Ownership method

Ownership

  • Own outright

    Votes: 49 36.0%
  • PCP

    Votes: 33 24.3%
  • Contract hire/lease

    Votes: 20 14.7%
  • Bank loan

    Votes: 18 13.2%
  • Manufacture HP

    Votes: 16 11.8%

  • Total voters
    136

Sergio

Active Member
Jul 27, 2011
224
0
Leeds and/or London
I saved my money. I once borrowed £1500 (1 year loan) to buy a 7 year old Fiesta back in 1996 and with a fair chunk coming off my meagre wages every month I decided "never again". So from that moment on, every car I have bought has been saved for. So cash (sometimes plus trade in) has been the way ever since.

The car's called Dignity by the way.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Do you drive it up the west coast through villages and towns?
 

Popeye_ali

Active Member
May 13, 2016
29
0

No such thing as 0% finance guys, interest it just built into the price of the car.

For me I never have kept a car longer than 5 years. I like trouble free motoring so prefer to keep a car in warrante.
So contract hire is for me the best way to go. I personally don't like the idea of owning a constantly deprecating asset!
Obviously if you happy to drive the same car for 10years that's a different matter
 

fabiavrs2004

Active Member
Sep 11, 2015
65
0
Bristol
Used a broker to get the right price on 1.4 FR ST, 0% up over three years, car will probably worth about £10k after three years so better than £250 ish per month for 36 + 3 or one and a half lots of 24 + 3
 

Tell

Full Member
Staff member
Moderator
I've kept mine from new for 13 years, 10 and 12 years counting. 130,000 miles, 100,000 and 90,000. I got two degrees in mathematics and consider that I know what I'm doing, Obviously those that keep buying new cars or changing via whatever means have the thrill of owning something new at a cost. Then there are those that buy secondhand that have the thrill of the bargain and buying something that may have an unknown issue.

I can't say myself that the cars I've owned really got unreliable with age or really that expensive until you get to the point of a failure or fancy something new. Dealers wiggle out of warranty where they can. The depreciation cost is going to be built into those PCP deals in one way or another. Be interesting to correlate those people that use PCP and also rent a property, living for the here and now but not having the security of ownership to tide you over any rough patches where income and expenditure are out of balance. A lot to be said for ownership.

It's an interesting consumer subject.
 

Popeye_ali

Active Member
May 13, 2016
29
0
I've kept mine from new for 13 years, 10 and 12 years counting. 130,000 miles, 100,000 and 90,000. I got two degrees in mathematics and consider that I know what I'm doing, Obviously those that keep buying new cars or changing via whatever means have the thrill of owning something new at a cost. Then there are those that buy secondhand that have the thrill of the bargain and buying something that may have an unknown issue.

I can't say myself that the cars I've owned really got unreliable with age or really that expensive until you get to the point of a failure or fancy something new. Dealers wiggle out of warranty where they can. The depreciation cost is going to be built into those PCP deals in one way or another. Be interesting to correlate those people that use PCP and also rent a property, living for the here and now but not having the security of ownership to tide you over any rough patches where income and expenditure are out of balance. A lot to be said for ownership.

It's an interesting consumer subject.


I don't think you can compare PCP/leasing to renting of property. On the whole property is a appreciating asset, not a constantly depreciating one like vehicles.
I own property and could own the vehicles I drive but choose not to for a few factors.
1. Trouble free motoring
2. Maintenance quite often included
3. AA/Rac included
4. Ever improving fuel economy with new vehicles
5. Ever improving vehicle safety.
6. Tax included

I agree if you are prepaired to drive the same vehicle for the next 10 years then ownership is best.
I also don't understand that 90% of people that do PCP never pay the final balloon and claim ownership at the end of the term.
PCP you require larger deposits and larger monthly payments over leasing and the chances of any equity at the end of the term is always minimal.

End of the day unfortunately what ever why you do things with vehicles you lose money.
 

Curtly

Active Member
Jun 5, 2015
893
19
Essex
I can see the benefits of pcp but it's certainly not the cheapest way of doing things. You are after all paying for the depreciation of the car and then the interest on top of that....probably why the dealers love it as your covering their costs and paying a bit on top.

I believe that pcp will always cost you more than depreciation. If it didn't then it wouldn't make financial sense for the dealer and they wouldn't offer it.
 

Tell

Full Member
Staff member
Moderator
The Seat guy at the fleet world event had a rosy view of PCP which I thought wasn't just down to an unbiased view. Mixed up in all of this is those people that want to change their cars regularly and those that are happy. I've always had the view buy them new with cash or zero lone if it's some special deal then drive them until they drop. Can't be having the hassle of changing them every few years for no good reason. So cash is king for me.
 

marty_34

Active Member
Apr 21, 2012
1,183
2
TEESSIDE
Always use pcp over a bank loan as long as rate is decent, if you have a major fault like I had recently you have more rights with finance than a bank loan or cash purchase. On the flip side I never ever buy brand new as at end of a pcp from brand new the final payment is well over inflated


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

kiddo

ST Cupra
May 30, 2015
1,151
99
Lancashire
Talking about depreciation. While sorting out my car insurance renewal, my car has apparently lost £10k in less than 12 months of ownership. I appreciate the figures are not accurate as no account taken of condition or mileage but from my perspective leasing my Leon and changing vehicle every 3 years leasing could well work out far cheaper than outright purchase at the outset.
 

gshaw

Active Member
Jun 14, 2014
115
0
Essex
No such thing as 0% finance guys, interest it just built into the price of the car.

