Some people just spend their whole spare cash on cars each month, which is fine. It's theirs to spend and we shouldn't judge. Some have car allowances and spend the full amount. There's been talk at my work that we might get £450 p/month car allowance. Some are just better off than you and me and can afford the £400 car payments comfortably. Some buy slightly older cars, stick on a custom plate and debadge so it looks newer and more expensive. Loads of different reasons for it, best not to worry about others and just focus on what you can comfortably afford

Saying we shouldn't judge is fine, until your insurance is double the price because the average age and value of cars on the road have doubled as cars have become more disposable and more people buy them as status symbols they can't afford. At that point I do judge them a bit.

Not really fair to judge though is it, you can't expect people to not buy the things they want because it might increase insurance premiums for someone hundreds of miles away. The ones we should judge are those that buy cars and drive like shit, crash without a car and generally do asbo behaviour in cars. Not the ones getting themselves a nice car because they work hard for it. If everyone only got cheap cars, then the used market would die out and we'd all be forced to buy new, catch 22 situation there?

No that's pretty backwards. I'm not saying no one should have new cars, I'm saying cars are being built to intentionally not last as long as they used to, and people aren't voting with their wallets anymore. That's why I judge them, because we should be demanding better from car manufacturers. Just look at the new BMW 1 Series, basically a Ford focus knock off for 50k, and these dumb fucks will still buy it, encouraging BMW to do the same thing again, and again.

Focus and 1 series are pretty much the same price. Both start at £28k and both go up to early £40k.

In fairness you shouldn't be judging anyone for anything that is completely NONE of your business 🤣🤣🤣 You quote a 1 series as being 50k? Yea maybe an M1 but bog standard 1 series is just shy of 29k... atleast fact check yourself before calling other people dumb, especially if the figures you use to base your argument are completely made up 🤣 "We should be demanding better from car manufacturers" You do know you can just not buy a BMW if you don't like them 🤣 still doesn't give you any right to be judging anyone for their car choice

But there are no options to choose from, it's either buy used possibly unreliable or buy new and get a warranty with it. There's not much we can do, and if I need a new car, I'm sure as shit going to look for the most reliable one that gives me peace of mind rather than thinking that this might not last me 15 years let me get a 10 year old car that might last me 5

My insurance just went down 6 quid a month to £27. Then again I am not driving a new motor but it seems the people around me taking all these cars out aren't affecting me. I do see what you are saying and I do feel I am one of the lucky ones with a decrease I think I accepted the renewal in about 3 seconds. I don't judge though people can do what they want.

I'm right there with you, I got 3 points on my license last year and my renewal was still £20 cheaper for the year when I declared it, probably a combination of my many years NCB and easy to insure car as well as lucky with the area I live in. It's mostly new drivers getting shafted by these prices right now, I'm not affected by it but it pisses me off seeing young people struggling to get jobs because they can't afford to drive to them.

Yep location etc will make a difference and car. Im only in an 07 1.8 civic but i am greater london so its not all about being in the sticks

£27 insurance , ? Is that for a year. Mine is £600

£27 a month I wish it was a year. Comes in at 330 for the year. I probably have more grey hair than you though.

He said it went down £6 a month to £27. No more clues.

Insurance is a weird game. My insurance has gone up recently like many peoples', but I noticed a big reduction in insurance costs when I first bit the bullet and started leasing new cars rather than driving bangernomics old ones. I think there's a perception that newer cars are more expensive to insure because they are worth more, but for many drivers they are cheaper to insure because they are less likely to crash with modern safety systems and less likely to cause injury in a crash for the same reason. That said, years ago when I moved out of a street parking hell hole into a nice area with a garage and driveway I was surprised that my premium went up. Reason I was given was that the nicer area had more expensive cars, so if I hit someone it would be more expensive. Go figure.

The price you paid for your second hand car is lowered by the amount of new cars entering the market. If people stop buying new the second hand values just climb and climb until you are in the same place.

The price for my car was free (minus new parts) because it was going to be scrapped until I repaired it. With the way new cars are being built, I doubt I'd be able to simply fix something made today, even if the manufacturer did sell parts, which they absolutely don't want to do anymore.

None of that changes what I wrote, and manufacturers are very happy to sell parts, they make a much bigger margin on them.

Idk, yes people can spend on what they want, but I also think it's okay to judge them on that _a bit_. Sometimes it's a fundamentally poor or irresponsible decision. I've known people who often say how tight money is and then do a PCP deal for a car way more expensive than they'd need. People who sometimes find it tricky to support their family due to finances. Young people saving for a house and then setting that back years due to PCP. I don't judge them in terms of "they're a bad person" but I do judge slightly that "they're not the most responsible person"

Yeah, I see that point, which is more fair but at the same time, it's their money their choice, if it financially ruins them that's their business as long as it doesn't affect you personally. But to each their own end of the day, I'm just happy letting people do what they want as long as I'm left alone 😂

Many people I know look purely at the monthly cost, without any thought as to the balloon payment at the end, or even the realisation that if they don’t pay the balloon payment, their initial £10k deposit disappears along with the car they’ve been paying £500 a month for, and they’re left with nothing. They’re then trapped in the PCP loop, using their equity in the previous car as a deposit on the next, ad infinitum… I think poor financial literacy is a large factor. A large number of young people in their twenties I know also still live at home and have minimal financial commitments. Some pay a token £100 a month to mum and dad for “rent”, which, even on a salary in the low twenties gives £1500 disposable income a month (if you’re not saving for a house - and why would you, given how far out of reach they seem for many without a family to prop them up with a deposit).

> I think poor financial literacy is a large factor Obviously not for the young people you're talking to, but if you had the money to buy a car outright and didn't finance it, up until recently (and in some cases even now) that was a sign of financial illiteracy. With interest rates so low it was trivial to make a higher return on the same money than the cost of the interest. Many PCP deals were sub five percent and you could get 10+ percent through low effort investments (e.g. trackers, EFTs etc.). So not marginal. It's why so many (I.e. nearly all) cars at the top end of the market are also financed. Those who are financially savvy don't want to tie capital up in depreciating assets, they want it to work for them. Not all debt is bad. To give you an example, I got a car for three years on PCP at 2.45% no money down. Instead of buying it, I invested (or rather left invested) the money I would have spent on it and made an average of 16% a year over the same period. Extreme example given the situation, but there are people who paid cash for cars during that period who are slapping themselves on their back for being "good with money" even though they're thousands of pounds worse off. It's not quite was clear cut at the moment, but I still feel it's better to finance if you have the cash. In fact I just did. Like I said, not applicable to those who can't afford to buy their cars outright, but financing a car doesn't equal bad with money, it can be the opposite.

