THE car manufacturers will hate me for this, but don’t get sucked into the ‘beat January’s VAT rise’ offers.
A 2.5% saving, even on a £20,000 car, is only £500. Instead, I recommend you buy a one year old car, which will look and feel new, but save you nearer £1,500.
This is not irresponsible to the local economy. Car dealers make more from used car sales – so it’s fine for them.
New cars can still be bought by fleets who need 100 cars at once that meet specific criteria. So there is no reason for the rest of us to be charmed into buying new at full price. You will just lose it to depreciation almost overnight.
Here are three cars worth buying 'Used and Approved' to make some savings.
Nissan Micra
Better made than you might expect and great fun. Cheap to maintain and there are lots on the market pick from.
Nissan’s current offer gives three years servicing (worth about £400) and three years RAC cover (worth about £100). And it’s all yours for £8,995 – provided you get in before January, when in theory it goes up to £9,200 or thereabouts.
But according to the UsedCarExpert.co.uk guide price, a one year old car will have 18,000 miles on (you won’t notice that, I promise) and be just £6,700. Buy your own services and RAC cover and still be nearly £1,800 better off.
SEAT Ibiza
The latest SEAT Ibiza is a lot better made, yet still retains that sense of fun that has made it so popular with generation after generation of young driver.
Nimble to drive, easy to park, but just as practical as anything else, and all built using those reliable VW parts.
But the new car, even with the ‘no VAT’ offer that is currently running is a touch over £11,000. A one year old with 9,000 miles is more like £8,100. £3,000 is a serious saving for a car with such low mileage. The only snag is there are not that many on the market – so hunt them out.
Citroen C1
This tiny car is an impressively refined and spacious all rounder considering it is made of almost nothing and runs on a 1.0-litre engine.
It’s also available from Peugeot as a 107 or Toyota as an Aygo. The Peugeot I tried recently cruised on a motorway without being scary or noisey.
But Citroen have frozen VAT, making their version available for £6,495. But there are terms and conditions on the finance plan that limit you to 10,000 miles a year. Which is why you can buy a one year old one with just 10,000 miles for £5,700. £800 saved.