MB Finance. Cheers MB (Not).

[Seeker_UK]

Honda CRV.

22K for a basic diesel version?

I'll pass but thx anyway.

 

[hawk20]

OK. With a 3.5k deposit and £300 a month on HP over 3 years, what would you buy that meets the following criteria:

Must have a soft-ish ride.
Mustn't be too low to the ground.
Has an average mpg >= 30.
Must have cruise and parking sensors.

I hope you can help because "he" is short of ideas.

Oh, and FYI, I've had a shed-load of very expensive cars (in terms of running costs) in my driving career so I know the pitfalls (have an M635csi for a while, they're expensive). My budget accomodates the risk of repair costs for most marques bar Maserati, Ferrari, Porsche etc.

Did you see my posting number 95? It gives several sensible choices that meet your criteria. Buying new will get you a much lower APR especially with MB at the moment. (Toyota too when I last looked).

Don't let people put you off the B class. I have owned one and if you avoid Sport and silly wheels the ride is fine. The seating position is high, the driving position is excellent and your figures will buy a brand new one. No repairs and really good mpg will let you save for your next car too.

I've also owned a CRV and liked it. But the petrol one in auto form is poor on fuel economy and there is no diesel auto with cruise available. The ride is no better than a B class BTW.

To get height for your back, if you want to go secondhand, you need to look at all the smaller 4x4's but none offer the space or the economy of a B class. If you drove one you just might be surprised -as I was.

 

[Seeker_UK]

Cheers for the pointers Hawk but TBH, I'm to depressed to do anything - it seems I have a choice of either sticking with the CLK and having -ve equity at the end of the term or buy something so plug ugly and dull and be stuck with it for 3 years.

Neither is a very attractive prospect.

 

[hawk20]

Cheers for the pointers Hawk but TBH, I'm to depressed to do anything - it seems I have a choice of either sticking with the CLK and having -ve equity at the end of the term or buy something so plug ugly and dull and be stuck with it for 3 years.

Neither is a very attractive prospect.

Well the one thing you cannot have with the PCP type of deal that you have on the CLK is negative equity at the end. The Guaranteed Final Value is what it says -guaranteed.

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Well the one thing you cannot have with the PCP type of deal that you have on the CLK is negative equity at the end. The Guaranteed Final Value is what it says -guaranteed.

But that is the maximum price you would have to pay to take ownership of the car. PCP Man is not going to offer you that price.

If the GFV is more than market value, why would you want to pay that guaranteed price to acquire the car?

 

[hawk20]

But that is the maximum price you would have to pay to take ownership of the car. PCP Man is not going to offer you that price.

If the GFV is more than market value, why would you want to pay that guaranteed price to acquire the car?

Some confusion here. Nobody is suggesting that he has to buy the car at end of the PCP deal. I am just saying that his fear of negative equity at the end is misplaced. You cannot have negative equity at the end.

The GFV is the value they guarantee for the car at the end. Even if the market value drops to say £9k and the GFV is £10k, you do not have to pay the difference. You can hand the car back and walk away -as most do.

However, if the market value is £11k with a GFV of £10k, then you do keep the surplus. Not happening often at the moment with depressed prices, but in 'normal' times there often is a small surplus.

One of the great attractions of PCP's is that they guarantee the maximum depreciation you will experience. The value cannot fall below the GFV at the end of the contract.

 

[hawk20]

BTW there are good reasons why one might want to buy a car at the end of a PCP even if the market value was less than the GFV.

The market value is what the dealer will give you for it in part ex against another car. But that value, as a trip to Glass's Guide website will testify, is often substantially below what you would pay a dealer to buy one. That is the dealer price and it is often as much as 20% above the part ex price.

The other reason is that you know the car and its history in detail and may have looked after it really well. Any other car you buy is a bit of an unknown. And it is probably the colour you like with the spec you want, which isn't always easy to find.

 

[Rory]

22K for a basic diesel version?

I'll pass but thx anyway.

