So, an acquaintance has just part exd his 8yo large petrol saloon and spent £27k on a MB diesel convertible from a main dealer. I think he was paying just over £200 in road tax and almost fell over when I told him I had just paid £285 to tax my 330.
I didn't want to upset him, but reckon in his quest to save on running costs....better mpg as he drives 8k pa! it is probably costing him £285 a month in depreciation alone. Whereas on my old motor depreciation has almost flat lined, so the £285, although alarming at first sight, pales (almost) into insignificance compared to the total running costs of a newish vehicle.
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>> So, an acquaintance has just part exd his 8yo large petrol saloon and spent £27k
>> on a MB diesel convertible from a main dealer.
I just don't get diesel convertibles. Sooo wrong.
However, think of all that lovely free coffee!
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Some people like to drive a new car - simple!
It depends on how much cash / payments you can afford at any one time - and as long as you are not depriving your family of anything where is the harm in splashing out. Better buying a new motor than spending £8.00 on a packet of cigarettes, losing £40.00 on the horses watching C4 racing on daytime TVetc etc
Last new car I bought was 2.5 years ago - neighbour (who watches the last 1/2 penny (so do I sometimes!)) said he wouldn't spend that much on a brand new car - I said, it did not cost me!
At this he assumed my children had bought it for me!
I merely stated it did not cost me - it had just knocked £20K off the Children's inheritance.
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I am not implying any criticism whatsoever of how my acquaintance spends his money. Merely commenting on typical man maths. A totally illogical way of 'justifying' a change of car. Rather like me going to the pub. I don't need a reason to go....hard day at work etc. I just fancy a pint or two!
Talking of convertibles, I followed a Bentley last week for 30 miles with its roof down. I thought it's back end was pig ugly, but it could certainly go when overtaking. Probably less wind turbulence for rear seat passengers as well, although it cost more than the £10k I paid for mine several years ago.
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Fussing about VED is the first and surest sign of motoring cluelessness. It's roughly proportional to the fuel consumption, so if you reckon you can afford the fuel, you can afford the VED, especially now there's a monthly direct debit option if you're concerned about cashflow.
HJ panders to his core readership with a feature on his site of ten models with 'surprisingly high road tax [sic]', which are mostly old-tech cheapies, pensioner biscuit tins and a V6 petrol Hyundai I've never even heard of and am pretty sure I'll never see, at least in this country. One of them has a shocking VED rate of £145.
Most of them are cheap, though, so he may be doing his pet penny-pinchers a disservice by pushing them into buying more expensive machinery on the strength of lower VED rates. And if that's not a***-about-face reasoning, I don't know what is.
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Seems crazy to me people buying new cars to save a few quid on tax. But i don't think anyone really thinks that, it's just a front for getting a new car. Not sure why people don't just say they want it for a change.
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My father in law is nearly 80 and now only does about 2000 miles a year in his ten year old 1.4 Fiesta. Mainly taking MIL to the supermarket and his weekly golf outing. The car is in nigh on perfect condition despite its advancing years. I want to think it has only just gone over 30,000 miles.
But, he's got a bee in his bonnet about it being a bit steamy on tax by comparison to a lot of younger cars. He's muttering about getting something new to save on tax. Now, if he just wants a new car, who could blame him, he could easily afford one, but he's the first to admit he doesn't especially enjoy driving any more but just wants to keep a runabout to address the practicalities of life.
Maybe he's just looking for an angle to convince MIL of course ! She says she's happy with the Fiesta.
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>> My father in law is nearly 80 and now only does about 2000 miles a
>> year in his ten year old 1.4 Fiesta. Mainly taking MIL to the supermarket and
>> his weekly golf outing. The car is in nigh on perfect condition despite its advancing
>> years. I want to think it has only just gone over 30,000 miles.
My inlaws are similar 9 year old car with about 17000 miles on it.
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Yes WDB, I could take the monthly option and pay £299.25 rather than £285. I can afford the latter and it doesn't bother me one way or the other. If I should pay 'up front' then presumably I get back the unused portion pro rata IF I sell the car. But then I've been talking about doing just that for a few years now. The trouble is, it's a joy to drive, reliable, cheap to run with my low annual miles, and it would be purely change for the sake of it.
Unless a 330 Touring or S4 Avant came along in the spec I want.
In a way, I really hope they don't!
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You know what you should do LL? You should get an inexpensive hack to run alongside the BMW for the occasions when it's not suitable. Something like a well kept A3 for example would be ideal...
;-)
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That option was very carefully considered, as you can probably imagine. Better still, a cheap to run A3 1.6 Tdi alongside a Westfield.
I shall be overseas for at least 12 weeks later this year on various jaunts, so the economics don't really stack up. Maybe I should just sell the BM at the end of May and worry about a replacement when I return in early August..
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Nah, keep it. You love it.
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BMW 3-Series E46 - Road fund tax & 'man maths' - Duncan
