Bangernomics: the art of free (or cheap) car ownership

[mender]

I rate my car experiences on many things, but mostly on how good the car has been for the money.

 

This is a crucial point that many people miss and many spend hideous amounts of money running pretty ordinary cars because they do not research the market, they will not travel to get a deal and fall for all the old sales tactics.  If you are not familiar with this and assume you got a great deal, add up your total ownership costs, including finance and associated charges.  I bet with a bit of research, you could get the next model up the range for similar total costs-or one you prefer and thought you could not afford.

 

Bangernomics is the art of running an older car on pennies by buying cleverly, running the car while it is free of major faults and selling it or binning it before major costs.  Some experts can buy cars that actually go up in value during ownership and this increase pays for the running costs and repairs.

 

I've owned 272 cars, many of them new and can usually run a car for nothing or very very cheaply indeed by careful choices, strong bargaining, careful improvement and opportunistic selling.  Taking advantage of regional market differences can be profitable.

 

An example would be the Suzuki Ignis 4grip, which is unloved in cities for its high tax and poorer mpg, but loved in our county with two well-known Suzuki dealers for its bomb-proof chain-driven engine reliability, ground clearance and compact size, so a £1500 London car can fetch £2500 locally.  Or the Suzuki Alto 2003-2007 which fades terribly in black, red or yellow, but polishes to as new and is loved for its simplicity, 60mpg and £30 tax and turns a great profit after minimal usage costs.

 

Recently, I'm more inclined to buy new cars, simply because our area has few dealers and prices locally are so high that used cars are being offered for more than pre-reg or new at the big national dealers, so you can pick up a car at used price and sell it locally after use with low losses.

 

Rather than harp on  , I've just done another deal on a new car which involved my usual way of doing things (simplified version*):

 

Set a budget and a list of needs (ours was £7000, strong NCAP with curtain airbags and ESP, air-con, 5 doors, 5 seats)

Look at the current deals for new and pre-reg on Auto-Trader and in the press-ignore What Car and list prices, totally irrelevant

Look at everything that fits until you can narrow it to a couple of cars

Drive those cars and choose a spec and colours

Choose your preferred model, spec and colour(s), find best national deal, ring them and offer less until you have a lowest price in UK

Check your nearest/favourite dealers and haggle, find a car you like, show them the other deals out there, make an offer and leave them to it

Wait

Call in again, saying you can give them a deposit today if they agree the deal**

Agree the deal, but not the finance.

 

*factors to consider other than the £cost; losing the p-ex car, manufacturer incentivised finance, fitted options, service packs, etc

 

**if you have a part-ex and have a proper idea of what it is worth, then work this into the cash deal now rather than before as it fudges things; compare what they may offer to the norm or WBAC or wherever, eg cash for new one £6500, yours realistically £2500, then £4000 to swap.  NEVER do this before the cash price as they have told you what the car will sell for and you know the value of yours, they use this grey area to make money.  If can't p-ex with them, factor the prices of WBAC or other options against the deal for cash-you may need to do more leg-work and see more dealers to make it work.

 

Do the same for financing, bearing in mind that many loan companies will smash finance rates.  Also bear in mind the more you borrow, the less the rates are and you can pay back some loans in part with a two month interest cost (£30-60!) so if wanting £6000, borrow £7500 to get the low rate and then pay £1500 back with the tiny penalty.

 

I always make an offer and walk away leaving contact details and leave them sure I will buy something, if not their car, soon-it is surprising what a difference a week can make and crossing target periods and staff assessments can helps too.

 

Example (car just bought this week)

 

New price £13k+, 15 month old 3000 mile staff car up at £7999 on forecourt.

My p-ex books at £860

Their rate 13.6% APR

 

So if I had walked in and p-exed the current car for, say £1000 as a deal, and paid the rest as finance, it would have cost me £9114 including interest, plus my car.

 

Cash deal agreed on the car £6500, inc service pack, protection pack

My car will sell for c. £2000, up at £2350 now, sold three identical cars similar money over the last three years***

Leaving £4500 to finance

Loan rate agreed at 3.7%, (by borrowing £7500 and repaying £3000 with 2mth interest cost) total cost of money £4898.

 

Total cost of new car £4898 plus my car, after the saving off sticker price, increase in p-ex value and finance costs, total saving £4216.

 

***compared to cash and interest savings, I could give the car away and still be up, so it is worth the risk

P-ex cost me £1480 two years and 20,000 miles ago with £320 total costs to date, £1800 all in, it would ebay for £1500 guaranteed, but owes me £0.

 

So with all the figures and waffling, we're getting nearasdammit a new safe car with high spec for the price of a five year old car if you were to wander in to the dealers and follow their lead with p-ex price and finance deals, before they sell you GAP, Scotchguard, SupaGuard, service plans etc.