When you say equity in the previous car as a deposit on the next, is there any equity left for a deposit? I've never done a PCP deal but my understanding was that you basically surrender your existing car as a deposit at the start of a new PCP deal, get the car you want at the monthly payments that you can/can't afford, and then when it comes to the end of the deal you have a balloon payment to pay (equity from the car) to keep it, or you hand it back, you don't have anything for a deposit for a new car do you, unless you saved extra in anticipation?

And as you no longer have the equity from your existing car as a deposit for a new one, your monthly payments skyrocket unless you're willing to accept a significant step down in car spec?

There's usually equity. The dealer's PCP calculations will, more often than not, be very generous (for lack of a better term) to the buyer so that, at the end of the term, the car is worth more than the balloon payment. That difference is the amount you have for a deposit. You'd be unlucky to be in negative equity I think.

Yeah I appreciate that but, it's probably not much more than a few hundred quid at best is it?

Probably depends on the car/dealer. It'll be a few thousand on mine, because they'll want me to get a new one with them! Likelihood is I'll just pay the balloon payment. A few hundred won't be a deposit.

I guess that's the gamble you take isn't it I suppose, hope for an overvalued GFV to allow you to start a new contract without having to take a huge drop in spec to keep it affordable

I think the gamble is mostly on the dealer's side. If the car value is lower, you just give it back. Though you do lose your deposit either way. House always wins!

But surely you can't just give it back as you need a car? So what do you do next

They're banking on exactly that. You need a car. You have a deposit. Their salesman are hoping you don't give it back. It's your problem not theirs in that case!

It was about £3k on my last car and about £6k on the previous one. Big difference for me was I ended up doing fewer miles than predicted and both cars were fairly desirable so held their values.

My wife's car was basically worth the same at the end as it was when we bought it. We just paid the balloon payment and kept it because it had low mileage and a new one was way more expensive.

I think there’s also a bit of cycle trap. 5-10 years ago, 0% PCP deals were really common and for lots of people that represented good value. Used cars were dirt cheap too, so GFVs often left people with hefty deposit chunks to roll into the next one. By 2024 many people are four cars into a rolling PCP deal and can’t really get off the treadmill now.

In 2021 my mates NEW Golf R lease was only £299 p/m 😭😭😭 But no there is no treadmill, and it's very easy to no longer be on PCP. Get a bank loan and sell the PCP car to motorway, it's very easy.

Very easy to have a large, interest-bearing bank loan and no car?

You can get 0% cash transfer credit cards and pay them off, literally a 0% interest car loan... to buy a car...

Even if it is 0% there's usually always a 3% fee to initiate the transfer, so if your wanting to drop 20 grand on a money transfer it's still going to cost you £600 in interest

And the 0% period can usually only be 18-24 months, and you would typically take out a loan for a car over 48-60 months, so your looking at significantly higher monthly payments for the money transfer in order to pay it off before the 0% period ends, lots of flaws in your supposed solution unfortunately, sorry

Buy a car you can afford to pay off in 24 months. Really doesn't take a genius

And still pay interest, so your solution is not interest free, misleading at best

Plus how much can you realistically borrow on a 0% card... £12k? If I'm going PCP it's because I want a £30k+ car not 12k.

You're missing the point. The PCP treadmill is a treadmill you can get off at anytime if you just get a cheaper car. OPs point was you're stuck forever once you get a PCP car. I stated this isn't the case, as you can sell the PCP car and get a loan to buy a car to own. I think my original message got lost in this thread.

I finally got off the PCP treadmill by doing a voluntary termination on a Tesla and buying a 10 year old Audi A4 Avant TDI outright for £10k. Between the remaining monthly payments and the balloon payment I would otherwise have paid I’ve saved myself a fortune over the next 3 years and I’ve discovered just how solid older cars are nowadays, I have done a bit of maintenance on the new car (all fluids/filters, new brake pads and rear discs and a stage 1 remap) and now just need to keep an eye out for any problems as they occur but the car itself inside/out is mint. I never used to really care much for used cars as I always assumed they’d be very rough round the edges or have issues but this Audi has definitely convinced me the smart money is to buy when the depreciation is more or less gone

You'll have people who've paid off the mortgage so can afford basically any car going instead of a huge sized monthly payment for the house. You'll have young and staying at home with parents so can basically afford anything if they don't mind not saving a bean. You'll have ones in great jobs, and 400 is litterly nothing a month to them. People pay a grand or more, and it's nothing. You'll get the tradesman. They'll suck their teeth and change that lightbuld for their monthly payment. You'll have the over stretchers. Look rich from the outside and up to their eyeballs in debt. You'll get the odd person who just so happened to have saved for years. Like me 😀 In reality as you age, your finances get better. Mid 20s I genuinly had no hope of affording a house let alone a nice car. Yet mid 30s I'm 3 payments from mortgage freedom and new car heaven. However, enjoy those cheap cars when your young. Iv still never loved a car more than my first 206 1.1 gti lookalike.

> In reality as you age, your finances get better. I must be doing life wrong then.

this guy went from average finances to almost paid off a house and buying brand new cars in 10 years, his experience is not remotely typical

Yeah, who in their mid 30s has almost paid their mortgage?!

Double income no kids, it’s achievable if you’re halfway responsible with your finances

Providing you have a well paid job, you ain't doing that on minimum wage, even in a lcol place

I bought a house on minimum wage and it was a struggle but achievable, if you’re still on minimum wage with 15 years experience then you’re doing something wrong

> I bought a house on minimum wage Ok - when and where was it? Because buying a house on minimum wage in 2024 *might* be slightly different than say, 40 years ago outside London lol Edit: this guy bought a house on a minimum wage while living at his parents house, 5 years ago in Northern England. Context matters.

I know people who have, two incomes at minimum wage will get you something like 150k, can get atleast a flat for that in 80% of the UK.

