Buying a car.

[Tashyboy]

Having a runout tomorrow to look at a couple of cars. I know what I want and have seen a couple. But there’s one thing that’s stopping me from getting one at the moment. The new plates/ cars come out on Sept 1st, so will there be more choice in the market that week and more importantly will prices drop for cars that are another year older. I don’t want to buy a car this week and find the price has dropped in two weeks time.
Thoughts appreciated

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Having a runout tomorrow to look at a couple of cars. I know what I want and have seen a couple. But there’s one thing that’s stopping me from getting one at the moment. The new plates/ cars come out on Sept 1st, so will there be more choice in the market that week and more importantly will prices drop for cars that are another year older. I don’t want to buy a car this week and find the price has dropped in two weeks time.
Thoughts appreciated

You won't find that. You might find that right now dealers are willing to do a deal to meet sales targets. Personally, the number plate is unimportant, so b uy what you want when you find it.

 

[jim8flog]

You are right the number plate change does affect prices. It depends on the garages attitude e.g will they be trying to clear old stock before the new numbers come in, make specific targets before the plate change to get the deals of the manufacturers etc

 

[jim8flog]

Where it makes the most difference is when you come to sell e.g a March car will have a better resell value than a Feb plate even if there is only a day between the two.

 

[harpo_72]

To be honest I hadn’t considered this … I need to sort out a new car as I wrote the family one off.
I am a bit unsure which direction to go … electric or hybrid.
The electric stuff appeals because the smoothness of the drivetrain but the software dependency and battery technology could mean high depreciation.
The hybrid stuff is interesting I am just seeing what is on offer and how it blends between both power sources..
We should see updates for September sales as this will be pushed by the vehicle marketing teams as September is still seen as a major sales point. However I have not seen this .. which is why it had passed me by.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

To be honest I hadn’t considered this … I need to sort out a new car as I wrote the family one off.
I am a bit unsure which direction to go … electric or hybrid.
The electric stuff appeals because the smoothness of the drivetrain but the software dependency and battery technology could mean high depreciation.
The hybrid stuff is interesting I am just seeing what is on offer and how it blends between both power sources..
We should see updates for September sales as this will be pushed by the vehicle marketing teams as September is still seen as a major sales point. However I have not seen this .. which is why it had passed me by.

I've just spent 2 weeks driving a Toyota Camry hire car. This was a petrol hybrid, not plug in. We did 1,100 miles and averaged around 50mpg, fully loaded with 4 adults and 2 suitcases. In balance, a lot of the journeys were long at a steady 60 but there were times when some harder work was had.

I was hugely impressed with the hybrid system. You basically start off in electric mode and then when you reach about 10mph, very approximate figure, the engine kicks in. There is no power surge when the petrol engine kicks in, no great extra noise, it was seamless. There is a replacement rev counter on the dash which shows when the engine is working on it's own, when the batteries kick in, when it's recharging. It does make you driver smoother, no bad thing.

Toyota are the kings of this tech so I'd be looking there or Lexus. It made me wish that a/ there was a UK model which suited what I want now (there isn't), b/ mfrs had been allowed to develop this tech further instead of being pushed into pure electric. As you can probably tell, I was very impressed by it .

 

[bobmac]

I'm not a big fan of hybrids, twice as much to go wrong and most likely to catch fire.
But if they suit you, go for it

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Best week to buy a new car is the last week of November [we discovered ]
Monthly quotas for sales staff plus run up to Christmas.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I'm not a big fan of hybrids, twice as much to go wrong and most likely to catch fire.
But if they suit you, go for it

Toyota and Lexus top the reliability charts most years, have done for many years. I'd trust them over pretty much any other mfr in terms of reliability.

 

[cliveb]

You are right the number plate change does affect prices. It depends on the garages attitude e.g will they be trying to clear old stock before the new numbers come in, make specific targets before the plate change to get the deals of the manufacturers etc

My wife bought her latest car (used, one year old) towards the end of February this year.
The dealer was desparate to close the deal before the end of the month and therefore gave us lots of incentives.
So I'd guess that buying towards the end of August might get you a deal.

