Perhaps their reliance on lease financing deals will prove to be a bad move. It was certainly being pushed when I bought one in March, almost felt apologetic about wanting to buy!
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There actually are a couple of brokers that seem to do used cars on a lease - ie two or three years old, but to be honest they don't seem to be much, or any cheaper than a good deal on a new car. I think the economics of this are complex (a bit like the unfathomable pricing of airline or train tickets) - and there are continual deals from manufacturers on new car leases.
The key is to start looking early (as I have learned to my irritation) and be ready to pounce when you spot the one you want.
Best deals are on new cars, some deals are better than others & some are unbelievable.
Try not to spec options as this bumps up monthlies & depending on mileage take the smaller amount & be prepared to pay mileage excess.
I used to buy my cars & like many thought leasing was a waste of cash, once you look below the surface & do your sums owning is the worst option.
My past three deals (if you see a crazy deal jump on it as they disappear quickly)
1, Peugeot 208 Gti by Peugeot Sport, 6X23 £133
2, Abarth 124 spyder, 3X23 £205
Latest not even ran in yet, Megane 280RS Cup 3X23, £223.
Very simple, cars lose value, some at horrendous rate.
My lease is a small part of the depreciation hence I am winning.
If you have financed via VWFS, which is what an Audi dealer usually uses, then I personally would not repair. They are quite strict on the quality of repairs, so if you can get the repair done cheaper, it needs to be absolutely top notch work, or they will charge you when you return the car for unsatisfactory repairs. Certainly not unreasonable, but a repair which looks good enough will not cut it, and rightly so. In those instances, you’ll pay for the repair and then pay VWFS as well.
Most BVLA registered lease companies are reasonable these days.
Here are the prices as of Feb this year (excuse my writing).
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Sorry, double post
I don't own a car at present (which is actually an advantage in present times) so am not entirely up to date with the leasing vs outright purchase. However, if I was to buy a new car, most likely it would be on a lease as if you are reasonably flexible on model, it can cost less with manufacturer incentives and the time/hassle of selling it when you do decide to change either privately or as a part exchange particularly if you are purchasing another brand for your next car. There is also the advantage regarding the predictability of the costs.
Unfortunately my personal issue is that I have no desire to drive the latest plate car, nor change it at a fixed interval and many cars are not the standard I would like them without adding extra equipment. My last car was purchased at just under 4 years old at 50% of the original purchaser cost, mostly as it was fitted with £10k of non standard equipment which I assume would have rather increased any base lease cost! When I sold it 2 years and 20k later, it had lost around another 10% of original purchase cost or 20% of my purchase cost which I felt was reasonable. I'm not aware of that manufacturer doing any decent lease deals either which meant there wasn't an incentive to buy new.
I think the message is to really think hard about what suits you and your life.
For many the ease and convenience of a contract lease is paramount- it is for me. But as others have rightly pointed out, you need to look after the car carefully as you could end up with a large bill for scuffs and scrapes.
This is the reason why we buy my wife’s car outright. She doesn’t look after cars and every alloy will get scraped, and every panel will get some scratches (especially as she likes metallic black cars). Her S-Max (lovely car by the way) is perfect for her, but it was three and a half years old when we bought it last year and she will keep it for three years. At the end of that I won’t consider that it owes us anything really and it will just be part exed at a main dealer for her next car.
And I won’t be stressed over some scratches...
Figure out what works for you.
Each to there own but my motto is if it appreciates own it of it depreciates lease it _ we've leased for the last 6 years and had a new car every two years and have picked a car based on the deal rather than what we want to drive as were not too fussed about leather, metallic paint etc..... and so tend to take deals when they are available and try to aim for 20% of rrp value over the 2 year term
You tend to get god deals on vehicles that are in stock and when a new model is coming out and the hassle free motoring side of things has been worth it for us
Pros
Often the lowest upfront & monthly cost for a brand new car (especially upmarket models).
