[Thewhiteball]

To me depreciation of cars is necessary evil if you want the car to be your complete choice as opposed to someone elses. My last car was out of warranty, nearly six years old. Yearly £125 Rd tax 52mpg, £250 insurance, £150 service, £40 MOT, £80 AA membership. You can add to that two new tyres, two new front brake pad and disc sets over the last two years. This is pretty normal costing I'm sure to most motorists who run cars of that certain age whose first flush of youth having past becomes a burden on its owner.
Compare that with my Captur, over the next three/four years. No road tax for my dci90, 62mpg, £185 insurance, no service cost, no mot (for three years any how) and free breakdown recovery.

All that means my outgoings over the next three/four years are greatly reduced because I chose to get myself a brand spanking new car completely of my own choice of colour, engine, trim, etc etc.

I'm not that nieve that I wouldnt be expecting not to pay out for some tyres or even some breakdown repair work over the next few years but the newness of the car must weigh in my favour.

For me a new car is usually a better bet than second hand, "ah but ours was only a year/two years old when we bought it" I hear people say. Great but some body has discarded your pride and joy for whatever reason, and also are you really getting exactly what you wanted in the first place or have you had to compromise?

No I'm glad I bought my new Captur.

 

[Nick The Skip]

Summed up nicely, couldn't have put it much better myself. Virtually identical reasons, although we were looking at some 2nd hand cars, for the price of a new Captur, and with all the maths that you highlight, agreed makes a great choice financially

 

[JohnChambers]

And also you know a new car hasn't been abused by previous owner(s). I have a friend who, when he parks at least one wheel goes over the kerb, sometimes two!

 

[Tuckerz]

I agree, I've been through the second hand deal, paying out over and over again on breakdowns. Went new in 2003 and not looked back. My two children just ventured to buy their own cars and with my advice (which I'm glad they listened to), they to have gone brand new, so they won't have the mistakes I had in my younger days.

 

[Dr65]

I may be wrong but I think somehow most of us on here will air on the side of buying new.

 

[Dal]

I may be wrong but I think somehow most of us on here will air on the side of buying new.

The Captur for me is a company car so I don't get a choice, it has to be new.

My own car is a 2010 MX5 PRHT which I bought earlier this year. There were only two in the country in the colour and spec I wanted. The car new was circa £22k (it's £23095 today) the was just 30 months old and with 15,000 miles. I paid £10995 (which I could easily get for it today) so using this example it's difficult to agree with you guys.

But the example will be different for different cars.

 

[Thewhiteball]

Of course there will be exceptions and my argument is a genralisation for the benefits of annual expenditure and choice over initial saving and depreciation.

 

[Ythsie]

I'll surprise many of you on here and tell you that I am a devout fan of second hand cars!!

My approach is completely different because I could NEVER AFFORD a new car!

I always bought second hand cars that were three years or slightly older with low mileages.....This equalled a saving of at least 45%...

. and then, 'we' ran them into the ground.....giving us a chance to save up a few pennies for the next 'used' model.
I was a teacher.

..so there was no possibility of a company car...and those of you who have that option GREAT!...but for a private buyer...?... unless you have money in your pocket, it does not make sense!!!

I was fortunate enough to have good reliability with my used cars, so IF something went wrong, it was rare, and I had to calculate for the usual things that you had to replace...not the thousands you'ld lose on depreciation of a new car.
Saying that....I'm sure there is more of an issue of 'built in obsolesance' in new cars with more functions being controlled by computer chips! Look at Mercedes...they went on forever...until they realised that they weren't selling as many new ones as they wanted....The quality of build went downhill and so did their reliability record.

So why have I gone for a new car this time around? RETIREMENT

in my case... money available..so why not? I/We will probably run this car into the ground....but for four years I won't have any worries and for the rest of the time it 'should' reward us with reliable service.

Edited by: Ythsie

 

[Dal]

Of course there will be exceptions and my argument is a genralisation for the benefits of annual expenditure and choice over initial saving and depreciation.

I have to add given the choice (and the available cash) I would always prefer to buy new

 

[crossbow]

One thing I noticed in the small print on service costs was that whilst mandatory service items are included in the "free" 4 year service, "optional" items are NOT covered under the service agreements on an annual(18,000 mile) basis. For example, oil and oil filter change will only happen every two years, as part of the "B" service. Also the cabin filter is only replaced every two years, as part of the "A" service. If you do less than 9000 miles per year, then the A and B services are separate.

 

[Ythsie]

Agree with you!

 

[Thewhiteball]

Its a good point from above that I write from the point of view of a retiree who after choosing the "retirement" vehicle is looking for low running costs and bills.

Good debate anywho.

 

[bigbadtony]

ive had more cars than i care to remember from "old bangers" in my younger days to what i have now. for me its more a question of reliability for choosing new, or nearly new. a compromise would be to go for a demo model. OK, you may not get exactly what you may have wanted in terms of colour etc but usually its at a lot less price than new.plus no (or very little) waiting time.


This will prob be the one and only car i'll own "new". i have to admit my heart over ruled my head and i went for it knowing that depreciation etc were a factor ive always taken into account on my other cars but it didnt matter.i have the car i want, and i couldnt be happier with it

for me thats worth the cost of the depriciation

 

[Dr65]

I just deleted such a long winded response, very good points on both sides noted down but it boils down to I just like buying new.

 

[bigbadtony]

and nothing wrong with that Dr65

lol

 

[Ythsie]

I didn't!! Haha!! My heart ruled my head ...and for a change, I went for it..and it's a great feeling!

I think I could get into the habbit, if I had the cash!!

 

[bigbadtony]

yep, my one regret was getting the 90TCe and not being able to outrun my bank manager lol

 

[iang]

Over the past 15 years I have been fortunate enough to be given a choice of a company car, so I am used to getting a new car every 3 years or so. In 2010 my company scrapped the company car scheme and replaced it with a monthly allowance, therefore in 2010 I had the dilemma of do I get a new car or purchase a second hand one. After many sleepless nights I decided to go for a new one with the Captur being my second car on the allowance.

There were two reasons for my choice, number one - reliability and number two - the joy of owning a new car to my exact specifications.

 

[Ythsie]

Bigbadtony...he's probably got a Panda!!

iang...you should have gone to see Bigbadtony's bank manager...he sounds one **** of a guy!!

 

[TC Eddy]

In my driving "career" I have had a good mix of new and used cars mostly of the regular ordinary saloon/hatchback type such as Ford,Vauxhall,Nissan the usual models Fiesta,Escort,Primera,Tino all good decent cars but apart from an Astra GTE pretty boring but run of the mill models,always being a fussy sod and insisting they were kept in as good as new condition whilst in my ownership.
Never had a Renault and to be honest apart from a slight hankering after a Scenic quite a few years back never had the must have instict for a Renault........until I saw the Captur!
My last car (3rd hand to me) had cost just under 30 grand when new (2002) (and thankfully not my depreciation!!) I bought the car with only 40,000 miles on it for 3 grand...........recently having it valued the same car came in at just £1300 I also had an engineers report done on it and was shocked as repair costs to bring it up to the mark was just under 4 grand.........when I priced up a potential purchase of a Captur I was astounded as to how cheap it was to change to a new car taking into consideration a very generous PX allowance,breakdown insurance,warranty and a reduction in Road Tax and insurance and of course the pride of owning a brand new model........so glad I made the move to a Captur I would have been daft to have walked away and to be honest the Captur fits the bill for what I need it to do perfectly.......couldnt be happier!!