Banger or Nearly-New

[feudum]

Sorry in advance for yet another car related post, but posting as everyone's situation is different. I'll try keep it as short and sweet as possible.

M24 living in Wicklow, €50 p/week to my parents, no other major outgoings. I will be commuting to Swords daily (bang on 200km round trip). After 6 months probation (hopefully sooner) I can move to 3 days in office, 2 from home. I like this as I've never had the option to work hybrid before and would seriously chop down the commute a bit.

Salary is €50k gross, and worth mentioning I have a side gig that is tourism related so would only pick up around March and die down in October. This side gig, when busy would net me at least €100 p/week not including tips which are usually generous enough.

I currently drive a 2013 Hyundai i40 (1.7 diesel, ~240k Kms) but I'm looking to get an automatic as I can't stand the manual in heavy traffic which I'll be hitting on the M50 and M11 both up and down. I'm currently looking at a Toyota Corolla Hybrid (approved used, between €24k - €27k) on PCP for 3 years. With a deposit of about €5k it would leave me with monthly repayments of about €450 p/month.

The hybrid aspect appeals to me because of the amount of traffic I'll be dealing with, I understand diesel is still the king of the motorway but when the M50 turns into a car park every day I cant really see the gains of having a diesel, open to people's experience on this for those that have gone down that route!

My big question is do I go for the nearly new Corolla with the income I'll be on, or go down the "bangernomics" route of getting a cheap as chips automatic diesel with little to no comeback if shit hits the fan. Worth nothing there is a years warranty on all the Toyota approved used range. Keeping the car after the 3 years doesn't interest me at all nor does upgrading so I'll probably just give it back and judge where I'm at when the time comes.

TLDR - living at home, new job with more money + side gig, do I go for a nearly new car or get another banger and face the consequences?

Cheers!

 

[resjudicata]

@feudum Would just keep your existing car till it dies personally, or switch out for something of the exact same cost. Switching to automatic because it will be annoying seems like it's not worth something that will cost you 450 a month extra.

The warranty isn't really relevant on the Toyota because the likelihood it will not give any problems because its new, hence the reason they offer them so there's no real benefit because it will most likely never be helpful. The risk you take is staying with an older car. I used to commute from Dublin to Cork twice a week in the same day in a 2007 banger and it did the job fine. Ive had about 6 cars since being 18, 34 now. Honestly they just need to drive you from a to be and should do it in the cheapest way possible. Worst case scenario you break down on the motorway one day, get AA to pick it up and miss half a day of work and then you have to go about getting another car the next day and your back on track.

Save your money, that money could be half a months rent if you move out instead or put it into more long term things and you could even use the swords express if you are able to live anywhere near there and ditch the car and the cost completely. Better use of that additional money and a better quality of life rather than living for a 200km commute daily. If you end up changing jobs for somewhere thats closer in 1 year and the same money etc then you've added all this cost to your month.

If it aint broke, dont fix it.

If this is your first big salary, I would highly advise against ladening yourself into a maditiory loan of 27k right off the bat. Focus on building yourself a good base line here and get used to the better money and then if you really need to change the car next year, then have a look at it. But I reckon you'll get a taste for seeing your bank balance going up by just getting over the fact that its not an automatic and your being smart with your money.

 

[feudum]

@resjudicata Really appreciate this! I've really considered driving it until it goes bang and seeing where my funds are at and going from there. And good point about the quality of life I definitely won't be doing that commute forever if I can avoid it. Not necessarily my first salary but definitely first big one as you said. Thanks for your comment

 

[nathanpaul]

@feudum It’s a 2013, it’s not going to go bang. I’m happily driving a 2007. Keep your money.

 

[resjudicata]

@feudum I guess my approach would be that you already have a car, so dont put a cent more into it and get the most out of what you have already paid for it in order to start building money towards getting something else, like an independent place to live or investments etc.

Id be thinking that you already made a call to get a car when you got the I40 and thats your car for the time being and you should be diverting money into getting another thing to add to the whole stepping into independence.

