To buy new or hold onto current car

Kashkai

I've been lucky enough that for the past 5 years, I've been able to buy new cars and change them every 2 - 3 years and so avoid undergoing the NCT. However, when I went to change my car last January (2005 Renault Megane hatch - 25,000 miles), I got a shock when I was told how little I'd get for it, i.e. €7,000 (listen Renault bashers, this massive drop in residual values of 2nd hand cars applies across all makes!!!). So my car is now up for the NCT in the next month and frankly I don't want to go through the hassle that the NCT entails.

So I did a trawl of some renault garages and they all offered €7,000 trade in (of course there's no price fixing here :rolleyes:) and the price to change was of course the same, i.e. approx €17,000 for a new Megane Monaco 1.5D (this includes the option of metallic paint at €400 which imo is a bloody scam as 99% of people end up going for metallic). Now what I found incredulous was that you hear all these stories of garages going to the wall due to lack of new car sales. So when this punter turns up to genuinely try to buy a new car, the 4 Renault garages I checked wouldn't budge on either the trade in price or the price to change. Jeez they wouldn't even throw in the metallic paint for free.

So now I'm in the position of do I go ahead and buy a new car or keep mine (which tbh is running well and has feck all mileage on it) and run it into the ground (I once had a Renault for 10 problem free years and when I sold it to my sister in law with 150,000 miles on it, it kept on going for another 3 years before it died). I'd love the new Megane and I'm lucky enough that I can afford one but the attitude of the grages is worse than in the Celtic Tiger days when I could at least get some kind of a deal.

rocknchef

keep it and put her through the NCT and place her for private sale while still driving her and if you sell it happy days and if you dont then run her into the ground.

how much do they go for private?

peasant

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

frankly I don't want to go through the hassle that the NCT entails.

A booking on the internet, an hour of your spare time and 50 euro cross the counter.

Far less hassle than trying to negotiate with unwilling dealers ...and cheaper too

EPM

If its running well the NCT will be no problem. And the 7k trade in isn't bad either. It's just the way it is at the moment. I'd imagine it wouldn't be too hard to pick a car like yours up for that price from a dealer as it is.

If it was me, I'd wait and keep it. Keep saving until you can buy a new one outright then sell your own and have a nice holiday. Thats what I'm doing:D

BrianD3

Well it's obvious that dealers are giving SFA for trade ins. 17,000 for a new Megane 1.5 Monaco with a 05 Megane as part exchange doens't even sound that bad given the state of the car market. That's not as bad a deal as some other deals (involving various makes/models) that I know of.

The other side is, if you were buying with no part exchange you could get a big discount depending on what car you're interested in. For instance, a couple of months ago I was offered a new Laguna diesel for 9k off list price. With no trade in and no haggling. VW and Peugeot have also been offering big discounts on certain models

Re: the NCT, it costs 50 quid and your existing car at mileage should not need anything doing to it to pass. If you are unlucky you might need to spend a few hundred quid on it. It'll certainly be a helluva lot cheaper than 17,000

Stephen

Dealers simply do not want trade ins. They can't shift the stock they already have.

bazz26

I pitty the day when we consider spending €50 and an an hour is considered more hassel than parting with €17k. Maybe the one good thing from this recession is that it will bring a dose of reality back to this country.

lau1247

bazz26 wrote: »

I pitty the day when we consider spending €50 and an an hour is considered more hassel than parting with €17k. Maybe the one good thing from this recession is that it will bring a dose of reality back to this country.

you said it bazz26.. I totally agree..
If OP doesn't have any other reason to change other than avoiding NCT, he would save a lot of money keeping what he's driving at the moment

joeperry

OP that's the worst excuse i've ever heard,So you have been throwing away thousands of euro every 2 years to avoid the NCT. There's an old saying it goes like this..... "you have more money than sense".

It's not just a NCT appointment you need to make,you need to make one with your GP aswell

Keep the car you have,what's wrong with it?

unkel

The NCT is hardly a hassle and the vast majority of cars pass. An '05 low mileage car is extremely unlikely to fail provided the tyres are ok and the lights work...

I have much older cars and I think I only failed the NCT once. This was because the "Cliath" bit on my Dublin license plate had faded a bit and it looked more like "Oliath" :rolleyes:

robbie_998

i'd like to know how the car you sold to your sister died ? :rolleyes:

Fishtits

What's wrong with what you've got? apart from the number plate?

Put it through the NCT and get on with it, its no big deal.

yellow012

What I find incredulous is that you have discovered first hand what absolute crap residual Meganes have in Ireland and yet your still contemplating spending 17k to change to another one (without metallic paint).
Do a search through Carzone and see what's available for 17k cash. Hopefully it might knock this mad idea out of your head.

Kashkai

The purpose of this thread was to get opinions from other motorists who had intended to trade in but were put off by the trade in prices being offered. Personally, I'd like a new car not because I'm a number plate snob who has to have an 09 reg but because I like to spend my spare money on cars, and not booze, smokes, foreign holidays or any of the other ways to waste money. At least with a car, you have something to show for your hard earned, even if it is losing a stack of money through depreciation. I've always bought Renaults and I used to get good trade in prices when I changed cars.

