Old or New

I have just bought a Subaru Forester 1998 4wd for a second business that I have just set up.
I have all the sevice history and the invoices, and as I have always pondered about the wisdom of buying a new car I did a few quick calculations.
I bought the car for £1800 and it has done 71,000 mile , serviced 16 times ( so mileage verification is not a problem), it is very good condition.
It has had two owners. The last one paid £!3,500 in 2000. Say 8 years ago.
He /she has driven 60,000 mile approx. 7,500 per year, 144 miles per week .
The depreciation over the 8 years is 11,700 or £1462.5 per year. or £28.13 per week
Car tax £3 pw, Car ins' £ 8 pw, servicing/repairs £8 pw , petrol @ 35 mph - 4 gallons approx at £4.00 (averaged) = £16.
Total cost per week = £63 to travel 144 miles. Just over 50p a mile.
Breakdown cover and parking fees not included.?
I know I have picked up a bargain, but I will now never consider buying a new car or truck.
Does anyone else have any thoughts on this subject?

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Permalink Reply by steve loftus on July 5, 2009 at 2:13am: depends how big the business is i suppose,leasing contract hire can also be good if you get a good service package thrown in,my sister and her second in command have just got a good deal, a nissan quashqi?? and a peugeot 307 for £400 a month,includes,tax,servicing,tyres etc.
after 3 years,i know its money for no asset worth,she hands it back and gets another.but at least she does not have to worry about anything but to drive it.in these tough times,she also got the mileage allowance raised from 10,000 to 18,000mls; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John www.acegardenservices.co.uk on July 5, 2009 at 7:56am: So about £50 pw, plus petrol and insurance for each vehicle.

I will try to calculate/estimate the weekly cost of the Subaru.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John www.acegardenservices.co.uk on July 5, 2009 at 9:05am: The Subaru cost £1800 and will hopefully last six years (no rust at the moment), I may then get £500 for it.
£1300 depreciation over 6 years, £216 per year
Car tax £190
Services/repairs ? £600
Total £1006 per year or £20 pw

Plus Insurance/Breakdown and petrol for business use, Total approx £ 22 pw .
A grand total of £ 44 pw

If 80 miles a week is used for business purposes and I can claim 40p a mile , this = £ 32 a week .
Which means it is costing me roughly £10 a week for business use, plus any petrol for private use.

I think these calculations are ok ?. I guess I will soon find out.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Gardens4u.co.uk on July 5, 2009 at 2:38pm: Never buy new.................i have bought a Mitsubishi Shogun/lwb 3.2 diesel equip auto -03 plate 100k (full history).
used by highways agency who do 200k a year ...............£5,500 ?! tools/towing/motorway/field/style why buy a van for £12000 or truck for £20,000 to loose £3,000 in one year ?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by martin on July 5, 2009 at 5:42pm: Ive just bought lwb ford transit on an 07 plate with 5000 mile on the clock.
The reasons our the large garden contractors in the area all have new vans and i have to keep up with the competition just look at the success of one of the large lawn treatment services in the area. The main reason they have become so popular is that customers like to have them pull up out side the property due to sign written vans and the way they present themselves, i know it sounds shallow but its the truth.

The other reson is that i was sick of my old s reg citroen breaking down all the time and this stopped me from taking good jobs further a field.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ian's Garden Services on July 5, 2009 at 7:52pm: I would always buy the newest lowest milage vehicle you can afford would always buy it privately as you will usually save at least thousand pounds on what a dealer will put on. if you look carefully at dealer warrantys on second hand stuff they aint worth a lot when you read small print .newer stuff is cheaper to run and makes sense .
Recently bought a 2003 tranny fwd swb ex bt 57000 miles full service history £2800. no vat to pay cheap motoring hopefully. my old 1996 lwb dropside transit cost more to insure ,only did 30 to gallon at best and was a pain to drive.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Pro Gard on July 5, 2009 at 8:05pm: I follow the same method as Ian, less than three year old vehicles and private sales.

Brand new vehicles have zero appeal, a two or three year old vehicle is not only a bargain due to depreciation but most importantly any faults will most likely have been sorted under warranty.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Big Dig Groundworks on July 5, 2009 at 9:36pm: I have had my T reg swb transit for 2 years now and its only got 76000 miles on clock but does have a few rust stains on it but it starts everytime and is good for another 5 years with a bit of tlc.

But must confess I will be looking to change it next year for a much newer model!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Donny Bryan on July 6, 2009 at 11:27am: Not my favourite subject at the moment.

The problem is that you have no idea what you're getting however carefully you research it / have it checked - and that includes vans still under warranty.

I had years of trouble free service from an ancient LDV until it was written off in a 'no fault' accident (elderly gentleman with sight problems didn't see it!!!). However, taking onboard Martin's point it looked dreadful & did not give the right professional impression - something that was being increasingly commented upon. I'd turn up with my professional image - 'uniform', documents, approach etc...and behind me would be a proverbial rust bucket!

Like most of you I would never consider buying new so we did our homework and bought a 2 year old Vauxhall Vivaro van privately (1 owner) for a fair price with a full service history, verified mileage & 6 months manufacturer's warranty left to run. It was in excellent condition and I had it professionally checked out including checking repairs history (none) with Vauxhall as it was still under warranty. However, despite all that the van turned out to be a total nightmare and ultimately following it's latest breakdown has been condemned despite being only 5 years old, properly serviced/maintained. As for Vauxhall, well they don't know the meaning of customer service - apparently they do not think it's unusual for a van engine to fail terminally at 102,000 miles on the clock - a 'fact' they clearly don't advertise. Overall this van has cost me dearly in terms of repair costs, jobs lost when it has broken down, time wasted at garages and arguing with Vauxhall and most of all the stress.

So this left me with a real dilemma. How do I get a stress free suitable van at a cost I can afford? We did our homework carefully consulting motoring associations, breakdown guys, commercial garages, and combing the internet for owner reviews and then did similar homework on how to get the best possible deal. We looked at leasing, buying from a dealership - new and 2nd hand - and buying privately. We compared vans still in manufacturer's warranty with those outside of it, and vans of all ages. We quickly discounted buying new - it's foolish to take the hit on the depreciation - and leasing. So that left us with 2nd hand of some kind and the same thorny issue as last time - how to slant the odds even further in our favour.

It was a really hard decision but ultimately we managed to negotiate a great deal on a demonstrator with just 65 miles on the clock at a price akin to an older much higher mileage vehicle. This has all the advantages of a new vehicle without the depreciation loss. The advantage to me is knowing that I can concentrate on my business for the next 3 years and not worry about my van. That to me is priceless based on the last 3 years nightmare.

A second hand vehicle can turn out to be either a great buy or a total nightmare and even when you do all your homework to slant the odds in your favour it still doesn't always work out. Hopefully nobody will end up with a nightmare experience like mine!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John www.acegardenservices.co.uk on July 6, 2009 at 8:08pm: I had an email today from my accountant, (gave her the car figures a few days ago). She has just started to lease a car, her previous car was three years old and cost her £11000 new. After doing all the depreciation calculations etc etc, it worked out that she could lease a new car valued at £22000 for exactly the same as running her old car.
I am still trying to work out which bit of her car I am paying for ?; ▶ Reply to This