Cover from the manufacturer's warranty for the term of the deal.
Road tax and breakdown cover included – sometimes, servicing too.
No worries about how much value your car will lose over the term – it's not your problem.
Simple. You pay monthly then hand your car back to the finance company at the end of the contract.
If you've got your own business, and it's VAT-registered, you can lease a car, keeping it off your balance sheet, deducting the cost from your profit, and reclaim 50% of VAT.
Cons
You won't own the car – you're just the driver for the term of the deal.
Monthly payments may be low, but you don't get the cash when the car's finally sold.
Limited mileage. Drive over the limit, and you'll pay for it. Excess mileage charges range from 3p to a whopping 50p per mile to for some BMW models.
You could be stung for high charges if you damage the car.
Prices don't usually include VAT, so add an extra 20% on headline deal rates.
If the car's written off, and the insurer's value is less than the leasing company's, you may be liable for the difference.
You pay more if you're fussy. You might be offered, say, a white version of the car you want as standard but will have to pay an extra £500 for black or silver.
My cars get treated quite badly in general, a combination of having bad spatial awareness and living in an area where the car is prone to getting accidentally scratched when it’s left parked (school drop off - lots of 4x4s!)
Since I moved to leasing, I would say I take less care of it in the sense that I might decide to leave any scuffs and scratches and get them repaired just before it gets returned, as opposed to when I used to own cars.
Happy to email you a better quality copy if you need/want, just pm me your email.
If the damage is really bad, I’d go to a VW/Audi garage with a paint shop and get them to quote for it. Also get pictures with a ruler in the picture for sizing before the car is collected. You’ll get a bill 2 weeks after collection of your car and you can haggle/dispute if you have a quote from one of their dealers. I don’t think you’ll need to haggle though.
The leniency over the listed pricing for damage partially sits with the person who collects the car. Make sure there’s fuel in the car, (many people do not, forcing the driver to have to go to the nearest petrol station, and they will spot this “tightness” and extra time it will cost them when doing their mileage checks and documenting the car issues). Make sure the car is really clean, and have the documents, keys etc all ready and that helps.
I know of people who have had quotes for damage of £1200 from a paint shop and VWFS have charged in the low hundreds.
Interesting thread with many real life experiences not just biased opinion..
I have been sitting on the sidelines for sometime with regards leasing
I usually buy my cars 4+ years old basically drive them into the ground do my own servicing and have never been one to try and impress the Neighbours
But who wouldn't like a New Car in their life..
Recently i have been looking at Post 2016 BMW 530D at around £20k
But this thread and some of the deals shown and that may be available have made me consider all options.
By way of comparison I’ve had my 530d for 2 years on business contract hire. It is £350 plus vat pcm based on 6 + 35 and 8k miles.
Current best deal (that I can find) on them here: https://leasing.com/main-dealers/ber...ies/494465714/
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Just a quick shout out to Evogo in Sheffield. I've been having brand new Mercs, BMWs and Audi cars from them every 6 months on short term leases since 2017. Not the cheapest option but certainly not mental money plus peace of mind that you can hand the car back if something like a global pandemic should happen and you don't need the use of a car for the forseeable anymore. I handed the keys back on 24th March and will resume leasing once this current situation is over. Very happy to not have the extra monthly expense during lockdown. Back in my 2000my Rav4 for the timebeing which was also a convenient place to park my no claims discount.
Regarding condition on hand back, fair wear & tear covers all sorts of minor scuffs, chips & curbs.
My last two cars have been returned & to be fair I was expecting some fee due to one wheel badly curbed, nothing came of it.
Wife’s previous car rolled into front of house(combination of very rough bricks & over exited dog in car one morning) damaged splitter, put vertical line in bumper through to primer, marked grill but missed bonnet some how. Again collected noted on sheet yet no bill.
I always detail the cars before collection & take lots of photos just in case.