The new Megane is a nice car, has a good engine, good safety rating, and is loaded with a lot of extras as standard. With the new motor tax regime, I'm paying over €400 a year on tax for a 1.4l petrol engine whereas the 1.5 diesel engine in the new Megane is taxed at just €104 for the year. The insurance is cheaper too and I'll get better mileage. My current car will also probably need new tyres, brakes and exhaust in the next 12 months which will cost approx €1,000 all in.

My experience of the NCT in the past is that it is a money making exercise for the government. My previous cars "failed" for:
(a) a blown parking light bulb that went on the way to the NCT centre (it was working when I checked it prior to leaving the house) and
(b) a seatbelt that was retracted into the ceiling (it was never used) when it should have been "locked into the buckle" according to the nice NCT man. Hardly major safety issues.

As for spending an hour of my time getting the NCT done, for me, this means taking my 4 kids (9 years, twin 3 year olds and a 12 month baby - I've no babysitter) along and trying to keep them amused while my car is gone over for the money making exercise, sorry NCT. In addition, paying €50 for letting me know that my car is roadworthy is a waste of bloody money (its regularly serviced - i.e. last month).

I ran junkers for years and in my experience, the older a car gets, the more you have to spend on it to keep it going. So thats why I'm tending towards buying a new car. Its just that the arse has completely fallen out of the 2nd hand market (thanks Green Party) and me giving away a 4 year old car with very low mileage for just €7k seems crazy. I guess a lot of people are like me, i.e. want to change their car but are put off by the ridiculously low prices being offered for their trade in. No wonder the Irish motor industry is in the ****ter.

fm

op why dont you get a few trade in quotes against other brands of new cars in the same price range of a new megane,it should give you a better idea are the renault dealers giving you a decent deal(in the current market that is) to trade up.

Kashkai

robbie_998 wrote: »

i'd like to know how the car you sold to your sister died ? :rolleyes:

Well I serviced it annually whereas she never did anything apart from putting petrol in it (her words) which is why the engine seized due to lack of oil.

bazz26

Maybe I'm missing something here but you say you would have to bring 4 kids to the NCT centre with you which is a total inconvienence. Did you bring the kids to the Renault dealers with you when you got a cost to change price for a new car? Surely treking around to showrooms is just as much a burdon with 4 kids as an NCT centre?

Also you say that €50 is a money making racket by the Government, what about the thousands of euros you were comfortable paying in VRT everytime you bought a new car?

No offence but it seems to me that you are willing to justify the expenditure of buying a new car over that of putting the existing car through the NCT, the only thing you seem to have a problem with is the figure in question, which is higher than you were used to paying up to now.

Cionád

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

I ran junkers for years and in my experience, the older a car gets, the more you have to spend on it to keep it going.

It will cost a lot less than throwing your money away on depreciation. Also a 4 year old car is hardly a junker, and wont be for some years yet. If you've taken care of the Renault it will fly through the test, and your anxiety free for the next 2 years

Your paying close to 100 euro a week in depreciation so theres no comparison with the few quid you'll save in not doing the NCT/less MPG/less tax.

Kafer

If you want a new car then just buy it. No point trying to justify its purchase on here.

I usually changed my cars every 2-3 years. I am on year 3 now and have decided that I will hang on another 12 months with my current car at least. What I'll loose in the next 12 months will be very little in the overall scheme of things.

Then I'll be looking at a 2 year old 08 model that has depreciated about 50% in value

bazz26

I don't think anyone here is begrudging the OP from buying new car. Nobody needs the approval from an internet forum to buy anything.

But the OP did go on bit of a rant saying that the main reasoning behind buying a new car is because it is less trouble than putting the existing car through the NCT. The OP also mentioned that he/she would not have the time to go to the NCT centre and that the cost of the NCT was a form of extortion by the Government. Cost aside surely it takes more time to buy a new car than actually put an existing one through a test?

At the end of the day there are two choices here, either pay the going rate that the dealers want to trade up for a new car or keep the existing car and NCT it.

Kashkai

TBH I want the new car but its purely the thoughts of giving away my existing car for next to nothing thats p!ssing me off. Its only in recent years that I could afford to buy new (in the past, that 10 year old+ car belching black smoke out of its exhaust was probably me!) and I don't want to have to go back to the days of wondering if it'll start, do the tyres need replacing, is the exhaust getting worn and noisy, how are the brakes holding up etc. Plus, most garages didn't want to know you if your trade in was over 4 years old. Although this seems to have changed in that they don't want any trade in now.

Like I said earlier, I was originally just wondering if anyone else has decided to let their car go for a pittance when buying new or were they holding off from buying and until when.

