Finance Advice

[Boydie]

Guys,

I am in dire straights here! I love my A3 but its getting to the stage where I have to try let go and try other things!!

However, I seem to have peaked too early and got the A3 too soon and now my expectation levels are too high for my next car and so is, unfortunately my wallet

I would love an S3 or a new shape TT but unfortunately I would have to finance them to afford them.

I am a semi believer of owning outright and not owing money etc...

I would trade my A3 in, probably get around £7k for it which means I would probably have to borrow in and around £10k to buy an S3

What are the pro's and con's of this?

I do not have many out goings - fuel, food, sky tv, socialising - that's it so far and on a decent wage for just coming out of uni and in a secure job!

I have been tearing my hair out since January about selling my car but as said, I love it and it would be like losing a child lol but times have to move on!!

Help me please

 

[audi-pricey]

i had a 7k finance over 3years and it costing me £216 month if thats any help

 

[audi-pricey]

my girlfriend also got 6.5k finance over 5 years she pays £110

 

[10blazin]

the finance isnt to bad its the fuel costs and insurance for me thats the killer ...but if you want it bad get it , you only live once if you can afford it just do it but work out what its gona cost you first then add up all your outgoings if you can still have a social life then why not , if your gona lose the social life then i wouldnt do it tbh its only a car at the end of the day ...

i wouldnt do the balloon payment either we got ours over 4 years instead of five and dont regret it one bit but i cant wait till the insurance comes down its a killer ....

 

[markwiggy]

Never get too attached to a car, I know it's hard but it is only a car and is easily replaced. One of the reasons I don't spend anything on my cars Mods etc as it makes it harder to part with, after all mods are usually dead money.
As for the finance, go for it, most folk are in debt for thier car, if you want an S3 go and get one providing your not killing yourself to make the payments.

Mark

 

[Boydie]

The only problems I have with going for an S3 is the mpg

I do do quite a lot of miles and once I am fully recovered from my shoulder operation, I will be doing more travelling to my rugby club (60mile round trip) plus work which is 42mile round trip so there would be twice a week at least 100miles a day!

That would work out maximum 300miles a week between rugby and work and that would not include going to the shops or socialising - the more and more I look at it, I should not bother with the swop but this is the dilema I am in!!

I have only ever owned 1 petrol car and it was a 1.2 8v Clio lol so making the change from derv to petrol would be a shock obviously but as said, you only live once!

There is a sprint blue S3 with 15k on the clock, 2007, for around £19k locally which I plan to go have a nosey at later this week - you never know, he may offer a fantastic deal!

If my payments were around £200 a month, that would be liveable!

 

[10blazin]

i think over 5 years you may manage that with the trade in go have a chat with them

 

[Ash B]

The only problems I have with going for an S3 is the mpg

I do do quite a lot of miles and once I am fully recovered from my shoulder operation, I will be doing more travelling to my rugby club (60mile round trip) plus work which is 42mile round trip so there would be twice a week at least 100miles a day!

That would work out maximum 300miles a week between rugby and work and that would not include going to the shops or socialising - the more and more I look at it, I should not bother with the swop but this is the dilema I am in!!

I have only ever owned 1 petrol car and it was a 1.2 8v Clio lol so making the change from derv to petrol would be a shock obviously but as said, you only live once!

There is a sprint blue S3 with 15k on the clock, 2007, for around £19k locally which I plan to go have a nosey at later this week - you never know, he may offer a fantastic deal!

If my payments were around £200 a month, that would be liveable!

Sounds like an nice the S3. And in the best colour! About time you treated yourself...But i can understand where your coming from about not wanting to sell the A3.
By the miles you have to do could be best to get another tdi? But if you can afford to run the S3 i'd 100% going for it. With no doubts, it may cost quite a but to keep topping up the S3. When your doing those miles but if you have the cash do it? If not get an nice new A3?
If you get £7k for your A3, then there £12k for the S3 sure over 3 - 4years it wont be that much.

 

[Iggu]

Boydie - I wouldn't ******** you, with my mods (I think they help) I average 31mpg in my S3 in a normal week. That includes a daily commute into city centre but, when given any opportunity, redlining it on a daily basis too. They're pretty good on mpg ......

As for finance - you'll never get a better opportunity of exploiting cheap debt. Do it now I say.

 

[NHN]

You know my views Boycie at length, but just think seriously about the added costs per month & work it out on paper, dont be blinded by the OOOOHHHH I have an S3 thought process cause at end of day as already said its all very well having the car but no point it sitting on the drive cause you cant afford to run it or you have to sell because you cant afford it anymore.

If you can afford then get your **** down to dealer to have a look about, but also look on the forums & web for good deals cause dealers will rip your **** out tbh on part ex & new.

Good luck.

 

[jb0o]

I agree with NHN.

