Losing Faith in VW

[Deako]

Just looked at the pricing for a Mk7 Golf GT TDI, managed to get my ideal spec to £26,840. Not that many options selected. Looked at the finance options, with a moderate deposit adn 20k miles per year it was £511 p/m, and that was on solutions (PCP) not hire purchase. So imagine the balloon payment after 3 years on top of that.

Now, unfortunately BMW have removed their finance offer of 3.9% APR, but when it was in place you could spec up a 120d 3dr Hatch to the same price and with the dealer deposit contribution and working out what BMW discount would be on top, you could get the payments somewhere around £300 p/m. Also on PCP.

Move to Vauxhall and they are offering ridiculouse discounts and 0% APR (until 7th Jan). You can buy an Astra GTC 2.0 SRi CDTi for about £18000 with a load of options added, and can buy it on hire purchase outright for less than the BMW on PCP. With a 1st owner lifetime warranty to 100k miles.

I know depreciation counts for a lot, but if you just want a car to commute in for 5 years and cover a lot of miles, how are VW selling so many cars? Are the figures skewed? Is this the reason there are so many Insignias and Astras out there? Obviously, some people can afford to buy new cars outright. I wish i was one of them, but to be honest, you lose out more taking the whole hit on depreciation.

[garrardrj]

My Brain tells me that if a car can depreciate 50% in the first three years then the new price of it cannot reflect its actual value . I am sure you can find a 3 year old car for sale that will be half its original value , buy this car outright and sell it in 3 years time .

or

Buy a Bmw at a car auction at 2 years old , its still covered by warranty and run it for 2 more. Then do the same again after selling

I can never understand how people can afford to buy new cars if they earn less than £50k pa . To lost £20k in 3 years equals losing about £130 a week .

Each to their own i say though 

[Deako]

My Brain tells me that if a car can depreciate 50% in the first three years then the new price of it cannot reflect its actual value . I am sure you can find a 3 year old car for sale that will be half its original value , buy this car outright and sell it in 3 years time .

or

Buy a Bmw at a car auction at 2 years old , its still covered by warranty and run it for 2 more. Then do the same again after selling

I can never understand how people can afford to buy new cars if they earn less than £50k pa . To lost £20k in 3 years equals losing about £130 a week .

Each to their own i say though  

Unfortunately, we are ploughing all spare cash into our house purchase at the moment so i dont have anything other than about £3k to use as a deposit. I can budget up to £300 p/m after we move for a car. So cannot buy a car outright.

There are some great deals out there if you can find them, take Vauxhall for example. Other manufacturers are also offering 0%, but its the discount thats appealing with Vauxhall.

We do earn considerably more than £50k per annum combined. And even with a massive mortgage on our new house and car finance, we would have a considerable amount of cash spare on a monthly basis. But i want to be putting that into savings and no doubt will be spending £3k on a sofa, and £10ks decorating the house for the next few years.

The fact that i drive a sh*tty old Mk3 GTI is because at present we live over the road from work and just needed every spare penny to make the house happen. (Its a new build, so masses of cash was put up during the reservation process even though its not going to be ready until May).

I still need to save a small amount towards the house, but am in a forunate position that i can save about £2k per month.

[tony_danza]

Top tip with a PCP. Set the mileage at the lowest figure possible, why would you pay up front and add interest to that figure?

APRs can also be negotiated, BMW dealers aren't going to be impressed to see that kind of rise, knowing how many they've shifted of late due to the cheap deals. Just push hard or demand more discount to cover the increase.

Going over the mileage only matters if you hand it back to the dealer, then they charge you excess. If you go and trade it in at another marque or sell privately, then all you have to do is clear the outstanding finance/balloon.

Oh, and VW and Audi's pricing is crazy. It'd be very hard to walk past Vauxhall/Seat/Skoda with the kind of deals they're doing.... It's still very much a buyer's market.

[andrewparker]

I can never understand how people can afford to buy new cars if they earn less than £50k pa . To lost £20k in 3 years equals losing about £130 a week .

I just look at it as another monthly outgoing. I could spend a fortune on a monthly train pass, or spend £300 a month on a loan, or finance. Swings and roundabouts.

[Deako]

Top tip with a PCP. Set the mileage at the lowest figure possible, why would you pay up front and add interest to that figure?

APRs can also be negotiated, BMW dealers aren't going to be impressed to see that kind of rise, knowing how many they've shifted of late due to the cheap deals. Just push hard or demand more discount to cover the increase.

Going over the mileage only matters if you hand it back to the dealer, then they charge you excess. If you go and trade it in at another marque or sell privately, then all you have to do is clear the outstanding finance/balloon.

Oh, and VW and Audi's pricing is crazy. It'd be very hard to walk past Vauxhall/Seat/Skoda with the kind of deals they're doing.... It's still very much a buyer's market.

Cheers Mike. Good idea about the mileage. Its unlikely it would ever get just handed back in anyway.

The Octavia vRS Blackline was also tempting. VAT free, meant the car could be had for £17,800. But its through VWFS which is about 7.9% APR. Just too high. VW just want to milk the low interest rates at present and cream the profit for their figures.