Interesting not seen this before. Were the cars new? Would you mind giving some examples with prices to get a feel for how much as I've previously leased an Audi S5 through VWFS and handed it back three months early as I found a car that I wanted to buy so a 6 month lease might have been useful. Thanks.
Edit: just found their website!
I think that Maserati example was a slight exaggeration. Cheapest 2 year old Maserati on AT is £30k and the new equivelant has a list price of around £55k so fairly painful depreciation!
Sticking with that example, a quick Google suggests a lease on a new Maserati Ghibli diesel is around £800pm on a 6+36 personal lease, no maintenance and 8k miles pa from Nationwide Vehicle Leasing. Total cost for 3 years is £33,500 or slightly more than the outright purchase of the 2 year old car which is in warranty for at least part of the ownership period!
I assume therefore most people don't lease their Maserati unless they really want a new one...
I think the fairer comparison is that total lease cost is £33,500 and the depreciation cost is £25,000, so the lease had cost more, but the purchase involves having money tied up. Typically cars that retain value better are cheapest to lease, or ones they have in stock they want to get rid of.
Yes true, in fact the sale price is £30k so the original owner wouldn't have received anything like that so I am sure costs are very similar. My point was more that I couldn't see why someone would pay £33k to drive a brand new Maserati for 3 years when they could buy a 2 year old one with 18k miles outright for less than £30k. I realise that costs are more variable and the neighbours may think less of you if you only drive a 18 plate Maserati rather than a 20 plate one but this is weighed against even a 5 year old Maserati having some resale value!
With more mainstream cars, the differences are often much less between a new lease and 2 year old car and that is why as I stated above, if I were to look for a new car, I would definitely consider leasing it. Personally, I find myself more drawn to the Maserati type of car (but not the diesel one) where you aren't paying for the massive depreciation via a lease, someone else has kindly done that for you!
I was brought up to buy cars outright and never to have any debt. This has worked wonders for me throughout life. But, about 4 years ago I started leasing cars. The deals you can find, like my £27k yeti Laurent and Klement where I put down £1400 and £169 a month over 2 years, were simply too good to refuse. I’d always bought 2/3 year old cars and had normally had some form of big service, tyres etc to pay for. I’d always buy from auction and I wasn’t getting cars any cheaper than a forecourt. This made me look into leasing.
I’m currently coming to the end of an Audi Q5 lease which has been great. £299 a month for the last two years for a £42k car. I’ve been offered the car from the finance company for £25k. This means it’s lost £17k from new yet I’ve paid £9500 over two years (with the deposit.) I also didn’t have to pay two years worth of road tax which would have been £500 a year I believe.
I’m not overly anal about how the wife treats it, that’s not to say we abuse it but it’s not mine so a wash once a week is sufficient. If I owned it I’d be fretting over kerbed alloys and every minor mark and probably be waxing it every weekend trying to keep the value in the car high. I simply don’t worry now as I know it will be going back and isn’t my problem.
I’m awaiting our new BMW 2 series tourer (leather and auto) at the end of the month for the grand sum of £150 pcm. This is a £33k car. The sums simply stack up for me to lease...albeit with carefully chosen deals..
Yes I think in that case I would buy a 2 year old car.
The ‘impressing the neighbour’ thing is interesting. I would consider spending ~£30k on a car outright as oppose to leasing. If I was to buy outright I’d probably purchase something a lot more fun (perhaps a Porsche or even Audi R8). These would probably impress the neighbour a lot more than a brand new BMW 4 series or Audi A5 on lease, despite the values of the cars being comparable!
Having said that I’m not interested in impressing the neighbour and would prefer a new car.
I would add I had a really good experience handing my Golf R back to Arval.
The car had 2 kerbed alloys, a dent in the drivers door, a good size scratch on the corner of the front bumper and a big scuff on the bottom of the bumper.
They didn’t charge me for any of the damage and it was all picked up on collection.
I was going to get it all fixed but the charges Arval advertise for alloys fixes, paint work damage etc... didn’t seem that bad and probably cheaper than I could get the work done for.
