I  would put that to the back of your mind.  Its an option, just like keeping the car nearly full term and seeing if it picks up any equity.  Right now, if you can afford to keep the car you currently have and its not stretching you then I personally think you would be foolish to downsize to car which you are never going to have any equity in and which may prove too small for you in later years should your situation change again.  Like I say, its all my opinion.  I'm not a financial advisor (far from it in fact) however only you can decide what to do!

Talk to Paul at Carter and Haines http://carterandhaines.co.uk/ - he just gave me a very good price for my Toyota Verso which was similarly well underwater in equity. I'd recommend them as it took 2 days between initial call and my car being taken away and the finance settled.

That sucks too ... and I guess the whole "I am not buying another" feeling is likely to make the second hand market even worse ...which is why I am really nervous about having an £18k debt on what is now a £15,5k car and depreciating fast...and paying £320 every month for the privilege.

My thought is that I would rather cut my loses and bump the negative equity onto the Citigo Monte Carlo...a car we could afford more easily, we could both drive and we would still want through the full 5 years. I can not see a point where we would not need a small city car in the next 5 years. It depends on my work if I need a second car and what kind of car that should be ...but I could easily buy a second hand car outright if my circumstances changed again.

I would feel better about having a £11k debt on a car we need rather than a £18k debt on a car we don't need...even if £2.3k of that new debt is just negative equity from the VRS.

Keep the Octavia and look to do something further into the term when the residual value looks a bit more favourable against whats owed or VT it.

Its probably what I am going to do with mine.

The Golf is lovely but short of two kids and a pushchair it doesnt hold anything else...the Octavia does prove v useful for load lugging/tip runs and carting a multitude of kids carp around. We dont need or necessarily want it out of choice but we both acknowledge its a good car and v useful

Also looking at it another way (from my own perspective)....you can pay nearly £300/month for an average spec VW Polo...in fact I was paying nearly £280/month for a 15k Fabia vRS not long prior so whilst £300/month is a good sum of money, for the car you have sat on the drive its actually quite reasonable.

Part of me really wishes I hadnt bought mine but the reality is it gave me nearly 2 years of entirely trouble free motoring and now its doing the same for the wife...unlike her Astra which frankly broke quite ALOT :-) I prefer my Golf but even that hasnt proven as reliable as the Octavia. You could buy that Citigo and after a few months think "what have I done"...or worse still it turns out to be a pig and give you nothing but trouble.

Like me, probably best to take it on the chin and re-evaluate the situation when the numbers and vehicle choices make more sense.

Edited 14 March, 201610 yr by pipsypreturns

Talk to Paul at Carter and Haines http://carterandhaines.co.uk/ - he just gave me a very good price for my Toyota Verso which was similarly well underwater in equity. I'd recommend them as it took 2 days between initial call and my car being taken away and the finance settled.

Any chance you could pm me some ball park figures of what they offered you?

Stick with what you've got.

If you decide in say 6 months time the citygo isn't working for you then you'll be an outrageous amount upside down.

Hi,

 

Just a little update on this and another question!   My partner is very keen not to carry on paying until the VC date in 23 months and would like me to investigate how we could get away from this car sooner.

 

I have checked with Skoda finance and if I settle on my car early it would give me a settlement fee of £16800 currently

 

I am thinking about selling the car privately or to another dealer and trying to get the difference between that settlement and the cars sale price as low as possible....then paying the difference myself, clearing finance and walking away.

 

That way we can go out and buy a used car that meets our needs or take out a new car deal with no neg equity involved, put a deposit down and therefore get much lower monthly bills.

 

I do not want to rip someone off so I am wondering realistically what I could expect to get for my car privately?  I have a friend who is interested so I may not even have to advertise it.

 

2014 VRS Diesel ...12,300 miles 

Couple of scrapes on alloys otherwise mint condition - had no issues or repairs on car

manual, metallic blue with the smart paint protection thing.

Full black and red leather interior with heated seats

Black pack

satnav

 

I have also gone back to skoda and said I am thinking of walking away and they have said that they would be prepared to value my car at £1.5k more than they originally said if I am prepared to put down £1k deposit on new car..... I am yet to see this deal in writing but in theory this reduces my negative equity to £1k rather than 2.5 and gets us a new car deal with 0% ....so that could be interesting too. 

I am thinking about selling the car privately or to another dealer and trying to get the difference between that settlement and the cars sale price as low as possible....then paying the difference myself, clearing finance and walking away.

 

This is exactly what I did with my Verso. Speak to the guy I linked to in my previous post, if he can't get you the best price nobody will in my experience. I had it on Autotrader for 6 weeks, and the day the ad was about to expire Paul called me up, and two days later it was done and dusted.

This is exactly what I did with my Verso. Speak to the guy I linked to in my previous post, if he can't get you the best price nobody will in my experience. I had it on Autotrader for 6 weeks, and the day the ad was about to expire Paul called me up, and two days later it was done and dusted.

 

Thanks I will definitely try him ...will he just buy my car or would I need to also purchase a car though him?

They are brokers, they buy cars for other dealers and customers.  They don't have anything to sell to you.

Left him a message - thanks for tip

Why is it your partner wants you to get the rid of the car?  Are you saving/budgeting for something? Even selling priavtely you could see yourself left in negative equity of at least a grand and as I an others have said in 6 months if you decide that the citigo isnt for you you'll be in the same boat.

