My Car Has Stolen Money From Me...

Flakmunky · January 24, 2012, 08:05:12 PM

Hi All Petrol Heads!

Just wanted a little whinge to the other petrol heads out there....

The other day I found out just how expensive my love of cars is...

I have to change my beautiful 2008 BMW 325i for a 5 door saloon due to the fact there is a little Munky on the way...

So after owning my car for almost 2 years I find it has stolen approx. £10k from me; it's worth about half what I paid. If it had been new I would expect this, but it was almost 2 years old when I bought it!

And I distinctly remember the salesman spouting about 'best-in-class residuals'!

So what is it about cars that makes us go soft in the head?! And dare you admit how much you have lost on a car (or cars) over the years?!

Still, the good news is I'm getting a new car! I pick up a Jaguar XF at the weekend!

Oh and I mustn't forget, I'm going to be a dad!

Regards,

fM

fisherman · January 24, 2012, 08:26:43 PM

hope it fits in the garage...

Sprintex · January 24, 2012, 08:36:29 PM

Don't have that problem, I avoid new-ish cars like the plague, don't like them anyway!

We have two old diesel Fiestas that were bought cheap and are our work-hacks, so will never be sold and probably just run into the ground. We also have our two Sierras that were instrumental in how we met, both need a bit of maintenance but are worth no less now than when they were purchased. Finally we have the Cosworth that has actually gone up in value since we bought it, and will continue to do so

So they only money our cars take is in parts, which is investment in its future-running rather than loss

Paul

Flakmunky · January 24, 2012, 08:45:47 PM

The MG B GT occupies the garage!

And the MG kept us going when the Beemer was broken!

Claude Dreyfus · January 24, 2012, 09:24:50 PM

Depreciation doesn't really effect me now - paid for it years ago! I have had my car for 9 years now, and have no desire to change it. Sure I get a hit at the annual service/MOT, but as I commute on the train I don't have any other service outlay.

Also bring a Volvo estate, it means I can shift lots of layout quite easily... It has proved really when moving house!

There is a lot to be said for older cars...

EtchedPixels · January 24, 2012, 09:30:49 PM

I'm a non driver (mostly for medical reasons) - in some ways I've been fortunate as I've managed to avoid car requiring jobs, but when it came to taxi costs I did sit down and work out car costs per year (depreciation, fuel - oww, insurance - real owww, maintenance, MOT, ...) and I figured out I could spend a lot on train and taxi fares without feeling quite so bad about it

Alan

Newportnobby · January 24, 2012, 09:50:56 PM

I rode motorbikes for years until I took my car test at age 29. My first car was an 850cc Mini which I paid £650 for at the time. Within a month I hit a badger late one night, the car went up into the air and when it came down a front tyre burst. I swerved up the road until the car hit a grass verge, rolled over and went backwards into a water filled ditch. Being disoriented I crawled out through the space where the rear windscreen had been into a petrol filled ditch - the fuel pump was still running! Eventually someone stopped and picked up a very smelly me and took me to hospital. Badly damaged right arm, and have never been able to ride bikes since. All I got for the Mini was what I could salvage for scrap, less the £40 to have it towed out of the ditch.
Many years later I gave a mate a lift home late one night in my Focus when, once again, I hit a badger which caused £600 of damage to the front of the car. Both times I was on TPF &T insurance - doh!
All this on top of normal running costs. Maybe I shouldn't say that cars have cost me money, more like badgers have

Still, at least I wasn't on a bike when I hit them

Oldman · January 24, 2012, 09:58:43 PM

Mine steals money every time I have to fill it up. :'( Shell V- Power only
MPG doesn't help but the smile on my face after a spirited drive is worth it.
Thats on a 18year old car, but it's paid for in full. MOT and road tax due next month so change the exhaust again.

Claude Dreyfus · January 24, 2012, 10:10:46 PM

Quote from: Oldman on January 24, 2012, 09:58:43 PM
Mine steals money every time I have to fill it up. :'( Shell V- Power only
MPG doesn't help but the smile on my face after a spirited drive is worth it.
Thats on a 18year old car, but it's paid for in full. MOT and road tax due next month so change the exhaust again.

Serves you right for having a 'neighbour scarer'...

