Best cars for £99 a month: December 2024

Wondering whether you'd be able to get yourself a brand new car for less than £100 per month? It might not seem likely, but we're pleased to say that there are a couple of options available to you. Stretch that figure for £200 and you might be surprised by which cars you could add to your shortlist.

Due to the gradual rise in car prices each year, there are very few new cars left on sale that can be considered 'cheap' - the latest Dacia Sandero is available from £13,795, while prices for the revised Kia Picanto have crept up to £15,595. These two cars trade places as the cheapest new cars for sale in the UK.

Fortunately, you don't need to fork out over £13k to get behind the wheel of a new car. Buying a car on finance is now by far the most popular way drivers in the UK pay for their cars. Instead of having to save up the full cost of a new car, splitting this into a deposit and a series of monthly payments makes purchasing a car much more affordable in the short term. 

If cost is your number one criteria in your car search, buying a used car is something well worth considering as you might be surprised by how much further your £100 per month will stretch. You only need to take a look at what's on offer for less than £10,000 with BuyaCar to see what an opportunity used car buying can be.

If it's a brand new car you're after, then you still have options. However, in order to get the monthly payments down, sometimes large deposits are required, so ensure you have both the savings and the required cash on hand each month when signing up.

See also

• 0% APR car deals
• Best nearly new car deals
• Best PCP car deals
• Best car leasing deals
• Zero deposit finance deals
• Best car subscriptions
• Best electric car leasing deals
• Best van finance deals
• New cars with free insurance
• All car finance deals

Best new cars for £99 a month deals A-Z

Best used cars for around £200 per month and less

Used Hyundai i10 from £122 per month

Our pick Hyundai i10 SE
£1,020 deposit £122 per month
Hyundai i10 review

The Hyundai i10 is one of the very best small cars available at this kind of price. On a new PCP deal, the freshly facelifted i10 includes a £500 deposit contribution, giving monthly payments of around £200 per month on a 48 month deal.

For around £150 per month on a PCP for a used i10, there's plenty of space and comfort on offer, while it's also very enjoyable to drive. SE models are the most common at the lower end of the budget scale, but these still feature air-conditioning, a USB port, cruise control and a height-adjustable driver's seat.

You may also come across Premium trim, which features a smattering of leather, an upgraded sound system and Bluetooth connectivity. All i10 models also feature plenty of safety kit and two ISOFIX points in the rear seats, making this very usable as a small family car.

Hyundai i10 1.0 SE 5dr
Price: £6,806 or £121.82 a month
Mileage: 41,198
Annual mileage limit: 10,000
Deposit: £1,020
Monthly payments: 47 x £121.82 (£5,725.54)
Optional final payment: £2,102.50
Total payable: £8,848.94
APR representative: 13.3%
PCP agreement length: 48 months
See this deal

Used Kia Picanto from £133 per month

Our pick Kia Picanto 2
£1,169 deposit £133 per month
Kia Picanto review

The Kia Picanto is proof that good things come in small packages. Despite its tiny size, the Picanto can cope with long journeys in reasonable comfort, while it shines around town. The Picanto is also very well equipped as standard, featuring kit that you'd usually expect to find in larger cars.

As a brand new car, the Picanto is affordable, with Kia currently offering a £500 deposit contribution and zero deposit on PCP. However, if you can chip in at least some money to the deposit, this helps make the monthly payments much more manageable.

As a used buy, the Picanto packs a punch, but mercifully not to your wallet, as it's cheap to run and insure, while used models with relatively few miles on the clock won't break the bank.

Kia Picanto 1 5dr
Price: £7,795 or £132.89 a month
Mileage: 35,500
Annual mileage limit: 10,000
Deposit: £1,169
Monthly payments: 48 x £132.89 (£6,378.72)
Optional final payment: £2,622
Total payable: £10,169.97
APR representative: 12.9%
PCP agreement length: 49 months
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Used Fiat 500 from £136 per month

Our pick Fiat 500 Pop
£1,182 deposit £136 per month
Fiat 500 review

The Fiat 500 remains a much more distinctive and characterful alternative to a used Dacia Sandero, despite the fact that it's been around since 2007. With retro styling that still holds up more than 16 years after it first launched, this is a delightfully chic Italian city car. It's still available new with a choice of either PCP or PCH for £999 down and then £199 per month over 48 months.

The cheapest used versions of the 500 we've found are in Lounge spec, giving you equipment levels similar to what's on offer from the most basic Sandero. The headlines are electric windows and a USB port, but it's the interior styling that helps the Fiat to outshine the Dacia.

Fiat 500 1.0 Pop 3dr
Price: £7,884 or £135.63 a month
Mileage: 21,941
Annual mileage limit: 10,000
Deposit: £1,182
Monthly payments: 48 x £135.63 (£6,510.24)
Optional final payment: £2,576
Total payable: £10,268.84
APR representative: 12.9%
PCP agreement length: 49 months
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Used Toyota Aygo X from £144 per month

Our pick Toyota Aygo X Pure
£1,509 deposit £144 per month

The Toyota Aygo X has been designed with the urban jungle in mind. So while the plastic cladding might look a bit OTT, you'll be glad of it once that runaway trolley makes contact in a crowded carpark. If you opt for a new model, you tend to require a high deposit to get the monthly payments down below £115 per month, plus a mileage limit of around 6,000 per year. Zero deposit takes monthly payments to around £220. 

