Thetownend.com

Proper boring thread, I apologize in advance. Has anyone or does anyone lease their car? what are the pros and cons you've come up against? Any advice? Ta!

Same as the decision to buy or rent your house really. However, the depreciation operates in the opposite direction  ;)

Personal leasing isn't always a good deal - normally heavy deposits are required and so the cheap monthly payments are killed by a big chunk deposit. However that doesn't mean to say it is a bad idea.

Don't always assume the cheapest cars will be the cheapest to lease. Mercedes do some cracking business deals - got my SLK AMG sport  for less than £290 a month including VAT and also collecting a new Nissan Quasqai N-Tec next week for £277 a month inc VAT mainly because lease costs are dependent on depreciation.

Both of these are 2 year deals so no lengthy lock in (that's another thing - some two year deals work out cheaper than 3 or 4 year deals - especially on brand new models)

Nationwide Vehicle leasing do a price match and if you phone them up and ask for the latest dealer offers they will normally find something unbelievable in your price range.

Got a link for them? I'm looking around at the moment and leasing is an option. Costs aside, what are the other gotchas that leasing newbies might be unaware of? What happens if the car's damaged etc?

Go for a big offroader and you could chase foxes with it Paul

 :eekout:

Yeah, but it would wreck the lawn when they turn up in our back garden :)

If it was me I would get a loan, and then use drivethedeal website to get the price down.

at the moment im doing a salary sacrifice through work.
Pros: Deducted before tax so lower cost than standard lease
Maintenance included, so no service costs, mots, tyres etc
Insurance and tax included
Brand new car you can give back after 2/3 years

Cons: I'm stuck at the company i work for for the duration of the contract unless i pay an ET fee.
You are technical losings a chunk of your salary which could affect such things as loans, mortgages etc

Pro's outweigh the cons in my eyes and even though i probably wont do it again mainly because its a pain in the arse if works crap and you want to leave but you cant. I would probably go for a personal lease of some sort for my next car.

I wouldn't say it was the same as buying/renting a house though.

http://www.nationwidevehiclecontracts.co.uk

That's fine but you forget that although you get a 'good price' you also have to consider depreciation of the term

i.e.

you buy at Price 'A' say £25K over a term of 3 years

in 3 years time you have a car worth Price 'B' say £12k

Over three years you have also repaid interest of £2K

Total price of owning car over three year is £15k or £417 per month

working out whether lease cost are cheaper is easy... is the deposit plus monthly repayments less than depreciation an interest.... simples

The ET fee is arguably not enforceable, dependent on how the charge is structured and the wording of the term. I'm disputing it with my former employer/lease company at the moment - they want £2k ('kindly' reduced from the £3.5k in the contract) and I've told them I'm not paying it.

lingscars.com

link it and she will come.

Mercedes gave me an 'acceptable damage' booklet which had full details of what they will accept as General wear and tear and too be honest, unless you treat a car like shit is unlikely to result in extra charges - car park dents on the doors is probably the most likely cause of extra charges. Had mine 8 months and so far no damage at all but then I do park well away from every other fucker.

Waiting to see what Nissan give me.

The other trick is to under estimate your mileage because even though they charge you at the end of the term, if you over estimate (which most people do) they don't give you a refund if you drive fewer miles.  Excess mileage normally works out between 4p and 8p per mile (£40 - £80 per 1k miles) but if you add 1000 miles to your lease it sometimes adds more than this.

Don't bother with inclusive maintenance - it seems hassle free but is well over the normal cost required to service and maintain a brand new car

funily enough, lings cars are one of the best price wise.