Oldman · January 24, 2012, 10:18:57 PM

Quote from: Claude Dreyfus on January 24, 2012, 10:10:46 PM

Serves you right for having a 'neighbour scarer'...

Trouble is there are quite a few of the breed living on our estate.
Think we can cater for every model Subaru made apart from a Justy.
Foresters, Legacys,Impreza WRX, P1, STI (Newage and classic)and the wagons as well.
ages range from 1994 vintage to 2011 new ones.

Claude Dreyfus · January 24, 2012, 10:23:30 PM

Quote from: newportnobby on January 24, 2012, 09:50:56 PM
Within a month I hit a badger late one night, the car went up into the air and when it came down a front tyre burst. I swerved up the road until the car hit a grass verge, rolled over and went backwards into a water filled ditch. Being disoriented I crawled out through the space where the rear windscreen had been into a petrol filled ditch - the fuel pump was still running! Eventually someone stopped and picked up a very smelly me and took me to hospital. Badly damaged right arm, and have never been able to ride bikes since. All I got for the Mini was what I could salvage for scrap, less the £40 to have it towed out of the

Heavens...it says something for 'newer' cars that I walloped a
badger at 50 mph and got away with no damage to the car. The same could not be said for the badger though!

Jamesukusa · January 24, 2012, 10:26:05 PM

I dread to think how much I've lost on my cars. (shudder) I just view it as a sort of hobby expense. One of my best back in England was a Ford Scorpio 2.3, I bought it for £400 quid on ebay and sold it before I emigrated two years later for £600.

Apart from fuel the only thing I paid out was for a new petrol tank seal.

I know what you mean about little ones changing your car habits... My love affair with convertibles is over for now, I have a Ford F-150 truck but that is going soon as I only get 17MPG and it's nearly $4.00USD a gallon here now. (I know, I'm spoilt) but I commute over 70 miles a day so my fuel bill is $400 yes, four hundred a month. So it's back to a 4 door saloon. $:-\$

4x2 · January 24, 2012, 10:32:22 PM

I paid £400 for my Audi 80 in feb 2011, passed the last mot with flying colours and so far has only cost me the petrol and magic trees

Exhaust will have to be done soon though, can't keep bodging it anymore..... Jubilee clips just aren't man enough !

Pete Mc · January 25, 2012, 04:56:28 AM

I have a Skoda Octavia 1.9 TDI.I have owned it since august 2004 and apart from one very expensive bill,it has not cost me hardly anything to run.Tyres,battery,servicing,lower suspension wishbones are the only items I have had to replace,as well as the big ticket repair bill for a blown turbo,which went bang on the way back from Hornby Live at Hartlepool in 2010 on the A1.We're talking formula one style turbo failure here,not just a loss of power but blue smoke then a huge cloud of white smoke,caking the whole of the back of it with a fine mist of oil,which then baked on to the car in the hot summer sun whilst awaiting repair.It were a.right pig to shift.

Cost me just under £700 in the end,thing is though,there was no indication of it failing,just blue smoke,then a few miles later a dirty great big cloud of white smoke was all I could see in my mirrors.Turbocharger total bearing failure being the rather blunt diagnosis that was offered by the AA man.Still,its fine now and still has almost 8 months of warranty left on the turbo,so I'll keep it for now then will buy an ex fleet VRS TDI estate in either blue or grey.I'll be able to take me layout on the road then,(that'll be the exhibition layout I am planning).

It cost me £6k in 2004 and is not worth that much now,but as I own cars for.a while longer than a lot of people,I don't worry about depreciation so much.

Thats for new car buyers to swallow.

And I'm just the tiniest bit envious of you flakmunky,an XF is a very desirable car and its got one of the best badges on the front.

Repeat in your best Clarkson voice,I've got a Jaaaaag.

Tackleberry · January 25, 2012, 05:55:00 AM

Ive got an 05 Vauxhall Vectra which I paid £3000 for nearly 3 years ago (and the longest Ive ever had a car for!!!), went to a local Vauxhall dealer quite a few monthes ago as they had a rather nice 06 Vauxhall Astra VXR for £10000 and they offered me £1500 p/x on my car - err no poke it!!!!