BTW I managed to corral my kids in the kiddies corner of a large Renault dealership where they were looked after by an attractive young woman while I taked business with the salesman, but I don't think the NCT crowd have similar customer services :P.

As for checking into other makes, with the exception of 1 Toyota Corolla (boring car and expensive to fix - which was quite often), 1 Peugeot (unreliable at best) and 1 Fiat (I know I'm sorry!!) I've always bought Renaults and there aren't any other cars that I'd be interested in.

unkel

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

I managed to corral my kids in the kiddies corner of a large Renault dealership where they were looked after by an attractive young woman while I taked business with the salesman, but I don't think the NCT crowd have similar customer services :P

Who do you think pays for those customer services?

-Chris-

Wow, the amount of "don't buy a new car, it's a waste of money" sentiment on here is mad!

I'd say there should be a discussion of whether the €7k is a fair trade-in value, or if the OP should be going for Renault again, but if we all sit around saying "nah, stop buying stuff that you really want, it'll only end up costing you money" then the economy's not going to recover for a while...


Only 2 years ago, people were tripping over themselves to buy new cars - OP wants a new car. Is that really that crazy?

Cionád

-Chris- wrote: »

Wow, the amount of "don't buy a new car, it's a waste of money" sentiment on here is mad!

I'd say there should be a discussion of whether the €7k is a fair trade-in value, or if the OP should be going for Renault again, but if we all sit around saying "nah, stop buying stuff that you really want, it'll only end up costing you money" then the economy's not going to recover for a while...


Only 2 years ago, people were tripping over themselves to buy new cars - OP wants a new car. Is that really that crazy?

No, its not crazy, but I dont think anyone has a problem with him buying a new car. I was merely pointing out the argument of the hassle/cost of getting a new NCT is not really valid, as there is far more hassle/cost in buying a new car.

To be honest I'd be glad if he did buy a new car, as that would help the economy as a whole.

IrishCathal2008

rocknchef wrote: »

keep it and put her through the NCT and place her for private sale while still driving her and if you sell it happy days and if you dont then run her into the ground.

how much do they go for private?

Yes, I agree. This is what I would do.
If you do sell, you should consider going up north to buy.
Some really good bargains to be had.
Time the guys down here got a bit of competition.

schoolbag2

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

So I did a trawl of some renault garages and they all offered €7,000 trade in (of course there's no price fixing here :rolleyes:

Its called the market value of your car, ie an x year old Megane is worth €X. Hardly price fixing

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

Its only in recent years that I could afford to buy new (in the past, that 10 year old+ car belching black smoke out of its exhaust was probably me!)

Hence why the NCT is not just a money making exercise, it prob got rid of that pile of sh!te you used to own that was smothering everyone

robbie_998

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

Well I serviced it annually whereas she never did anything apart from putting petrol in it (her words) which is why the engine seized due to lack of oil.

ah women :rolleyes:

maybe it is ok to get a new car.... dealers are trying very hard to sell right now... im sure they can give some kind of deal or a good trade in offer to you..... i think their desperate right now

Santa Claus

OP as regards the identical offers from all the Dublin renault dealers, maybe take the kids for a spin some saturday outside dublin (kildare, wicklow, louth or meath) and see what a renault garage there would offer you.

My Dad used to find that Toyota garages in Dublin were always the same exact cash price but he could save several hundred pounds and get FREE metallic paint by buying through a Toyota dealer in Drogheda (which is 35 mins on the M1 now so a quick enough trip).

Kashkai

Agree that my next port of call should be a Renault dealership outside the pale if not up north as any Renault dealership has to honour the warranty no matter where it was bought. My Dad got his Megane saloon 1.6 auto in Liverpool as couple of years ago and there were a couple of glitches with the engine that Airside Renault in Dublin fixed for free under the pan European warranty.

Don't suppose anyone can recommend a Renault dealership within 90 minutes drive of north Kildare?

Zube

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

I ran junkers for years and in my experience, the older a car gets, the more you have to spend on it to keep it going.

Sure, but never anything like the depreciation a new car suffers in its first two years. You'd get a lot of work done on a "junker" for €10K.

I buy new cars myself from time to time, but not because it makes financial sense. I do it because I like new cars.

Manuel

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

Don't suppose anyone can recommend a Renault dealership within 90 minutes drive of north Kildare?

Carlow, Cavan, Kilkenny, Portlaoise, Drogheda, Navan, Mullingar, Athlone.

Should be able to bargain among them over the phone. "We" could do with some of your liquidity in the Midlands . Portlaoise Renault had a good few cars, when I visited it last weekend, though I wasn't looking for a Megane. One thing I did notice while looking for a 7-seater is that used saloon cars are practically stacked on top of each other in sales yards around the country.

Santa Claus

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

Don't suppose anyone can recommend a Renault dealership within 90 minutes drive of north Kildare?

Have a look here....I'd suggest Carlow, Navan, Portlaoise, Athlone and maybe even Naas (although Naas might be the same as Dublin dealers prices).

Best of luck with the hunt !