I like to keep up to speed with ways to save money or manage it more effectively.

I've always paid cash to upgrade my cars, it's an old fashioned approach but I like the fact that I can do as many miles as I like and I know the car is 100% mine.

There are so many finance schemes out there and Land Rover have a few of their own, like Freedom etc. However, they all seem to involve paying about £699 a month and you're limited to 10K per annum.

Has anyone got any good schemes that allow you to upgrade in a more cost efficient way?

You see, I'm driving around and there are SO MANY new cars and they can't all be paid for, people have to be using finance to afford them, so how is it done? Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

Most new cars on the road - keeping up with the Jones' Syndrome - people financing cars they cant afford at stupid rates getting themselves in even more debt, then blaming the Government for not stopping them spending.....

It all depends on how much you reckon the personal satisfaction you will get from upgrading is worth in cash terms. If you have a chunk of cash in the bank then that is obviously the simplest and cheapest overall way to finance an upgrade over the period you have the car, but you can get finance at terms that won't add a huge amount to the deal and it all comes down to whether the overall cost is personally worth it to get you in a new car.

If its a new car which holds it's value well and will sell on no problems - bag as best a deal as you can from the dealer/private sale and use bog standard loan/HP finance at the lowest % rate you can find. Depending on the age of the car you might get 5 or 6 years HP finance at a low % rate compared to 2 years at higher rate. I tend to use people like Northridge Finance as you can overpay as much as you want wenever you want without penalty so I take out long term low rate finance and pay it off as quick as i can (usually < 1 yr) so get short term, low rate finance...I try to stick down a deposit that i calculate will cover the depreciation based on how long i'll have the car and then i know that i've always got equity on tap if required... Lets say you need £10k to upgrade to what you want. You can either stick that in on day 1, or pay approx £10.5k over 12 installments. I know i'd rather have the safety net of a lump sum in the bank and draw down on that as needed to pay the finance and find an extra £50 per month to top it up (which is somewhat offset by the interest gained on the cash still in the bank...)...


However, if it's a new car that depreciates like a b - just lease it. You're total ownership cost will be damn close to the depreciation, plus a token gesture to the finance company and you'll never run the risk of owing more than the cars worth and avoid the hassle of selling it on. Even better if you can do it through a company ex VAT and get a servicing deal thrown in.