How did you fund your car? Finance or cash?

[baz1]

Slightly personal question this one. After driving MR2 Turbos for the last 2 and a half years, I now want a S3. Mr2 Turbos provided alot of bang for the buck but I got sick of the cheapness of them.

Im not sure whether to save up or finance one through a loan. How did everyone else fund their car? (if its not too personal!)

Ps. this forum is

 

[rodenal]

What do you want the car for bud? I had an MR2 Turbo and it put bigger smiles on my face than an S3 ever could.

Personally i hate finance so would try n save up enough of a deposit so that you onlyneed the loan for about one or two years, even better if you can pay it all yourself

just my opinion tho

 

[jojo]

I financed mine, as I didn't have the £22k lying around to pay it off in a lump sum. When it comes down to it, only finance something if you can't afford to pay it off in full in one go, why pay interest if you do't have to? Finance is just a way to get something a bit more expensive that you can pay off in the long run...

 

[m40rcd]

cash always. I'd never have anything i cant afford. Apart from the inevitable mortgage.

 

[Randomjim]

Cash for me too, not sure what i'll do with my next car though. Got the cash to buy a car outright but i should put it towards a house so maybe finance next time.

 

[danotto]

i got a loan for 10k im payin 250 a month back with £700 interest,i couldnt afford one otherwise,you only live once so i though f*ck it,lol

 

[steve1975l]

i got a loan for 10k im payin 250 a month back with £700 interest,i couldnt afford one otherwise,you only live once so i though f*ck it,lol

Is that about 48 months 4% APR? Seems a good deal to me.

 

[rickparmar]

i got a loan for mine, you only live once, so might as well do it

 

[joshW]

exactly, i couldve waited a year or 2 and saved the money for the a3, then again i couldve died in that 2 years too! plus im only payin back around 500 on my 5k loan which i think is worth it.

Although this 3years does seem to go on forever!lol

josh

 

[baz1]

rodenal i had a mr2 rev 3 black turbo, it was as fast as ****, used to kill most scoobies and my last kill was an evo 6. I just want something to chill in and not feel every bump in the road

 

[Ian W]

Just got a loan to buy one, don't see a problem with it, i'd say 80% of people are driving newish cars and I doubt all of them had 10-20K saved up either.

 

[S3 Dave]

8 months working in Germany Paid for my beast.

 

[abdus]

just paid cash for the a3

 

[Rich-xstS3]

Just got a loan to buy one, don't see a problem with it, i'd say 80% of people are driving newish cars and I doubt all of them had 10-20K saved up either.

Id agree here. Obviously there are exceptions. In Aberdeen (quite a small place) you see heaps of Porsche's, Fancy Audi's, M3's and M5's a few Aston's which is fair enough because it is quite a wealthy city due to the Oil and Gas Industry. I read somewhere though that there is a fairly large percentage of cars in Aberdeen are on lease so these people dont even own the cars. If I had the money Id defo think about leasing. New play thing every 6 months or so? Sounds good to me

 

[danotto]

yeah is over 48months steve one of my best mates is quite high up at nationwide so he sorted me out with a good rate

 

[steve1975l]

Nice deal...I hope you don't get fed up before 4 years is up.

I pay cash as paying for depreciation is bad enough let alone interest as well. I have had a loan on a car before, never again for me.

 

[T11OM F]

I paid cash.. I have only got a loan for one car. Brought it for £700 all on tick, sold it the next day for £1500, paid the loan off, said i was drunk when i took it out, managed to pay only £700 back, and used that to buy and sell to get me where i am now....

Had one MR2 turbo, was a great car, but you had to be on the ball.. Spun it at 130ish, and live to tell the tail, thank **** i was on a dual carrige way, otherwise i wouldnt be here now!

 

[voorhees]

Audi gave me two percent as I had the money to pay it on the head...so finance but on favourable terms
They called it the A8 finance deal!? snobby cnuts

 

[jeffers999]

I paid cash for mine but it was only £3200.00 lol

 

[j4jon]

You bought an S for only £3.2k?

You lucky B******D!

 

[jeffers999]

Lol cheers mate right place right time

 

[jeffers999]

Ho yea he wanted £3600 for it but i thought that was too much so wangled him down.... ha ha

 

[debaser]

Cash + some funding from the parentals

 

[nky_84]

£3,200 for an S3!!! As long as its not dodgy thats a bit of a deal an then some!

