THREAD FOR WOMEN ON BUYING NEW / PRE-Owned CARS 🚗

I will cover

1) structure your finance deals
2) lease/buy option
3) buying at auction vs dealer
4) options when motor plan is expired
5) what mileage means in the real world
so it’s D-day for u to get a car , you excited 😆...you’ve been waiting to be finally in charge of the aux forever
Well here is how u can go about it ✹🚗
1) before you walk into a dealer or auction house , the most important thing is “affordability” ... owning a car is not just the installment

You have

-fuel
-tires
- service

That u will need to consider for the next 36-72 months depending on how u structured your deal
2) cars are just like kids ....there will always be unexpected expenses that come up
And u need to prepare yourself for this, or u will end up resenting your vehicle and u will be stuck in a contract that drains you mentally and financially
3) best way to calculate if u can afford a vehicle is taking 20-30% of your income ( after tax/deductions ) n seeing if the car installment ,insurance and fuel will fit that

E.g if I earn 15k

30% of that would be R4500

Ideally that should cover the 3 items I mentioned above
4) now since we live in South Africa where black women are underpaid , logically speaking ... that 4500 won’t cover all items ...so I would say ..as long as the 30% covers your car installment and insurance ...u can survive
Fuel u play it as the month goes dep on how u travel
5) so now you calculated your affordability...what’s the next step ?

It will be shopping/ researching what car is within that bracket ...

Now it has been said that technically , South Africa is a preowned market and not a brand new market bec most people can’t afford new cars
6) which is very true ....u most likely won’t get a brand new car for 4.5k a month ( including insurance ) unless you put a huge deposit 50-100k minimum and take the longest period ( 72 months ) offered
7) Now this is where pre owned vehicles come in (my fav)

What people don’t realize is part of the reason new cars are so expensive is bec of the tax ...which 1st buyers incurred ... by the time the vehicle is re-sold n enters the pre owned market ...that tax has fallen off
8) so u have to make a choice , do I want bragging rights to say I’m the first owner ( nobody cares ) and u pay a huge amount for a new car or do I pick up a clean affordable low mileage pre owned car which is half the value of the new one
You ego will determine your pockets
9) last year there was an article that stated women contributed the most to buying new vehicles , ask yourself why ?
Most cases women don’t have sufficient knowledge on vehicles , so they look for convenience.
New car means service plan and no “problems “
10) so let’s narrow it down

Reasons for u paying so much for a new car is bec

First owner tax
Service plan
Bragging rights

Only one of these reasons is worth it ( service plan ) the rest don’t make sense to spending so much
11) understanding how dealerships make money will also show u ways to save money

Dealers don’t make that much from selling cars ,they make a shit load from servicing your vehicle (over priced) and selling “extended motor plans”

You end up paying 60k for a motor plan (useless)
12) imagine paying 60k for an extended motorplan 4 ur car to be serviced 4x which will only cost u 30k at most if serviced elsewhere ... now can u see why I say its useless ?
They pray on your fear of the car breaking or it costing a lot for a service only for u to spend more đŸ€Ł
13) this is where research of the vehicle u want plays a huge role
I will talk about Mercedes in this example bec that’s where my experience is
14) Now cars are engineered different ... a merc can take more mileage than a bmw before giving problems bec they genuinely stronger vehicles ( my experience from owning both )
So when looking for a pre owned vehicle , look for 2 things

-mileage
- service history
15) with Mercedes their cars have been proven to go up 1M mileage ..like I said ..very strong vehicles ...but let’s dissect the common cars that people buy daily and their limits

A-class
C -class
16) simple understanding of cars/engines ....the bigger the engine ..the probability of it lasting longer (unproblematic) is higher

E.g. a four cylinder (small engine) car ( a-class/ polo ) will start to give problems at high mileage (150-200km)
17) vs a big engine car v6/v8 ( c63) which will only start to give problems at higher mileage (500k ) as bigger engines are more reliable but cost more to maintain in the longer run
18) so let’s go back to point 14)

When looking for a pre owned car (small engine) so that’s your polo ,1series , a class etc

If u a first time buyer I would recommend your mileage be between 30-90k max
Bec like I said real problems only occur around the 150-200k mark
19) Ok now u you have found your beautiful polo or kwid with 80k on the mileage ...the next thing the salesman will try and do is sell you an “extension motor plan” that has to be the most bullshit u will ever hear ..I will tell u this for free.
20) so he says 60k for the motor plan and it covers 3 years or up to 130k km

So u telling me from from 80-130km it will cost u 60k to service that car ?

A kwid/ polo ?

