New Car Smell

[ninebelow]

Driving down the M1 the other day, we got talking about the possibility of getting a new car. At one point, I said: "Well, I doubt we'll ever own a brand new car." My wife was taken aback by this. Turns out that whilst I don't know anyone who has ever bought a brand new car, her whole family do this.

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Comments

[f4f3]

For a given value of "buy". I get mine on lease purchase, where you're basically financing the depreciation over 2 or 3 years. If the dealer gets the residual value of the car right, you roll it over into the next lease. So it isn't buying, since you never actually own the car, but you do get a new car, with new car smell (although since I dearly love my current car, I bought it at the end of the three years - it now has over 100k miles on it, and I might keep it until the wheels fall off).

[ajr]

My current car I bought brand new three years ago. It wasn't something I *planned* to do exactly, but it happened that I needed a new car, and things fell right at the time that I could afford to get a car I wanted instead of a car I chanced across on the pre-owned market. 2k off through scrappage, plus getting it while VAT was low also helped.

I now more or less plan to make it last as long as I can (minimum another four years, I guess, if average modern car lifespans are to believed), and when the time comes to replace it, very much doubt I'll be getting another brand new car, but will be back to seeing what I can find pre-owned instead.

[gonecaving]

Current car was bought at 3yrs and more than I've ever spent before (much more). But was a reaction to life events and has bought a smile to our faces on many occasions. I think you either have to buy new and change after a year or two, buy at 2-3yrs and change after.2-3 yrs or buy and drive 'til it become too expensive. Not sure which bucket we're currently in! Probably the last one, and would have to say that the notion of buying new is alien to me.