I paid for my s3 in cash (bankers draft), would never go down the finance route

 

[jeffers999]

nope its straight as they come as i said right time right place and i work in the trade...

 

[IanL-RS3]

Paid cash for mine - bankers draft.

 

[stapo69]

Split up with your missus, sell your house and make £30k profit each! Worked for me! :icon_thumright:

Then find a 19 year old nurse, (bare in mind I was 26 at the time!) buy another house, put down a decent deposit, but keep back a few pennies for yourself, just to ease the pain, I bought an evo 6, then a skyline then saw the light and got me S4!

Job done!

 

[Kef9]

Personally mate and Im not being big headed here but I subscribe to the theory that the only debt you should have in your life is a morgage.

I saved up 13k for my car so it can be done.

At the end of the day if you ask me one of the reasons this country is so ****** is because everyone is in so much debt. I wish everyone wasnt so materialistic with a I want it now attitude. I know people at work with 20k on credit cards and its frightning.

 

[steve1975l]

Very true.

Perhaps he could afford a 1.8T, still a nice car and no loan but each to their own I suppose.

 

[grathies]

I just saved up over a year, best way to do it, plus top it up by selling your own car

 

[Hotscar]

Cash for me courtesy of the company I work for.

 

[R14AYN]

I lease my car, Its the perfect option for me and I get a car with 0 miles on the clock every 2 years.

 

[ash_s3]

I got a £6k bank loan, paid the rest in cash i had saved up

Now left with no car and still got the bank loan

 

[jcs356]

Saved up for my Ibiza; saved up for my Speedster; saved up for my S3.

Currently saving up for my RS3. Hoping I'll have some of the money in place if/when audi build it.

 

[Slick S3]

paid all £9500 in cash...what a pile of money to carry around...worth every penny though!
Wouldn't personally go down the finance route, if i can't afford it then i won't buy it. Thats just my way of doing things though....not knocking anyone else!!!

 

[Ian W]

paid all £9500 in cash...what a pile of money to carry around...worth every penny though!
Wouldn't personally go down the finance route, if i can't afford it then i won't buy it. Thats just my way of doing things though....not knocking anyone else!!!

I see the phrase used "If I can't afford it" used quite a lot in reference to people who have bought there cars with a loan (as I did myself). This is not the case, I can afford the monthly repayments easily.

I could have saved up the money i'm spending on loan repayments but it would have taken 2 - 3 years, in which time I am constantly spending money maintaining, MOTing etc my current car so its taking me even longer to save.

Im not saying its a good idea getting loaned up to buy things that you simply cannot afford (like a brand new s3 or something lol) and im sure we all know people who have gone out and bought cars with finance who couldn't afford it.

Certainly, in my case though it was a means to buy the car I wanted sooner rather than later and lets me have my car and enjoy life at the same time instead of banking every spare penny :icon_thumright:

 

[jpda4]

just done it with a bank loan...... 11k + px

could have left myself skint but why do that, payments are what i can afford so makes sense to me.....

also depends how much your spending i supose

 

[jdp1962]

Compare these figures.

Every £100 of interest earned on savings, is subject to tax. If we assume the basic rate of 22%, that means the actual loss for of each £100 of savings interest is only £78. That is the true cost of each £100 of interest lost if you finance the car from savings.

Every £100 of interest you would be charged on finance, you have to pay out of taxed income. In order to have £100 of net income to pay the interest, you first have to earn £128.20. That is the true cost of each £100 of interest charged if you finance the car from borrowing.

And remember, that's using the basic rate of tax. If you are a higher rate tax payer, the figures become £60 and £166.67 respectively.

 

[AndyMac]

Personally mate and Im not being big headed here but I subscribe to the theory that the only debt you should have in your life is a morgage.

I saved up 13k for my car so it can be done.

At the end of the day if you ask me one of the reasons this country is so ****** is because everyone is in so much debt. I wish everyone wasnt so materialistic with a I want it now attitude. I know people at work with 20k on credit cards and its frightning.

Spot on & very well put.
A guy I know bought a brand new Merc 4x4 and went with Mercedes finance, talk about being ****** over twice. He now has massive negative equity when he had to sell it due to the running costs.
Buying a car is the biggest yearly cost to most people (considering a mortgage is an investment not a cost) due to the depreciation, a crippling finance deal just compounds the issue.