What I don't understand how individuals can be comfortable with the amount of debt they're in over the term of the deal, then have to do the same thing all over again with essentially nothing to show for all there monthly payments.
I'm 40 (actually just remembered I'm 41!!!) and am lucky enough to be in a position where I can purchase a brand new car with my own cash and not having to go down the PCP route. It does seem to be quite a recent thing this i.e. younger drivers driving around in amazing cars. When I was younger I just purchased what I could afford at the time and never contemplated borrowing money to buy one. PCP is something that's been going in in the USA for years.
Even though I can afford £20k I'm still hesitant to do so. Ultimately I only do around 5k a year but just fancied a change. I'm quite fussy when it comes to cars and if there was another car for around £10k then I'd probably get that. Personally haven't really liked Golfs until this more meaner, angular MK7 (I did have a MK3 but that was pretty poor in GTI terms)
Edit; just to comment on what the thread is all about - I think it's about making your money work for you, so if you can borrow cash at a good rate and use your capital to earn a better return then you are better off not buying out right - generally different for everyone based on their situation.
Yeah, thanks for that. Always look at ways at getting as much as I can out of the money I have. Obviously buying a car is the worst possible thing in money terms but you can't always be thinking of saving and not having any fun in the meantime.
After looking at PCP it does appear I would be paying a hell of a lot of interest. With VW a new GTI is 6.2% interest and a used one is a whopping 10.9% interest. Yes, they try to entice you by saying they'll give you X amount towards the deposit etc but it'd still be more than buying outright. Unfortunately savings rates aren't what they used to be and even if you're savvy and put monies into different bank accounts you're still not going to get near the money lost in interest.