I’ve never had a new car and recently considered getting one.
I cant justify the depreciation factor though.
Does anyone know the best time to buy a nearly new car to minimise cost?
I was thinking of buying a Skoda that will no doubt last like 6-9 years. If I buy a 1 year old ex demo car would that make the most financial sense? It will still have 2 years manufacturers warranty on it.
Or should I buy one just out of manufacturers warranty with a dealer warranty as then I could save even more?
Basically when is the best time to buy a car to still benefit from a warranty/new car feel without getting stung for depreciation.
But the ex demo , it will have low miles and any would be test pilot will have had a salesman sitting in keeping a eye . With a bit of bargaining they will give the full 3 yrs warranty ,also if you spend a couple of hundred quid on a private plate the fella next door will think it’s brand new . The depreciation on a new one is ridiculous. Good luck with whatever you decide
borrow the money from the bank,that way its you on finance and not the car.
use the cash to buy one from an auction with no warranty as in that league of car,you will only be outbidding dealers and will save 3 or 4 grand.
you can get ex lex leasing,hertz,avis a year or 2 old with no miles and perfect.
if there s some minor fault,you will have 3 or 4 k saved to take care of it and still be quids in.
a 10k car at the auction will cost you 14 k from the dealers who only bought it at a similar auction,valeted it,and flagged it up at victim price.
If you buy a used Kia instead, and if it’s about 12 months old Kia will re-start the full 7 year makers new car warranty.
Note, to keep that warranty intact make sure its serviced on time and at the Kia dealer.
Course i don’t do that myself, i buy older well maintained vehicles made in Japan and look after them, they do not go wrong, wouldn’t touch another european car with a bargepole.
Juddian:
If you buy a used Kia instead, and if it’s about 12 months old Kia will re-start the full 7 year makers new car warranty.
Note, to keep that warranty intact make sure its serviced on time and at the Kia dealer.
Course i don’t do that myself, i buy older well maintained vehicles made in Japan and look after them, they do not go wrong, wouldn’t touch another european car with a bargepole.
Ye, I’ve thought of that option as well.
I could buy a 15 year old Toyota with FSH and low miles but there is always questions over it i.e if it was an old lady driver did she have a habit of riding the clutch etc…
Or if it was regularly serviced by a ‘friend’ was it really serviced.
Well you could go 15 year old Toyota Corolla/Avensis/Camry/Yaris, chances are it would be so cheap that if anything serious failed you could scrap it then rinse and repeat.
But 15 is getting on a bit, even for a Toyota (unless proper 4x4) unless a known car, i was more thinking of late noughties models so 8 to 10 years old, again the models above (substitute Auris for Corolla) would be good bets, but if you want something bomb proof and cheap to run, maybe a Toyota Hybrid would fit the bill, hundreds of thousands of taxi drivers can’t all be wrong, those things just keep going.
Juddian:
If you buy a used Kia instead, and if it’s about 12 months old Kia will re-start the full 7 year makers new car warranty.
Note, to keep that warranty intact make sure its serviced on time and at the Kia dealer.
Course i don’t do that myself, i buy older well maintained vehicles made in Japan and look after them, they do not go wrong, wouldn’t touch another european car with a bargepole.
Ye, I’ve thought of that option as well.
I could buy a 15 year old Toyota with FSH and low miles but there is always questions over it i.e if it was an old lady driver did she have a habit of riding the clutch etc…
Or if it was regularly serviced by a ‘friend’ was it really serviced.
Yes always a risk, but then so dirt cheap, even if it’s a total loss you’ve lost less money than the depreciation on a new car. But a test drive should give you a good indication of the state of things like the clutch and the first thing I do when I buy an old car is go through it properly replace anything that needs it and a full service, bit like an OTT MOT, prep adds a few hundred to the initial cost, but in the last 15 years I’ve had 3 cars including my current car, all over 10 years old when I bought them and none over £2000, the car I drive now was £600 plus £300 for a full service and replace parts like various hoses, it had stood for 3 months and was a private sale, but at that price was worth a punt, I’ve had it for 2.5 years now and done 30,000 miles, with no more maintenance than regular servicing and brakes and tyres, the MOT on Friday was no problem.
Adam if you want a new car buy one yes you will have depreciation but so what you work for your money so enjoy it your a long time dead, I get one every 2 to 3 years and have done for over 30 years. What I would say is decide what you want go on a site such as carwow to get a price to compare with your local dealer and look on the manufactures website to check all the dealers in the country to see if they have maybe a new but registered car.
If you want a “new” car ,go for pre registered car .
This is a car that has been registered by a dealer but not sold .
It is for all purposes new but already has a name in the log book .
The first hit on depreciation has already been taken but all warranties are still in place .
These tend to be 4-10k cheaper than list price .
syramax:
But the ex demo , it will have low miles and any would be test pilot will have had a salesman sitting in keeping a eye . With a bit of bargaining they will give the full 3 yrs warranty ,also if you spend a couple of hundred quid on a private plate the fella next door will think it’s brand new . The depreciation on a new one is ridiculous. Good luck with whatever you decide
Very often, its the salespeople that are the test pilots as they take the cars home at night.
Perk of the job.
I used to have more '‘banger’'types but now being on pension i looked at more economical\Environment\guarantee types of vehicle.
This is a diesel and gives me over 60miles to the gallon,£180 a year road tax[not sure about UK but many countries in Europé pay tax by Power\weight],£200 per year fully comp and 3 year all in guarantee.
Thanks.As i said,before i had older pick ups and bangers but the problem now is with all the environmental crap the older cars are being punished with taxes and restrictions.I.E.my old,2011 Mitsubishi L200 pick up= £600 road tax,Euro 4,Ins £500.±40miles per gallon.
Not sure if theres an easy way to find the perfect tome to buy as it depends on mileage (hugely), warranty offered and brand of car. However the moment it comes off the forecourt its basically dropped its “new” status, VAT, car duty etc.
However if I were buying second hand it would either be a KIA*, Toyota or Honda.
Kia wont hold its value as well but the warranty is very long so after 2 - 3 years it’ll have depreciated a fair bit and still well under warranty. Just be careful its not an older one has the controls are wrong way round. Some diesel KIAs have a timing chain not a belt so less worries later on.
Toyota and Honda will retain value bit will keep it for you too and as Juddian mentioned, they usually dont go wrong. Have you ever seen one on an RAC truck?
Nissan isnt bad and will keep value, but not as reliable as other two in my experience and according to my mechanic. Very expensive to fix but do come with timing chain.
Skoda, had one about 5 years old and wouldn’t touch another. There’s problems with the oil pickup pipe so if anyone used semi syth instead of fully synth (which most cars wont care too much about) then it storing expensive problems for future. Seem to be poorly spec’d for the money and all sorts of little things can go wrong. Very poor version of a VW.
Personally I’d not worry about deprecoation but more long term costs so things like timing chain can save tons of money long term and diesel engines just seem to last. Plus less likely to be owned by a boy racer.
Psst, if you want a 5 year old KIA Ceed for £9995 very good condition, fully depreciated, 2 careful-ish owners…luv juvley!
I bought this in April,it was a ‘demo’ with 2000kms and was used as a show motor for Merc.Got just over £6000 reduction .