Just a bit curious really, as I've noticed a couple of people talking about having/orderring brand new mk7's.

Now, I'm probably the diametric opposite to you, because I've never spent more than £500 on a car, but.

I just don't understand why anyone would buy a brand new car. Nearly new to a couple of years old, if the price is right, yeah, I can see it, wouldn't do it myself, but it makes a bit of sense, however I can't understand why anyone would spend so much on a brand new one - can someone explain it to me?

Edited 27 December, 200718 yr by Yeti

Well car buying has to start somewhere, because if people didn't buy them new, then there wouldn't be any to buy second hand lol. When a car first comes out there won't be many used ones available? And they might want exact specs in rare colours? I might be talking rubbish but that's what I think.

Brand new cars have warranties, you can get deals on them like free servicing or free insurance (could save a young driver thousands!) and you can spec the car to how you'd like it, colour, options etc etc. Also you know where it's been and guarantees it doesn't have anything to hide whatsoever. So there is no risk involved at all.

Personally I'd probably never buy a car under a year or two old, but if you've got the money to, why not?

I'd buy a brand new car.....almost did once but then you find out how much it depreciates after a year, even after you drive it out the dealer. But I would buy one because as said you can spec it how you like and you will know how its been treated so nothing 'should' surprise you when things go wrong.

A new car is the only kind of car I'd buy from a main dealer though, after what a friend of mine has just gone through with her 53plate Clio.

Some people do it for image too.

I'd love a brand new car, but it costs too much in depreciation. Just driving off the forecourt and you've lost about 10% value

Because they are mental

because they can afford it?

me personally if I could happily afford to I would buy new cars, mainly for the reasons said above

Not everyone has the same attitude to cars as 80% of the people on this forum. They want piece of mind, a warranty to cover repairs and completly hassle free motoring (yes I know a new motor can be as unreliable as an older car!!) IMHO this accounts for the majority of the UK driving population. Bring into it all the above mentioned things; they can afford it etc etc

Just my 2 pence worth

I wouldnt buy a new car i must agree .

I understand why people do it yes but in my eyes it just burns holes in your pockets .

Young people who get them on finance really are making a bad decision ..

Yeah, Tris and Hoppy are right.

If you can afford it, want piece of mind , warranty and choice of spec/models then why not? For many though its all about the image.

Personally, I couldn't give a toss about image. However, we do buy our family car when they are a year or so old for the other reasons stated. You still get a wide choice of mint cars with low mileage and warranty but with the big lump of depreciation out of the way.

Our top spec'd Focus Cmax Ghia with virtually all the extras available was almost £23k when new in September 2004. We paid £15k for it when it was 12 months old and had 11k on the clock. Thats why I wouldn't buy a brand new car, even if I could afford it.

In most peoples mind new = good car, used = crap car. THough this bears little relation to how it is in real life! I would struggle to buy a new car, unless there were very specific reasons why i wanted it... Thats assuming i could afford it! There are so many used bargains out there, that i dont see the point paying a premium for a new model.

if u got the money.. why not for all the reasons above. I've had 5 n 1 6months old as it was a bargain.

not got the cash anymore but was fun.

i bought mine because i just got cheap finance deal while i moved out at the time so it sort of made sense this is why i went and bought a small engined Polo to lower the insurance down too, trouble is I've got the optional final payment to come yet so thats gonna be another loan and a few more years paying for it!

But I've got piece of mind as its a very reliable car and if it does go wrong i can just take it back as theres still warranty, i guess its up to you if you want one really and as far as image goes yea i love having a nice new car and people that dont know much about cars think mines a more expensive VW

New = newer technology, emmisions tend to be lower (less tax, Pay less for my 1.9 TDI than my 1.4 polo), often better fuel consumption,

warranty (is a big one), NO Mot too (which helps), safety is getting better all the time (family man concerns) etc. Personally I tend not to buy

brand new, but go for cars which have already had their initial depreciation like a year old, still with 2 years warranty (unless you buy a Kia ceed).

To an extent, I understand the arguements but.

Warranty - A year old car will still have a fair amount left. Parts and labour cover with the AA adds about £5 to £8 a month for a car under 10 years old.

