Car Lease – anyone doing it?

I used the Volkswagen website to come up with that figure using PCP which I think the OP was referring to?

With our lease company for basic Gold Diesel 5 Dr it’s £231.24 for 36 months.

Deposit: £2167
Acceptance fee: £125
36 x £382.14 monthly payments.

Interest rate was 7.3% APR

So the total payable over 3 years is £16,049

Looking at Ling’s site, if I sort by price, the cheapest three year lease on a Golf with a reasonable 15k allowance per year is

Deposit: £755.22
Payments: 35 x £251.74
Total payable = £9,566.12

40% cheaper to lease over 3 years albeit you don’t own the “asset” at the end of the period.

Yes the deals of 12-18 months ago were very good!

Deals like these (and the Golf R and BMW M135i referred to elsewhere in this thread) tend to come about every now and again because of a number of other factors.

Leaving affordability out of it, it’s often a case of “right place, right time” to take advantage of them.

I’ve only ever bought with cash/HP/PCP in the past but am increasingly drawn to leasing the next car. At the very least, unless buying for cash (which will be going into a house extension), I’ll compare any dealer offered HP and PCP deal against what a lease will give me (comparing apples and apples as closely as possible).

The key is to consider what you know/expect the total cost of ownership to be over the proposed period of “ownership”.

My only fear, like others, is condition on return. But that’s true of PCP and effectively is the same when you come to sell a car you own. My trouble is I don’t look after the things very well – they’re usually caked in mud and filth for months at a time in the winter and spattered with flies in summer.

IMO, if you are going to lease on the cheap look out for good offers, not a specific model.

My old boss(es) at the outdoor centre had three cars on lease – all of them went with ‘good offers’ – one was called mid-way through a lease on a Ford Focus 1.6 basic model and offered £100 a month less for new Focus 2.0Tdci Titanium X for the remainder of the contract – but he had no choice of colours etc, as it was pre-registered. So he drove a cheap, new car of much plushness in wonky red colour…

As for lease companies making money, you need to remember the volumes they deal with. These give access to purchase discounts, incentive payments (same as car dealers get), and reduced finance rates.

I have no idea what gross margin the manufacturers work to, but they must be like every other industry which eats its own lunch from time to time to drive revenue, volume, market share etc.

Leasing companies deal in huge volumes. Local dealers often less so. But they’re all in the same business: they make money on your money. The cars themselves are just a means to an end for everybody!

Drac – Moderator

Ok I’ll add more details on the ones I’ve had.

I’m on 6th now all have had 15k mileage allowance so why are people claiming it’s for low mileage only?

I mentioned low mileage deals that I have seen being an issue as 15k mileage to me is still low mileage. My commute is 18.5k for the year (46 weeks at 400 miles/week). In total I do about 25k miles/yr.
Whenever I have looked at a lease website and put in 25k/yr allowance the cost shoots up.

There may be better deals about, but I’ve just clicked on the first personal car lease page that came up and chose a 2 litre Leon FR estate (the 150bhp one, not the whizzy 184bhp version) with 25k miles allowance, maintenance package & 3 month initial payment (whatever that means, but that was the min I could select) and it came to £440/month. With no options selected.

Golf it just said ‘call us’ and wouldn’t give an online quote.
One site I found that would quote for a Golf was £466/month for 20k miles and £523/month for 30k miles. There wasn’t a 25k option on the website.

A3 hatchback 2 litre S line with the same parameters as the Leon – £480/month

stumpy01 – Member

Golf it just said ‘call us’ and wouldn’t give an online quote.
One site I found that would quote for a Golf was £466/month for 20k miles and £523/month for 30k miles. There wasn’t a 25k option on the website.

Don’t forget you can do a low contract mileage and just pay the extra at the end. If my wife did 25K per annum in her R then the excess would be 17,000 x 7.2 p which is £1224 per year or £102 a month, making the total cost £350 per month. If maintenance is included then there is often an excess charge for this too (as she only does 8k miles per annum her’s isn’t maintained)

So that factors are here:

Who you lease from.

What you lease as sporty cars add high tax on a salary sacrifice lease.

Unsurprisingly mileage, 10k is low for me but now 15k seems low too for some.

Manufacturer, some offer bigger discounts for bulk orders, they lose less so cost the lease company less so it’s often worth looking at a VAG, MERC or another.

So the total payable over 3 years is £16,049

Looking at Ling’s site, if I sort by price, the cheapest three year lease on a Golf with a reasonable 15k allowance per year is

Deposit: £755.22
Payments: 35 x £251.74
Total payable = £9,566.12

40% cheaper to lease over 3 years albeit you don’t own the “asset” at the end of the period.

