I am thinking of changing my 8 year old car for something newer, plus I need an estate (big mistake getting a saloon where the seats don’t fold down). Anyone got any thoughts on best options to do this?

I’ve got a car allowance through work so I get a bit of money each month to spend. Not sure whether to buy brand new, second hand or lease.

If anyone has any recommendations for lease companies or car finance companies would be really interested.

I’m in the same boat and would be interested to hear views as well.

If it doesn’t make your head explode, Lings Cars is very good (and hilariously bonkers)

http://www.lingscars.com/

Quick look at lings. Rental of a Leon fr is £508 per month before insurance!

Pass!

Why does it have to be an FR? With the 70mph in this country surely you don’t need all that power 😉

she was doing merc estates for £300/month a couple fo weeks ago.

Pick something with good residuals to get the best price on contract hire. c class Mercs are cheaper than Mondeos for contract hire because they retain more value after 3 years.

I so want to lease this

http://www.lingscars.com/Zil/131-leasing/cheap-lease-cars.html

If you’re getting a cash car allowance, nothing is going to beat buying second hand for VFM.

You’ll get a nice spec 40-50k VW, AUDI whatever for 7-9k, and at the end of the three years that you’d lease over it’ll still be worth 3-5k. With a lease car you’re left with nothing.

There are sometimes bonkers-cheap lease deals if you don’t mind too much what you have – there was a Volvo V60 18-month lease for about £180 a month not long ago.

Personally I get a car allowance but I buy nearly-new or ex-demo, run for 4-5 years before replacing which gives plenty over to spend on bikes. That’s partly because I don’t know how much mileage I’ll do and most of the leases and PCP are structured around 10k miles a year.

If you’re thinking new and fast(ish) estate, you can get an Octavia vRS wagon via drivethedeal for just over £17k. Diesel version is £17625. The current Skoda offers (0% VAT, etc) end today though – not sure if they’ll get extended or not.

If it doesn’t make your head explode, Lings Cars is very good (and hilariously bonkers)

http://www.lingscars.com/

Is that site for real? It’s not ironic, or retro; it’s just a nausea inducing mess.

Liking the idea of second hand…

I’ve got a headache!

It’s not ironic, or retro; it’s just a nausea inducing mess.

In terms of useability and closing the deal it’s bloody brilliant though.

I won;t bother googling for it but there’s been a few reviews of her site by quite well respected experts in online selling and they all say it’s great.

The people who hate it tend to be web designers.

Follow her on twitter – always entertaining.

OMG – I can’t believe a Merc estate is cheaper to lease than a Skoda Octavia Estate!!! WTF!!

WTF!!

In a word – residuals

OMG – I can’t believe a Merc estate is cheaper to lease than a Skoda Octavia Estate!!! WTF!!

Residuals innit. When you lease a car you are paying the difference between the (discounted) price now and it’s value at the end plus the lease charges. Mercs tend to work well on the basis that they have MB Direct as a disposal stream when the cars are three years old. That’s why buying a new Merc for cash is a bit of a silly thing to do.

My Golf, which went back today, was cheaper than the equivalent, or possibly lower spec, mazda.

The driver that collected it’s opinion is that if you are nice to cars leasing is worth it but if you are hard on them it’s better to own -all comess down to charges on return (I’m hoping mine aren’t too much but a couple of dents seem to have apeared in just the couple of weeks 🙄 ). He also pointed out that even a moderate charge on return is probably less than a couple of years servicing.

I’m in exactly the same boat as the OP and funnily enough was looking at lings earlier today. Well perhaps not as I’m a fat middle aged IT bloke 🙂

Anyway, has anyone looked at leasing demonstrators/nearly new from main dealers, or even getting a quote from ling and asking the local dealer to match it?

Cheap Merc estates on leasing? A guy over on the Merc forum has posted today about his new car being delivered £457.49 plus VAT a month for 36months 15K…………………not so cheap……………but OK for a C63 AMG estate 😀

she was doing merc estates for £300/month a couple fo weeks ago.
Pick something with good residuals to get the best price on contract hire. c class Mercs are cheaper than Mondeos for contract hire because they retain more value after 3 years.

Agreed – I am paying £270 exc. vat (business so claim some of it back) for an A6 SLine special edition estate 2.0tdi over 24 months. That’s £40 a month cheaper than a basic A4 estate!

