I know what car I’m after, and the first two quotes I got (same car, different trim levels) were both for 3 years, which was my preference as I assumed it offered the best value as, if I was to continue leasing, a new deposit wasn’t required so soon

This is for a Grand Picasso with 18,000 miles a year.

1) VTR+ trim is 6+35 at £315.50, so that’s £1893 deposit then £315.50 a month for 3 years. Total over 3 years is £12,395 which is £4311 per year.

2) Exclusive trim is 6+35 at £337.55, so that’s £2025 deposit then £337.55 a month for 3 years. Total over 3 years is £13,840 which is £4613 per year.

(That would get me bigger wheels, which hardly matters on a car like this, and a SatNav, and a few other non-essential trinkets, so I’m inclined to think it’s not worth the extra).

3) This one, VTR+ trim again, from another broker, and for which my initial reaction was to dismiss as its only over 2 years, is as follows…

6+23 at £298.79, so a deposit of £1792 then £298.79 a month for 2 years. Total over 2 years is £8664 which is £4332 per year.

This one, however, includes maintenance, whereas the other two do not. I wasn’t going to bother with maintenance as most of the figures I looked at seemed overpriced, but now I’m wondering if this is the deal to go for? It doesn’t include tyres, but I’ve had more than 36,000 miles out of a set of tyres before, and these are only 16″ ones.

Last one makes most sense to me, unless I’ve miscalculated?

for 18k a year i assume its for business use….

the last one 100% makes the most sense in that case.

is a french car with poor residuals really the best choice for a lease ? i thought the lease marked looked more favourably on some of those over priced over stated (reliability wise) german marques…..

(im a french car fan before you ask ….. but i buy 10 year old 80k oldish ones on the premise that if it lasted that long and passed my inspection itll probably last another 80k :D)

is a french car with poor residuals really the best choice for a lease ? i thought the lease marked looked more favourably on some of those over priced over stated (reliability wise) german marques…..

I’d agree with this, check the brands that you may think would be more expensive, better residuals often make leasing them a cheaper option.

Are your prices including VAT?

Do you get a car allowance? I’m seeing Citroen Grand C4 Picasso 1.6 e-HDi 115 VTR+, on 17,500 miles per year @ £297 per month (including VAT) with just under £900 up front.

That goes down to £241 a month with a £2100 deposit.

Both over 24 months.

36 months is roughly same deposit and monthly payment.

Yeah, I know where you’re coming former residuals, but when I was checking this the Grand Picasso was up there with VW’s equivalent the Touran for residual value – it seems to buck the usual French car trend.

Bear in mind also, you can’t get an equivalent BMW or Audi, and family circumstances mean an MPV is what I need at the moment. I’ve not found any better offers on something that will fit my 3 kids across the back seat.

Personal use, not business! No car allowance, it’s purely a personal lease.

All those figures include VAT.

Where are you looking peterfile?

definitely the last one for me

Where are you looking peterfile? Not lings cars by any chance? That’s who gave the first two quotes.

I can’t stand that website and never found it to offer the best deals anyway.

I just had a quick look on Nationwide Vehicle Contracts (since they allow you to adjust for mileage). The best deals on there were for a car allowance though.

Yeah it’s not user friendly is it! I edited as on checking it clearly wasn’t that.

Nationwide were one I looked at, but as you say, car allowance is required.

have you tried here?
http://www.whatcar.com/car-leasing

Thats sounds a lot of money per month for a not very good car !

I pay £330 a month for a BMW 320d Touring. Insured/Servicing/Maintenance etc.

Merc estates are usually cheap on lease.

Have you looked at:
https://www.contracthireandleasing.com/car-leasing-companies/independent-brokers/cameron-clarke-leasing/citroen/grand-c4-picasso/40116696/

3+35 20k Miles p/a
Initial Payment: £961.62
£320.54 Per Month, INC VAT

Beats your option 2 on Deposit, monthly payment and mileage allowance.

I haven’t looked for anything else, I’ll leave that to you.

