Should I downgrade my car?

[fouraces]

@trevayne Didnt you post a few days ago about going up to 20k on a new car?

 

[trevayne]

@fouraces I also have a post about people going back through post history!
But yep no you’re right.
I was actually mistaken on what I owed to the CU.
All in I’ve 17k or so between the two cars.

So I was looking at the likes of a Mk7 GTI and a few others as daily drivers, with 20k as an absolute max - purely for the sake of getting suggestions.
I was also looking at a 335i, which would have been a stupid purchase, but 11k for the car, 1.7k for insurance and 1k for tax, it’s still a far cry from 20..

Realised how much I actually owe, and that even though I’d only be fuelling, taxing and insuring one car, changing just wouldn’t be worth it imo.

So I’m not going down that.
I also realised the Mx-5 is the cheapest fun motoring I’ll ever have, so I’m going to stick with it.
It’s a hobby for me, I meet up with owners groups, we’ve booked holidays together and everything.

But the Golf just sits there, so I’m now thinking it could potentially make more sense to sell that for a cheaper motorway cruiser and just cancel off the difference of the loan.

 

[fouraces]

@trevayne My ten cents worth is always to owe as little as possible to the man

If you can reduce your monthly commitments you can always buy another car with cash you've saved in some time

 

[penfire1]

@trevayne Are U in financial difficulty? If not, why bother? U like & use both cars, any new car for committing will be rife with the risk of issues that may end out costing more. Stick with what U have,make ur payments,overpay if U want/can.

 

[inthefathershouse]

@penfire1 Is it so hard to type "you"?

 

[penfire1]

@inthefathershouse Is it so hard being an incel? U have no opinions of Ur own so make asinine comments like this to feel superior when Ur so inferior?

 

[inthefathershouse]

@penfire1 *you *your *you're FTFY. I know it's difficult to get a grasp of the concept so just for you, here we go.

"Your" is possessive, meaning that something belongs to you or the person you are speaking to. For example, “What is your name?” Or, “Are these your car keys?” "You're" is a combination of the words, "you" and "are". This is called a contraction.

U have no opinions of Ur own

Eh, that was my opinion, another word lost on you.

Also, Incel? I'm happily married with 3 kids and am typing this on my phone from the office in my own house, and not my mother's basement, so definitely not one of those. Grammar nazi, for sure, but Incel. No.

Maybe Google words before you use them. It's a good way to get a grasp of the English language.

 

[trevayne]

@penfire1 Nope I’m not at all, I’ve just been an idiot and haven’t overpaid in the car loan up until now.

I think regardless of what I do/change aim for 2024 is to clear myself of this CU loan!

 

[penfire1]

@trevayne So maybe try overpay where u can for now? Good luck

 

[rickylee]

@trevayne Car passion aside, you need to start learning to deal with delayed gratification, saving up for something you really want, instead of getting a loan. It makes absolutely no sense to have a loan for one car, not to mind 2.

If you can afford to repay a loan, you can afford to save that amount and buy a car when you have the money to pay in cash. I would say the same for any passion, such as a holiday/travelling, bikes, golf clubs, boating etc.

If you start thinking in terms of saving vs borrowing (for anything besides a mortgage), you will have much better financial health.

It's mind-blowing to me to own 2 cars and have a loan of €10k when renting and on a €36k gross salary. Edit: it's actually €17k in loans. This is madness. You are living so far beyond your means

 

[trevayne]

@rickylee Not sure where the 17k in loans has come from, it’s 10k, 17k tied up in cars but 9something owed to the CU

 

[rickylee]

@trevayne Either way, 25% of your gross salary in loans for hobbies is not good. You need to start saving for the things you want, instead of getting loans for them.

Being able to deal with delayed gratification is one of the keys to a successful life https://jamesclear.com/delayed-gratification.

Getting loans to get something immediately, instead of saving up for it, could well be the habit of a lifetime, and really impact your financial health, if you don't get to grips with it now. You see people who live off high interest short term loans and credit cards all the time, and they are constantly chasing their tails their whole lives.