Opt for a used Aygo X and you benefit from higher mileage limits, affordable deposits and the benefit of Toyota's 10-year or 100,000-mile warranty, provided the car has been serviced by an approved dealer or workshop.

Toyota Aygo X 1.0 VVT-i Pure 5dr
Price: £10,065 or £144.19 a month
Mileage: 49,904
Annual mileage limit: 10,000
Deposit: £1,509
Monthly payments: 47 x £144.19 (£6,776.93)
Optional final payment: £4,911.40
Total payable: £13,448.08
APR representative: 13.3%
PCP agreement length: 48 months
See this deal

Used MG3 from £146 per month

Our pick MG3 Exclusive Nav
£1,424 deposit £146 per month
MG3 review

Despite the fact that MG has launched an all-new hybrid MG3, the car it replaced, which has been on sale in the UK since 2013, is still available. And while it may not be the last word on latest technology, and its 1.5 petrol engine is a tad old hat these days, the MG3 makes for a great bargain buy.

If you're after a new car, the non-hybrid MG3 is available on PCP in entry-level Excite form for £159 a month with a £1,000 deposit contribution, while the Exclusive Nav costs £179 with a £1,750 contribution. 

There are plenty of lightly used MG3 models to choose from, too, often with low miles, and requiring less than the £3,000+ customer deposit a new version commands:

MG3 1.5 VTi-TECH Excite 5dr
Price: £9,495 or £145.79 a month
Mileage: 15,484
Annual mileage limit: 10,000
Deposit: £1,424
Monthly payments: 47 x £145.79 (£6,852.13)
Optional final payment: £4,015
Total payable: £12,541.38
APR representative: 12.9%
PCP agreement length: 48 months
See this deal

Used Dacia Duster from £149 per month

Our pick Dacia Duster TCe 90
£1,455 deposit £149 per month
Dacia Duster review

The Dacia Duster is one of the UK's cheapest new SUV buys. And, with an all-new model arriving in UK dealerships soon, Dacia is offering some enticing deals to help shift the last few of the current Dusters. If you opt for a new car, Dacia gives you two options: either 4.9% APR over 24 months with a minimum of 25% deposit, or a 48-month deal at 6.9% APR. Both options benefit from a £750 deposit contribution.

Used options start from around £140 per month on PCP, often for a car that's only two or three years old and with a low mileage, making the Duster an affordable and reliable option. 

Dacia Duster 1.0 TCe 100 Essential 5dr
Price: £9,300 or £149.40 a month
Mileage: 26,516
Annual mileage limit: 10,000
Deposit: £1,455
Monthly payments: 47 x £149.40 (£7,021.80)
Optional final payment: £4,082.50
Total payable: £12,809.30
APR representative: 13.3%
PCP agreement length: 48 months
See this deal

When is the best time to lease a car?

As with buying a car, it's often good to check in at the end of a month as dealerships often have incentives or bonuses on offer for their salespeople who meet their targets. Just as with other consumer goods, it’s worth looking for new car deals around the christmas holidays, as it’s quiet in dealerships and people are spending on gifts. It's also worth going deal hunting around Black Friday to snap up deals aimed at when people are in the mood to spend some money.

We’d avoid early March and September, when new registrations come in, as that’s when more new cars are sold, so there’s fewer incentives around, but it's worth asking at the end of each quarter - March, June, September and December - to see if there's a deal to be done.

Does car leasing cover maintenance?

This will depend on the specific deal on the table, but we'd recommend you're absolutely clued in to what any leasing deal does or does not include. Most often, car leasing deals cover more than PCPs, and will include things like road tax. However, maintenance tends to count like an optional extra, and can be added for an extra monthly fee.

It’s worth looking at, as lease deals can be quite strict about exactly when and where a leased car must be serviced. It’s rare you can pick any garage, and some carmakers will insist any work is done at their franchise only, so a discounted packaged, if available, could save you money and stress.

How hard is it to get approved for car finance?

With any form of car finance deal, your credit score will be checked to ensure that you can afford to pay back any loan. To get approved for car finance you need to have a good credit history and have chosen a car that fits your budget.

If you have lots of debt and no form of income, getting this approved will be tricky, and if you are successful, you may have higher interest to pay. However, there are specialist firms that offer car finance for those with poor credit, so all is not lost if you don’t get approved first time around.

How can I reduce monthly payments?

If you're looking for the cheapest leasing deal possible, it's always worth shopping around and being flexible. For example, if you like a particular car but aren't completely set on it, it's always worth looking up key rivals and seeing how prices compare, or considering downsizing a model, say from a Golf to a Polo, if you can manage with the reduced space.

Likewise, if you’re flexible on how much you’re planning to use your car, signing up to a lower annual mileage limit could trim some cash from the budget. However, if you then end up over the limit at the end of the agreement, the cost per mile charge could prove quite the sting in the tail.