For me I never have kept a car longer than 5 years. I like trouble free motoring so prefer to keep a car in warrante.
So contract hire is for me the best way to go. I personally don't like the idea of owning a constantly deprecating asset!
Obviously if you happy to drive the same car for 10years that's a different matter

0% HP on mine as well. At broker price with the HP discount it worked out only £2k more expensive for brand new vs. the rather manky 3-year old "approved" used ones the dealers were trying to sell with kerbed wheels, ripped interior etc :blink:

Buying it new also meant I got the newer nav system and Full Link, which makes a big difference for my needs :)

Intend to keep it long-term so works for me, after 3 years I'll put it on extended warranty I reckon.

Interestingly DriveTheDeal mention there's a 0% PCP option which is interesting, you have to offset that against lower discount on the car price though so swings and roundabouts to some extent.
 
Last edited:

AndyG_TSi

Active Member
Nov 1, 2011
1,174
6
East Manchester
I saved my money. I once borrowed £1500 (1 year loan) to buy a 7 year old Fiesta back in 1996 and with a fair chunk coming off my meagre wages every month I decided "never again". So from that moment on, every car I have bought has been saved for. So cash (sometimes plus trade in) has been the way ever since.

The car's called Dignity by the way.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Ditto, I learned a similar lesson myself and now I won't take out finance on a car. It's cash or cash + trade-in for me now.

If you can afford £200, £300 or more a month on a loan, you can afford to save that amount per month for a few years & have cash in the bank to do a deal on a decent car while driving round in a £1000 - £1500 'bangernomics' car in the meantime.

Loans for cars are a mugs game, especially for a depreciating asset when you could end up in negative equity.
 

gshaw

Active Member
Jun 14, 2014
115
0
Essex
Ditto, I learned a similar lesson myself and now I won't take out finance on a car. It's cash or cash + trade-in for me now.

If you can afford £200, £300 or more a month on a loan, you can afford to save that amount per month for a few years & have cash in the bank to do a deal on a decent car while driving round in a £1000 - £1500 'bangernomics' car in the meantime.

Loans for cars are a mugs game, especially for a depreciating asset when you could end up in negative equity.

That was my original plan but with the 0% offer it makes more sense to leave the money I saved in savings building interest while letting SEAT cover the HP costs for me [B)]
 

AndyG_TSi

Active Member
Nov 1, 2011
1,174
6
East Manchester
That was my original plan but with the 0% offer it makes more sense to leave the money I saved in savings building interest while letting SEAT cover the HP costs for me [B)]

Remember, there is no such thing as a 'free lunch'.

If a car is offered on 0% finance, all the dealer has done is charged interest on the car over the advertised finance period and added this onto the screen price of the car.

There is no point sitting with 'say' £5k in the bank earning you 0.01% interest at today's rates, when you've been charged circa 5% APR on the finance or the screen price of the car has been inflated in price by an amount to cover the interest. ;)
 

gshaw

Active Member
Jun 14, 2014
115
0
Essex
Remember, there is no such thing as a 'free lunch'.

If a car is offered on 0% finance, all the dealer has done is charged interest on the car over the advertised finance period and added this onto the screen price of the car.

There is no point sitting with 'say' £5k in the bank earning you 0.01% interest at today's rates, when you've been charged circa 5% APR on the finance or the screen price of the car has been inflated in price by an amount to cover the interest. ;)

Doing better than that on my savings as I don't use banks for anything apart from current account to get use of ATMs and direct debit and in fact that's with a building society too :)

Price would've been the same (actually worse) buying cash. Dealer wasn't getting anywhere near DTD price and without the HP the price actually ends up higher (add £1k on website price). For the exact same car, literally down to the fact both described where it was sitting the difference was over £4k (!) Tried multiple dealers and all came back with the same £21k quote give or take £100-200, DTD £17k... sold!

When collecting the car the dealer told me SEAT were doing this to get more cars on the road and increase market share, hence putting so many through DTD and similar sites where there's very little (if any) profit margin on each car sold.

Buying on finance wasn't something I've ever been that keen on, always paid cash in the past but this time round it really did seem to be more cost-effective which I'll admit is a bit bizarre.
 
Last edited:

Seastormer

Cupra Leon VZ2 300/CBF1000
Apr 25, 2014
5,007
693
68
Edinburgh (Scotland)
Doing better than that on my savings as I don't use banks for anything apart from current account to get use of ATMs and direct debit and in fact that's with a building society too :)

Price would've been the same (actually worse) buying cash. Dealer wasn't getting anywhere near DTD price and without the HP the price actually ends up higher (add £1k on website price). For the exact same car, literally down to the fact both described where it was sitting the difference was over £4k (!) Tried multiple dealers and all came back with the same £21k quote give or take £100-200, DTD £17k... sold!

When collecting the car the dealer told me SEAT were doing this to get more cars on the road and increase market share, hence putting so many through DTD and similar sites where there's very little (if any) profit margin on each car sold.

Buying on finance wasn't something I've ever been that keen on, always paid cash in the past but this time round it really did seem to be more cost-effective which I'll admit is a bit bizarre.

I'm with you on this, still getting over 2% on my ISA and 3 - 5% on my various current accounts (Sant, Tesco, TSB etc) while I pay 0% on my finance deal and the dealer trade in was great too.
 

BigARG

Active Member
Mar 24, 2015
75
0
Essex
Couldn't do the handing the car back thing and possibly having no car. Loan and cash/px for me.
 

Walone

Active Member
Feb 10, 2016
1,538
421
Near Heathrow
Bought my car with PCP 0% finance over 36months, no arrangement or settlement fee and saved over £3k on brochure price. If I want to keep it at the end I just pay the outstanding amount. It's a no brainer as far as I'm concerned.