Jimmy wrote:

On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 13:40:44 +0000, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:



I wonder. I'm amazed at how used car prices have inflated over the
past 15 years. I remember that in 1995, you could easily find 10-year
old cars with less than 90,000 miles for about £300. Nowadays you are
hard-preesed to find them for less than £1500. What is going on?
After all, new cars haven't gone up 500% over the past 15 years, have
they?


#
Actually I think tis is completely wrong.

You can still geta heap of junk suvb 400 quid, but cars last longer, and
a 90000 mile ten year old is acvtually a very decent and useable animal.


Yeah, but you've still got to be very careful. Rusting sulls can still
scupper you even when the engine is only just run-in if the car is
10-yrs old, but little used.

Personally, I'm trying to get my financial maths hat to figure out
what is the most cost-effective price-range to spend on a car.

Save your time. I KNOW teh answer.

Its as cheap as you can get.

Sub £1000 cars and preferably sub £500.

In general even a cheap car will depreciate by £500-£1000 a year if its
anywhere new, let alone cost of serviceing.

An old banger that actually runs, for £500 that does a year with no
servicing, is good news. Of course getting rid of it is expensive, but
the normal trck round here is no taxc, no insurance, and set fire to it
afterwards, which makes it even cheaper.

The very worst cars to buy are brand ne, as tehy lose about 15% the
moment you drive them away, and the £1000-£3000 pound car, that is
basically a tarted up 500 quid one, and falls to pieces after 6 months.

Best deals if you want relaibiluty are teh ones that get traded for new
ones and cost aboutr 2/3rds te price - 4 years old, 50k on the clock.
Especially unpopular makes - skodas, automatic nissans etc etc.

(For
someone like me that wants a practical car that's cheap to run but
prformas na dhandles a bit better than average). Obviously it's not
£110,000 for a Ferrari, and obviously it's not £1000 for a car than
needs £500 worth of work every year... Somewhere in-between, but
where, I wonder. One has to take into account the cost of using credit
(well, I do, anyway).

No. Get the 500 quid car and CHUCK IT after a year. Sometimes they limp
on for two.

If realiabilituy is an issue go for middle aged as I said. 50-100k on
the clock, well looked after, and 4-8 years old.


I've noticed that one used-car dealer local to me ahs nothing but cars
priced between £4000 and £5000. Perhpas that's a clue... or perhaps
he's just got his needle stuck in the £4K-£5K groove.

Those will be cars as above, that he thinks are good enough to offer a
guarantee on.

'trade' cars that go for less, are a different market.



A very rough rule of thumb I may have tentatively identified is that
cars such as I described above cost about £500 a year to own (not
including running costs). For example: A £500 car with a new MOT
will, on average, give you about one year of driving before you have
to scrap it to avoid undue expense. And a £1500 car will last about 3
years before the same thing happens.

Anyone agree with my calculation abobe, or do you humbly beg to
differ? I wanna know.

That is pretty fair estimate. HOWEVET depending on your skills, you may
be able to get a car with some little problems, cheap, and fix those and
get several years out f a 5600 quid car..

Conversely if you get a timing belt go on a 60,000 mile car that cost
you 5 grand, and need new engine or part thereof....its more than 500
quid a year.


J