We have decided to buy a car. Living in Fife without one is just getting stupid (it takes Joni 2 hours to travel 13 miles home from work on public transport!) and having admired some extreme budgeting we have worked out what we can afford to spend each month. So i began googling - Bank loans, other loans, second hand cars of eBay, autotrader etc etc. After a few hours of searching i found myself pricing up the cost of buying a brand new Ka on Ford's website. Much to my shock i found the monthly costs came to around the same as the cost of a second hand car. So i started getting ideas into my head.
Fast forward a few days and i find myself test driving a new Toyota Aygo with a very good sales man (he even claimed to have a nephew at Notts uni and "accidentally" showed us how much commission he gets on sales - a really good sales man!). They are offering these cars with a 5 year warranty, 2 years free servicing and £500 free petrol. So we are looking at one of these PCP offers. For anyone who doesn't know this means we can have the car with basically no deposit (which is handy as we don't have one) and we pay around £200 a month for 3 years. At the end of this we basically still owe then £3000, but we have 3 options. Hand the keys back and be done and dusted with it. Hand over the £3000 and take the car away. Or have the car revalued and then any difference over £3000 we can have or use to invest in a new car. (For a truly interested party its worth noting at this point current 3 year old Aygo on Autotrader costs around £6000, giving a £3000 difference).
Between the first look at new cars and the test drive I have been asking the opinion of just about everyone on buying a new car and the reaction has truly and genuinely shocked me. I thought a few people might not like the idea but it turns out everyone hates it! My mother yelled at me - she hasn't done that since i was 16! A mate from college has been quoting numbers at me all week. Whats most incredible is I still don't get it.
Now I don't think its arrogant to say im quite an intelligent person. I succeed in getting a degree so im clearly not a complete idiot (although i do know some idiots with degrees so maybe thats not the best argument), and i think its fair to say i normally get thinks pretty well. Which does make me question what it is im massively not getting here. This could now turn into a long and rambling post as im about to try and explain, mostly to myself, what it is i think everyone thinks im missing, and why i think im not missing it.
Firstly there is the question of ownership. If you get a car on a PCP contract, you don't own it, until you hand over the final payment of £3000 and then you have paid £10,000 and you have a car worth £6000. I can see this is not a very cost-effective method (although i do believe there is an argument in saying if i get a loan in 5 years i will have handed over £6000 and have a 7 year old car worth about £3000 - is that much better really?) But what if you don't intend on ever owning the car? In 3 years time we plan on having the car revalued and using the extra to trade up to something new - bigger, better, more expensive. At which point we continue paying monthly payments we can afford, just like we would have done when we decided to trade in a second hand car. So we never really own a car and im going to be completely and truly honest here (and please excuse the language) but i really couldn't give shit. I find no pleasure in being able to say "that car is mine" over being able to say "that car is on extended loan from a dealership". When i hear "not really ours" what i hear is "not really our problem", much like i do with renting the flat. When the roof fell in on our flat it was the landlords problem to sort out, much like if the clutch falls off a new car, its covered by the warranty.
The biggest problem most people seem to have is this one of deprecation, my views on which i think i have largely covered above. I think its all a matter of perspective. Mostly i struggle to see how the depreciation effects my life directly - If Im paying the same amounts each month, and after 3 year years on PCP im in a position to trade up to another new car, or with a loan i have to wait 5 years and all i have is a car worth about £2000, whats really the difference? but then maybe thats my problem. Im just a little too short sighted, i struggle to see past 27th March 2014, when i finish my PhD.
Its about this point i run out of steam and this is why I'm writing this post, and not putting up pictures of my brand new Aygo. Surely the whole world can't be wrong? Surely i must be wrong? Surely there is some massive problem with buying a new car that im just not getting and i would be a fool to get one? And maybe im just to arrogant to admit it.
P.S. Some progress on the Argo's bed saga. Firstly we waited about 3 days when the brought in a new offer on £100 0ff all furniture which did include beds (funny, furniture, but not bedroom furniture) so we got the bed even cheaper. Also written letters to Argos, ASA and Watchdog. So far only ASA has responded, telling me to wait and hear from Argos and get back in touch if their answer isn't satisfactory. Will keep you posted
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