We shall see what happens.  

If only i wanted a Toyota Aygo Fire 

PCP at 0% is just insane.

http://www.toyota.co.uk/cgi-bin/toyota/bv/generic_editorial.jsp?navRoot=toyota_1024_root&fullwidth=true&noLeftMenu=true&forceText=%3cnone%3e&edname=CC2-AYGO-offersandfinance&id=CC2-AYGO-offersandfinance&zone=Zone+NG+AYGO&sr=Mall

[dan1985]

Got my new car on solutions to get the £1,000 deposit contribution from VW, a further £1,000 deposit contribution was paid by the dealer and the remaining finance is getting paid off after the first month.

Gets built this month and should be ready to pick up March time, then straight off to revo for stage 2 without it even having 30 miles on the clock 

[Poverty]

Get a Mercedes c-class, pcp a 35k car for 299 a month. Hell you can get a c63 amg for 520 a month. VW's are overpriced for what you are getting these days, to me, the way things are going its like they are pushing people towards Audi.

[Deako]

Get a Mercedes c-class, pcp a 35k car for 299 a month. Hell you can get a c63 amg for 520 a month. VW's are overpriced for what you are getting these days, to me, the way things are going its like they are pushing people towards Audi.

Thats PCH, not PCP.  I was the one that pointed out the PCH deals on C63 AMGs in the thread.

A colleague at work just got a AMG Sport C250 CDI Coupe on PCH for just over £300 p/m. Fantastic value. However, with PCH there is no way you can get around the mileage issue. If you say you do 20k miles per year, the price goes up dramatically.

[phil1975]

I totally agree with you vw new prices are getting ridiculous, I've just got a 1 year old mk6 golf gti with 8000 miles on the clock for £20500 (white, 5 door, leather, nav,  sensors, shadows, winter and lux pack) this would have been just shy of £30000 new! Nice car but no way worth that kind of money new in my opinion.

Even if I could have waited for the mk7 gti ( i need a 5 door for family reasons now), that would be the best part of £30000 with a few options, way more than I'm prepared to pay for hot hatch.

[Snoopy]

Ignore what people call depreciation as the figures are screwed.
I got a lot of vw owners say on forums i should have not bought SEATs when I did because of depreciation. Golf golf was about 55% were the seats were ~30%
But workout what the actual cost of pounds I lost over the ownership period in depreciation because of the large discount price and then a large percentage of a small amount (seat) in depreciation v small % of a large amount i lost far less pounds in depreciation on the SEATs than I would have on the VW versions.
Depreciation % figures are just there to make expensive makes of cars look better. % figures are used to fool people.

Look at the astra figures carefully you posted on the other thread it will probably cost you thousands less in pound notes terms over the years than the vw.

[garrardrj]

I can never understand how people can afford to buy new cars if they earn less than £50k pa . To lost £20k in 3 years equals losing about £130 a week .

I just look at it as another monthly outgoing. I could spend a fortune on a monthly train pass, or spend £300 a month on a loan, or finance. Swings and roundabouts.

Indeed .... I try to keep my monthly outgoings as low as possible ..... But everyones different 

[Deako]

I can never understand how people can afford to buy new cars if they earn less than £50k pa . To lost £20k in 3 years equals losing about £130 a week .

I just look at it as another monthly outgoing. I could spend a fortune on a monthly train pass, or spend £300 a month on a loan, or finance. Swings and roundabouts.

Indeed .... I try to keep my monthly outgoings as low as possible ..... But everyones different 

If people dont borrow and the banks dont lend, then the country grinds to a halt. When used wisely, finance is an incredible tool. 

[zerolag]

I can never understand how people can afford to buy new cars if they earn less than £50k pa . To lost £20k in 3 years equals losing about £130 a week .

I just look at it as another monthly outgoing. I could spend a fortune on a monthly train pass, or spend £300 a month on a loan, or finance. Swings and roundabouts.

Indeed .... I try to keep my monthly outgoings as low as possible ..... But everyones different  

You sound just like my brother, he earns a fair amount over 100k per annum, but won't pay out when it comes to cars (yet he loves them); I know it's sensible, plow all your money into bricks and mortar (he's 35)... but there has to be a point where you enjoy the fruits of your labor, who wants to be driving around in an Astra with a household income over 150k :(

[Snoopy]

I totally agree with you vw new prices are getting ridiculous, I've just got a 1 year old mk6 golf gti with 8000 miles on the clock for £20500 (white, 5 door, leather, nav,  sensors, shadows, winter and lux pack) this would have been just shy of £30000 new! Nice car but no way worth that kind of money new in my opinion.

Even if I could have waited for the mk7 gti ( i need a 5 door for family reasons now), that would be the best part of £30000 with a few options, way more than I'm prepared to pay for hot hatch.

I agree the price of them has gone stupid. I would not buy one again they are just too expensive. If I think of what I paid in 2009 compared to the price now its shocking.
I'm actually trying to talk a family member out of paying inflated new car prices as they want an Audi A1 I've said if it must be new have a look at the Suzuki swift sport as at least its more sensible money for what you get.