It’s not hard, it’s just like housework.
It’s an arduously boring and time consuming pain that someone else forces you to do in order to retain access to certain other activities.
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Looking at new cars… Why are they so expensive!
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I genuinly dont know how people afford brand new cars.
I am positive people with flash cars are either drug dealers or have no food in the cupboards to pay for them.
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They are also so limiting now on mileage to keep resale prices higher.
Personally I always look for 3-5 year old cars but am contemplating leasing an electric car next time around.
Problem I find with most modern cars is access to the boot for Mrs Crazy and her mobility aids. Most have a large beam and are not level access. Estate cars are too low for her.
I’m toying with the lease idea I do/ in a normal year silly mileage so buying one is just burning money and then repairs on top where as leasing its burning a set amount
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I think most are leased/PCP/hp and most will never own the car but hand back and upgrade to keep up appearances.
As a former mechanic I don’t mind getting my hands dirty and so prefer a car a few years older and tend to run them to about 10 years old by which time it’s fully paid off and have a decent deposit saved for the next one.
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We have a few ladies in the office that love their new cars, I always wondered how they afford it but it turns out they are all stuck in an endless cycle of PCP… As they can never afford the “balloon” payments they trade in and start on a new “deal” every couple of years.
This is also what my neighbours son has done - I wondered how at 19 he pulled up in an outrageous BMW… I don’t know how he’s affording the insurance!
3 years ago I built a car to the exact spec that I wanted, the hire purchase finance has been a nightmare but finishes soon (phew!) - but I plan on keeping the car until it physically won’t go anymore, so I think I’ll have it for a good 10 years yet.
So the expense of buying new should work out ok in the long term on that basis. He hopes.
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Only reason I am considering a leased electric is the salary sacrifice offers make them more reasonable. I consider leasing a car like renting a house, it’s dead money
Some PCP contracts include insurance, we see it all the time, especially when I worked in East London, kids of 19 driving BMW M3’s and Audi A4’s
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I have a friend who works at hyundai and can get me an all in insurance servicing tax the works for a similar price for what I was paying on the loan on my car
Its all designed to shift stock - PCP guarantees through put so the deal can be very attractive but look out for the extra mileage etc clauses/charges
Thats why I buy ex demo low mileage and run until it dies - normally at least 10 years - bought and paid for many times over even if you have a couple of major repairs over the lifetime. My MkIV Golf is 21 years old with 180k miles and even with a rebuild gear box still owes me nothing
I’ve had 2 brand new cars - one tax-free whilst in the mob, & the second was imported from Holland; the exchange rate (guilders) was advantageous, & due to the Dutch “higher rate tax” on new cars, the base unit price was much cheaper. The import was full UK RHD spec (albeit only one yr warranty), but after paying the UK VAT, it cost slightly less than a comparable 2-3 yr old UK model with 24k-36K miles! A no brainer - my wife thought I was on special substances until I gave her the numbers to work out. 
At the time, a flt engineer in my previous company also poo-poo’d the numbers until he looked into it. He then did some research, as he wanted a Porsche Boxster. He eventually bought new in Finland, & saved a bomb! He connected with a ferry port in Scandinavia somewhere. Another friend bought a Ford - from Spain.
It’s probably too early to find out any concrete information, but I wonder if post-Brexit, there might be future opportunities to make a saving.
Last few cars have been the “loaded” ex-demo cars, low mileage, chunk of depreciation already taken into account.
Ooh listening with interest.
I could buy a small car outright but I’d rather keep the money towards a house deposit.
I like the idea of a hybrid but it’s mad that, for example a used Toyota Yaris hyrid, a only a few years old, around 10k miles is the same price as a new petrol one so I’m thinking should I just buy a new petrol one and I’m not sure if the benefits of hybrid would really be worth it seeing as when I’m in the office I’ll be doing 60-70miles a day, largely on motorway. I’m changing sites so I’m not sure exactly what the drive is like yet or with Covid how often I’ll be in.
I found a really good deal a few years ago on a new Renault Zoe (their complete electric car) however with the cost of hiring the battery it was just too expensive and actually more expensive to run over a year than running a similar size petrol car. What puts me off all electric atm is the low mileage and needing to get a wall socket (not sure how that would work when renting) but the Zoe was nice to drive.
Yes the Golf came from Belgium RHD UK Spec - my boys still drive it (why we kept it) but it may not make it through emissions this year 
but it is still on its original exhaust…
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Hybrids are very expensive across most models, but personally, I seem them as the best compromise of being green versus performance / range. That said, I think some some of the tree huggers see them as poor for overall “greenness.”
Whenever the ban eventually comes for petrol / diesel cars, the day before it becomes effective, I’m going to go to a car dealership, point at the 6 litre turbo-injected beastie - & tell the salesman that he can’t sell it from tomorrow - then offer a paltry amount to take it off his hands! 
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I’d love to do a VoltsWagen conversion but the kits are just so expensive especially when you add the cost of the car as the base being a few thousand.
Maybe by the time I can retire costs will have come down enough for it to be a labour of love, health permitting.
Mrs Crazy has wonderful ideas about VA providing a holiday or something similar, maybe it should be an annual trip to the seaside for fish and chips and the rest should go into a slush fund 
Electric generator is still more efficient than an engine and in the majority of cases clearly not the norm for recharging, so impact is minimal.
A few people I know who have “hire cars” is coming unstuck with annual mileage limits and getting stuffed for extra money. A couple who had have bitten the bullet with loans and gone in waving cash and getting a deal. Their loan repayments gave been less that the “hire car” payment.
Our kids have “hire cars”, but they haven’t gone mental.
I cashed some of my pension pot buy a car (petrol) two years ago, the next car will be when I retire. I looked at the hire car deals, but didn’t appeal. I paid my mortgage up years ago to get away from financial burdens like this. Next probably hybrid.
The problem with electric and hybrid cars and come to that wind turbines, is they aren’t as ‘green’ as suggested, when you look at the industrial processes needed to make the things.
You are almost always better off getting a loan rather than any of these finance deals. I know far too many people paying 3/4/5/600 pounds a month on a car that won’t be theirs to sell at the end. A bit ridiculous.
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