I could only find a 4 year deal on the site?

There’s a document fee of £180 as well. So the total cost for a cheap MOT + document fee + (50 x 220.56) means you’re paying £11,238 for the car over 4 years. I’m assuming you’re also responsible for any replacements it’ll need after the 3 year mark?

It does sound pretty decent if it’s over 3 years though, I must admit.

There may be better deals about, but I’ve just clicked on the first personal car lease page that came up and chose a 2 litre Leon FR estate (the 150bhp one, not the whizzy 184bhp version) with 25k miles allowance, maintenance package & 3 month initial payment (whatever that means, but that was the min I could select) and it came to £440/month. With no options selected.

£291 per month all in with no deposit and 25k per annum mileage.

Is that the NHS lease scheme Drac? I gather it’s pretty good and probably not reflective of what mere mortals can get in the market!

To the people that don’t understand leasing….generally it’s not for tightwads. It can makes financial sense if you value having a new car every ~3 years. You will always loose lots of money buying new, but leasing can be the cheapest way (i.e.least expensive) of doing it.

If you don’t understand the appeal of driving a nice new car it’s not for you.

Is that the NHS lease scheme Drac? I gather it’s pretty good and probably not reflective of what mere mortals can get in the market!

Yes it is but I was asked why I lease and gave my reasons. Some seem to think it’s not worth it but the point is it is if the deal is cheaper than buying, for some it is for other it’s not. Not a shocking conclusion.

When I got my M5 the lease price was £550+VAT so total cost over 2 years is £19,140.00 inc VAT.

Another subtle brag. Mine’s £570 inc Vat (6 and 23, 10K miles).

Obviously no-one ‘needs’ a brand new M5

I’d beg to differ but this is STW not Pistonheads.

For me leasing makes sense mathematically if depreciation over lease period equals, or is less than the cost of the total lease payments. Seems this is rare though.

Other factors like reduced maintenance on newer cars, not requiring an MOT and peace of mind due to having a warranty are also attractive.

It doesn’t seem to make sense if you want a vehicle to cart the bikes around. Potential for damage and the impact it will have on your lease doesn’t seem to be worth the risk.

Drac – Moderator

£291 per month all in with no deposit and 25k per annum mileage.

That’s getting nearer! Why can I never find stuff like that?!

Where did you get that from, Drac? Is that via your work scheme or something available to everyone? Kind of irrelevant if it’s via your work scheme though…..

I think another consideration these days is that older/out of warranty cars are not actually getting any more reliable or less costly to run and, in fact, have ever more gizmos on them to go wrong. Even quality/prestige makes are by no means immune.

I have a PCP over 3 years on a Seat Mii Sport. I went for it for a few reasons;

I have a car allowance + mileage allowance
It costs about 165 a month all in, no deposit and it’s so cheap I can afford to buy it at the end and then sell it on privately so my mileage wont matter..

I needed a cheap, decent runabout for a daily 100 mile commute, it’s perfect for the job and this was the cheapest way to get one.

I obviously also have a big 10 year old Accord shitwagon for the bikes dogs + kids which is probably costing more in depreciation than the Seat…

TheOtherJamie – Member

I’d beg to differ but this is STW not Pistonheads.

LOL! Good price – I had a few options added to mine (can you believe folding rear seats are not standard!?

Where did you get that from, Drac? Is that via your work scheme or something available to everyone? Kind of irrelevant if it’s via your work scheme though…..

Work scheme but only irrelevant if you can’t get it, the question was ‘Why Lease?’ well that’s my answer.

Drac – do you know if that is open to all NHS staff? My wife is a Dr so you have got me wondering….

Drac – do you know if that is open to all NHS staff? My wife is a Dr so you have got me wondering….

Lots of trusts have taken it up, if her’s hasn’t then she can ask for them look at it. They get a cut of the money s it’s appealing plus it retains staff.

My lease car was delivered this morning 🙂

Costing me about £190/month net all in. 12k mileage/yr.

Fiesta Titanium Ecoboost 1.0T 125bhp.

Cheers Drac, I’ll ask her tonight

There may be better deals about, but I’ve just clicked on the first personal car lease page that came up and chose a 2 litre Leon FR estate (the 150bhp one, not the whizzy 184bhp version) with 25k miles allowance, maintenance package & 3 month initial payment (whatever that means, but that was the min I could select) and it came to £440/month. With no options selected.

Not sure if they are still doing it but I got a new Octavia estate (black edition) with the same engine as the Leon FR on a 0% deal with 3 years free servicing for £300 per month with 12K mileage & £500 initial payment. PCP/Lease doesn’t really make sense if you are making a large initial payment so I would keep this to a minimum.

@isto
Where did you get this deal from please?