Your financial criteria said £3K deposit and £300/mth.
You'd be in the right ballpark for a new one, but anyway aren't you looking at cars that are several years old?

 

[Seeker_UK]

....but anyway aren't you looking at cars that are several years old?

I am.


So that I don't have to buy anyhting from the far east or france

 

[Rory]

I am.


So that I don't have to buy anyhting from the far east or france

Honda CRVs are made in the far west - Swindon.

 

[rhud]

BTW there are good reasons why one might want to buy a car at the end of a PCP even if the market value was less than the GFV.

The market value is what the dealer will give you for it in part ex against another car. But that value, as a trip to Glass's Guide website will testify, is often substantially below what you would pay a dealer to buy one. That is the dealer price and it is often as much as 20% above the part ex price.

The other reason is that you know the car and its history in detail and may have looked after it really well. Any other car you buy is a bit of an unknown. And it is probably the colour you like with the spec you want, which isn't always easy to find.

Interesting. The PCP on my A Class (purchased new November 2007) will come to an end in 2010. Present indications are that it will have done no more than 15-18,000 miles at most at the end of the three years. I am happy with it. What are the arguments in favour/against going for a new PCP deal on a new A Class when the time comes. Or paying the GFV to own the car. Spec-wise I would like a few improvements - I bought Classic SE as it ws available and got a good deal. Would value your opinion.

 

[hawk20]

Interesting. The PCP on my A Class (purchased new November 2007) will come to an end in 2010. Present indications are that it will have done no more than 15-18,000 miles at most at the end of the three years. I am happy with it. What are the arguments in favour/against going for a new PCP deal on a new A Class when the time comes. Or paying the GFV to own the car. Spec-wise I would like a few improvements - I bought Classic SE as it ws available and got a good deal. Would value your opinion.

Always a tricky decision. I'm hopeless at taking my own advice and get the itch to chnage far too often. Then I come up with ingenious arguments as to why it is really a good thing to change.

The avantgarde spec on the A class offers a lot IMO. Plus the facelift now offers bluetooth for easy linking to several phones and i-pod connection, which I value. The comfort seats are standard on the facelifted AG models IIRC. Steering column adjustable for reach as well as rake (£115) adds greatly to comfort too IMO. The car can virtually park itself with the clever new parktronic system (well worth a test drive). And the Blue Efficiency versions now offer amazing mpg (up to over 70mpg combined!)

With arguments like these I could convince myself to change. And it is nice to have a change every 3 years or so? BUT with miles as low as yours will have done, there is a good case for keeping on economic grounds. And will there be good PCP offers around at the time when your present deal ends? Who knows? Keep an open mind. Maybe you just see how you feel and what is on offer, and what the economy is like when the day to decide gets nearer.

 

[Rory]

Maybe you just see how you feel and what is on offer, and what the economy is like when the day to decide gets nearer.

I've never done a PCP but a big advantage is that it gives you a choice of ways to proceed. I guess the "do nothing" option would be to keep the car - no problem if you can just hand over your debit card and pay the GFV.

Bear in mind though that PCPs were designed by the car industry with the aim of getting people to change their cars every 3 years. The dealer will want to sell a new car and he will want the old one so he can sell that too. Customers who pay the GFV and keep their cars are a disaster for the dealer, so they *should* be keen to do their very best to move people into new PCPs.

 

[hawk20]

SeekerUK, I can understand coming from a CLK cab you don't want anything too ordinary and given your bad back your desire for the ML makes a lot of sense. But it comes too dear. You want a deposit of £3,000 and payments of £300 per month, you say.

I've scoured all the UK main dealers stock and a three year old ML 320 cdi starts at around the £20k mark. The current model ML came out in the UK at end 2005/early 2006. ML 280cdi's are a bit cheaper -not much- but you will want the 320 I imagine.

You can get older ones for less. The ML270cdi's, which I owned, are now £15k and under.

