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Hyundai i30 - Keep or sell at 3 years? - Dingle232

Just a hypothetical question I am wrestling with. I have 3 year old Hyundai i30 CRDi (diesel), 25k miles on the clock and full service history. Car in general runs fine, 55mpg, only a couple of very minor niggles fixed under warranty.

A friend of mine suggested that I should sell the car this year and have a layout of around 2.5k to buy a year old i30. His rationale is that the car is still very sellable with low mileage and remaining warranty whereas my outlay would be minimal to buy a newer car with an extended warranty of 5 years from new.

May argument is a little different in that the car runs well and I know it's history so should stick hold of it. However I take his point in that, in 12 months time, it would cost me almost double to upgrade the car to one is then a year old.

Question is therefore - what's the optimal time to change in order to maintain the standard of vehicle and minimise outlay?

Hyundai i30 - Keep or sell at 3 years? - JOGON

Think he's keen to spend your money. Sit tight, there's no such thing as a bargain, loads of driving schools use them for multiples of your mileage same age. The i30 seems to be the 'New Corolla'.

Hyundai i30 - Keep or sell at 3 years? - Bobbin Threadbare

3 years old is hardly 'old'. If it runs nicely and you like it, I say keep it!

Hyundai i30 - Keep or sell at 3 years? - jamie745

If you want to sell it now is the time to do it, usually by the time a car is 3-4 years old its value is plummeting, and whoever buys it used is getting a bargain.

However, warranties usually only cover the original owner if its the manufacturers one, which is how Vauxhall's 8 year one is a bit of a sham, sell it after two years and its void and the second owner cant use it. If you like the car then keep it, if you bought it new you've already taken the biggest hit on depreciation, nobody buys a new car if they ever intend to save money.

Hyundai i30 - Keep or sell at 3 years? - Avant

This is always a difficult one. What Jog-on and Bobbin say makes perfect sense, but the other side of the argument is that if you change it now when you can get a reasonable price for it, then the 'cost to change' is manageable.

You either change it now or run it on till it wears out - say at 7 to 10 years old, depending how well you look after it. As you've realised, now (3 years old) is the decision-point.

Finance is of course not the only factor: if you like having a new car and want reliability and no unexpected bills, you'll want to change. Personally that's what I'd do, and if you do only 8,000 miles a year you should think about a petrol engine, which should be cheaper to buy new or nearly-new.

Hyundai i30 - Keep or sell at 3 years? - Craigdm

General rule : Once the MoT is due, let someone else deal with the hassle.

Hyundai i30 - Keep or sell at 3 years? - davmal

Hyundai warranty is transferable. So you can buy your replacement, if you wish, with the balance of the warranty remaining.

Hyundai i30 - Keep or sell at 3 years? - Dingle232

The more I think about it, considering all the pros and cons, I think I would better off swapping it on the basis that the outlay now will be minimal. This is with the caveat that I keep the new car for 2 years and move that on when it's 3 years old. I want to get into a cycle of changing cars at 3 years old; as someone says; once they are in MOT territory.

£2500 every 2 years 'feels' better than £5000+ every 4, even though the maths are the same.

One thing I have learned - you never win whenever you do it do you?

Hyundai i30 - Keep or sell at 3 years? - unthrottled

No, but you can cut your losses by not changing cars frequently. The depreciation will tend to follow an exponential decay curve. So your loss after 4 years will not be twice the loss after 2 years.

once they are in MOT territory.

What's the big fear about MOTs? I've just an old car through an MOT with no repairs required. A 4 year old car is only going to (or should do!) fail on wear and tear items like tyres or brake light bulbs.

I've never understood the desire to change functional cars for similar ones. You should always change for a better car or not at all.

Hyundai i30 - Keep or sell at 3 years? - jamie745

Changing like for like is sometimes a bit confusing when theres nothing wrong with the first one. Usually people change up to a bigger car, down to a smaller one, change for something more economical or change because they like the car but its broken and more cost effective to buy a different one.

Hyundai i30 - Keep or sell at 3 years? - concrete

Firstly, you receive no benefit from diesel at 8K miles per annum. If you do change go for petrol. I have covered both scenarios over the past 40 years or so. I have changed at regular intervals and aslo kept some until worn out. Keeping them until worn out makes better financial sense. Provided you look after them well you get cheap motoring over say 6 to 10 years. I ran a Honda Accord for 12 years to 157K miles. Great motor. I am now into year 6 with my Skoda at 128K and going like a dream. Should last another few years yet. However I do about 23K per annum, mostly motorway, low revs etc so engine is well used and clean. Clutch and brakes only minimal use and over 50mpg from diesel. My advice, keep the car until it drops then divide your outlay by the time and you will be pleasantly surprised at how cheap your motoring has been. Good luck,Concrete

Hyundai i30 - Keep or sell at 3 years? - ForumNeedsModerating

I can see little advantage in contemplating this, and even less good math.

You've nicely run-in the car with 25K, endured the steepest & most costly part of the depreciation curve (and I presume the you're 1st owner), & have a known & reliable quantity.

Your 2.5K might buy you a 1yr old car - but who sells a Hyundai at 1 year? You're buying unknown provenance. For your £2.5K you get 2 years extra warranty & 2nd owner V5 7 the privilege of 'enjoying' again the steep depreciation part of the curve.

The math: I doubt your Hyundai will depreciate 2.5K in the 'extra year' as you say, if it's only lost 2.5K from year 2 & 3 - after all, you'll still have 1 year warranty left at year 4 & minimal mileage.

MOT worries? Really, nothing at all should deteriorate until years 6-7 (maybe then,only an exhaust , or sidelight etc), the rest are consumables, tyres, brakes etc. (I imagine you've even got a newish 2nd set of tyres @ 25K?)

I could see the point if you were changing model (in the i30 range), or buying a really 'knock-down' priced petrol version (in view of your mileage) or think there might be problem ahead etc, but other than that, no.

Hyundai i30 - Keep or sell at 3 years? - bazza

Woodbines post says it all, I was going to write something similar! It doesn't make any financial sense to me either, for exactly reasons stated.

Hyundai i30 - Keep or sell at 3 years? - Dingle232

Thanks for all replies.

For the record I don't do 8k miles a year - I think people have assumed that I have owned the car from new - I haven't. My annual mileage is in the region of 15k hence the reason I choose diesel. I have always had diesels and probably always will.

I actually bought the i30 in January this year after my last car was written off and I very much regarded it as a 'stepping stone' buy which was always gonna be reasonably short term. However I have grown to like it, hence the indecision which has been largely driven by the fact that I paid 8.5k for it and it's now worth 7k at most on a good private sale. I have been offered 5.5k trade in - hence you can understand my nervousness at what I may be offered 12 months from now!!

However, on balance from the comments made I think the sensible decision is actually to keep the car. Not only for financial reasons but I have been 'stung' before when changing a car that was rock solid on a whim. This time, certainly for the next 12 - 18 months, I am gonna adopt the policy of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. The car is sound mechanically, clean as a whistle and, for anyone looking for a good diesel unit, I'd heartedly recommend the Hyundai CRDi units - really good.

Thanks for all the replies - helps you to think things through from both angles.