You can do a lot with 50k a year at 24 in the next few years if you are smart with your money and it would feel like a lost opportunity to just upgrade one thing you do have when you dont have a house or a load of savings/investments which are also going to be important things to gather as you go forward.

Revisiting a car when you are living at home and planning for it to take money away from being able to put it towards something else seems like a bit of a circle to be going in when you could be moving forward.

 

[slaw777]

@feudum Hold on to the i40 until after probation at least. Living at home etc you should be able to put away a grand a month. Re evaluate at that stage, the I 40 if maintained will keep going. The hybrids cost a lot on petrol the saving on diesel will prob still be worth not changing.

 

[babszie]

@feudum Ugh do not go with car finance especially if you are on probation (you don’t know if they will keep you on) plus €450 per month is huge and for 5 years.

 

[feudum]

@babszie Good point about the probation period, but I should've said it's €450 for 3 years and with the salary I'll be on 450 doesn't seem too much...? Or I could be wrong

 

[babszie]

@feudum 3 years, doesn’t matter it’s car finance. You are locked into it - just say hypothetically speaking…. You don’t get past probation you are stuck with that car finance, there is no way out, jobseekers benefit is only for 9 months at €220 a week, just continue to use your current car and put that €450 a month away for a year or 2 and then think about a car loan from the credit union for a used hybrid car. I am a budgeter- I’m telling you that car finance will be so much stress. And hypothetically what if you hate that job, the thing that will force you to stay in that job will be that car finance… it will rule those 3 years… your decision in the end. Not only will it be €450 a month, you have to pay tax, insurance, NCT and car maintenance. Plus the €200 a month to your parents. Which is about circa €800 a month really …

 

[vangelis01]

@feudum I’d suggest you look at adaptive cruise control too. I found it great for M50/motorway slog in traffic

 

[feudum]

@vangelis01 This is what I've been looking for, does it essentially drive itself in slow traffic or what's the story?

 

[kinzie]

@feudum There are also cars in between bangers (sub €3,000?) and nearly-new (around €25,000) that you could consider... Like the €15,000 mark. Maybe

 

[buddykisses]

@feudum You're going to pay €5400 a year in repayments and then hand the car back after three years AND you'll pay them €5000 upfront for the privilege of this?

€20k for three years driving.....

 

[john6574]

@feudum Bangernomics is hard these days , even a worn audi auto diesel can be 3-5k not to mention the rattling and smell of them in traffic , plus it's all DIY servicing and maintenance to make it cost effective. If you are comfortable with the payments the corolla hybrid sounds like a nice fit

 

[feudum]

@john6574 Exactly what I was thinking. The days of getting a 2.0TDI for a grand are long gone I think.

 

[michaeljason]

@feudum My 8 year old Audi automatic is valued at 22k. Madness.

 

[sweetlybroken97]

@feudum Avoid PCP.

Get a low mileage older car, especially imports. Hybrid or petrol, more of the latter around. Aim for a price you can afford upfront, plenty of decent low mileage auto saloons around the 10k range. Take good care of it and it will last you a long time without the need to go for.pcp.

 

[feudum]

@sweetlybroken97 Interested to hear why you think petrol might be good, just with the mileage I would be doing every week surely I'd be sinking even more money into fuel costs. Just a thought

 

[renny562000]

@feudum Have you factored in your high mileage to the PCP rate?

Walking away from a car in PCP is the worst way to go, any equity in the car is now gone, so you are just renting the car.

Do the maths:

5k + 450x36 = 21k in payments.

A newer car will always cost more than a banger, which option suits you comes down to cost and personal preference/situation

Depreciation is the highest cost, but also cost of credit, fuel, insurance, maintenance, etc., so work all these out to compare. An older car, may have higher maintenance, fuel and insurance costs than a nearly new car.

Personal preference and situation comes into it as well. Some people just prefer different things when it comes to cars. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with preferring a newer car.

 

[feudum]

@renny562000 The maths really puts it into perspective especially with fuel cost in there as well, appreciate it!