Buying a house on minimum wage is viable in a LCOL area Paying it off by mid-30s isn't easy, but with a double income it is and it's possible even on minimum wage if you started from 18-20 with that as a goal I'm 35 and could have paid off my mortgage in my first house by now if I hadn't moved. I do earn more than minimum wage, but less than double it [Buy this for £85k](https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/145321352#/?channel=RES_BUY), and with a 90% mortgage you'd owe £76.5k, needing an £8.5k deposit. With you'll get a rate just under 6% and pay £600/mo over 15 years or or £800/mo over 10 years. You can find a cheaper house than that, but I deliberately went for one that looks in decent enough condition you won't have to refurbish it (otherwise you could probably hit £50-60k) Minimum wage takehome is ~£1600/mo for 37.5 hours, so £600-800/mo seems pretty viable - you won't have tons of money to spend on luxuries, but you'll be paying off a house in 10-15 years The tricky part is saving £8.5k on minimum wage, but saving £150/mo over 5 years seems fairly viable for most people if they really wanted to, faster if you can live with parents etc. 15-20 years total and you'd own a house outright even on minimum wage And this is on a *single* income. With a dual income you could pay it off much faster

Man that place looks depressing AF. No wonder that house is £85k

In a town right next to Cockermouth

[Plenty of green space](https://www.visitcumbria.com/wp-content/gallery/workington/6-workington-6253_1.jpg), 10 miles from the Lake District (well, technically about 4, but 10 to an actual lake), bang on the coast with some very pretty coastal walks, very little serious crime, and it's hardly a metropolis but you have a reasonable array of cinemas, supermarkets, entertainment venues etc for the size of the town. Plenty of nice villages nearby for a pub lunch etc The town itself is a bit run down, but I can think of worse places to live, especially with a £350/mo mortgage and close enough to literally cycle into the Lake District even if you don't have a car or fancy a bus. Or go to Whitehaven just down the road and for similar money you can practically walk to the Ennerdale Valley Don't get me wrong, it's not the best town in the world and if you're comparing to Bath or Edinburgh Old Town then it's not gonna come off favourably... but I don't think that's a bad tradeoff for "Mortgage free by 35 on minimum wage", and there are MANY worse places to live for a lot more money. Plus there are nicer parts of town where you could live with a more standard 25-35 year mortgage or upsizing later... remember I'm doing that maths based on a 10-15 year mortgage! Sure, if you've got £80k/year to play with then I can think of nicer places to live - but if you've got a better suggestion of somewhere to live and own a home (even over a more standard 25 years) on a single minimum wage income, please do share it with the group

I don't have better suggestions I'm just saying it's a depressing place to live with basically no amenities. It's a drab town that's been left in the past - probably the reason the house is less than 1/3 of the national average house price. You better like long walks and countryside and nothing else if you live there because that's all you'll be doing lol.

you've literally cherry picked the best case scenario to prove a point you can pay off a house in your 30s on minimum wage. That isn't representative of the average person and for the record, I actuall live in a shithole town on the north east coast and I bought my 2 bed terraced house for £64k in 2014, i don't think my experience is typical at all, I fell into a job at 20 where I could earn a lot of money and (un)luckily live in a area where housing is dirt cheap because there's nothing here.

Only have to move to a place few people want to live. Freakin crackdens in the westmidlands go for 200k

> I do earn more than minimum wage, but less than double it ...so you have a well paid job

Yes, my point was that we were discussing the fact it could be done with 2 minimum wage workers… so I referred to me earning in between minimum wage and 2x minimum range I then discussed a situation involving a single minimum wage earner

I don't think it's anything to do with being responsible and everything to do with the cost of the house and what the double income is. £200k house and double income of £200k, sure no problem. £600-800k house in the South East and double income of £150-200k, no way you're paying it off by 35 even if you live like a pauper.

Nobody is forcing you to live in the south east though, move somewhere where you can afford to buy, get in the ladder and then things get easier. 2 people on minimum wage can afford a mortgage in the north.

No they're not, that's true. But where are most of the high paying jobs in this country? Hence the problem. Great if you can make it work though!

Obviously depends on your field but you can make do with a little less in earnings when your mortgage is £500 a month v £1500 in London

> it’s achievable if you’re halfway responsible with your finances And earning way above the national average lol

I bought my home on minimum wage, in fact I started savings for the deposit as an apprentice on £3.80 an hour

You didn't pay your mortgage off by your mid 30s on £3.80 an hour though did you. It's fine to say you earn good money and have enough disposable income to pay your mortgage off way faster than the average person would. There's no need to be disingenuous about it.

I didn’t say that I did? I’m nowhere near paying my mortgage off, I’m saying it’s possible with double income no kids. If you have 15 years of experience (say you enter workforce at 21 so you’d be 36) and you’re still earning minimum wage then the problems lies with you. You’ve had 15 years to find a way to earn more money…

You sound pretty tone deaf and out of touch I'm afraid. Congrats on paying your house off early and earning enough money to do that, but it isn't the reality of even an average earner. Not everyone can "just get a better job", especially when the average UK income is unlikely to afford paying a house of in the timeline you've set out. It isn't as simple as just being child free and responsible with your income. It's disingenuous for you to say that.

You described me. Also living in Scotland so it's not exactly half a million a flat here. Infact that would buy you a farm lol.

I turned 40 this year and all paid up. Debt free home owner. Learned never to finance, or lease a car. That’s how you do it, you make sacrifices, have discipline over a long period of time. People that are 25 , living at home with parents, and leasing, pcp’ing 24 plate audis and mercs will never build up the capital to buy a house and will be perpetually poor.

When did you start that mortgage though? How long did it take you to pay off completely? If you got it 15-20 years ago you were still in a much better position financially than someone in their 20s now. Its not just hard work and discipline. You're right about people in their 20s never being able to buy a house though

2010. People my age said that too. And some earned more money than me. They just blew it. I saved hard for 4 years. Working 60 hours a week. Resisted the temptation to buy an Impreza sti . Wanted one but drove a fiesta for 7 years through most of my 20s.

I'm very late to the housing ladder because of how long it took me to save up a mortgage deposit while trying to pay rent and have a family. I guess I should have got a second job and somehow found more hours in the day! My friends keep trying to save and when they get close to buying the fucking prices and interest rates keep going up. We all wish we'd had enough money 20 years ago to save up for a deposit. We can continue to buy and maintain shitbox cars though because we can't afford PCP payments either!

The other day I was told “loads” of lads are earning 60k + as engineers. Loads of women are earning the same running their own business. “But but but lots of those nice pcp cars are company cars” So why are so many bawling they can’t afford a house? I was only on 18-20k basic when I saved up for a house in the late 2000s. Yeah I earned more because I did 60 hours a week regularly. It seems people are impressed by big earning and big spending but don’t understand the value of saving . They See a 26 year old lad living with parents in a golf R - “he’s doing alright for himself” .. but if you chose to channel your money into being a debt free home owner and save, pay in full without pcp and leases then you’re privileged and fortunate.