I have returned a couple of lease cars as have friends and no horror stories of returns. Just make sure it’s clean and got a little bit of fuel in it.
Cheers
Ross
Same as Yeti, I was brought up not to have debt. Other than a mortgage and a car lease, I’m debt free, including zero overdraft or credit card interest, and have been so for many years. Leasing to me makes perfect financial sense.
I don’t understand the whole new car vs. used car debate, or the suggestion you can buy the 3 year old used car for the same money you’d pay for the 3 year lease. It’s factually accurate in some instances, but it’s not a fair comparison.
I could make the same silly comparison of a £300 suit from a high street store, or the same suit at three years old for £10 from a charity shop. Someone has to buy it new, and if that’s not you, no problem.
I understand leasing is not for everyone, but if you want a brand new car, no repair issues or costs, in most instances it is cheaper than buying for cash, and a hell of a lot cheaper than buying on loan, assuming you can actually get a loan big enough to cover a new car. A base level Fiesta is around 16k these days, never mind a family size car or executive car.
If you don’t want a new car, do more than 15k miles, want to keep it more than 4 years, then leasing isn’t for you.
I guess it was this that I was commenting on "Apart from allowing people to have cars on the drive they couldn't afford to buy"
Buying outright is often highly unattractive for the reasons given and for those who have leased within their means, handing the car back to the lease company at the end of the term is now more attractive than it has ever been. The lease co will have to deal with disposing of a massively depreciated asset in an unprecedentedly depressed economy. Imagine trying to offload as a private seller, or trying to trade in!
BTW, Ryan, I agree with you, credit defaults are going to be massive. The courts simply could not deal with all the defaults and inevitably, some people will look to take advantage of the situation.
On the VWFS prices above, £36 to refurbish an alloy seems an absolute bargain. When I handed my BMW back last month, it cost me £80 per alloy (which was in line with local indie pricing) - for 2 alloys
Assume they are not VWFS? The price is £36 unless you’ve damaged more than 50% of the rim or you’ve damaged the spokes and/or the hub, which is pretty hard to do.
I don’t believe the price list is mode specific but I do have an A4 and diamond cut wheels, although mine were all immaculate.
We have leased a few cars you simply need to do the maths.
What is the car going to cost me over two or three years to own it or lease it. What does a two year old one sell for trade?
If the BMW is 39000 to buy and worth 23000 trade after two years or its 12000 to lease it then the lease is a no brainer.
If you plan to own the car for five years or more then it may work out a much better bet.
If you want to swap cars every couple of years and are happy paying £400 a month for the pleasure then lease is the way to go.
You want to drive a new car but not pay the price of depreciation, you lease as you know the costs right at the outset. No servicing and no maintenance apart from tyres.
You’re happy not driving a new car and saving a few quid, you buy something 3 years or older. You have MOT’s and maintenance to pay out for, but 3 years down the road the chances are there’s some equity left that wouldn’t be in a lease car.
People that lease already buy into the idea and don’t need convincing, nor in the main do they tend to go back to buying - off hand I can think of loads of people that now lease and only 2 people that have gone from leasing to buying again.
Not all but a lot of People that don’t lease tend to be of the ‘please convince me’ brigade. There’s more than enough information in this thread to know if leasing suits thou or not. For me it’s simple. I drive a new car for say 20k over 3 years whereas buying that car would cost me 25/30k over the same period. The way the car market will crash after what’s going on now I certainly wouldn’t want to be owning an expensive car. Whether after this people will want to lease an expensive car is also a future consideration.
Like most have said, I’ve just handed back my Volkswagen Touerag, 16k over 3 years and 30000miles.
The P11d price was just under 50k.
3 year old Touerags are only worth between 18 and 21k now.
Only money spent was one service at £110 and 2 sets of tyres.
No charges on the fare wear and tear guide, that’s with 2 kids as well, the car wasn’t abused but kept clean and tidy.
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