Definitely fucken no.. at most it will probably cost u 20k if u stretching it
21) so the trick id recommend .. say u have 60k 4 a deposit ..on a pre owned vehicle .. I’d say drop 40k on the car and keep 20k in your savings for expenses u might run into in the next 3 months (mechanical) instead of giving the money to the dealer 4 a warranty that is useless
22) once you do that atleast u know u have 20k for services saved up for the future ..If u still feel alil uneasy bec like I said (small engines can give u problems at high mileage) i suggest u get something called mechanical insurance,bidvest has the best in the game (not promo)
23) now mechanical insurance is not a Motorplan ..
You still service the vehicle ..the mechanical insurance kicks in when say for example your turbo or timing chain fucks out (expensive car parts ) depending on your agreement ..they will pay for that
24) let me go back to my point on research ...researching the car u want will help in this bec u will know that
E.g my A200 amg is said to have a timing chain issues at 150k km..lemme get a bidvest motor plan that covers that ,so when the time comes (earlier /later ) I’m sorted
25) mechanical insurance unlike motor plans are affordable , the one iv mentioned above (bidvest ) averages at 300-500pm
Research what problems you car gets at certain high mileage figures ,then look at what mechanical parts bidvest insurance covers ,then make the sound decision
26) YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SERVICE YOUR CAR AT THE DEALER ...that shit is a scam

Now unlike gents ..women can’t rely on a bush mechanic ,so I’d recommend u go to reputable service stations ,like Bosch etc or find someone that works at the agent and ask him If he can service the car
27) on the side etc ..most of the guys that serviced my cars in the past worked/work at merc and they offer me their own private (weekend rates ) which are normally half the price you would pay if u actually went to merc
Only time I’d say go to the dealer if it’s a major problem
28) some guys even say they will charge u for the labour n u just get the parts ..there is a place called goldwagon..they are a reputable company that sell most car brand parts at a fraction of what the dealers sell it for ..so u can buy your parts there n take it to ur mechanic
29) tires.. if you a woman in SA I recommend u change ur tires to run flats/pick a car that comes with run flats ..they alil more expensive than normal tires ..but worth it
Runflats can go up 2 another 60km after it has been punched..so u won’t be stuck on the road at night
30) when buying tires ..always change them in 2s or 4s

Never buy 1 or 3 at a time ...it will cause you to lose handling and also cause your new tires to wear out quicker
31) when structuring your deal there are 2 things to consider

-Period of the contract (longer period means lower installment but higher interest amount in the long run )

-Do I add a balloon or not
32) balloons are seen as no go bec technically it’s another loan within a loan
So let’s say u take a balloon for 100k on your vehicle worth 350k
That brings your financing amount down to 250k ,which means a lower installment by 1k pm
33) problem with a balloon is ...it practically means ..when u done pay up the 250k , u either need to have the 100k upfront u promised or we can finance that to ..which means more interest ..and more money coming out your pocket
34) but there is a trick that can work in your favor with balloons ...
You need to research the residual value of your car ( residual value is the value an asset /vehicle will have at the end of its lifetime , and the car /asset cannot drop below this value )
35) let’s say my car is worth 350k

Since it’s a Mercedes chances are my residual value will be 70k (lowest ) meaning ,no matter how shit the condition is ..it won’t drop below 70k
36) so what I can do is take a balloon for 70k on my car ,that will then drop my installment by 1.2k more or less Pm
Then when I pay up my first contract ..the bank will come back and say “but Leo u still have u 🎈 of 70k , do u wanna give us cash or re finance it ? “
37) you have 2 options

Choose to refinance it/give them cash

Or u can try sell the car privately..if u lucky u might get more than 70k ..let’s say 75k... I mean it a merc that wouldn’t be hard ...

U give the bank their 70k and u take your 5 k and call it a day
38) but that is a risk u need to calculate ...I wouldn’t suggest taking balloons on non Premium cars (kwid ) bec u can’t predict their residual value ..cars like Merc,bmw,Audi (certain models )u can get away with it
Not only do u pay a lower installment ,u might make profit even
39) you a new car buyer ??? ....don’t even think about buying auctioned cars
Most times auction vehicles have huge problems and they don’t even tell u bec them themselves don’t even know ..their job is just to sell the car ,to recover the bank’s money
40) cheap affordable car...I’d say look at we buy cars

They very similar to an auction bec most times they buy auctioned cars ..but the difference is ..they do the deka report for u ( it’s a report that practically tells u everything wrong with the car ) if it has problems
41) iv bought many cars from them ..most didn’t have problems ..but the ones I bought that did have problems ..atleast I made an infirmary decision and I knew about their problems bec of the deka report ..

Then U can choose if it’s worth fixing or not ..sometimes it’s worth it
“Informed “
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