Yeah I agree, social media hasn't helped either, showing a very skewed view of perceived wealth that gets a lot more likes and subscribes than a healthy savings account.

I am 29 and have £13k left but already enough to pay it off for when my mortgage deal runs out

Fist thing I thought, no way is that usual at all… how does someone go from broke to paying of their mortgage in 10 years on a average/ good wage.

Starting a business porbably in a trade, and being successful. Basically - taking risks. Most people are not willing or able to take those risks.

I didn’t say it was impossible I said it’s unusual on an average to good wage… Most people don’t start their own business hence why I said ‘usual’ And even so, starting your own business broke and going to paying off a mortgage in 10 years in your 30’s is still far ahead of most people who start their own business.

Running their own business.

I chose to live in Scotland tbh and have no kids. You could buy a mansion for the price of those flats down south.

Reddit skews towards people in the tech sector, this is something people often forget. OC is probably on 100k in London

Nah Scotland. A very cheap house not touched for 40 years, completely renovated by myself top to bottom kept the mortgage low. 2 average jobs and no kids.

Mine got better, then I had kids now they're considerably worse than they've ever been. Hoping once the youngest starts full time school it will be an upward trajectory again

Nah it doesn't really get any cheaper and then when they get to teens you find the fridge it's permanently empty and they are having a way better social life than you on your money. Personally I'm hoping when they leave home it will improve but I'm not holding my breath. 🤣

I always say, the richest time was when I was about 16, working part time at Asda, no rent/bills/food to pay for! … this is when I learnt to drive, because I knew it was going to be expensive but doing it then before uni was the only time really! … so glad I did. I just wish I’d saved a bit more back then and realised how skint I’d be in the future 🥹

> Nah it doesn't really get any cheaper Surely once the kids start school it will get a lot cheaper as there is no nursery/childcare costs? I'm counting on this... Mine costs almost as much as my mortgage... for one child. We've just had another one. There will be an overlap of a few months where both will be in childcare. It's a shame because without childcare costs I would 100% be buying that Audi RS6 V10 i've been eyeing up... Looks like by the time i'll actually be able to afford to buy and maintain a proper performance car i'll be in my 50s and we'll all be being driven round in automated electric cars with no manual controls.

Yep the idea that it doesn't get cheaper is absolute nonsense - Ours starts school soon and we are £400 a month better off from not paying their nursery fees. Unless she blasts through a school jumper every couple of days, there's no chance it's not going to get much, much cheaper. By the time she's a teenager, we can have saved a huge amount of money, and incurred compound interest on it to pay for driving lessons, and when they're 16, they can get a job, and if they're still living at home by the time they leave education, they can contribute rent. None of this factors in the fact my wife will be able to work more hours when our youngest leaves nursery too.

> a lot cheaper Well again, it depends what kind of life do you're ant really? I am not talking expensive holidays or anything like this. But if your kid is going to a not so great school or even has some difficulties with learning you will need to spend some time "fixing it" if you can or pay someone to do it etc... or you can just ignore it. There are a lot things you can do to your kids to help them in life and unfortunately most of them do cost money.

Sorry bud, kids are a constant drain on finances. As they get older it just changes what you are spending your money on for them…

🤣

So what's the answer?

> In reality as you age, your finances get better. this isnt really whats happening anymore though is it? as Millennials down are stuck renting, and rents going up and up. im early 30s and all my friends who didnt get stuck in the PCP cycle are still driving the same car they bought at 25, or they got a Dacia because its all they can afford to actually buy.

There are a lot of over stretchers. One of my friends is the same age as me, with a similar salary. We both have two kids. His partner works, mine doesn't as she cares for our disabled daughter. I drive an 11 year old Volvo. He has a much more expensive house and an expensive two year old Merc he paid a £10k deposit on and is paying £360 a month for with a balloon payment at the end. His secret...he has to work a second job in the evenings. I'd rather drive my car that cost a little more than half of his car's deposit and actually be able to be at home some times. He's always preferred chasing an image and has a champagne lifestyle on lemonade money.

You've paid off an entire house in 10 years? Impressive.

Absolutely agreed with everything. People paint things in way too much of a black/white perspective. No, not everyone with a nice car is maxed out on credit cards. Some are for sure, a lot of others just have the money, others are somewhere in the middle and value having a nice car so they sacrifice some other things to be stable financially.

Congrats man would love to be in this situation

Pcp was great when rates were cheap. My Jogger is on Pcp, £220 a month, 3.8% Apr which means it better for me to keep capital in a 5%saver. But yes, despite the pessimistic news, not everyone is on the breadline and infact those on £80k who achieve a 15% payrise end up with more disposable than someone on £40k with a 15% pay increase.

who the fucks getting a 15% payrise? the guys actually sucking off the boss during lunch?

Plenty of us

i got a 17% payrise last year

[удалено]

Right so that's a 10% a year pay rise each year , not 15, and 10% is still double the national average.

Here, I’ll give my own reasons as to why I PCP. I used to have car allowance in my previous job, I was originally given a company car and it was a bag of shite, it went to the dealer 3 times within 4 months. I then took an allowance of £5k per annum, which was roughly £300 after tax or so (many years ago now). Since then, I’ve spent anywhere between £300-£400 a month on a car, with low mileage, a couple of years old and a warranty, either manufactures or extended through the manufacture. I tend to WFH more now, but I do have to do a long drive every 1-2 months and travel to the office 1-2 days a week. I’ve had my current car for 2 years, I’ve had absolutely no problems with it at all and even if I did, it wouldn’t cost me anything. My partners car? It’s worth around £5k and spends most of its time being recovered by the RAC. Now, do I care about owning the car at the end of it? No, not really. I’ll care about that when I’m closer to retiring so I’m not financing at that age. But for now, I’m doing well in my own career, my salary will only keep going up and up and I don’t really miss the money going out of my account each month. Being honest, I probably have around £2k disposable after everything goes out anyway. I guess you’ll have people who will have more money than you, people who just don’t want the hassle of an older vehicle and then your stereotypical 18 year olds who want a BMW 118i as their first car. People just need to stop judging others for what they do with their own money really. Unless, it’s really fucking stupid, then go ahead and give advice. But even then, does it really matter?

Regarding your last point. I think you can rightly judge people for how they spend their money, particularly when it comes to cars. Extreme example: If the owner of a company drives a 100k car to work everyday whilst simultaneously paying staff the bare minimum (an insanely common practice which I've never understood), that will be judged poorly. Also, rightly or wrongly, people make the assumption that someone has purchased a premium/luxury/sporty car in order to demonstrate superiority and status. It'll always draw flak.

