Is going to be a Mini Cooper - I'm 90% certain of this. This past weekend, my Uncle finally pulled the trigger and bought a new car. He traded in his 11 year old Focus - a car that is literally falling apart now and would certainly fail its MOT and just in time as well because in a couple of weeks he would have to renew the tax which is what he has been continuously doing for the last couple of months.
He went for a Renault Megane in the end although he had his eyes set on a Mazda 5 (?) for a long time. Whilst I was waiting for my Uncle Geoff to barter with the salesmen I asked someone there about how they put a value on the car you trade-in. I was most interested in whether the mileage of the car comes into play or whether it's just down to the age and model of the car. Turns out (for at least this dealership) that mileage does come into play which is great because my 10 year old Fiesta has not done 60,000 miles and that's even with me greatly increasing the mileage since I've had it.
I had pretty much mapped out to get at least 3 years out of my Fiesta and while I haven't even been driving for 2 years, I've already started looking ahead. I got chatting with my good friend Wilson about what future car I would want. I did reply that I wasn't sure, haven't given it much thought but I've always liked the new Minis. In fact, The most recent (and successful) lessons I took in a Mini One and then later a Mini Clubman (the Minivan one). Of course, if money were no object, then I would probably go for something a little more expensive, but a decent second hand Mini could well be in my price range, and it would totally be a car I would be happy to own. I have a tiny concern that Minis can be considered "chick cars" but if I go for the sporty model I can win back some Man points...
The guy at the Renault dealership did mention that the amount of time left before the car's next MOT will affect how much they offer. If the car needs to be MOT'ed then they're going to want the owner to MOT the car first, or knock that off the offer price. So bearing that in mind, October is the anniversary of my car's MOT so I should probably look for a new car around August time next year. The intention is to start putting some money away right now and then when it rolls round next year, I can put down a healthy deposit.
Of course, I have this year's insurance, MOT and tax disc to pay for in the month of October, so I'm starting to cut back on the spending now so I can afford all of that - the pay raise following this year's annual review will certainly help! (more about that in a future post). One they're out of the way, I'll start saving for the Mini - I would love to have one that has a checked or Union Jack on the roof but will happily have anything within reason. My crazy theory is the colour of my Fiesta seems to attract birds and even when I don't park directly under trees I still arrive at the car daily to find new birdcrap. To this end, I will be avoiding the colour red where possible, probably go for a blue, or maybe racing green.
The insurance may be higher for the Mini - ideally I'd like to get a Mini Cooper S which generally has a 1.6 litre engine versus the 1.25 I drive now. From my next car I really want the better acceleration and less of the body roll which the Fiesta is very guilty of - attacking roundabouts can be scary. Yeah, so the insurance may go up but then, I would have 3 years no claims under my belt (touch wood) and I will be past the age of 25 (I already am lol) so hopefully it won't be too bad. I'm hoping that the insurance for the Fiesta this year won't be too bad. It was Approx £950 the first year, £750 the second year - If I can get sub £600 then that would be great.
What I'm planning to do is sit down and do some proper budgeting, have a look at what I'm spending now and see what I can put aside - it's far enough out I feel that with some proper planning I should be able to afford the Mini of my dreams...
Here's looking forward to a new car...