Avoid PCPs unless on rock-solid residual cars.  Car supermarkets add admin fees to their prices, want you to use their finance and will not usually haggle cash prices-I've never found a single deal worth having with any of them-but they are useful to show your dealer their prices.

 

Anyway, waffling a bit, point was a thread about buying wisely and keeping your motoring costs very low, or free-or if done expertly making a profit with your daily motoring. With some careful manoeuvring you can reduce the costs or buy a better car for the same money. 

 

Some of my highlights:

2007 Chevolet Captiva bought for £1600 with a bust engine, changed injector, cleaned DPF, traded against Zafira for £5600....!

2013 Sukida SK125 motorbike, bought and registered for £712, ran for 5000 miles, sold @ £1000

1978 Saab 95 estate, asked to take it away after being left unused for 5 years, jump started it, jetwashed it, passed MOT, sold £1400

1987 Citroen 2CV, bought for £1200 off ebay, spent £14 on paint, sold £2600

2014 Vauxhall Agila SE, paid £7500 new, after 10,000 miles p-exed for £7000

2007 Fiat Doblo 120 Multijet Dynamic, paid £8600 new, after 15,000 miles p-exed it for £9000

2001 Ford Transit Tourneo 8 seat, bought off ebay £3200, spent £800, after 3 years and 30,000 miles hard use sold on ebay @ £4600

 

etc

 

Loads to harp on about on this subject, there's so many way to have free motoring or really enjoyable, safe or reliable motoring for absolute peanuts by following some simple rules.

 

What are your experiences?

What cars you have had that have been very cheap or free to own?

Extra points for the longest serving, highest mileage banger that just will not die and cost £s to start with..... :sun: 

Ever managed to buy a new car and sell for a profit after using it?

Some cars will rise in value whilst being affordably usable right now-what are your predictions for future classics?

 

 

 

Made that about as off-topic as I can for varied responses......

I love cars and my obsession with having the car of the month got me into debt when I was younger, I learned the hard way how to get the best deals!

 

 

 

[StevesTruck]

Nissan primera. Bought for £200 with 4 months T+T. Did utterly nothing to it but drive it for 4 months (9k miles). Sold it to the banger racers for £170.

[Mikek3111]

Loads I pretty much used to make a living out of buying part ex or trade-ins at dealer book price and selling on at retail.

['daiking']

Mender, thats sounds like a full time job in itself. You're in the car trade of sorts though aren't you? That must help.

Edited 27 February, 2015 by 'daiking'

[gadgetman]

You can currently trade a jalopy in against a Rapid for £2500 providing you've owned it for 3 months and has 1 months MOT

[Dr Zoidberg]

Not done it myself, but I know there's cheap motoring to be had. A friend bought a mondeo that was about 8 years old with a quarter of a million miles. The previous owner had used it to commute from the midlansd to Heathrow. I think it cost about £500 and he ran it for two years and sold it for the same with nothing more than a couple of oil changes.

[mender]

Mender, thats sounds like a full time job in itself. You're in the car trade of sorts though aren't you? That must help.

I paint cars mostly and will buy a car in to sell if the weather is too poor to paint outside and I need money.  Otherwise it is a hobby and is mostly our family cars now-and friends that I find deals for.  I do have contacts but have no better access than any other member of the public to the new car deals.

 

I did buy and sell around 15 in 2014, part time but have always had different cars on the go....

 

The new car deals change daily and you need to be quick sometimes!

[mender]

You can currently trade a jalopy in against a Rapid for £2500 providing you've owned it for 3 months and has 1 months MOT

That sounds ok, but the pre-reg deals may well beat that saving, depending on the real value of the p-ex; not many jump from a £200 car up to a £15k car in one go....

 

If you genuinely had a 1 month MOT snotter worth scrap value, it may be decent, but I guess the clinchers are the real value of the p-ex and whether a manufacturer-backed low interest rate was available for the first registered keeper only-and not a pre-reg.

[mender]

Nissan primera. Bought for £200 with 4 months T+T. Did utterly nothing to it but drive it for 4 months (9k miles). Sold it to the banger racers for £170.

£7.50 a month including RFL (can't happen now sadly!) sounds good to me  :sun:

Or if you took the tax out of the equation, you gained around £40 driving a car for 4 months.

[mender]

Not done it myself, but I know there's cheap motoring to be had. A friend bought a mondeo that was about 8 years old with a quarter of a million miles. The previous owner had used it to commute from the midlansd to Heathrow. I think it cost about £500 and he ran it for two years and sold it for the same with nothing more than a couple of oil changes.

This is the true essence of "bangernomics", taking a car worth nothing and squeezing the last out of it.

 

It is very environmentally friendly compared to building a new one....