 

I'd suggest looking at your finances, seeing where else you can save (if you need to) before making any rash decisions.  I just find it a little strange that you would go from living on your own, running an Octavia and then when you start a family you suddenly want a small car.  If anythign it should work the opposite way

Why is it your partner wants you to get the rid of the car?  Are you saving/budgeting for something? Even selling priavtely you could see yourself left in negative equity of at least a grand and as I an others have said in 6 months if you decide that the citigo isnt for you you'll be in the same boat.

 

I'd suggest looking at your finances, seeing where else you can save (if you need to) before making any rash decisions.  I just find it a little strange that you would go from living on your own, running an Octavia and then when you start a family you suddenly want a small car.  If anythign it should work the opposite way

 

Yes we are saving for a mortgage and potentially a wedding (don't tell her)

Basically when I was living alone (with parents) I had much higher disposable income.   I was also doing much higher milage for work and regularly had to go to Scotland for elderly family.  I was also transporting my road bike in the back of the car and then commuting from out of town.... as well as that I was renovating a rental property I co own and needed a big boot.

 

Fast forward a year and we have a second car  (my gf has passed test and bought a cheap car outright), I now work 5 miles away and the elderly relatives have gone to a better place.   Most of the reasons I needed a big car are gone and we could happily get by as a family in a smaller vehicle...we could certainly do with a cheaper vehicle

 

We have high rent and while we can and have been affording the VRS it is right at the top of our budget and saving a couple of hundred quid a month on our car payments would really help us save.

 

We are looking at all our finances and have done quite well reducing our monthly bills but the car is the elephant in the room.

 

So now we are paying £320 a month for a car that I don't need and that my GF can not drive.

 

What would be ideal would be to get rid of the VRS and to get a small, cheap reliable city car that we can both use. and then for my GF to have that new car long term.   I am not necessarily even looking at a citigo now - that was just where the thought process started and this thread began...I am certainly not buying the used option they offered us with the neg equity rolled in.

 

I will then at some point buy a high mileage estate and sit that outside the house if we need a bigger car....apart from maybe a holiday I can not see us needing a big car in the next few years...We live in a town near public transport and my parents have a big car we could borrow for a few days if needed.  In theory, I could quite easily go without a car for the next 6 months or so.

Edited 16 March, 201610 yr by TheRedEyeJedi

I can't help with finance issue but if you want a small car then you won't go far wrong with a Citigo. I had one two years ago and would still own it if I hadn't needed something with a bigger boot. They're cheap to run and surprisingly good fun to drive.

Hi all,

 

Just wanted to say thanks for the help and thought you might be interested in the resolution we have come up with....

 

I spoke to a number of dealers and also looked at private sales and the conclusion I came up with is that my Octavia was highly unlikely to be sold by me for much above £14.5k

 

The car is now due a service and probably needs 4 new tires soon so that is a cost any buyer would have to factor in.

 

I spoke to Paul Jackson who was recommended as a broker earlier in this thread and he was able to offer us more than skoda ... but we were still looking at in the region on 2.3k negative.   Paul gave me some really good honest advice I would definitely recommend chatting to him as his deals seem good and pretty honest too.(he also came back with a better offer today but advised me to go with the skoda deal that I will tell you about in a moment).  He made the good point that if I kept the Octavia until the VC point in 23 months that I am going to have to pay for the tires and service (around £1000) plus another service - plus paying about £1000 interest in that time.  He was strongly advising me to settle the deal, cut my losses and walk away and get a better deal (even if this wasn't with him)

 

So I looked at our finances as a whole and especially some of the small debts we have that we are paying interest on (a store card, a catalogue payment from years back and my road bike finance) and I went to my bank manager and secured a personal loan over 5 years at 3% interest.  This means I can pay off all our debts, and also gives me some capital to use in order  get out of this VRS deal into a new and hopefully better one.

 

I went back to my local Skoda dealer - not where I purchased the car from originally  and asked for the very best price they could give me to take my car off my hands if I then settled the remaining finance.  They came back with 15k - which to be honest is £500 more than anyone else was offering.

 

I then asked them if they would be prepared to go to £15.5k if I then cleared off the £1.3k on the finance and then I purchased a brand new car from them and put a deposit down on it.   To my surprise they said they would do this but its under the provision I buy a new car from them this month to help the sales figures.

 

I noticed Saturday they had a red, Fabia Monte Carlo Estate 1.2tsi 100 in the showroom and asked if I could have that...we really like the car and it would tick all the boxes for us.  

 

They have given me a further £500 off the list, a free servicing plan and also will change over my cherished plates foc.  Its 0% finance with a £500 contribution from Skoda.  I have also upped the mileage allowance to 10k per year.

 

Bottom line is that we now have a car that both of us can drive and is still big enough for kids and bikes and stuff.  Plus its cheaper to run and insure.  We have saved £110 a month on the car payments and I have also saved £130 a month by using the rest of the loan to consolidate all our debts and pay them off.   I also now do not have to pay the imminent service and tire cost on the VRS and we have (hopefully) free motoring for at least three years.

 

Im sure someone better at finances than me could have resolved this better... but we are happy... and its much better than the deal I was looking at when I first posted on here so thanks for all your help.

Edited 17 March, 201610 yr by TheRedEyeJedi

Sounds like it's problem solved.

Just need to be disciplined and stick to the budget

Is it another PCP with a GMFV to find at the end of the term, or will you own it outright?

Mate so long as you are happy, thats all that really counts. Where cars are concerned we all know its a bit of a mugs game but I dont think there really is any right or wrong.

I know one thing...once you fall in to the trap of having new cars and having them quite regularly its a difficult habit to kill off...certainly is in my case.

Ive got my Mk7 GTD for another 3.5 years on the company (assuming im still there) and it'll be the longest ive kept a car in a good long while.