[Igor-]

No Jamaica holiday over the festive season of 2017-2018 and, most likely, no Maldives in April / May this year either.

We had to trade-in our Suziki Celerio (don't ask!) with 65 plate and 40k miles.

All to be told, that paying by cash for a 67-plate 320i is out of the norm! In fact, not only we've been pushed in the direction of finance by our Sales Executive, but when he failed, Regional Finance Manager "who happened to be in the area" tried and sell it to us too.We had the cash, ready, yet they tried to convince it was better/cheaper/the new norm to do the finance thing.

Is it true, 80% of BMW sales are on finance?

[jnismith]

BMW often get support from BMW finance and thus you can often get a better price if you take finance than if you pay cash. You can then get the car, sign all the forms and then pay the finance off in the first week. Doing this with my wife's mini saved us £1000. But yes, it is the new norm.

[Nobby Clark]

Originally Posted by Igor-

No Jamaica holiday over the festive season of 2017-2018 and, most likely, no Maldives in April / May this year either.

My heart bleeds.

Originally Posted by Igor-

Is it true, 80% of BMW sales are on finance?

As above. With the finance incentives, you’d be daft not to.
Personally, I PCPd my last BM as I can make more money than the cost of the interest over the same period.

[teaston]

Well yes, who on earth has £40k cash lying around!?

[225]

Originally Posted by teaston

Well yes, who on earth has £40k cash lying around!?

and why would you tie it up in an asset that could very easily get crashed into!

If you have the cash outright then as suggested buy in pcp and pay off a month later. Or just keep it in the bank and use it to draw down each months for the pcp payments.

[chris-c]

Buying new you are stupid buying it in cash when they offer such good deals on finance.

Use CarWow as an example you can get say 4-8k off list without trying and then £5k from BMW for taking finance.

Buy on finance then pay off after a month and save the £5k.

You wont get that sort of offer buying cash.

When I bought my car they really didnt want me to pay "cash" and tried everything they could to get me to take PCP or some other form of finance. They tried about 5 times to make some finance deal work until I asked if the guy had a nice plain sheet of paper and a calculator and I'd educate him on why his numbers would always come out higher than mine.

Their finance rates were quite low at ~6% but that was 4% higher than what I'd already got!

Also the argument of having that cash in something that could get crashed into I really don't get. You either pay up front or at the end for a car to be crashed into. Either way the car costs the same (well, often a lot more via PCP). Suggesting having the money in the bank to pay off PCP payments is also bloomin daft as you would be paying interest rather than making interest. Even in a decent ISA you'd still not cover the cost of the interest on a PCP car.

I tried long and hard to get the real world cost of my car down!

[R0B]

Originally Posted by 225

and why would you tie it up in an asset that could very easily get crashed into!

If you have the cash outright then as suggested buy in pcp and pay off a month later. Or just keep it in the bank and use it to draw down each months for the pcp payments.

There are some people who do see it that you should spend cash before finance. Frankly yes I do have 40k (or more) cash in the bank, but I still finance cars. A) it's a depreciating asset, and B) I prefer to have the manoeuvrability. I may want a new house, or may need to put money into my business if we hit troubled water, I may have to give up work if something terrible happened to my wife or child. In any of those instances I wouldn't want to be worried about flogging a car to free up pound notes. This for the same reason I live in a house I paid 325k for when my FA allowed by to borrow nearly twice that. I don't just live within my means, I live within my means based on 10 years earlier.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Incontinentia Buttocks

80% of BMW UK's profit is made from finance.

All on the BMW Group books as well.

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Apparently 86.7% of all new private cars in the UK were bought on finance last year. I bet BMW is more than 80% with the high cost and lower than most of the competition finance rates.

[RickLS7]

Personally, I’m appalled by the amount of debt some people have and justify it as ‘normal’. I’m 50 and can’t remember the last time I had a loan, never had a car on PCP or even a mobile on contract. The whole idea of having a mountain of debt and hoping I never lose my job or have a long term sickness terrifies me so have savings I never touch. I paid off the mortgage as quickly as possible and save up if I want anything, must just be old fashioned.

[Sasquartch]

Originally Posted by RickLS7

Personally, I’m appalled by the amount of debt some people have and justify it as ‘normal’. I’m 50 and can’t remember the last time I had a loan, never had a car on PCP or even a mobile on contract. The whole idea of having a mountain of debt and hoping I never lose my job or have a long term sickness terrifies me so have savings I never touch. I paid off the mortgage as quickly as possible and save up if I want anything, must just be old fashioned.

Just like me (although I'm 54)

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by RickLS7

Personally, I’m appalled by the amount of debt some people have and justify it as ‘normal’. I’m 50 and can’t remember the last time I had a loan, never had a car on PCP or even a mobile on contract. The whole idea of having a mountain of debt and hoping I never lose my job or have a long term sickness terrifies me so have savings I never touch. I paid off the mortgage as quickly as possible and save up if I want anything, must just be old fashioned.