[Toxicvrs]

This is the true essence of "bangernomics", taking a car worth nothing and squeezing the last out of it.

I tried this but went a bit excessive and spent quite a lot getting it how I like it, that car is now trusted and probably staying with me for a while yet

[mender]

I tried this but went a bit excessive and spent quite a lot getting it how I like it, that car is now trusted and probably staying with me for a while yet

Oh, the schoolboy error of falling in love with it.......

 

Had the t-shirt and the debts, Alfasud, say no more.....ended in tears 

[tweenster]

A few years ago I bought a 13 year old Vauxhall Astra 1.4 for £350. Ran it for 2 years to commute and it averaged some 50mpg; fuel costs each month were about £120 a month and my employer was paying me £200 a month travelling expenses. It never let me down and I sold it 2 years later for £200. Bangernomics at its absolute best.

[kevberlin]

Bought a Honda CG125 for £450. Covered it in Waxoyl. Ran it for 5 years commuting to work and did 20k. Changed oil etc regularly and bought one chain.

Cleaned off Waxoyl. Sold for £500. Great machine!

[john999boy]

Looks like that's currently in pole position then!

[Defenderben]

Bought (years ago) a Suzuki GP125 for £80 spent £50 to get an mot and think about £14 on tax. Ran it for 6 months got taken out by a young lad in a metro @2300hrs on a December Friday 13th :(

Insurance paid £380 as a total loss and let me keep the bike, sold bike to a couple of lads that saw it outside my house for £100

Since then apart from my Defender which has gone up over £2.5k in value over the last 7years all my other cars have cost me a fortune :(

[mender]

Bought a Honda CG125 for £450. Covered it in Waxoyl. Ran it for 5 years commuting to work and did 20k. Changed oil etc regularly and bought one chain.

Cleaned off Waxoyl. Sold for £500. Great machine!

Great bike, apart from the last Brazil-built versions.  My sort of thing!  I wish they sold a new 250 version here now.....

[kevberlin]

Great bike, apart from the last Brazil-built versions.  My sort of thing!  I wish they sold a new 250 version here now.....

Totally agree. We just sold my son's CBF250........single cylinder machine. Another great little bullet proof machine. .........and to keep up the theme, he had it for 2 years and got nearly back what he paid for it.

[mender]

Totally agree. We just sold my son's CBF250........single cylinder machine. Another great little bullet proof machine. .........and to keep up the theme, he had it for 2 years and got nearly back what he paid for it.

Just spotted these:

 

http://sinnismotorcycles.com/motorcycle.php?motorcycle=Sinnis%20Retrostar%20250

 

Looks ok for around £2k, most dealers offer 5/7 year warranty....

 

 

I built up a Sukida SK-125 for £666 plus tax/reg and after swapping out the rubbish oil, plug, lead etc was a great bike, would buy a crate 250 for under a grand today if anyone can find me one.  I'd love to build another and repaint it to my own design, change out poor bits and make it a nice bike.

[FUBAR]

Do what some of the old timers still do around here and go ultra cheap! No insurance, no road tax, no MOT, no big servicing costs. 

 

[samj2013]

Paid a little too much for my old Fabia, but sold it for more than the car that replaced it, which is a lot more car (bigger, faster, more economical etc.). Hoping to make my money back on that when it comes time to sell it. Shouldn't be too hard.

[Laurie61]

I have not attempted true bangernomics. I usually try and buy a nearly new car and run it so the average depreciation, over lifetime of ownership, is around £1000 - £1500 a year :sun: Although I suspect the Superb will cost me more than this       

[mender]

I have not attempted true bangernomics. I usually try and buy a nearly new car and run it so the average depreciation, over lifetime of ownership, is around £1000 - £1500 a year :sun: Although I suspect the Superb will cost me more than this       

But the other interpretation is being able to run the car of your choice on a tight budget; did you buy it cleverly at a decent price and not get conned?  Did you choose a model, spec, colour and options that will most appeal to its next buyer to reduce depreciation?  Did you get very low finance and a service package to reduce costs?  Does your model have low running costs, low tax and high mpg?

 

etc

 

Buying something like a new Focus at near list on dealer finance, choosing SupaGuard and GAP etc, personalising it with expensive unnecessary options and choosing the wrong model or colour can cost you more than running an expertly chosen premium model.......which could be much more enjoyable to live with.

[Toxicvrs]

When trying to do cheap mods like LEDS to keep the cost down, don't skimp on quality, some cheap ones burnt my light unit out

[mender]

When trying to do cheap mods like LEDS to keep the cost down, don't skimp on quality, some cheap ones burnt my light unit out

I'd say avoid modding altogether if you're looking at resale as being important, unless it is to update and make it more attractive, eg replacing the cassette player with the later model's CD player or so on.

 

Personalising a car wipes out more and more buyers from your pool of buyers...