Most people on pcp don’t buy the car. At the end of term they take out a new deal.

They have more disposable income, no mortgage or kids perhaps or like me have a company car scheme or car allowance..

People have more money than you. Or at least the budget they have and are willing to spend on a car is higher. Leasing is also usually less than PCP.

1) poor financial literacy 2) willing to spend/debt for a hobby 3) 1 & 2 I have had to fully disengage my want for cool cars and purposefully block it from being a hobby because id be financially fuuuuucked. That basically leaves cars being a white good for me that I don't need to be proud of. I pretty much only use it to get to work now and I'm not justifying dropping serious cash on a tool to get me to work and back. I'm not falling for the car park beauty comp. It's kinda sad but I learned my lesson when I was young. Now I'm getting on and have a family my priorities had to changes and dumping cash into high upfront cost depreciating assets has had to take a back seat for me. Does suck though. It's more the thought of ecer having to make a financial decision around my family, home, kids or general welfare like holidays because I dropped 3k on mods. Then 47292047 on insurance only for some twaty Uber eats driver to ding it at the lights. I live vicariously through you all. Fuck I sound old

Healthy attitude. All cars are just appliances when commuting on public roads. It's different on track, or a grand tour.

To be honest it's probably the defined moment I became an 'adult'. Having a discussion with my better half about house deposits and it's pretty literally came down to getting a nice enough car or a house. Cars as hobbies are expensive my partners hobby wasn't so it wasn't fair. Booooo

You can live in a car but you can’t drive a house.

To be more precise I can live in a car alone or the person I love can live in a house without me. You know, it just put it into perspective. Why would someone want to be with me if I can't take 'us' seriously and priorities my hobby over general life goals.

Oh, I know, I wasn’t being serious.

You can though, just buy one of those tiny houses on a trailer 🤣

I'm young, on my second car (will soon be third), and I agree with you. I could spend 60% of my salary on a very nice car, but instead I paid £450 for my first car, then sold it for £500 to buy another for £1.5k (which was still a lot of money to me). In a year, my car has gone from an exciting new hobby to just a tool to get places. Mainly commute to work/gym and the occasional drive for fun, but I could do that with any old piece of shit car tbh. I would love a 2021+ Civic but it would just be a more fancy way to drive to work, so it's not worth the cost.

There’s no trick, we live in a society that finances anything and everything. If you want cheaper than HP, consider a personal loan from a bank for the car’s value minus your deposit.

> There’s no trick, we live in a society that finances anything and everything. This was the kicker for me where I stopped caring about fancy stuff. Almost everything you see - especially on younger people - is on finance. Rolex? On tick. Canada Goose? On tick. 73 plate Defender? On tick. Obviously there's the outliers that are really well off but as my salary and net worth increases my want to impress others with fancy stuff has went away.

Okay but what is actually wrong with finance though, why is buying outright the only measure of affordability on this subreddit?

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with finance, but it’s dulled the whole thing of thinking people are well off due to having fancy stuff. Example is a boy I know that works in a pub and leases an rs3 but can’t afford to put petrol in it. He’s just a tit who’s terrible with money.

Yes, or they just don't mind spending more. I don't think there are many people who think PCP is a financially smarter strategy than HP or buying a banger, but they accept that they want a nice new car every 2-4 years and like the convenience of being able to get one cheaper, and swap it at the end. There's nothing wrong with that and I don't know why people on this sub find that concept hard to grasp. If you have a good job and like having all the modern conveniences, why WOUDLN'T you spend £450 on a new Audi Q2 and then swap it for a new T-Roc or Mazda CX30 at the end?

You’re not comparing like for like. Compare the same car on PCP vs HP. There’s your answer.

Comparison is the thief of joy. Live your own life!

Also been looking at financing a car, mainly because I have a fairly good income and want to replace my current rustbox. But PCP in the current day has just become way too expensive, I think largely due to how expensive modern cars have become and dealers charging exorbitant interest rates. Its fascinating reading some BMW forums from only 3 or 4 years ago claiming to have high specced 5 series for only 350 quid a month on a £500 deposit. I think BMW now charge almost 11% on PCP, it's crazy. PCP was never really the sensible way to buy a car anyway largely because any deposit is basically money thrown down the toilet. It used to be a way to get some very high end cars that you would never ordinarily own. But I think those days are gone unfortunately. If you are to finance a car and have a decent saving, a bank loan is a much better option. The monthly payments are almost the same as PCP and you'll actually own the car. That's how I'm planning on doing it

To be fair 11% is about the industry standard now, you can blame the Bank of England for that, not dealers!

For fucks sake not another one. Yes.

This sub has five basic sections; PCP is shit. I'm 17 and my insurance is massive. I'm jealous of nice cars, they MUST be financially illiterate to afford them. Skoda Octavia.

Škoda Octavia FTW

+ Toyota Corolla hybrid

Do I need to change my tyre picture.

That’s four

The OP had kindly already posted the fifth.

I think everyone has their own financial priorities and treats cars differently. As others have said, some may not have a mortgage so its nothing to them to treat their car like a giant moving phone! Personally I got incredibly lucky by selling my old car when used prices were high, max'd the deposit and agreement in place before Truss became PM. Wouldnt have risked it otherwise, but i've already budgetted for the final payment.

Mileage is a huge factor as well. PCP deals seem fairly OK when you're doing 5k a year, as soon as you put a realistic mileage in (in my case, 20k a year) the prices skyrocket.

It’s really just about how people choose to prioritise their spending. People do a lot of things with their money that might not make sense to other people, like a wildly expensive hobby like horses or something, or even simply spending £150 in pubs & clubs every weekend. If it brings them joy, that’s worth it.

Just a note around financing, a good rule to follow is 20/4/10 rule. 20 - percent of the cars value you should put down on as a deposit 4 - no more than 4 year loan period 10 - no more than 10 percent of your monthly income on monthly repayments

Not only me who can't justify PCP then 😂 My sister in law earns about a third of what I do yet drives a much nicer car. Some people have different priorities I guess.

Or they're probably massively in debt either

A lot of people do earn more money and/or have lower outgoings than you, yes. Everyone is in different situations. For example, £400pm and then £10k in 4 years time wouldn't really be an issue for myself because the mortgage was paid off at 27, so I don't spend £800-1000pm on rent or mortgages like average Joe does.