Reliability - So long as it's not a SAAB or French, chances are anything under 5 years old is going to be incredibily reliable. A mate of mine drives a 52 plate focus (was 2 years old when he bought it) and he's never had any form of problem with it (well, except when he tried to hump a mini with it). And I've got to say it, but I drive a 20 year old Toyota. I rely on it for my job and I've done at least 30k in it in a year and a half that I've had it (that'd wipe out most new car warranties). It's had no love from me at all, and it's broken down once in that time.

As riskie and breadman say, the bargains are the 6 month old to a year old ones.

Image - Say you're getting a brand new polo, if you want a bit of spec (which you do of course), I'd guess you're going to be spending between 8 and 12 grand? If I were spending that sort of money on a car to impress people, I'd want at least a C-Class Merc.

personally I think it's all about "keeping up with the jones's" and an image thing. It certainly doesn't seem to make any financial sense that I can see. Although I guess people like the piece of mind of having a lengthy warranty. Plus a lot of people think an older car will just be less reliable. I dare say crash protection technology comes into it with a lot of people too.

Personally I'd only buy a brand new car if I was absolutely loaded and could pretty much just buy it outright.

people who buy absolutely brand spankers cars are nuts unless they get an amazing cost of change from px'in, extra goodies and a finance deal that has the seller poking a turtle head...

however you can get the same thing on a 6-12 month old car with next to no mileage on it...

for example my dad got a jaguar xkr, 6 months old, 2300 miles on it, 10k off list price with 15k of extras on it, the seats were worth 5000 pounds alone...

some silly bugger ordered 5k seats, drove 2k miles and went you know this aint for me and lost out big time...

your laughing now with some of the old jags, i mean you can pick up an xkr on an S plate for less than 15k and your getting a phenomenal amount of car for your money with a 4 litre 370 bhp supercharged engine which dicks ferraris at motorway legal speeds and rocks on to 155 miles an hour before getting restricted...

my friend got herself a brand new daewoo matiz and they claim a 5 year warranty on parts, servicing and all that polova, she still had to sell out cash come service time?!

and with more cars being produced that people arent buying there are stockpiles of cars that has delivery miles on that are a year old or so, never been touched and the prices compared to list are spectacular!

if i had 15k to spend on a car now it sure as well wouldnt be a new one, id get a crappy model ford focus or something which would be rather sparse inside, or and off the tits jags with enoughvpower to make small children cry

but steve if these suckers didnt buy new cars, we wouldnt get cheap bargains down the line, and plus like you said your at the other end of the spectrum and i know you can get some fantastic cars for sub 500 quid, you only have to look in the paper at some of the 4 door saloons packed full of goodies and mod cons at bargain basement prices

To be honest, buying new seems to be a false economy. On a car that costs say 10K new, within 2 years you will be getting maybe 6-7K back if youre lucky, depending on what it is. Yes tax is cheaper and no MOT for 3 years, but then spending 10K on something secondhand will get you an awesome car, as much insurance as you need to pay, and cover tax, servicing etc etc.

my friend got herself a brand new daewoo matiz and they claim a 5 year warranty on parts, servicing and all that polova, she still had to sell out cash come service time?!

Really? My grandad got a Daewoo Tacuma on Motability (but it was hire purchase, so all costs down to him), it was 7 or 8 months old when he got it and only had it 9 months because some idiot went into it, but he got the service completely free. Didn't spend a penny on that

dont forget lease(sp) companys and higher cars and company cars are all usualy bought brand new

new cars are better than old ones if you ask my dad, the thing is he knows nothing at all about cars and can't even give a valid reason why they are better, they just are. this is probably the same for a lot of new car buyers. this probably stems from the keeping up with the Jones thing already mentioned...

dont forget lease(sp) companys and higher cars and company cars are all usualy bought brand new

Add to that taxis too, especially with some companies refusing to give contracts to taxis unless their cars are less than 2 years old etc

Edited 27 December, 200718 yr by wizardflake

If I am buying with my own money then I would look for a car that's 2 years old but if its company money then a new car it is.

You don't buy cars to be investments. they will not normally go up in price (until they bottom out and start getting called classics) they will only cost money and lose money at the same time. So if you look at it in that way I have no idea why people would buy cars at all. :)

Mk5 Golf GTI is the only car my Dad has ever bought new. I found the Mk7 for my mum almost new. 1 month old, 700 miles on the clock and over 1.2k over the list price

Yep like already stated if i could afford a new one i cant, so i just buy the newest i can afford... if its a later model I'm after obviously..