Change in situation - car advice required

jiltloop

Hi all, would appreciate some advice on my situation below, thanks in advance.

So last year in August I had to get a new car as my old car was breaking down and wasn't really worth fixing. I did a lot of searching and researching and eventually found a car I was delighted with.

My old car was a Mondeo which I still owed around €5K of a loan on, I topped up this loan to €12K to fund the new car. the new car is a 162 Skoda Superb. Beautiful car and I was really delighted with the find.

Unfortunately then earlier this year I suffered a seizure which turned out to be caused by a brain tumour. I had to have brain surgery which thankfully went really well and no further treatment is required for now (I was very very lucky! ).

That was the change in circumstances, as I had a seizure I am automatically banned from driving for a year on medical grounds (until March 2022), which means I have my new car sitting up in the driveway. I'm paying off the loan each month and still paying tax & insurance (for now, not really sure what to do with that yet).

In the meantime my girlfriend is learning to drive but is adamant that she wants an automatic and that the Skoda is too big for her, financially we can't really afford to run 2 cars so the conclusion I regretfully have to come to is that I need to get rid of my beloved Skoda and replace it with a smaller automatic car.

Apologies for the long long story! :pac:

I suppose I'm ultimately looking for advice for anyone on this forum, what would you do in my situation? Ideally I would sell the Skoda and be able to clear off the €12K loan (the valuation given on the Carzone ap tells me it's worth €12,900, not sur ehow reliable that is though). Then we could go ahead and look for the replacement car.

But My concern is that there aren't many private buyers out there for cars over €10K that would be up for buying privately, usually anyone with that kind of budget I would imagine would look to dealers. Also selling to a dealer I probably won't get a decent price which will clear most or all of my loan (maybe I'm being too pessimistic about this though?).

Anyway as I said, any advise would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

jiltloop

jiltloop wrote: »

Hi all, would appreciate some advice on my situation below, thanks in advance.

So last year in August I had to get a new car as my old car was breaking down and wasn't really worth fixing. I did a lot of searching and researching and eventually found a car I was delighted with.

My old car was a Mondeo which I still owed around €5K of a loan on, I topped up this loan to €12K to fund the new car. the new car is a 162 Skoda Superb. Beautiful car and I was really delighted with the find.

Unfortunately then earlier this year I suffered a seizure which turned out to be caused by a brain tumour. I had to have brain surgery which thankfully went really well and no further treatment is required for now (I was very very lucky! ).

That was the change in circumstances, as I had a seizure I am automatically banned from driving for a year on medical grounds (until March 2022), which means I have my new car sitting up in the driveway. I'm paying off the loan each month and still paying tax & insurance (for now, not really sure what to do with that yet).

In the meantime my girlfriend is learning to drive but is adamant that she wants an automatic and that the Skoda is too big for her, financially we can't really afford to run 2 cars so the conclusion I regretfully have to come to is that I need to get rid of my beloved Skoda and replace it with a smaller automatic car.

Apologies for the long long story! :pac:

I suppose I'm ultimately looking for advice for anyone on this forum, what would you do in my situation? Ideally I would sell the Skoda and be able to clear off the €12K loan (the valuation given on the Carzone ap tells me it's worth €12,900, not sur ehow reliable that is though). Then we could go ahead and look for the replacement car.

But My concern is that there aren't many private buyers out there for cars over €10K that would be up for buying privately, usually anyone with that kind of budget I would imagine would look to dealers. Also selling to a dealer I probably won't get a decent price which will clear most or all of my loan (maybe I'm being too pessimistic about this though?).

Anyway as I said, any advise would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Price it up on ZuCar and check all your local dealers as some of them may buy the car off you.

I think you would be expecting around €11k in all honesty as it's a 5 year old car. This may vary depending on mileage and spec.

Water2626262

Have you contacted your bank / finance provider to see what your options are available? You have suffered a serious medical issue through no fault of your own. They might let you take a six month break or longer. Just be careful if they still maintain interest charges for the break or whatever. Could be interesting to see what options they give you.

colm_mcm

If you are likely to need a car from March 2022 onwards then it may make sense to keep the car sitting til then if you can afford to.

HBC08

jiltloop wrote: »

Hi all, would appreciate some advice on my situation below, thanks in advance.

So last year in August I had to get a new car as my old car was breaking down and wasn't really worth fixing. I did a lot of searching and researching and eventually found a car I was delighted with.

My old car was a Mondeo which I still owed around €5K of a loan on, I topped up this loan to €12K to fund the new car. the new car is a 162 Skoda Superb. Beautiful car and I was really delighted with the find.

Unfortunately then earlier this year I suffered a seizure which turned out to be caused by a brain tumour. I had to have brain surgery which thankfully went really well and no further treatment is required for now (I was very very lucky! ).

That was the change in circumstances, as I had a seizure I am automatically banned from driving for a year on medical grounds (until March 2022), which means I have my new car sitting up in the driveway. I'm paying off the loan each month and still paying tax & insurance (for now, not really sure what to do with that yet).

In the meantime my girlfriend is learning to drive but is adamant that she wants an automatic and that the Skoda is too big for her, financially we can't really afford to run 2 cars so the conclusion I regretfully have to come to is that I need to get rid of my beloved Skoda and replace it with a smaller automatic car.

