UKC

I know someone who replaces his car every six months, he must have stamina.
Does anyone actually enjoy buying a car or is it an ordeal for everyone? Top price for a new one, daft low price for trade in, not happy? Let me see what I can do. Ahhh. I’m sure it wouldn’t happen with an Octavia.

In reply to Billy the fish:
I have had 3 new vans, 4 new motorbikes and a second hand car over the last 10 years and almost every time it has been a pain.
I quite enjoy the price negotiations, the pain is the constant hassles once the dipper has been paid.
Mainly missed delivery dates or in 2 cases the wrong model of bike and the wrong model of van.

In reply to Billy the fish:

A pain. I wish it was like any other consumer product (I understand why once or twice in a lifetime purchases like houses are different, particularly as they aren't things that are easy to quantify the value of) in that the price is stated as £X, and you either pay it or you don't buy it.

Kia did try this for a while, but because everyone else doesn't do it they lost sales, believe it or not!

Neil

In reply to Billy the fish:

A pita. It doesnt matter how much you pay, you always feel like they would have gone lower.

Having said that, driving a new car to your spec is very nice, if an expensive treat. Will nevrr buy new again due to the showroom door depreciation.

In reply to balmybaldwin:
Will nevrr buy new again due to the showroom door depreciation.

Depreciation is only an issue if you change your car after a couple of years and you do a fairly big mileage.

Bought my last Octy new - and kept it for 9 years and 90k miles. I've had my current one just over a year and it could possibly be my last one as it should last me until I'm 80 - by which time I may well not be driving (or doing anything else for that matter).

In reply to Lord of Starkness:

What a grim prospect, eking out the last years of ones life driving a Skoda:~)

In reply to Billy the fish:

I tend to buy a car then hang onto it until it dies. My stepdad, on the other hand, loves buying and selling cars - he's owned (off the top of my head) well over 150. He currently has a flotilla of 2CVs alongside an elderly Porsche and his normal car. I think Autotrader may be his favourite website.

In reply to Billy the fish:

Depends. My sister gets a new compay car every few months, but she works for a car hire company and gets given a new one once the current one reaches a certain mileage. Sometimes she gets a choice of her next one, more often she doesn't.

Having just bought a new car, I've found the main pain of the process is not deciding what options list you want, but which make and model you want them in. After that, the dealer isn't too bad - although I just wish they'd phone you back when they say they will.

In reply to LastBoyScout:

Your sister isn't buying a new car though is she.

In reply to The New NickB:

True, she isn't. However, I was thinking of the general hassle of changing cars frequently - just as you've got used to how one drives and responds, got all your radio stations tuned in, etc, you have to change.

In reply to Tall Clare:
>>I tend to buy a car then hang onto it until it dies

Snap. And will then have the dubious pleasure of trying to work out what's wrong with the replacement that made the previous owner want rid. Eventually I will find out, usually in the most inconvenient, expensive or on one occasion just plain dangerous way possible.


(Anyone want to buy my car? Mk4 1.6 petrol astra, 210K miles, got dents on every single panel, a whole symphony of random noises, flaky electrics and a foul smell coming out of the heater vents. :

In reply to Wingnut:

Its amazingly impressive you got a petrol Astra anything like that far... it must be on the verge of a singularity forming explosion that will eat the solar system and it will be all your fault.

In reply to Offwidth:

Perhaps she should sell it to Coel - he does astronomy stuff, right?

In reply to Offwidth:

If the explosion simply levels Telford, that will do me just fine.

In reply to Tall Clare:


Is that the collective noun?
How about "an escargatoire" of 2CVs?

In reply to Billy the fish:

PITA though mainly because I can't afford to overlap cars and I live alone, so "new car" happens because the last one just died, and I end up carless for a spell. Car shopping without a car is very inefficient so sellers unwittingly have me over a barrel.

In reply to jimtitt:> What a grim prospect, eking out the last years of ones life driving a Skoda:~)


You've obviously not driven one of the 'elegance' models -- sedate and comfy. The latest 1.4 petrol engine has a fair bit of ooomph when you need it. Us impecunious pensioners have to be careful with our cash, and know a really good deal when one comes along.

I'll wave at you the next time I see your (insert premium /performance marque here) broken down on the hard shoulder - or in a ditch!