Hello everyone, my application for O licence just been granted so i will be soon looking to buy a vehicle. I want to buy Daf and will be spending between £20k to £25K in cash. I am looking on sites like autotrader, ebay, commercial mottor web site. I am based in West Midlands.
Which other websites or ways to buy a vehicle would you recommend me to look at? Thanks for all your comments,
keep the money in the bank, use the finance company
personally, if you are buying a DAF XF, get it from a main dealer 
Well, it’s worth pointing out that a £20,000 truck will end up costing over £30,000 if you finance it over four years, personally I’d say to use the cash if you have it as it won’t earn more than a couple of hundred quid a year in interest sat in the bank.
As to where to buy, personally I’d say to try to buy one from an owner rather than a dealer. Firstly he’ll know far more about his truck than a dealer will, secondly you’ll cut out the dealer’s margin and thirdly if the truck is a lemon the seller would be far less likely to want to sell it privately.
Pay for £100 of it on a credit card.
cav551:
Pay for £100 of it on a credit card.
how will you do that if it’s a private seller? (ie an owner driver)
I’ve bought several DAF XF’s recently from DG Taylor (www.dgtaylor.co.uk) - all were well presented and it was a good experience - I’ll probably be going back for more.
I run quite a few DAF XF’s and have bought mainly new, but enough used ones from different dealers to know a good one from a bad one.
I have just taken £20500 each in part exchange for some ‘59’ reg XF 460 6x2’s which have done 500K kms, but to be honest you can find similar for sale for that.
Try to buy as low kms as possible, and make sure the turbo has been changed if its done 500K kms or more - if it hasn’t, factor in £1200 or so for a titanium one.
Other than that - I wouldn’t be shy of buying from franchised or non-franchised dealers if they can prove the history.
DAF dealers may charge £5000 or so more but to be fair their warranty is more comprehensive.
In the Commercial Motor last week Flegg Transport were selling 2008 Super Spaces for 18/19 grand with only 300K on them - a good buy for sure.
Cheers
Tony
Harry Monk:
Well, it’s worth pointing out that a £20,000 truck will end up costing over £30,000 if you finance it over four years, personally I’d say to use the cash if you have it as it won’t earn more than a couple of hundred quid a year in interest sat in the bank.
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just out of curiosity, what is the interest rate in that case?
milodon:
just out of curiosity, what is the interest rate in that case?
I think Close Asset Finance quote 8%, but that’s an APR of about 23%. I borrowed £15,000 on a 35+1 deal, monthly payments are £579 and the final payment is about £200 so I’ll end up paying just under £20,500 over three years. Interest is tax-deductible but I would still say that if the OP can finance the truck with his own money then he’d be better off doing that.
Harry Monk:
Well, it’s worth pointing out that a £20,000 truck will end up costing over £30,000 if you finance it over four years, personally I’d say to use the cash if you have it as it won’t earn more than a couple of hundred quid a year in interest sat in the bank.As to where to buy, personally I’d say to try to buy one from an owner rather than a dealer. Firstly he’ll know far more about his truck than a dealer will, secondly you’ll cut out the dealer’s margin and thirdly if the truck is a lemon the seller would be far less likely to want to sell it privately.
if i was you Harry, i would find myself a better finance man
he appears to be trying to get your pants down if that is what he is telling you 
shuttlespanker:
if i was you Harry, i would find myself a better finance manhe appears to be trying to get your pants down if that is what he is telling you
I don’t think anybody would disagree that any finance company will charge you far more in interest to borrow money than your own money would earn if left in the bank.
Therefore it obviously makes sense to use your own money to buy a truck if you can, rather than borrowing a similar amount of money to that which you already have.
I thought there was a maximum amount of cash dealers could take in payment because of money-laundering or something.
Own Account Driver:
I thought there was a maximum amount of cash dealers could take in payment because of money-laundering or something.
They are supposed to report any transaction of over £10,000, although whether they actually would or not is a different matter entirely.
quite a few manufacturers offer financing at very good rates - not in the business to make money off of financing but to sell more trucks. scania and daf to name a few
Finance is eye watering unless you have lots of money in the bank which kind of defeats the point.
I don’t own a truck but i think if i did it has to be better using someone elses money and keeping you capital in the bank as long as you get a decent rate
bjd:
I don’t own a truck but i think if i did it has to be better using someone elses money and keeping you capital in the bank as long as you get a decent rate
You’d be lucky to get 1.5% interest on savings at the moment. Even a five-year bond will only pay just over 3%.
So to my mind, it makes no sense whatsoever to have £20,000 on deposit earning virtually no interest, and at the same time borrowing £20,000 that you’ll be paying £2,500 or so in interest on every year for four years. I appreciate that others have different viewpoints, and that these inevitably depend on individual personal circumstances, but them’s my thoughts anyway.
Own Account Driver:
I thought there was a maximum amount of cash dealers could take in payment because of money-laundering or something.
The dealer would have to be registered to take anymore than the equivalent of €15,000 cash against one transaction, however, you can transfer funds electronically straight from your account, so assuming all this money isn’t stashed under your mattress you will be fine.
you can always do it half finance half cash …few years back Toyota main dealer wouldn’t take cash off me at all…
Just bought a 2010 renault premiumn.
Financed £18500 over 4 yrs.
£3300 paid in interest over that time.
I’ll leave our money in bank and use it for £850 yr!!!
ISAs were introduced by the Gov in 1999 to replace the PEP and encourage ordinary Joe Public to invest in prob the most tax efficient way possible.
If you had invested in recommended decent investment funds since 1999 your max £7000yr the total would be £139080,
there ARE Joe Public out there who’s ISA portfolios are now worth in excess of £500k TOTALLY free of capital gains tax.
All achieved by sitting on their ARSES 