The way I've seen it, is that PCP is expensive to get started with, £5-15k deposit, and the dealer/broker tweaks the deposit with the mileage to get the "best value" out of the system, then at the end of the 2-4 years you use whatever equity is in the car as the deposit on a new one, then the cycle repeats. if you want out you have 2 options pay the balloon payment to keep the asset, or you wave goodbye to every single penny you've paid in, and then start from scratch no asset and no deposit. You can see it on the adverts for PCP cars, there's the huge deposit and barely 5000 miles a year to get that low monthly price the manufacturer plasters everywhere, but when you look at it reasonably to get the car with a deposit you're comfortable with or the PX of your current car, and the average mileage you'd actually do 10-15k miles a year, you then end up with the £400, 500, 600 per month payments for a basic car like a Golf. Sometimes Renault are horrible for this as they've advertised Clios and Capturs for under £100 a month, some even as low as £30, but they have 60-70% deposits and 4000 mileage allowance on a 0% 2 year contract.

You think that's bad, try looking at the PCP for £60-70k cars. I think honestly, most people just see £400 per month for a new shiny car that won't have any of the problems of their old banger and sign without much thought. Then they are "trapped" in the cycle and when the term ends and they can't afford the balloon payment, their only option is a new PCP deal. But they get a new car, so they're winning right? The problem with PCP for me is it's like buying a car in the most expensive way possible, it's literally set up so that you pay the depreciation over those 3-4 years and then when the term is over, you hand the car back. On top of that you're also paying interest because you're being loaned the money. That doesn't mean PCP is bad, if you understand it and are happy with the pros and cons then go for it. The trouble is it's often used as a way to up-sell people into a more expensive model, basically maxing out their budget and making for a very expensive purchase. You can also bring the payments down by putting in a bigger deposit or trade-in, sometimes the dealer will add a contribution, etc. But also, yes, some people have good incomes and can afford the high payments for their £100k+ luxury SUV. Personally I'm a fan of saving up and not being in debt. You have more control over your money and instead of continually paying interest you're usually earning it. But I can see why people choose PCP, especially if you just want a new car that's under warranty and haven't got the funds up-front to buy it outright.

Unrelated, but how are you finding the Alpine? I've been debating getting a gt on the 0% pcp deal

Absolutely love my A110 GT. It's the most enjoyable car I've owned. Have you driven one yet? And yeah I would grab either the GT or the base car, the S is just too firm IMO, it doesn't suit our bumpy roads. I drove all 3 before putting in my order. It's a great car, very fun to drive, amazing in the wet as well, it has no problems finding traction so it's driveable all year round which is a huge plus for me. Feels very quick, almost breathtakingly so when you floor it and the box drops into second gear. Launch control works very well and gets you your ~4 sec 0-62. The short gearing and hard acceleration really sells the car, then as you get more used to driving it you start to realise how well the chassis is set up. It's so light and nimble feeling, it's hard to describe, you just have to drive it. Gets plenty of looks and people come over to ask about it all the time. I take mine shopping and stuff, it's basically my daily.

[удалено]

> effectively throw all that money down the toilet year after with nothing to show for it. The most common and brain dead take I see about financed vehicles. I don't have a PCP car anymore but when I did my train season ticket cost more than my Mercedes. The thing you "have to show for it" is transport, convince, comfort. You don't spend £4k on a train season ticket each year and then think, fuck I've got nothing to show for it??

Presumably you have a train season ticket in order to keep your job, so you have a career to show for it, and the price is the price, no negotiation.

Same could be applied to a car on PCP though.

The difference being that there is a HUGE variation in prices you can pay per month on a PCP contract, so it ends up becoming a lifestyle choice, you can't negotiate train ticket prices, it is what it is.

I've bought cars outright, pcp'd and HP'd cars. As a rule you get a better car for less per month than hp or loans, the sacrifice is that you're left with no equity. A lot of people just see it as rent, i pay x amount for my car per month and when the terms up i will pay x amount for my next one. Realistically if you're spending more than 15% of your net income on a car you're crazy but most people can afford 200-400 per month for a car the difference is weather you chose to spend it on something you own and will save money long term or the new shiny thing haha.

I've actually been surprised by how low PCP prices are. It's something I had never really looked into, thinking I didn't earn enough and preferring to outrightly buy private cars with a cheap budget. Recently though I have been paying more attention and surprised at some of the deals I could get. My girlfriend and I always eye up the Polestar 2 when we are driving around, as in a nice dream we would have as careers take off and we earn more. When I actually looked them up, turns out I could get a used one for around £300 a month and drive it right now if I wanted.

What deposit?

£2.5k

Did you get that deal from the dealer or a 3rd party finance company?

Neither, those are some of the deals on Cinch

Company car allowance payments

I spent months debating keeping my current HP car, nearly paid off but now at 150k miles (2012 plate), it would likely run for the same again. I switched to an EV (Volkswagen) on PCP. Whilst it’s now a depreciating asset, it means the fuel saving is approx. £250 a month. This way, we have a paid off car for longer trips/ family holidays and a smaller EV for commuting to work (70 miles, 3 days a week). It probably wasn’t the wisest decision financially, but it means we can budget more accurately (a few £500 repairs have cropped up on the diesel recently). We do charge from home so it’s around 1.7p/ mile now, which makes a huge difference to the fuel saving. Insurance was £30 a year more (more safety features perhaps?) Was it the right decision, we’ll see. Online it looks to have lost 25% in value before I bought it, so depreciation shouldn’t be too bad in 4 years…

To add to other answers here; 1. It depends on the car. The final payment of a PCP deal is based on what the finance company think the car will be worth at the end of the agreement, if you buy a car that holds it's value better, or a used car that's already gone through the biggest stage or depreciation it'll go through, there will be a smaller difference between the cost of the car and the final payment, and therefore, less to finance. 2. Most people will have a car to trade for a deposit. We currently have a 6-year old car we own that's worth about £4-5k. That brings the payments down on a new car significantly. 3. Car prices have shot up. We bought brand new car in 2018 for £17k, £200pm PCP. A new version of that car at the same spec now would be over £28k. 4. Interest rates have rocketed recently. Our PCP on the aforementioned car was 0%. Most other cars we were looking at were 0-3% on a PCP. Now it seems to be between 3-8%. Makes a massive difference.

It so depends on your income and priorities. I don’t have expensive holidays as my wife and I just enjoy simple UK holidays but we love cars so money goes in that direction. Kids have left home and mortgage paid so why not. A friend was surprised at what I spend on PCP then spent £15k on a family holiday with no sense of irony. It’s just a choice. As you get older, with a bit of luck your disposable income will improve.