I dId try What Car John, don’t recall seeing anything better on there.

Funkydunc, where is that from and I’ll take a look.

Is that for 18,000 miles or more? And can you get two car seats and a teenager in the back seat in enough comfort for 7-8 hour drives? These are the issues that bump the cost up and limit my options!

Doosuk, thanks, will check them also.

I’ve not found any better offers on something that will fit my 3 kids across the back seat.

I’d look at different car seats first, some are waaaay bigger than others. Short of young triplets all in stage1 and special needs, loads more cars can accomodate 3 across.

For the same(ish) money per month I’d be inclined to go with a 2 year as opposed to 3 year deal – less ‘lock in’. And if it includes maintenance that is another variable out you don’t need to worry about.

tbh Though I’d rather spend the money on buying something new/nearly-new and keep it. Worth doing the figures to see when the break-even is. When we bought my wife’s Freelander we looked at both lease and purchase – worked out cheaper to buy (got a 1% pa finance deal).

Thats sounds a lot of money per month for a not very good car !

I pay £330 a month for a BMW 320d Touring. Insured/Servicing/Maintenance etc.

Apples and Pears…

2 car seats in a 320, fitting a human in between might be a struggle even with narrow models. Certainly not for that length of time.

A question for anyone who does these deals regularly, A lot of the deals state it is possible to buy the car after the 3 year period. Has anyone got any insight into the sort of money they ask for the cars, I assumed it would be book value however a friend suggested they offered the car to him at a seriously tempting low price.

I’m looking into it for my parents as a posibility to get rid of a unreliable car and get them into a worry free car for 3 years but would like to buy it at the end if the price was right so they have something to show for it. I’m assuming you could look at it like paying finance for the first three years to cover depr then buy the car out right at the end for a chunk off the list price. I’d obviously need to do the figures here.

Dooosuk – thanks for that link, enquiries sent.

b r – We’ve been deliberating for months which is the best option for us, but have decided to go for a lease and evaluate at the end to see if we think it was worth it.

The folk dooosuk suggested have come up with two quotes…

1) 1.6 diesel VTR+ trim, 18,000 miles, 6+35 at £273 so that’s £1635 down, total over 3 years £11,178, so £3,726 a year.

Or

2) Same but Exclusive trim for £316, so £1756 deposit, total over 3 yrs £12,006, so as good as £4000 a year.

Both of which are better than the first ones I posted.

You should really be asking this on Pistonheads. They have whole threads dedicated to cheap leasing.

The firm I suggested pop up a lot which is why I had a quick look for you but it’s not something I look into myself.

Glad it’s saved you over £500/yr though!

Join Pistonheads as well as STW!? I’d end up like hora.

You know you are signing upto the lease for the full three years? If you lose your job etc you still owe the full length. Plus you need GAP insurance too (essential).

Am I reading this right? You want to rent a car for almost £13,000 cost? 😯

Pretty much.

http://www.nationwide-cars.co.uk/info/special_offer_details.asp?deal=2013+Nissan+Qashqai+Deals-833

Scroll down- from 15k

You own it and can do whatever you want to it. You don’t need permission to take it to France on holiday etc either like you do with a lease car.

Plus if its from Citroen/MPSA leasing- beware of their handback clauses. They aren’t BVLA signed up so their terms aren’t as ‘fair’. For instance any stone chips are charged as a full respray to the area.

£4k a year for a Picasso??? That’s proof the world it utterly bonkers nowadays.

Would it not be financially better to get a personal loan (or maybe a 0% CC – very long interest free periods available at the moment, I got one over 19 months IF) and buy a year or two old one, which you can sell later on??

TBH committing to almost 13k is crackers. Unlike buying a car (you can sell it or px it anytime you like/or situation changes)- you are tied lockstock to a personal lease for the duration or 100% settlement.

