I enjoy the experience of driving a new car. Our patrol vehicles have been updated every 14-16 months over the past five years or so, as our workgroup recognises that the two of us (my brother and I) sharing a car can put some milage on it in that time. We generally get to do 100,000 - 120,000 km, then they give it to someone else who does less milage to complete the 3 year term on the front lines.
Personally, way back in 2008, Karen and I bought a 16 month old ex Avis rental car with just under 30,000 km on the clock. At the time we never thought we would ever own a brand new car.
Since 2015, however, we have managed to purchase 3 new cars off the showroom floor, trading in the other two in at 2 1/2 and 4 years old. In the later case it was as long as I was prepared to hold onto a vehicle to maintain the ability to buy new.
Somewhere in the history of this forum is a thread on how I ended up purchasing a 2021 MG SUV, the descendant of the British Morris Garage line, now made in China.
We bought our MG ZST Essence (complete with "moon" roof, faux leather heated seats and electric seat adjustments) in September 2021 for NZ $35,000, complete with on road costs and a tow bar (an added extra). In August last years the car went in for its first (10,000 km) service. Since then we've used it a little bit more often, to the point where it has taken only 8 months to reach the 20,000 km service mark.
In November last year I was working when my shift partner pulled over the local MG dealership manager. He told me then that our car (14 months old with 16,000 km on the clock) was worth in the "high $20,000 dollar range" as a trade in. I took this as being around $28 K. When I told Karen, her response was "Do it". But as we no longer have any consumer debt apart from a small mortgage on the house and one credit card, and we only had a few thousand in our "car account", I simply said it was not time to upgrade yet.
This morning I stopped by the dealership to book in for the 20,000 km service. I asked for a trade in appraisal at the same time, together with a price difference to update to the same model and specs. I told them I had only $8 K in the car account and anticipated it would cost $12-14 K to update, given the increasing costs of everything these days. I was hoping to do the update in the next 6-9 months, but in the meantime wanted a ballpark figure to work on.
I was told that the new car price had gone up by NZ$1,000. I would be looking at NZ $36,000 for the new car, including on road costs and tow bar, and our trade in was still worth $28 K, meaning we only needed the $8 K in our bank account to upgrade.
The fact is that there are still supply chain issues here (I was told last week that guitar strings and straps are like gold to get right now) and that second hand car prices are still going through the roof!
Karen is not keen on getting another car the same colour, she likes variety, but there is one ZST Essence in blue available "right now".
It has our names on it, will be at the dealership Monday and ready to be picked up late next week.
I guess it was a case of being in the right place at the right time.
Personally, way back in 2008, Karen and I bought a 16 month old ex Avis rental car with just under 30,000 km on the clock. At the time we never thought we would ever own a brand new car.
Since 2015, however, we have managed to purchase 3 new cars off the showroom floor, trading in the other two in at 2 1/2 and 4 years old. In the later case it was as long as I was prepared to hold onto a vehicle to maintain the ability to buy new.
Somewhere in the history of this forum is a thread on how I ended up purchasing a 2021 MG SUV, the descendant of the British Morris Garage line, now made in China.
We bought our MG ZST Essence (complete with "moon" roof, faux leather heated seats and electric seat adjustments) in September 2021 for NZ $35,000, complete with on road costs and a tow bar (an added extra). In August last years the car went in for its first (10,000 km) service. Since then we've used it a little bit more often, to the point where it has taken only 8 months to reach the 20,000 km service mark.
In November last year I was working when my shift partner pulled over the local MG dealership manager. He told me then that our car (14 months old with 16,000 km on the clock) was worth in the "high $20,000 dollar range" as a trade in. I took this as being around $28 K. When I told Karen, her response was "Do it". But as we no longer have any consumer debt apart from a small mortgage on the house and one credit card, and we only had a few thousand in our "car account", I simply said it was not time to upgrade yet.
This morning I stopped by the dealership to book in for the 20,000 km service. I asked for a trade in appraisal at the same time, together with a price difference to update to the same model and specs. I told them I had only $8 K in the car account and anticipated it would cost $12-14 K to update, given the increasing costs of everything these days. I was hoping to do the update in the next 6-9 months, but in the meantime wanted a ballpark figure to work on.
I was told that the new car price had gone up by NZ$1,000. I would be looking at NZ $36,000 for the new car, including on road costs and tow bar, and our trade in was still worth $28 K, meaning we only needed the $8 K in our bank account to upgrade.
The fact is that there are still supply chain issues here (I was told last week that guitar strings and straps are like gold to get right now) and that second hand car prices are still going through the roof!
Karen is not keen on getting another car the same colour, she likes variety, but there is one ZST Essence in blue available "right now".
It has our names on it, will be at the dealership Monday and ready to be picked up late next week.
I guess it was a case of being in the right place at the right time.
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