Used Car PCP

Gael23

Is used car PCP a thing?

My dad is looking to change and a new car is out of reach financially but the dealer has mentioned the option of going for a 221 reg on PCP which would be affordable.

Car is a 191 Qashqai with €9k HP finance outstanding. Looking to get a new Qashqai

Killer K

Yeah I have heard of this (haven't availed of it myself) but understand it is quite common in the UK.

Is he getting a decent PCP rate?

charlieIRL

Very hard to get PCP on a second hand cars here. The only rule I can find online is that the contract must finish before the car is 6 years old.

I changed my car 4 weeks ago and only 1 garage out of the 5 i visited said i could PCP a 202 reg car and 2 of the others said you can only go back 3 reg plates (221)

DaveyDave

I'm not sure how old a car can be but I've looked at cars between 6 months and 3 years old. Most PCP cars are traded in after 3 years, all of those would be available for secondhand PCP. I've only looked at cars from VW/Seat/Skoda so all VW Bank, the likes of Hyundai/Kia who use Bank of Ireland might have different rules.

PCP rates tend to be higher for the secondhand stuff so best to compare with a normal loan if you're planning on keeping the car outright to see which has the lowest cost of credit.

Gael23

yes going to try and work it out for a 221 on HP but it’s going to be really pushing it.

Is there any optimum time to change?

MIKEKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120374098#Comment_120374098

If he has a 191 and finance is tight does it make sense to change ?

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120374116#Comment_120374116

That's what I was thinking too. The PCP apr can be very high on secondhand cars. Will Nissan finance clear the outstanding money to the H.P. company and start a new agreement? I think it's going to be an expensive car change.

bazz26

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120374098#Comment_120374098

The most optimal time to change is when he owes nothing on his current car. Otherwise the current outstanding finance just gets added to any new finance deal on a newer car, ie if he owes 9k then he will still owe 9k plus whatever he borrows to buy the newer car.

PCP rates will always be higher on a used car because it's normally coming from the dealership's finance partner as well as the car being older and having less resale value when the PCP deal ends which is built into the PCP payment structure. PCP on brand new cars will always be more attractive as the car manufacturers give incentives to buyers and dealers through better finance deals to sell new cars so it benefits them. With a used car the manufacturer is not involved so there isn't the same benefit to them, only the dealer selling it. Also another thing is that with interest rates the way they are the cost of borrowing is getting more expensive for both the finance company and the customer. I don't think we are going to see cheap money again for a long time.

So what your dad really needs to ask himself is what will the 221 car do that his current 191 car isn't doing for him right now given that it will cost him more that sounds like is too much of a stretch.

CoBo55

He doesn't want to end up just buying a number plate.

PCP on a second hand car during these times ( inflation) is a bad idea.

Gael23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120375516#Comment_120375516

It needs a few things done before the NCT which will cost at least €1000 and he was just thinking given that and depreciation is now a good time to offload. When the loan is cleared the car will be 6 years old with 100k KM on it so his equity won’t be significantly more than it is now. About 9k left on HP today

He can afford the current loan but just no increase

bazz26

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120377664#Comment_120377664

Problem is that while used car prices are high, new car prices have increased by a lot more meaning today it is costing you way more to trade up than it would have before Covid. New model Qashqai jumped substantially in price over the previous model. It rarely makes financial sense to avoid depreciation or maintenance costs on your current car.

Also spending €1000 on a 4 year old car sounds like a major service and a set of tyres to me which is not unusual. And spending more on changing cars to avoid maintenance or having to put a NCT on the car makes little financial sense too. If he just wants to change car then fair enough but it will cost him a lot more now than previously.

Casati

In the past PCP was a great option for new and indeed for some used cars - i.e. loads of manufactures such as Nissan and Skoda had 0% deals on new cars because of manufacture incentive. The manufactures got involved in used car PCP - the likes of Audi had great 3.9% rates on used cars.

Now it seems PCP rates are gone really high across the board - Nissan are 6.9% and Skoda are up to 7.9% as are Volkswagen - i.e. all incentives are gone and they want to make money out of finance now - as well as charging a lot more for the car. Personally I would put the his car through NCT and hang on another two years at which point he will won't have any finance and with just 100km on it will still be v low mileage

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120382194#Comment_120382194

Definitely makes the most sense to me especially as he doesn't need to find the get out money. I see Skoda starting to drop the PCP rates as they were astronomical. October next year will be decision time for me, luckily I'll have the money to exit which is looking like the best option.

ELM327

I remember buying a 6 month old Ioniq EV, it was cheaper to do HP than PCP finance as its a used car.