But to OP – whatever works best for you – leasing is easy enough if you aren’t bothered about owning the car.

You don’t buy new for economic reasons, you do it because you want the latest model. So if that’s not your main focus then a good used model is going to serve you best.

With respect to finance the dealers get a big kickback from them and so you are likely to find them more flexible on purchase price if you take their finance. However, you must check terms closely including the rate you are being charged, often the dealer gets a bigger commission if he charges you a higher rate and some finance deals have penalties if you repay them early.

I have been looking into the same thing for a small 2nd car. In the end I have just taken out a M&S Car Loan which has a residual amount after x years. Their on line calculator is very helpful. It turned out far far cheaper than taking any dealers’ finance on both new and nearly new cars.

Yes after 3 years I need to decide to pay off the loan and keep the car, continue with the loan, or sell the car to pay off the loan, but there are no admin fees, options to buy, or excess mileage charges or haggling over condition of the car etc.

All in all it puts me in charge and not the car dealer, leasing company. My comparison is really based on Personal Loan, versus dealer HP, versus PCP and not pure leasing (3+x).

Plus the interest rate is the same whether I buy a new or a used car. VW finance is roughly twice as much for 2nd hand versus new.

DSG autos do great deals periodically…

We’ve bought cars and vans on all basis over the years. My only advise is if buying a used turbo diesel – get it under warranty – sell before warranty expires – being possibly astro bills.

Otherwise it depends on circumstances. PCP can seem the cheapest – how much cash do you have in the bank – what’s the opportunity cost of spending that on a motor – some pcps on new cars are cheaper than loans on used….. etc.

And the residuals thing is key – the cheapest medium car to own (according to which) is a bmw 1 series on contract (ie cheaper than an astra / golf / focus).

But it all depends on your circumstances. You need to shop around and be ruthless. Dunno if that helps.

Remember with leasing you’re essentially financing the depreciation of the asset (car) – often times you will be able to pick up a great BMW, Merc or Audi for less than the cost of a Vauxhall….

Pick something with good residuals to get the best price on contract hire.

Or just buy s/h, as while most cars lose 50% in the first 3-4 years, they lose a lot less over the next 3-4 years – and you are financing only half too.

A pal has just got a specced-up 520d on (a personal) lease, £550pcm and a £12k balloon at the end…

GJP – Member
I have been looking into the same thing for a small 2nd car. In the end I have just taken out a M&S Car Loan which has a residual amount after x years. Their on line calculator is very helpful. It turned out far far cheaper than taking any dealers’ finance on both new and nearly new cars.

Yes after 3 years I need to decide to pay off the loan and keep the car, continue with the loan, or sell the car to pay off the loan, but there are no admin fees, options to buy, or excess mileage charges or haggling over condition of the car etc.

All in all it puts me in charge and not the car dealer, leasing company. My comparison is really based on Personal Loan, versus dealer HP, versus PCP and not pure leasing (3+x).

Plus the interest rate is the same whether I buy a new or a used car. VW finance is roughly twice as much for 2nd hand versus new.

Been using M&S car loan for years now for the reasons stated above.

Merc? On a private lease- If you have to service it it’ll be A and B schedules so 3 times if you do 12k a year over 3yrs. A is circa 300+ B is almost 600+?

These Guys are quite good

If you get passed Lings USP her prices actuallu aren’t the best. Its a crowded market and she does stand out abit.

Register with a few as some get cancellations/late deals- I was offered a A160 Merc on a 3+36 for 150 @ month inc vat.

Word of warning. If its a private lease and you normally like to pop your bike inside your car.

Don’t. The plastics will catch the odd scratch every so often over time. Keep the bike outside!

Merc? On a private lease- If you have to service it it’ll be A and B schedules so 3 times if you do 12k a year over 3yrs. A is circa 300+ B is almost 600+?

You don’t have to use the main stealer though

Even if states in your agreement?

Even if states in your agreement?

Don’t use that one then

I’ve had 4 or 5 different lease cars over the years and none of them had stipulated where it must be serviced

More and more of the lease companies are moving away from main dealers for servicing.

I’ll check the T&C’s although I was going to ring a few stealers and ask for their best service price when its time.

Top stalking Ling 😆

Superb 😆

Excellent response from Ling.

i miss Ling’s SCUD launcher between junction 60 & 59 on the A1

Brilliant!