I'm paying £170 per month finance to my parents. But me and my girlfriend have been talking about getting a place together. If we do, I wont be able to afford the finance and the car will have to go.

You never know what your financial circumstances are going to be in years to come.

But saying that, I dont regret getting the car at all

 

[PaulAr]

I managed to get 10K out of my bank last year for £305 /month over 3 year. (no payment protection).
The benefit of this route is that `you`will own the car outright. no finance co. will have an `interest` in the car allowing you to sell/trade in at your conveinence. Useful if your personal and/or employment situation changes in the interim and the car turns out to be incompatible.

Although on the other hand you might get decent rate through a garage finance deal.

Good luck.
Paul


PS- make sure you stick an extra £500 on there for a remap.....

 

[Boydie]

Cheers guys - going to discuss it with the folks anyway as never had to do this before!

I will be thinking long and hard about it but definately going to go try see it tomorrow afternoon and see what the deal is!

Here is the S3 - http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-u...ehicleYearOfManufacture=2007&vehicleRegLetter=

A lot of money in my opinion but would be good experience to go down anyway and try strike a deal!

 

[NHN]

Tad expensive tbh & no rns or fbmfsw.

Would you remove all your nice things from your car before doing the deal cause you take the car as is to them & they will base the part ex on what they see mate.

 

[unkle]

I would trade my A3 in, probably get around £7k for it which means I would probably have to borrow in and around £10k to buy an S3

What are the pro's and con's of this?

You would probably be better selling the car privately, today I was looking a a Golf GT TDI and Listers in Nuneaton offered £4k for my Bora which is low mileage and great condition but if I put it on ebay probably get nearer £5500. Try speaking to your bank about the finance/loan side of it, if youve been a good customer and havent had any credit problems your bank manager may offer you a better rate than what they actually advertise, I get this all the time when they try to get me to re-finance an existing loan.

To be honest though, if your thinking that your going to struggle to finance an S3 then it might be a bit beyond your budget. The tax, insurance, servicing and fuel running costs will be loads higher than your current car...

I shudder to think of the money Ive spent/wasted/burned on metal boxes with four wheels over the years

 

[Boydie]

Tad expensive tbh & no rns or fbmfsw.

Would you remove all your nice things from your car before doing the deal cause you take the car as is to them & they will base the part ex on what they see mate.

It is a bit expensive but thats typical dealer attitude and there are options to bargain with - eg not DSG, no RNSE or FBSW

However, it does have warrenty and only 15k on the clock

My car will be stripped as much as possible and they would be getting a stock car with the votex kit

I will not let them bully me lol my money is more precious to me than that!

I will see what they say and what they offer me for my car or what no trade discount they can offer - problem is, my car goes, i have no transport!!

 

[PaulAr]

Remember you can hire a car for less than £80/week so dont get too hung up on not having a car.
This is why car dealers do so well, they rely on those who dont want the `hassle` of being without a car for a few days.

Better to realise an extra 1k to sell private and spend a fraction of the saving on stop-gap transport.

Generally speaking you will be in a stronger position without p/x too. AND you will have the option of buying private if you want to.

Ive always done it this way and have on average saved around 2K on each deal over the last 4-5years.

good luck
Paul

 

[Boydie]

Cheers Paul, downside is, I am in Northern Ireland and selection is low - there are cheaper S3's with a bit better spec than the one I have linked eg.

2007, Orange, 10k, recaro's, etc... - £16,850

 

[Ash B]

Nice Sprint Blue S3. Be god with your alloys and steering wheel. Be best to get what you can off your car before you part ex it. But you also might get more if you tried selling private? Is that Solar orange one on ebay? IF so that looks really good!

 

[Boydie]

The orange is on autotrader, Cat D though:

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-u...ehicleYearOfManufacture=2007&vehicleRegLetter=

 

[10blazin]

whats cat d where there's bin an accident on it ??

if so mine's cat d and i bent one suspension arm doesnt mean nothing try to find out what was repaired on the car first it may be minor like mine was .....

 

[Nickl]

pretty sure cat d is when there's been an insurance claim but the insurers don't find it economical to repair

 

[Boydie]

He says his was mechanical so who knows?

 

[Ash B]

Yeah seen that looks the business very nice

 

[Lee_R]

Personally I wouldnt touch that orange one with a barge pole! I've had a few cat D's in the past and if you are a perfectionist you will start to notice little bits here and there that get annoying

 

[Neil201]

Also if you do decide to go with finance, don't touch the dealers finance or the banks!

For my last 2 cars i've shopped around the net for the best deals and found a company to beat them hands down on APR.

 

[10blazin]

pretty sure cat d is when there's been an insurance claim but the insurers don't find it economical to repair

dont know what mine is then it had one bent suspension arm and 2 scuffed to bits alloys the cars perfect

 

[Boydie]

Also if you do decide to go with finance, don't touch the dealers finance or the banks!

