[BNM] [ot] car leasing

[Mark Ng]

2009/2/11 Paul Silver <paul at tenpastmidnight.com>:
> Mark Ng has a car on lease, so you might want to give him a shout Wayne.
> If he's still on this list he's too busy to read it at the moment!

Sorry I've not been active onlist - I'm lurking ;)

Leasing works pretty well for me, but mostly because I'm absolutely
USELESS at buying used cars.

> Personally, I think you can get a remarkably good car for £1k and above
> and they will last several years with little maintenance - my gf's Punto
> is great and was only £900, it's had about £150 worth of work done over
> the last two years for it's MOT. For less than £2k you could get a
> decent Focus and get several years out of it, then sell it on before
> lots of problems kick in.

Yes, you can, if you have any kind of sense whatsoever and don't do
things like buy high-mileage top end 3 yr old french cars from shady
bastards in birmingham, like the last car I bought (the one that made
me decide to lease). Although, I can't even buy sensible cars like old
ford mondeos or vauxhall astras, either. Bought one each of those and
both died within three months.

Having a new car means I don't ever worry about whether it'll start in
the morning, and being in Bournemouth these days, I often have to
travel to London or Brighton or Oxford on business, and the train fare
to London from Bournemouth is *extortion*.  Also, lets face it, having
a new car is nice.

On the flip side, each time my lease comes due, I feel guilty that I'm
the person giving reason to make another new car exist.

> Then again, I drive an ancient car that's off the road at the moment
> waiting for welding, so I wouldn't trust my opinion too far as I'm
> obviously stupid about motors.

Next time I see you, we'll trade war stories. My car history is the
worst of anyone I know, and I've only been driving a bit more than 4
years.

Mark