Apologies for the long long story! :pac:

I suppose I'm ultimately looking for advice for anyone on this forum, what would you do in my situation? Ideally I would sell the Skoda and be able to clear off the €12K loan (the valuation given on the Carzone ap tells me it's worth €12,900, not sur ehow reliable that is though). Then we could go ahead and look for the replacement car.

But My concern is that there aren't many private buyers out there for cars over €10K that would be up for buying privately, usually anyone with that kind of budget I would imagine would look to dealers. Also selling to a dealer I probably won't get a decent price which will clear most or all of my loan (maybe I'm being too pessimistic about this though?).

Anyway as I said, any advise would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Where are you based? I know somebody looking for a car like that.

appledrop

Sorry that you went through difficult time with the brian tumour but I have to ask the question,

Why would you be changing you car to suit your girlfriend?

That's madness. She would want to cop on, nobody who is learning to drive should be using an automatic car.

Fair enough, we all learn to drive in smaller car but needs must.

It's can be complicated selling your car if loan still outstanding on it.

What type of loan do you have?

punisher5112

March 22 isn't really that far away, you can sign car off the road so no tax, you could also contact insurance for a break as such, they may or may not help there but worth contacting.

Let the girlfriend worry about her own car, obviously no issues you helping her out say or advice on what but if you sell up buy smaller then you be without a car when you need it.

I can understand if she wants auto then go that way as hybrids and ev are all auto and that's the way we are heading so no issues there to be honest.

Have her look up likes of Toyota Yaris, honda jazz/fit, Hyundai i10, i20, Renault Clio, etc etc... All depends on budget, if she can go hybrid then that will be auto anyway.

Is there anyone in the family that could bring yours out for a spin once or twice a week, if not buy a trickle charger for the battery to keep it going strong.

If you can sell the superb and get good money for it then do but to be honest these cars are hard got when trying to buy say in the future as prices to buy have gone nuts imo.

User1998

What’s wrong with her buying an automatic Yaris for €1k to learn to drive in? You only bought the Superb I probably wouldn’t go selling it just yet

Murph85

I'd say beep current car and get small auto for gf. As for auto v manual, why anyone bothers with manual is beyond me ... nobody I know who has gone to auto will ever go back and I'd say in a few years, very few cars will come with manual option ...

Buddy Bubs

I'd agree, get her an auto. There's plenty of choice now to buy them used and will get even more so. I learned in a manual but have had autos since I was 25 or so. Won't be going back. Still drive work vans the odd time and even after a year or more driving automatic it comes back to you straight away when driving a manual. But most people never borrow anyone else's car so I wouldn't use that reason for manual either...

Darc19

Yep, the superb is a big car and women (whether people agree or not) do not have the same spacial awareness of men.

I'd look at a BMW 1 series. Easily found in automatic, and even though it's "small" it feels more spacious than it is, thus if you are a 6' 2" fella like me, you'll quite like it.


Plenty of 12k private buyers out there these days. I sold a 23k car just last month within a week of going on done deal.

A golf auto is another option

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars?make=BMW;model:1-Series&make=Volkswagen;model:Golf

appledrop

No one should learn to drive in an automatic car, that's madness.

Anyone learning to drive should have to learn how to drive properly and not an automatic!

Op you girlfriends licence will only allow her to drive an automatic car if she goes down that route.

James Bond Junior

appledrop wrote: »

No one should learn to drive in an automatic car, that's madness.

Anyone learning to drive should have to learn how to drive properly and not an automatic!

Op you girlfriends licence will only allow her to drive an automatic car if she goes down that route.

We are living in changing times. There's no such thing and never will be a manual EV or even PHEV. The importance of learning to drive in a manual is gone. My 66 year old mother drove manual for 45 years and switched to an auto and never looked back.

I'd highly recommend the 1 series. My wife bought one new a few years ago, easily her most favourite car she ever owned and hard to argue with tbh. My mother bought one as she liked my wife's one and replaced it with a second one. Lovely cars.

Darc19

appledrop wrote: »

No one should learn to drive in an automatic car, that's madness.

Anyone learning to drive should have to learn how to drive properly and not an automatic!

Op you girlfriends licence will only allow her to drive an automatic car if she goes down that route.

I just never understand this argument. Yeah, she won't be able to drive manual, but autos are the same price and in many cases more efficient and are very plentiful.

Some models now only offer automatic.

And sometimes people may find gears a little too difficult to manage.

I reckon if automatic was the default transmission you'd have 80%++ test pass rate and banish 2nd, 3rd 4th learner permits to history along with waiting lists.

punisher5112

appledrop wrote: »

No one should learn to drive in an automatic car, that's madness.

Anyone learning to drive should have to learn how to drive properly and not an automatic!

Op you girlfriends licence will only allow her to drive an automatic car if she goes down that route.

What, eh why... Most cars will be auto

appledrop

Have you all never driven cars that aren't your own?

I've had cars break down and needed a replacement one at short notice, imagine waiting until.an automatic becomes available!

Have you never rented cars abroad! Again try always getting an automatic in those situations.

I totally understand some people prefer automatics, that's no problem but don't learn to drive in one and forever limit your options.

Yes EV are coming but we are not there yet.

Casati

What model Superb and what mileage is it? In the current market it’s very likely you’d easily clear your loan in it.

I wouldn’t worry about selling private, after a year of sitting at home a lot of people will have cash to buy a car at that value outright