For my last 2 cars i've shopped around the net for the best deals and found a company to beat them hands down on APR.

See this is what I am scared of - I have never had to take a loan before and not too familiar with all the jargon :S

However, I was out with my female friend who has a 2008 MY09 S3 in sprint blue and my god, I loved it! She drove all round the city and I got a blast in it on the way home - awesome!!

I want one now!

 

[Lee_R]

dont know what mine is then it had one bent suspension arm and 2 scuffed to bits alloys the cars perfect

Blazin text your reg number to 83600, You will get a text back telling you its status. It costs £3

If its cat d then they are usually worth 15-20% less than a undamaged car.

 

[auroan]

Cat D is also for stolen recovered when the insurance have already paid out to the original owner.

 

[unkle]

Cat D is also for stolen recovered when the insurance have already paid out to the original owner.

Cat C is when its been damaged beyond viable economical repair, if its Cat C try to get some photos of it pre-repair. If its had a bump at the front I'd honestly walk away as theres so many underlying problems that could be involved, lots of electrics, engine and radiator problems that could become large bills in the future, Ive rarely seen a Cat C repair thats as good as an undamaged vehicle so for the 1k or 2k you might save it rarely seems worth it....

 

[Flibble]

You'll need a pretty good rate to borrow £10K at £200 a month. Possibly better than a dealer will give you, though you can often get stuff thrown in more easily if you take their finance as they're getting a cut.

This reckons that at 9.2% APR, you're just over £200/month over 5 years.
http://uk.zopa.com/ZopaWeb/public/borrowing/loan-calculator/results.html?amount=10000&term=60&ppi=0

Notice you'll be paying nearly £3k for the loan so consider that.

ETA: Just noticed they offer a much better rate over 3 years - 7.9%, the repayments are higher (£300/mo ish), but the loan costs half as much.

NB: I'm not endorsing that site in particular, I've never used them so have no idea if they're any good - it's just an easy place to get quotes from.

 

[Boydie]

Something around 6% would interest me greatly - I remember my dad telling me a few years ago he was paying 4.2% interest from a dealer - would love that!

 

[Flibble]

Be careful with dealer rates - they'll quote you a "flat rate", which will be something like 5-6%. However that's NOT the same as an APR. As a rough guide, double a flat rate to get an APR - so your dad's 4.2% flat rate will be about 8-9% APR. Not a bad rate really, but certainly not massively better than anything else. You won't get a loan below 7% APR on a car - to get much lower you have to have significant collateral secured on the loan (i.e. a mortgage).

Also, they'll tell you a monthly payment which is the bit which counts - either you can afford it or not, make a decision based on that.

 

[Boydie]

I will have to look into more of this flat rate, apr business

Getting sorted this morning and then heading off shortly after so let you know all this afternoon how I get on!

Thanks

 

[PaulAr]

Cat C is when its been damaged beyond viable economical repair, if its Cat C try to get some photos of it pre-repair. If its had a bump at the front I'd honestly walk away as theres so many underlying problems that could be involved, lots of electrics, engine and radiator problems that could become large bills in the future, Ive rarely seen a Cat C repair thats as good as an undamaged vehicle so for the 1k or 2k you might save it rarely seems worth it....

Agree, and remember insurance companies will generally only pay 50-60% of its book value in the event of a total loss.

So if you pay 16K for a CAT D S3, which is only worth 19K as a proper car, then your are rear ended by some one at the lights, or the car is stolen, or you stick in in a ditch etc... and the car is declared a write off, expect less than 12K from the insurance company.
Insurance dont like paying paying out, never mind a `total loss` twice on the same car.

No a chance I would take....

Cheers
Paul

 

[Boydie]

Well, spent 2 hours today with the dealer, chatting, testing and negotiating!

Havent set a deal in stone yet but been in touch with the dealer a few times today and thinking about putting a deposit down tomorrow depending on how the bank goes. Spoke with the parents as well this evening and they are supportive etc...

So the car:

2007 Sprint Blue (january)
16k miles
Light and rain sensor pack
winter pack
through load
light pack
electric lumbar
two tone leather
heated seats
arm rest
cd changer
sat nav but not RNSE (which I was not aware that it was available)
bluetooth

The car is spotless - paint needs a detail and there are a few scratches on the car which require a bit of attention but nothing major at all. It has had a service but not from Audi and its still on the original Continental tyres with plenty of tread.

I am quite excited but still nervous about it but I am sure the whole package will make up for it!!

Keep you posted!

 

[Ash B]

Looks nice! Hope you get a good deal mate and get what you want!
Keep us all updated

 

[N8]

This is gonna cost ya, you'll start modding the S3 now Boyds.....lol, its okay, we're all here to help HAHA

 

[davemk]

Very nice. A bit of finance is fine IMO. As long as you can afford it and it doesn't go into negative equity, which given your deposit, is highly unlikely.