Pay upfront, loan/HP or PCP

[David.]

With the huge initial cost of purchase, it would appear that a loan/HP or a PCP deal is becoming more attractive to owners. The PCP deal appears to be continual rental unless at the end of the term, the GFMV is paid and the bike is then owned by the purchaser. A PCP deal would seem to be a good idea say over a 3 year period whilst the bike is still under a manufacturer's warranty.

I prefer to pay upfront in full, then I own the bike from day one. Plus a BMW warranty can be had on a bike of any age up to 80,000 miles at the start of cover.

It would be interesting to hear different opinions on purchasing or renting and owning an RT.

[scunny12]

With interest rates at  pittance, just use my pension pot to buy what I want with the cash.  Paid into a good pension scheme for 42 years boosted by AVC's, now I reap the benefits. 

[burridge01]

I live within my means nowdays.After selling the VFR1200 it took me another 18 months to save enough for a 16 plate in the condition/dress i wanted.I owe nothing on the bike and that's how i like it.Lender nor borrower be.

[MikeS]

For me these bikes are luxury items, I don't need to have one but if I can afford one I'll enjoy it. So, I'll only buy a new bike if I can pay up front because I can't justify (to myself) paying inflated rates of interest/ charges on loans and PCP etc. As soon as I buy a bike I start putting money away regularly for the next one which gives me a decent pot of money when it comes time to change.

[David.]

There you go, have added a poll. If you wish to contribute without divulging too much personal financial information you can.

Please vote whether you have purchased a new or used bike, thank you.

[Casbar]

Upfront for me, the only thing I have ever bought on tick is my house

[David.]

Here is a related article from Bennetts BikeSocial, https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/n ... -explained

[beemerboy9]

With the huge initial cost of purchase, it would appear that a loan/HP or a PCP deal is becoming more attractive to owners. The PCP deal appears to be continual rental unless at the end of the term, the GFMV is paid and the bike is then owned by the purchaser. A PCP deal would seem to be a good idea say over a 3 year period whilst the bike is still under a manufacturer's warranty.

I prefer to pay up front in full, then I own the bike from day one. Plus a BMW warranty can be had on a bike of any age up to 80,000 miles at the start of cover.

It would be interesting to hear different opinions on purchasing or renting and owning an RT.

In the current low interest society. where one can get a loan at 3% over 7 years it almost makes sense not to buy.


For example on such a £15,000 loan one would only pay £1600 interest over the whole period.


There seem to a lot of young folk driving cars of a calibre that I could only dream of at their age, but of course they're not actually buying them.

[GREATSCOT]

Little old school proliterian but, I only own what I can 'afford'.  Unless it made good business sense I would never take a loan.  I grudge paying even more than whatever the bike already costs!  Over many years and looking after my hard earned it has always worked for me although I never forget such matters are very individual.  I look at the money many people I know tie up in a PCP and the figures are pretty shocking when calculated overall.....

[Old Foxy]

If I cannot afford to pay up front, then I cannot afford it!  With finance, you have to pay extra for Gap Insurance, as the bike is worth less than the loan (most of the time) as soon as you leave the dealer.  You pay your money and take your choice.


Modern bikes are a big outlay, but then I thought the £35 that I paid for my first bike (a 5 year old Villiers Panther) in 1969 was a fortune.  Had to find a whopping £9 for the TPFT insurance on top!  I'd been working weekends at the local motorway services (they paid the best money, but it was a rubbish job) for almost two years, to save up.  Even then, I could not afford a decent jacket and had my dad's old DR gauntlets (unlined) to use.  Happy days.


Like Scunny12, I paid into my occupational pension for 40 years.  The children have left and have their own homes, so the "Bank of Dad" is not raided quite so frequently.  Hence (provided I get enough Brownie points for Senior Management approval) I can decide what bike, if any, I wish to buy. Very happy with the RT1250 so far - just wish that I could get out to ride it (even the "scenic route" to the pharmacy is only 30 miles!).


Stay safe everybody,


Old Foxy

[Jack_the_Lad]

I don't understand some of these views.


Investment returns are currently pretty decent and have been for a while apart from a serious nose dive a year or so ago.


Bought a new car a three years ago - financed for 6 years at 0% interest, and we plan to keep it 8 years.  The cautiously invested money that we would have used to pay cash has averaged 7.9% return per year.

Depending on personal finances and what incentives you can find, a credit card (or more than one), can be a great option.  This one probably doesn't make much sense to those over The Pond as I don't think you see a lot of cc incentives.  Here, by signing up for three highly incentivized new cards to pay for a new roof, the frequent flyer rewards were sufficient to buy plane tickets to Switzerland & Portugal for two.  The tickets were $3200; the 4% surcharge for using a credit card vs the negotiated cash price for the roof was $840.


Just something to think about...

   

[David.]

From the above post and knowing someone who did it, (not an RT),  have added Credit card to the poll.

[David.]

Two owners have a PCP deal, the details of which would be interesting to know.

[hammo]

It all depends on your own financial situation , i always paid cash for my cars and bikes , however i did sign a deal only once with Mercedes as i saved £1500 off the price of the car , this was after the salesman more or less guaranteed i would save that amount , after my first payment i then paid off the loan in full and i had to admit the deal was good . PCP sounds quite good as you can establish what payments you can afford before you go ahead . Everyone has a choice .

[David.]

I knew someone who had an S1000RR on finance or PCP, not sure which. He left the UK to go to the US and had to sell his bike. What he got for it only just covered what was still owing on finance. He ended up with nothing in his pocket having basically rented the bike for a period of time.

Someone at work bought a Ford Mondeo on PCP. The big selling point at the time was that in the future, the car would be worth more than the MGFV and this would act as a deposit for the next car. The idea being that monthly payments remain the same and you just get another new car. Not the case, he had to downgrade in value to a Ford Focus as there wasn't sufficient balance left for the deposit to keep the monthly payments the same. Plus, at the start of the first PCP deal, he thought it was great to get cash in his pocket because the car he handed in was worth more than the initial deposit.