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Car Finance Advice

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
As you know (or maybe not) I am a third year student nurse, I am saving up for a car but don't want to get a shitty one.

So I was wondering whether I can get finance (remember I am a student, but will have a full-time job in October) for a car?

I will have a deposit of ~£2000, and the repayments I can afford as I get a bursary and have my work wages.

Any students done this before?
Any people in the finance industry able to tell me neigh or yay?

Phoned a few companies who say that I have to have a face-face chat with them, I would rather not waste my time if it is not worth it.

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't see why not, but it will be down to your specific circumstances. I'm sure a car superstore would give you a deal.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    £2k will get you a good second hand car. My advice on car finance - don't do it. It never seems to work out to be a good deal.

    If you do decide to get something more expensive, go for something different - something that will retain its value. Look for something a little oddball - how about an early 1990's Lotus Elan? Japanese engine(and a strong one at that!), convertible, very low depreciation...

    If all you need is a runaround - a car to get from A to B, have a look at the early 90's Rovers. Many of them have Honda engines, and go for peanuts. Find a 216GSi and you'll be laughing... I'll bet you'll have a heap of change from a grand!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    you could get a good deal on a second hand car with £2K - worth looking into maybe. problem with brand new cars is they generallly drop a lot in how much they are worth after a year. and if you buy one on finance you'll have to pay out for comprehensive insurance, now that might be what you are after... but if you've not been driving for very long or this is going to be your first car... it can work out much more expensive. - somehting to think about maybe?!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I agree with Panthro for 2k you could get quite a good second hand car, my boyfriends megane ('only') a grand and that has all the usual stuff like full electrics power steering etc theres loads of not so old nifty cars around for the £2000 mark.
    I only say this because my ex boyfriend bought a horrible brand new c2 and it's costing him £250 a month in repay payments and that was with a three grand depeosit down which just seems ridiculous in my opnion.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Click to see more wrote:
    My advice on car finance - don't do it. It never seems to work out to be a good deal.

    Couldn't agree more!

    I got my 03 plate Fiesta from Carcraft in Sheffield last March. The windscreen price was £7250, but I got them down to £6000. I paid a £1000 deposit and took out their finance for the other £5000. I know I was very very naive but I didn't realise until two days later that in five years I would have paid them back over £11,000!!! Later that week, I got a £5,500 (extra £500 to cover the additional costs they charged me to end the finance deal early) loan from Nationwide (where I also have all of my other accounts) at an interest rate of 6.7% and paid off Carcraft. They were a complete pain about releasing me from their finance, but a couple of strongly worded letters and a month later I was free of them. That £5,500 loan now costs me £107 a month to pay back over five years.

    My advice would be to get a loan from a bank sorted first to add to the £2,000 you already have. Admittedly, I was in full time employment, but I should think if you have enough coming in every month - and can prove it with wage slips etc - they shouldn't have a problem with loaning you the money.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i agree with the others, tbh. only i'd say buy a nice secondhand car for £1500, and put the other £500 in a high interest savings account, cause running a car is wrought with surprise expense.

    you may have budgeted for the repayments, but when you chuck on insurance, breakdown cover, tax, petrol, maintenance/MOT and random replacing of various bits that break, you might find yourself losing more money to the cause than you would like.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you do get it, dont get car finance with the people, (unless its interest free finance on a special model) and even then be wary. Banks almost always have better interest rates. I'm paying £600 for my £500 insurance cos I got it on finance (thats 20%!!). I could have actually got a credit card and it would have been cheaper. Im ok, because Im selling the bike and upgrading soon enough, but you dont want to be in a situation like Crystal Tipps was.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Right so maybe getting say a 2k loan from a bank added onto my 2k I will have - will able me to get a good enough motor that won't break down.

    Next question though - do banks give out loans to student scum like me?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Panthro wrote:
    Next question though - do banks give out loans to student scum like me?

    depends on your income.

    you will find it really tricky (but not totally impossible) to get a loan if your income is < £10,000 pa
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Panthro wrote:
    Right so maybe getting say a 2k loan from a bank added onto my 2k I will have - will able me to get a good enough motor that won't break down.

    Next question though - do banks give out loans to student scum like me?
    Depends on your history with them.

    My bank give me gold credit card with a £2,500 limit and a preapproved loan of £5000 (I think it was, they told me ages ago. It might have even been £10,000). On top of my interest free over-draft of about £1,500.

    But I've been with HSBC for ages (over 10 years) and before I became a student I worked for bit (hence the gold credit card).
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Cheers Kaff. If I work every week, I could probably earn about 12k with my bursary about half of that.

    My pal is a manager in a bank, but she is in Dublin (lucky cow!) so I will ask her when she gets back. Thanks y'all for the advice.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Panthro wrote:
    Right so maybe getting say a 2k loan from a bank added onto my 2k I will have - will able me to get a good enough motor that won't break down.

    Next question though - do banks give out loans to student scum like me?

    No such thing as a motor that won't break down - but you can get superbly reliable cars for £2k and less. Most reliable cars I've ever owned have had high-ish miles and a few years use before I got them...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    What I would do is find a good car and have it checked over, if its a good one, put a deposit on it, get a loan for anything else you need and get it. You can get great cars for under £4k. Its nice to have a budget in mind but if you're a student you could probably put the rest of the money to better use. Insurance probably wont be too cheap, so put some money aside for that, and pay it all off at teh start of the year.
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