Handback day of my Citroen they went round the car very carefully- I had chipsaway around before, all new main dealer wheel trims (wheels have to be 100%- no scuffs or scratches), fully cleaned to an inch of its life…..then it absolutely belted it down just before the chap turned up concealing the front end touch ups 😀 The assessor told me I was definitely an exception as he normally charges on handback.

agree, just buy something near new for the same money, if you have to borrow it Sainsburys Bank are doing 3.8% loans up to £15k, pay back say over 3 years and at least it’ll be yours to do whatever with and still be worth something at the end of loan repayment

How much is a second hand car with say 50,000 on the clock? Why tent and why have new?

I think you’re probably going to get dry bummed on any lease if you’re doing 18k a year.

(Proper) Hire purchase contract may well offer a better deal, and worst case scenario you can hand it back once half the overall cost has been paid

Something like this no good? Near enough new, £12k plus interest but you’d own it. They also do PCP deals I think.

I’m looking into it for my parents as a posibility to get rid of a unreliable car and get them into a worry free car for 3 years but would like to buy it at the end if the price was right so they have something to show for it

There is nothing ‘to show for it’ at the end. They’ll sell you the car for the price they think they can get at auction less costs (so probably saving £250).

Ok, suppose you find or can source a nearly new (like daveh’s) or indeed new car, at a massive discount – for example, the one I mentioned above, I can get through a work related discount scheme for £17000 not its list price of £22000 and something.

I still have up to 2k to put down as a deposit. I can’t afford a £15,000 loan over 3 years – that would be £400+ a month.

Can you get PCP style finance independently of a dealer, so get the monthly cost lower and have the option to buy it or walk away at the end?

This would be better right, because I could take advantage of the almost 25% off the list price? (I know the finance companies don’t pay list price though).

‘Worry free car’.

Trust me you don’t want to leave a private lease car in a supermarket carpark then..

I still have up to 2k to put down as a deposit. I can’t afford a £15,000 loan over 3 years – that would be £400+ a month.

You don’t need to have fully paid off the finance in 3 years though do you? Work out what the car will be worth in 3 years. I bet it’s pretty much what will be remaining on a 5 year loan for £15k.

Take out a 5 year loan…pay a your 5 year loan monthly repayment for 3 years, sell the car and then pay off the last two years finance with the proceeds. Pretty much what PCP is.

Good point

You can. Borrow over 4yrs. Or buy something nice. Sheesh even 9k would get you a nice reliable Honda.

Poor people do what you are proposing – focus on the ‘what I can afford in installments’ avoiding what the impact is overall. You won’t even own the car.

Wouldn’t fancy handing back a lease car after 3 years of my kids destroying it. Buy a year old one all day long.

Mine was a 2yr lease on 29k. It needed a fair bit of cosmetic attention 😯

You can. Borrow over 4yrs. Or buy something nice. Sheesh even 9k would get you a nice reliable Honda.

Poor people do what you are proposing – focus on the ‘what I can afford in installments’ avoiding what the impact is overall. You won’t even own the car.

Perhaps I’m fed up of driving older cars with unpredictable and unexpected bills, and perhaps, due to events that I’m not particularly inclined to regale the forum with, I wan’t my family to be in a car that has the most up to date safety features and is reliable (yeah, Citroens, I know 🙄 ) i.e. In warranty.

And I don’t think its only ‘poor’ people who are mindful of their monthly outgoings, and the implications of different figures.

I’m not sure the leases are really your best value option.

You could buy nearly new with a credit card on 0percent, rest on a loan. We got a 1yr old octavia estate with loads of extras owned by an elderly couple for £11k. Something rude like 8k off the new price.

Or if you are doing a lot of mileage consider an older Honda or Beamer and run it into the ground. As aptly said above you’ll be dry bummed for high mileage 🙂 I say Honda and Beamer as with a family they should be pretty reliable and safe

Again, I would happily drive a BMW, but I’m not so sure I could fit everyone in quite so happily!

Point taken on the mileage, but that would still have an impact on the resale value of anything I ended up owning – less in absolute £ terms no doubt, but an effect nonetheless.