 

[Billysboots]

Toyota and Lexus top the reliability charts most years, have done for many years. I'd trust them over pretty much any other mfr in terms of reliability.

I have driven any number of Lexus’s at work and they have, without exception, been awful. Horrible cars to drive.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I have driven any number of Lexus’s at work and they have, without exception, been awful. Horrible cars to drive.

Ha ha, interesting to hear. I always imagined them to be quite classy. What didn't you like about them?

Irrespective, they are still reliable (if awful )

 

[GreiginFife]

I have driven any number of Lexus’s at work and they have, without exception, been awful. Horrible cars to drive.

I’d counter that with my experience. When I bought my last car I narrowed it down to a few options, one was the RC-F. I found it a very good drive. It was responsive both at the throttle and in the steering. Cornering was superb with a tight and controlled feeling suspension.

What let it down in absolute terms was the interior. It was horrible, dated with loads of plastic and really old looking large dials and knobs.

But when it came down to final decisions, the 8 series only just shaded the RC-F purely on the interior.

 

[Springveldt]

Best week to buy a new car is the last week of November [we discovered ]
Monthly quotas for sales staff plus run up to Christmas.

We got a cracking deal on the wife's Citroen C3 Picasso HDI when we bought it (only car we've ever bought new). Got it at the end of May as the dealer was desperate to hit his sales numbers, book price was £17995 and we got it for £11000 plus a 10 year old Honda Jazz that we traded in. The 1 year old ones on Autotrader at the time were going for £11000.

She's had it 8 years now and loves it. Car prices are that mental that we would still get at least half our money back if she sold it now.

 

[GreiginFife]

If you are after a specific model then the beat time to buy isn’t registration related, its right before a lifecylce update (often referred to as “facelift” models).

Dealers with pre LCI models will often offer stupid discounts to get them out of stock or out of the factory pipelines before the new versions arrive.

 

[bobmac]

Toyota and Lexus top the reliability charts most years, have done for many years. I'd trust them over pretty much any other mfr in terms of reliability.

I wasn't talking about specific makes and models just hybrids in general

Type	Fires (per 100K vehicle)	Total Fire
1. Hybrid	3474.5	16,051
2.Gas	1529.9	199,533
3.Electric	25.1	52

 

[CountLippe]

I'd also add, the last cars before a facelift are usually the best as the engineering has been tuned over the lifecycle. This resets to zero with the facelift.

 

[Billysboots]

Ha ha, interesting to hear. I always imagined them to be quite classy. What didn't you like about them?

Irrespective, they are still reliable (if awful )

The build quality. I have found them, without exception, to be really shoddy. For a supposed luxury car they remind me of my old MK3 Ford Escort. And bits dropped off that almost daily.

I can’t speak from a reliability perspective, but they’re nothing out of the ordinary to drive and, as I say, thrown together aesthetically.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

I look at it this way.
If I can afford it, it's obviously not what I really want.

I'm now much too old to get in and out of a Ferrari without lots of assistance,
so my dream car here in my dotage
is a Bentley Flying Spur.

You guys make them if I'm not mistaken.
Sadly, they're well out of my price range so I settle for a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

I hate modern cars in general, though, because the head restraints don't let me wear my fedoras.

 

[Tashyboy]

So how did the car hunting go Tash. Rammel. Looked at a couple in Barnsley, they were both very nice but one was the exact same colour as Missis Ts so that was ruled out. The other, a couple of quid short of £22K. They just will not budge on the price. The car comes with a years manufacturers warranty but if I buy another two years for £880 they will do a deal on the 3 years warranty. They would knock off £130.
Er no thanks.
Went to have a look at another car at Scunthorpe. It was a gorgeous colour, lovely interior, but for a car that’s only done 9k miles, it looked scabby. Again no movement on price but would do a deal for warranty.
Left my details with the first garage. Balls in there court.