential between running (fuelling etc) a small car and a big one are racing apart. We are at that point now! If you have a good diesel now then there isnt the fuel economy / VED advantage in any other car to take - so of course you should stay put but we are talking here of changing tack with cars completely.
We used to save up loads and loads for a simple metal box with a small engine. Nowadays we can get pretty much any car to any spec for under 5 k used. New cars relative to average income are silly cheap today. I don?t say that lightly because to me at least, a twenty pound note still makes my fingers tingle.
Suppose you're me. I have a 2003 gas guzzer doing mainly urban work and getting 21 mpg on un leaded. Car is worth maybe 2300 pounds. I own the car so there are no monthly payments to consider.
There is a real risk that in 12 months time, that vehicle will be un saleable due to soaring fuel costs. Maybe get 800 pounds for it. That?s 1500 depreciation yet to come.
At 21 mpg and 12000 miles a year I'm putting in nearly 3000 pounds a year in fuel to go up in smoke at todays prices.
Say I swap to a New punto and get 45 mpg because really the gas guzzler was an extravagance. There are lots of people out there that drive cars far in excess of their needs and could quite easily downsize.
That?s a 1600 pa saving in fuel per year not to mention VED / insurance and that?s at todays petrol prices not at 200 dollars per barrel prices.
The 1600+ saving per year could quite easily pay for a newer more modest beast which will at least have a residual value and have a fair chance of being sold on later.
I think a lot of people will be drawing a line under their cars and thinking forwards 3/4 years and looking at out lays.
I think it?s a bit simple to say "only a bit of extra fuel and ved" In many many cases I reckon that fuel out weighs depreciation or maybe a monthly payment on a newer car. A modestly priced gas guzzler at 440 pa VED could quite easily be swopped for a 35 pa VED car. That?s a 400 pound saving! Per year every year. Anyone for saving 1200 quid on tax over 3 years to spend on yourself or maybe put in to a newer car instead of the Governments coffers? Sounds good to me.
I accept that a newer car will lose money but at least it will have a residual value, be saleable and allow something towards the next car in 3 to 4 years.
Extra money spent on fuel will just go up in smoke. At least a percentage of that money will go to a newer car with less maintenace and claw something back in future value.
It?s the way things are going. We are being taxed into smaller cars end of.
Sad really as a car enthusiast.
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It really is an un-solveable conumdrum. I'm in the same position of thinking of selling the barge, due to age, mileage, usual stuff, but what do you change to? It might just pay to sit it out and hope something changes for the better.
With Brown & Darling umming and ahh-ing, you can only make an educated punt and hope you don't lose as much of your hard earned dosh as you think you might. You get the feeling that just as you've found one way out, the UKGOV will block you off with another pernicious little tax. Parking at work is an example of the latest money grab.
It's all gone quiet on the 'pay as you drive' front at the moment, so expect some movement there next.
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So the government's tax plans are forcing us into small fuel-efficient cars whilst big cars with plenty of life in them are being scrapped early.
And this is an environmentally friendly policy of the government??
(Yet again) we need joined up thinking from our politicians!!
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David, you have summed up our position perfectly. We are lucky in that spending £5-9k on a car is feasible for us. There must be a lot of families with older, larger vehicles who will really be starting to struggle to afford to own a decent car anymore.
If the Manchester congestion charge goes through we would be hit with that everyday too.
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