It's a real shame that your parents didn't educate you on saving up for something vs taking on debt.

I know at 26, you are living for today and can't imagine wanting to own a home or needing money in retirement. But I see the difference in my own parents vs my in-laws. My parents always had 1 shared car, paid their mortgage, saved, put kids through college and paid into their pensions. They have such a lovely retirement now, where they can do whatever they want, without worrying. My in-laws lived in the moment, and are now trying to live on the state pension. It's extremely stressful and whenever an unexpected expense comes up, we have to help them, otherwise they couldn't survive.

 

[unoriginalusername1]

@trevayne If it weren't for the €6k mileage (which I assume is travel within work hours to clients or whatever) I'd be saying sell the Golf if your commute one way is only 5km.
Not really sure you're asking this question to reveal any options you haven't already considered.
While you don't have dependents, get into the habit of saving, make it your priority. You'll then be less inclined to get a loan for things you want rathar than need because you'll sent your savings.
Learning this early in life will give you a much easier run, believe me.

 

[oelsch]

@trevayne Rule of thumb, if you cant afford to buy it outright, you cant afford to drive it. And if you buy it outright, it should not be more than 10% of your net-worth.

 

[leslierenee56]

@trevayne Sign you're getting older & more sensible: "I should cut down to one car."

Sign you're not quite there yet: "I'll keep the mx5."

I had my boy racer days and my motorbike days so I know that it's like for it to be your hobby and not just a form of transport. The motorbike got the bullet when I realized how little I was actually using it. Taxing, insuring and testing two vehicles is the biggest hassle (but at least bikes don't have tests).

Sounds like you need to sell off the Golf and buy something much cheaper so you can clear a large junk of the loan and have a main vehicle to keep your insurance legit.

One of the biggest problems with buying a cheap car is going back to the old tax system. If it was me I would keep the engine size as small as I could without it being a pig on the motorway. You have the mx5 for when you want fun. Don't go back to paying full 1.9 tax it's not worth it.

 

[trevayne]

@leslierenee56 I’m just getting old, sensibility hasn’t kicked in just yet.

The testing and taxing does get a bit taxing alright but to me that’s just the price you pay to enjoy the cars.

I actually had this chat with my father last night.
He’s sort of coming around to the idea of selling ‘that fine car’ - the golf.
So I was looking at cars in the sub 4k range.
Cheapest option would be a Toyota Aygo platform car, Citroen or Peugeot variant as not everyone’s aware they’re the same car underneath/brand snobbery.
But for a motorway commute?

So I was thinking Avensis, but are the potential DPF headaches worth the fuel savings?

 

[stewart01]

@trevayne Your salary and prospects seem very healthy and the loan isn’t huge. Unless you’re under pressure for other reasons then stick with what you have.

 

[trevayne]

@stewart01 I’d agree, I definitely feel I’m in a fortunate position, even though I’ve made some rather idiotic choices.

The Golf cost me 11500 if I remember rightly, it’s now at 150k miles, no major service intervals on the immediate horizon, and I’d probably get what I paid for it back out of the car.
I should have just been paying it off a lot quicker but here we are.
My parents would argue the same, and the whole devil you know vs the devil you don’t

 

[dynamis777]

@trevayne MX 5 is an absolutely deadly car. When I bought it I was living in Florida then moved to NY with it. Fantastic in hot or cold (a few bags of sand in the boot really helps in icy weather). I had a 95 with the popup lights. A bit of a harmonic tick on it though, but that was normal.for that year.

The obvious issue with an mx5 is the 2 seater. The non issue with it is appreciation. It's always going to be worth more tomorrow.

If you can get by with a 2 seater for the foreseeable future then keep that one. It's cheap to run, and fun.

We had to sell ours because the missus got preggers and couldn't get into or out of it with the belly.

 

[dangelohomenick]

@trevayne You’re only young once. Time enough before you might need back seats and storage for buggies and toys, etc. etc. if that’s in the life plan.

MX5 all the way. Biggest smiles per gallon car going.

If you can store it indoors overnight or have some sort of decent weather protection for it - why not daily drive it without the need for a second car?