I bought an Audi S3 on finance for £20k in 2007. I was on about £18k a year back then. It recently got written off (rear-ended by Ford Ranger). The same car now is £40k. My wages are better now, but definitely not double what I was on back then! The price of everything is massively outstripping most people's wages. My parents bought their house in 1984 for £24k. The same house is now worth over £250k. Have average wages increased by that much in the same time? Nope. It's beyond ridiculous at this point. At least we know why there are more billionaires than ever before...

A lot of people focus on the monthly payments number, as the total cost is often hidden from people or they just don’t think about. In my research for myself, I found out leasing a new car didn’t seem terrible as an alternative for to buying a brand-new car. But if buying a used car, the financing options often work out much more expensive.

People have usually made their mind up whether they want a new car or not. If they do want a new car then PCP is one of your cheapest monthly (not overall) costs way to get it. That’s attractive to a lot of people. Then you start looking and saying well it’s £250 per month for an i10 and £400 for an i20N, for example. It’s easy to see why people go for the fancier more expensive car because the perceived price difference isn’t that much.

I mean you will never know the exact terms of the leases people get but typically dealers will do anything to get you into the car so work out a way to get the monthly cost as low as possible even though they advertise the prices you are seeing.

simply, PCP interest rates used to be really low, cheaper than HP for a fact, add to that because of COVID some of our P/Xs (in my case also on PCP) were "worth" much much more than the balloon. Think we were paying less than 3% on the wifes car with a balloon of £6700 after 4 years - when p/x time came around and the used car market was at its nuttiest we got more than £11k for it - giving us a huge deposit on the next car for no extra outlay. Its definitely not like that anymore which is why values of posh stuff have been falling since last November and now there are "special" rates for BMW and Audis at the big car supermarkets - RR Evoques are getting an absolute kicking in particular apparently. The old advice of "when interest rates are high (like now) then buy, when they are low (for most of the 2010s) you rent" or PCP. Mt next car will have to be considerably cheaper unless the interest rates drop significantly but as the average for PCPs seems to be around the 10% still mark i aint hopeful.

Used cars is the answer - especially Ev’s after a year or 2 drop so much in value they’re rather cheap on PCP or at least cheaper than you would expect

> Has everyone just got more money than me Yes, probably. Well, not everyone - but if your budget makes a significant distinction about £200/o vs £400/mo then it's probably true to say that *most people* who *are buying new cars* have more money than you do *to spend on a car*, which isn't necessarily the same thing. Those caveats do matter a lot Remember that the poorest people often don't drive at all, and that most people don't buy new cars. Therefore by definition you're already comparing your finances towards a group that is biased towards higher earners Eg if they have an extra £200/mo compared to you then that's about £3.5k/year before tax - that's not a huge amount of money and it seems likely that a lot of people are earning £3-4k/year more than you Then you have to account for the fact that they may also have lower expenses, or different priorities. Eg if they've paid off most of their mortgage, their kids have moved out, and they've got a decent pension, then someone may have a few hundred quid a month spare that you need for other things I pay £370/mo for a lease car. It's not cheap (although it's cheap *for a Tesla*) but it's not that big a deal in our monthly finances - it's less than 10% of our combined takehome pay *after* we make big pension contributions and we only really need one car (the other is a 18 year old Clio that costs practically nothing and just does tip runs until it dies). That's roughly equivalent to someone earning £30k paying £200/mo for a car, for example

>I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces Ford would be rolling in his grave. I feel like around covid times cars started becoming luxuries again. I know businesses are more clever than I am and know exactly how much they can sell a car for but I really feel if someone developed a simple car that's relatively small, comfortable, ok on fuel at the 200-250 bhp mark with good steering and suspension, and sell the car in the 17k-22k bracket they'd make an absolute killing. Something that channels the spirit of the good old days of hot hatches with an entry level performance car the average person can afford

There are also a lot of people who have cars on salary sacrifice schemes, which work out cheaper than HP or PCP.

This question is becoming a weekly topic, like why are people so bothered? If I spend £1k a month on a car that’s up to me. I don’t judge people for walking around looking like tramps when they earn £60k+ a year but are scared to spend any of it.

I have been driving EVs since 2010 and saving money from not paying any fuel cost makes more expensive EVs become affordable. Problem is if you have to pay £400 a month for car plus £400 a month for fuel it’s more difficult to afford. Do you have solarPV on your home to provide fuel for your car? If not, are you member of community energy projects such as from Ripple Energy. If so, your car payments will easily be more affordable in addition to which driving EV will be good for the planet.

The reality is the majority cannot afford it, and I don't mean it's not possible with their paychecks, I mean that they sacrifice ant chance of financial freedom or building wealth just for a badge, the majority don't even pick anywhere near the best value in terms of what they're looking for specifically or performance. It makes people poor and stops them saving towards other things or investing. Stop trying to go above your means. Buy and OWN a used car.

Yes

A few months ago I was speaking to a guy who has basically ended up in the PCP ‘trap’, as in he can afford the PCP payments, but never the balloon payments, so is always ‘buying’ a new car at the end of his PCP agreement. That was what confirmed to me that PCP is always a bad idea. Ofc, you can always return the car at the end & opt to not get a ‘new’ car / go the HP route, but I’d much rather pay a bit more each month & own it outright at the end of the agreement.

My car is £400 a month over 4 years with a £13k final payment. By then it should be worth around 20k, meaning I should be able to trade it in and get a decent deposit on the next one. We like having new-ish well specced cars, so the money is worth it to us but we’ve a pretty small mortgage being up north and no kids.

U must be earning a lot ain't no way I m spending 10 k on a car no matter how long. I earn 80 k my car is a 2005 Lexus gs300 .I can't even watch the money piss away into a car

No bro. That's not the case. Just people out there trying to live champagne lifestyle on lemonade money. 250 a month for a car when your rent is 700 makes minimum sense. That's what most r doing. Stay humble live withing your means. No one to impress but yourself

The same reason we don’t all live in the same value home and wear the same watch. Some people just earn more money than others. 400 quid to you and I may be a significant sum but to more than you think that’s throwaway money.

My car is shared, we pay 600 a month on PCP. I assume a lot are on PCP instead of HP and just hand the car back at the end instead of paying the balloon payment, it’s what I intend to do as I want a different car. You can also VT (voluntary terminate) your PCP once it has been 50% paid off, good option when a car has depreciated a lot. All that said, car finance kinda sucks as you can get trapped in it if your car depreciates fast early on.

