Vehicle finance recommendations

[Rough Hewn]

It’s a good way of doing it. By having multiple vehicles you can always have the right vehicle for the right job. Rough- have you looked at the Jeep Grand Cherokee, 3l merc engine- bags of power, 3.5t towing and can be found tidy for around £3k. Or does it have to be a pickup?

I'm open to most ideas,
Had a v8 petrol disco, burnt the clutch out in 3 months. £200-250 a week in petrol.[emoji23]
Ideally a diesel for towing, but also taking crew and kit off road.
My only concern with mercs is the cost of repairs.
[emoji106]

[aspenarb]

Not sure what deal my nipper got from Ford , he put 2k down and pays £300 a month for a brand new Transit van. He went in there to discuss the deal and in less than a week he was driving it.

 

Bob

[benedmonds]

2 hours ago, Big J said:

As you say, it's the fixed cost that is attractive. I think my Berlingo is £490/month, but that's on a 3 year term, at which point it'll be mine to sell. 

I understand wanting to have fixed costs..  but that is £17,640 over the 3 years. A 3 year old belingo should sell for around £5,500. £4,000 a year is a lot to spend on having a new "reliable" berlingo. 

[doobin]

I'd never buy a new vehicle, the hit in depreciation is huge. Way more than something like a digger.

[LGP Eddie]

5 minutes ago, doobin said:

I'd never buy a new vehicle, the hit in depreciation is huge. Way more than something like a digger.

A lot depends on your business model, if you only go 30 mile from home you will put up with a lot more than if you need to travel distance reliably.

 

Best thing I ever did was switch to new Defenders, depreciation was negligible and did everything I wanted.

 

I’m running an AWD Transit now, wish I’d had one 10 years ago in many ways, but you can’t find them in the newer shape anywhere from fleets yet, so I keep looking at 4x4 sprinters.

 

If you haven’t a reliable vehicle in the morning, it makes everything harder.

 

 

Eddie.

[doobin]

17 minutes ago, Big J said:

That's a fair point, but vehicles all cost money. You lose on old vehicles on repairs and down time, you lose on new vehicles on depreciation. A digger has a lot less to go wrong, and a new digger is unusable if your old vehicle has let you down and not got you to site.

My corsa van I bought for 2k at 70k miles, it’s cost me probably £1k over four years and is on 112k now. Similar story with my ranger but scaled up a little. tipper truck probably best value of them all, doubt I’ve spent more than a grand on it in three years and it only cost 2k. 
 

Flip side is probably image, but I like to think three new diggers and new saws make up for it. 
 

And as eddy says, it would be a different story if I travelled for work. Horses for courses. 

Edited December 18, 2019 by doobin

[LeeGray]

10 hours ago, GA Groundcare said:

Not these days! RRC seem to of gone up lately. If you can find a road worthy not rotten example for 1k let me know! ?

 

3dr classics are mental prices now.

 

When starting up 5 years ago I bought a 2002 Disco 2 TD5 Commercial for 2k. It was spot on. 

Not talking classics, wouldn’t fancy running that as a work truck much as I’d fancy one as an appreciating toy. Early L322 can be had with decent mot for £1000 now. No one wants them.

[LeeGray]

You lads running new stuff must have had much better service than me, had 3 new Nissan vans all had problems and the service was poor and ridiculously expensive. New Isuzu pick same, new Land Rover 110 the same. All seemed to think they had you over a barrel as they new it was financed and you need to keep everything right for warranty and re sale. Ironically the new stuff all had more problems than any second hand vehicle I’ve had since. 
 

The service at Land Rover was appalling from start to finish, Couldn’t help but laugh when the reason the £32,000 one day old 110 wouldnt pull the trailer above 40mph was the turbo was hanging off. Rang Land Rover dealer who did the deal literally the day before “ if you bring it in, we’ll have a look at it” was the response! Should have trailered it the 65 miles back or set it on fire that day and saved myself years of problems, arguments and cash.

 

 

[benedmonds]

1 hour ago, Big J said:

That's a fair point, but vehicles all cost money. You lose on old vehicles on repairs and down time, you lose on new vehicles on depreciation. 

My preferred option would be 2-3 years old and Japanese. The major depreciation is done and they are still reliable. 

With leased vehicles becoming popular, you can get a tidy vehicle that has been regularly maintained as part of the lease. 

 

Unfortunately the UK market lacks most of the small mazda, honda and toyota vans ..

[swinny]

Love the contrast on these threads....

 

Some are scared to death about brake downs and run new and finance...

 

Some are handy with spanners and happy to run older.

 

Both new and old can brake down. 

 

From my own experiences I would not buy new again. Service and warranty shocking. It seems like once firms have your money it doesn't matter. 

 

All I say is buy the best you can afford within reason. And horses for courses