I have savings, and if I lose my job would be ok for a while. I just don't see the point in sinking those savings into a car, when the discounts are bigger on pcp, the interest rate is low, and often the GFV is higher than your car is going to be worth at the end. All that combined makes a pcp cheaper per month than a cash buy. Would rather leave my money elsewhere.

[maziatr]

Originally Posted by Igor-

No Jamaica holiday over the festive season of 2017-2018 and, most likely, no Maldives in April / May this year either.

We had to trade-in our Suziki Celerio (don't ask!) with 65 plate and 40k miles.

All to be told, that paying by cash for a 67-plate 320i is out of the norm! In fact, not only we've been pushed in the direction of finance by our Sales Executive, but when he failed, Regional Finance Manager "who happened to be in the area" tried and sell it to us too.We had the cash, ready, yet they tried to convince it was better/cheaper/the new norm to do the finance thing.

Is it true, 80% of BMW sales are on finance?

I am amazed that you find this surprising. Who has £40-£50k lying around?

[maziatr]

Originally Posted by RickLS7

Personally, I’m appalled by the amount of debt some people have and justify it as ‘normal’. I’m 50 and can’t remember the last time I had a loan, never had a car on PCP or even a mobile on contract. The whole idea of having a mountain of debt and hoping I never lose my job or have a long term sickness terrifies me so have savings I never touch. I paid off the mortgage as quickly as possible and save up if I want anything, must just be old fashioned.

Yep, that is old fashioned. Although I am the opposite of you, I wish my approach to debt was like yours.

[....,,,,..,,..]

Originally Posted by RickLS7

Personally, I’m appalled by the amount of debt some people have and justify it as ‘normal’. I’m 50 and can’t remember the last time I had a loan, never had a car on PCP or even a mobile on contract. The whole idea of having a mountain of debt and hoping I never lose my job or have a long term sickness terrifies me so have savings I never touch. I paid off the mortgage as quickly as possible and save up if I want anything, must just be old fashioned.

Quick question, what is your job?

Now think of the average person in the UK, say a Nurse living in Cambridgeshire, Kent, Essex etc, paying off student debts, either saving or paying for a mortgage, paying rent if saving for a mortgage. Then people are suprised people buy cars on finance or bank loans.

Imagine how many years it would take a nurse to save £30k never mind £45k for a car.

Yes agreed some of the levels of debt are scary but so are the levels of poverty.

A person in your situation I would say is hugely different to the average person in the UK.


Also some deals are really good, with some manufacturers offering 0% over 3 years.


How many on here had mummy and daddy pay for Uni, have mummy and Daddy help out with first house purchase etc?

Where would you be if mummy and daddy had not helped out?

The reality for a huge portion of the UK, is that there is no decent financial support from mummy and daddy.

[goodbyalfa]

The general holier than thou vibe coming through this thread is quickly becoming a bit tiresome. I would suggest that many on this forum are considerably better paid than the average UK worker, but who are we to dictate others lifestyle and financial risk strategies.
Free will is a great thing and with the current financial position in the UK, with cheap finance readily available, PCP's and the like make a lot of sense to a lot of people and I am not going to judge. Move on say 5-6 years, if finance interest rates are nearer to 5-6% rather than the 0-3% currently on offer then the numbers would need to be crunched to see if PCPs are still "good" value.

[Ss66]

Rather earn money on say 40/50/60k than lose it. IMHO

[Igor-]

This is surprisingly worrying - I though the dealer was making up the stats.

Does it remind anyone else of the sub-prime mortgage crisis?

[DB118D]

Who the hell swaps a Suzuki celery for a 320i?

And who the hell buys a 320i anyway?

[Igor-]

Originally Posted by DB118D

Who the hell swaps a Suzuki celery for a 320i?

And who the hell buys a 320i anyway?

I know!!

In all fairness, Suzuki was the right first car for the wife: easy to park in Brighton & cheaper to insure: she's a young new driver.

Had to sell 530i though - didn't want to get behind the wheel of it

[harrysx]

I am in my mid 20s and could never afford to buy a car outright at this point in my life, so for me the only option is buy a cheap runaround or have a premium car on finance. I enjoy my car and I enjoy driving, so I'm prepared to do it. I have a well paid job, but I get screwed by:

- student debts (£50k)
- high cost of housing in London, owning is ruled out so I have to rent (I'd need a mortgage of at least £300-400k to get a family home where I live, plus a deposit which is difficult to save up for due to this vicious cycle)
- no bank of mum or dad who could afford to help me out

if I am in this position I do genuinely feel for the nurses, teachers etc who get piss poor pay and still have to raise families, pay rent, run a car etc...

of course I could stop buying avocados though and that may completely change things...

[cesare87]

Originally Posted by RickLS7

Personally, I’m appalled by the amount of debt some people have and justify it as ‘normal’. I’m 50 and can’t remember the last time I had a loan, never had a car on PCP or even a mobile on contract. The whole idea of having a mountain of debt and hoping I never lose my job or have a long term sickness terrifies me so have savings I never touch. I paid off the mortgage as quickly as possible and save up if I want anything, must just be old fashioned.

I actually think the same and I'm 31 lol