I have found what looks like -from a distance- a good one in Exeter. It is 320cdi diesel SE with excellent spec including COMAND, parktronic, 6 cd changer, telephone pre wiring and so on. The SE gives the best ride (good for backs) and it has sensible wheels which helps too.

Asking price is £22,845 which seems fair since Glass's Guide gives the retail price for an average one with less spec as £21,750. You may get it for that with a haggle?

Payments. If you haggle the APR can be reduced. If you get it down to their minimum this car comes out at £3,500 deposit and £395 per month at a price of around £22k.

Two years newer than your present car, well specced, and full 12 months approved used warranty. Most of all it has been serviced from new by the dealer selling it so full MBSH. They are guaranteeing a 50% residual after 3 years which is pretty good on a 4x4 in these times IMO (the GFV is £11,125).
Any use to you?

Go to their website, or via the MB website for more detail. Or phone John Moone in sales 01392 822700 and for finance talk to Martin Greene, who is very helpful, and has a direct number 01392 825024. Good luck.

By the way, they say they are short of retail stock because all the offers on new MB's have brought in plenty of people from other makes (which they don't retail). Might help with the price of yours. Or are you selling privately?

 

[Seeker_UK]

Hawk,

TYVM for the effort of finding that vehicle - sounds like a good one but even if I can pull off a masterstroke of bargaining, at £396 it's about £96 more than I can afford for an ML which, if my maths serves me well equals about £2K off the screen price or £2K on the p/ex of my car

The criteria I set is a bit of a moveable feast with regards to the monthly payments.

At the moment, the CLK costs me roughly £450 per month (Repayments, fuel, insurance, tax and servicing). Going to £300 per month for repayments is £110 more than I pay now but just about bearable. So my max monthly payments for a car can't exceed about £550 if I want to be able to save some spondulicks for when it comes for replacement.

If I buy an ML, I'll get lower fuel and tax but higher insurance and servicing costs so the £300 per month repayment is about all I can dare go to with it.

Now if I could find a nicer car that offers me some relief for my back and with a smaller engine but has the inherent quality of the MB (and I'm sorry but I just don't feel it in Hondas etc), I would be dead happy and could afford higher monthly payments which would be abated by the lower costs of fuel and tax. It really has to be something I'm going to have to be happy in for 3 years, 'cos whatever finance I go for, PCP ior HP, that#s as long as I can have it for (in 3 years time, my pay is going to take a mighty hit). I don't want to get a year down the line and wish I'd bought somthing else......

I'll keep looking.

 

[Seeker_UK]

Went to MB today & test drove a C220CDI saloon. Very nice, no aches and pains.

"I'd like one of the C200CDI Saloons on offer for £3700 down and £319 per month as per your website please".

"OK, I'll get the business manager".

Business manager comes out after 10 minutes.

"Right, £4000 deposit plus your car = £430 per month over 3 years".

"I want one like the offer on your website please - £3700 + £319 - can I have one of those please?"

"Well, eeee, oooo, errrr, you see, they only have high specced ones left in stock so they cost more"

"So why do you have £3700 + £319 on your website and on the bumph the salesman flashed at me?"

"Well we had those but we sold them all."

Quick exit.

Suffice to say, I'm not replacing the CLK with another MB. And, following a similar conversation at Audi, I won't be enjoying an A6 2.0TDIe at the price advertised on their website either.

So it's a toss-up between a Lexus IS220d, VW Passat CC 2.0TDI or a Volvo T5.

I'm sorry to leave MB again but if they're going to waste my afternoon discussing something they can't offer, they can you-know-what.

 

[PeterCLK]

don't get the Lexus the seats are awful.

 

[PeterCLK]

another dealer integrity problem.

 

[Seeker_UK]

don't get the Lexus the seats are awful.

In what way? I found them quite comfortable

 

[A180 Dream]

I'm sorry to leave MB again but if they're going to waste my afternoon discussing something they can't offer, they can you-know-what.

Yes............Maybe you are right.

Perhaps it is time you moved on