Any time is exciting when it’s time to purchase a new car, whether you’re a petrolhead or not. And with 2019 just around the corner there’s a raft of new models being lined-up by leading car manufacturers looking to gain your custom/convert you. Aside from buying your first house, Christmas Eve, jetting off somewhere exotic on holiday, winning the lottery and/or buying your childhood football club, it’s generally agreed that very few things in life are as exciting as purchasing a new car.
But as the current new car-buying landscape looks, a variety of extra-curricular aspects should be taken into consideration ahead of you running the rule over a new vehicle in 2019. Below we take a brief look at just a few of the talking points in the UK car industry, and moreover elements which anyone looking to buy a new car next year might perhaps want to think about prior to making their decisions in terms of genre, make, model, powertrain, etc.
Of course, the main sticking point for anyone in the market for a new car is how you plan to fund such an acquisition in the first place. While many might have saved up or perhaps come into some money of late via a windfall of one description or another, for many more potential buyers it will be more a case of sourcing the relevant money. And often courtesy of either finance, leasing or arranging a personal loan to cover the initial outlay. But then once you’ve got a vehicle, you can make it work for you in more ways than meets the eye in the future. Not least if you should experience unforeseen cash flow problems further down the road. Logbook Loans based in the UK, for example are one of a growing breed of small loans companies which provide loans secured on your vehicle.
So if, say, at some point you need to free-up some money quickly, companies such as Logbook Loans assumes ownership of your vehicle in exchange for a monetary loan. They then maintain ownership of the car until such time as you repay the outstanding loan fully. But don’t worry. You can keep using the car throughout the period you owe money, just in case you were wondering!
Are Friends Really Electric?
Well, yes, they may well be given the opportunity. And the necessary infrastructure to enable more constant recharging combined with vehicles being designed which will travel that extra mile or ten as part of their envisaged range. And while the prospect of electric cars really taking hold here in the UK is an encouraging one on many levels, progress doesn’t help when it’s announced that the sitting government has axed electric car and plug-in hybrid grants; as is the case of late. Meaning that the monetary incentive to buy electric vehicles will vanish as they tend to be prohibitively expensive to many would-be buyers, otherwise.
Brexit
Ahh yes. The dreaded ‘B’ word from which you can’t escape these days. However it’s not only geographical landscape which is set to change, post-Brexit, but for UK motorists there’s set to be even more upheaval and inconvenience. In the shape of the existing UK driving licence possibly ceasing to be valid/recognised in the EU, in the event of a (highly likely) no-deal Brexit. The upshot of which would mean British motorists would then have to apply for an international driving permit should they wish to embark on a grand tour of Europe in the future. While not a car problem, it’s very much a driver’s one nonetheless. Especially when it’s believed that between 100,000 and 7 million international driving permits may need to be issued in the first year, should Brexit negotiations reach the predicted stalemate.
Diesel
Another dirty word in recent times, diesel drivers are met with filthy looks wherever they may roam right now. What’s more, some of them will be slapped with financial punishment for their vehicular choices too, with 2019 seeing the rolling out of a proposed new daily diesel charge in London. The result of a consultation could mean diesel drivers entering certain parts of the UK capital will be charged £50 to park and drive through individual boroughs within the city, in a bid to clamp down on vehicle emissions. The plan is to target pre-2015 diesels and remove what’s considered to be the worst pollution offenders. So with this in mind (especially if you venture to London a lot thanks to work, rest or play) maybe 2019 isn’t the best time to replace your current car with a diesel alternative.
Autonomous Cars
And finally, self-driving cars. Yes, the dream could become car-buying reality sooner than we think, according to General Motors of America; whose Chief Technology bod has enthusiastically predicted the ushering on of the fourth generation of its particular autonomous vehicle will be 2019. And this model they say, is pretty much how self-driving cars will look in production guise. Yes, despite not a month going by without a Google self-drive car colliding with an inanimate object, the opportunity to get behind the (non-existent) wheel of an autonomous vehicle could just be around yon corner if GM aren’t telling porkies. Incidentally, their version – the closes glimpse yet of all our driving futures – will also do away with foot pedals and any instrument panels, so we’re informed. This bold statement by GM represents a 2-year jump on what other key autonomous car players have so far forecast in terms of reality, for the record. Could this pique your new car interest in 2019 perhaps??