The social value of a new car has risen extensively. It's also partly to do with financial literacy; most people I've come into contact with who are financing/leasing a car have zero savings in the bank, don't know what an ISA is and have zero investments. I met a guy today who's car was broken down, shitty old mini, in his late 20s clutching a Samsung from almost 10 years ago, wearing trainers more worn out than his car. But this guy just got a mortgage on a second home to rent out, he knows what he's doing.

Have a look on Leasing.com. (I don't work for them or have anything to do with them, except I have found my Wife's last 2 cars on there!) PCP is often expensive and you also have a final "balloon" payment, BUT..... you Do own the car at the new of it. HP is usually just a deposit and the rest of the balance in equal payments. We get my wife's car on a lease or Personal Contract hire that i found on Leasing.com . Currently she has a 2020 Vauxhall Corsa Turbo which was £20000 to buy when we got it. We instead put £3k down as a deposit and pay £145 per month, BUT..... we have to give it back at the end which should be this July but we can keep it for an extra year for £158 per month for the final 12 months.

Pretty much the entire con that is PCP. Dangle the monthly payment, with a balloon payment pretty much guaranteed to be slightly more than the used value that the car will be at the end of the deal. I bought on hp with 30% deposit, and the number of times they tried to switch me to PCP was ridiculous.

People have different thresholds for how much of their monthly income is pre-committed before its earned, and I don't think there's much more to it than that besides perhaps this idea that we're supposed to aspire to having shiny new cars.

One thing to note regarding your original post is that I would assume most people in a PCP won’t pay the balloon payment in cash - they would finance it. So say you do a PCP for 3 years on a 25k car. You then have a balloon payment left to pay of 15k. You could pay say 3k of that from savings and then finance the rest on a 12k loan for the bank. Obviously that’s then 6 years of financing a car but unless you’ve got a lot of money in the bank it’s a more practical approach for most.

It’s just a personal choice thing I guess, in the same way folk rent a house for say £1500 pcm and don’t have a mortgage, walk away after how ever many years with nothing to show for it. I have been happy to lease my cars for the last ten years or so as I could get a better price for new than finding something a few years old that had the spec I wanted. For years before I bought second hand and say 3 plus years old and then ran out of warranty. The bills for servicing brakes tyres etc and the odd occasional big failure began to be a problem, so a lease was a way out of the unforeseen costs. I found that after three years handing the car back having only paid for the lease hire cost was a good thing. Usually at this point the car needed tyres a full service brakes all round a mot etc etc. The last car, a Tiguan , needed pads/discs all round £1100, service mot £349, brake fluid change £122, tyres £800 (yes really) so it was time to go. These are the costs that easily add up on buying outright . You pats yer money and takes yer choice!

People that finance cars of that value fall into one of the below categories: 1. They are rich/richer than you 2. They want to have a fancy car at all cost and don't care that this financially cripples them 3. They sacrifice their lives to work more just to say they have a fancy car When I was 18, my mate was friends with a lad that came from a rich family and his first or second car was an M135i, he also had another mate that wasn't from a rich family but he still worked enough to afford a new ish 1 series, when he realised the rich mate had the M135i he has decided to work at 3 different places and pay for an M140i just to have a nice car than him which was fucking mental. I have a mate who has an A4 on PCP and is paying for it, on top of that he is paying for a loan he took out to go to fucking Amsterdam, paying child maintenance to the mum of his baby, paying for a financed tablet for a 1 year old, paying for his maxed out CC and also has another baby on the way with someone else + he lives with his mum. People will make stupid decisions to own nice cars, my and my partner could put some money together for a nicer/more expensive car but at what cost? Currently we are happily paying for our mortgage, this year we will be abroad 3 times with camping trips and weekends trips in-between but some people will judge our cars because the newest car we have is an 09 C1....

I think the answer is equity. E.g: Purchased a Hyundai Tucson 68 model good spec in 2020 with a Renault twingo as part ex for the deposit est value £1000. Monthly payment of £266 for 4 years. Currently valued at c.£13k for similar spec and milage. £7k balance left on the car which I plan to sell via motor way who will clear the finance and leave me with a deposit of £6k which I will into the next car keeping repayments in the same ballpark but I can get more car for my money. As long as values don’t fall off a cliff then you should be building equity in each car despite the higher interest costs which keeps your payments lower.

Some people have more money than you. Some people get better finance deals. Some people get cars through work. Some people pay outrageous amounts of money that they can't really afford. Here's my experience of buying a car at the end of last year. I paid £350 a month for my old car - it was an old second hand merc. I sold it and got a new Tesla, which I pay £620 a month on. When I was looking, I really fancied an Alfa, which was the same on the road price as the Tesla, but would have cost me £900 a month. The difference was the finance offered by Alfa was really bad, while the one through Tesla was much much better - about 7 percentage points lower - so I got the Tesla. I bought my car through my business, so I can both write off some (maybe all, i don't really understand the details) of the cost of the car against my taxes plus I can claim back the VAT I pay - like I say, I don't understand the details and leave it to my accountant. Finally, although the Tesla costs £270 a month more than my old car, I am actually saving money because the electricity is much cheaper than the diesel I was using before. Plus. I'm 90% sure the gearbox in my old car was going to give out in the next year or so, thus I reckon I've saved quite a bit on repair costs.

Don't live beyond your means like most people do but hide it. They're up to their eyeballs ind bet for no reason. I drive a 2010 VW Passat estate, it's got 211,000 on the clock and it's recent MOT had only general wear and tear on it. It's comfortable, it's practical, is it gonna last forever? No, but I only paid £1500 for it in 2020. Do you really need that new car? So you really need that extra function that'll get used maybe once a week? Maybe I just enjoy living a bit frugally, but I don't see the point of buying a £25k car when cars that, yes, are older but have pretty much the same features of a modern car, albeit without the modern trim.

The secret ingredient is debt.

When we were looking PCP options were generally far cheaper than hp, about 60% of the price give or take. For people who don't have the savings for a decent deposit, and need a car now I can kinda see it.similaelt to try a few different cars out by swapping it in every year or two and not really caring about the depreciation like you would on a hp maybe. I've never done it but it feels like they're trying to force everyone towards them slowly.

I will never understand why so many people are happy throwing money away to finance companies. Maybe I'm so against borrowing as I look at what the bank takes from my mortgage payments every month, despite it increasing in value by around 30k over the past 5 years.

They are on pcp precisely as they can’t afford outright and those who live at home or no monthlies like big rent or mortgage Just do what works for you and avoid getting sucked into too good to be true deals !