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I am looking into replacing my current car and am quite sold on the idea of personal leasing. But it sort of seems to good to be true. I haven't explored PCP but would need to finance a purchase in some way.
Any experience good or bad? I am interested in whether people have had problems returning the vehicle with damage or wear and tear
Ah good old Ling. If there was anything to wash away the coronavirus blues, then that would be a shower gel made by Ling.
It's worked OK for us, we're on our fourth. All 2 year personal leases. I've probably been very lucky to have good offers come along on cars I wanted at the right time. At worst, it's been no more expensive than PCPing the same, at best it's been substantially cheaper than the depreciation. It works well if you're not that fussy about the exact model / trim / options you want and take what's being "supported" (ie subsidised by manufacturers) at the time. Option costs (usually including paint) are just divided by the number of lease payments so can make a cheap car quite pricey. Best to go with the free colour and no options if you can.
Originally it was a way of getting a car I wanted (M135i) but assumed I'd have to wait a few years for used, until I saw about leasing and the deals at the time were really good. When it was due to go back VW were heavily pushing the Golf R and we'd had a kid so got an estate one for less than the BMW. When that went back, there were deals on the Golf GTE which was great and saved us a fortune in fuel too. Then now we have an eGolf which costs us even less.
Some people will tut and talk about "dead money" and not wrap their heads around paying a set amount each month for a couple of years then having nothing to show for it. Yes it will probably cost more than buying an old Focus and running it into the ground. If you want to run something newish, safe, reliable, etc and you properly tot up all the running costs then leasing can work out pretty well in comparison.
There's a set of guidelines by the BVRLA (the trade association) about fair wear and tear. Was only charged anything for the most recent one, that had a fair ding on the front wing from someone opening their door into it, my wife had seriously kerbed two alloys and there was some scratching around one of the rear door handles. Total charge £135. I couldn't have got them repaired myself for that.
Being lazy here but what is hot in the world of leasing currently?
We have done repeated PCPs with Ford due to the Privilege discount scheme. 3 years on and prices seem to have shot up (but not as much as competitors) and I am loathed to pay out more.
All good for me for several years of leasing.
Contrary to several examples I've been offered purchase several times...
We have a Kia Soul EV on lease which was a bargain as the new one is double the cost monthly. Also have a Karoq which was super cheap at the time.
Tend to go where the deals are. But for example a Skoda Kodiaq can be had for cheaper than Karoq currently. So sometimes the more expensive car to purchase can be the cheaper car to lease.
Never had any issues with returning in terms of cost.
VW just offered me an extension on my lease due to 'unprecedented times' which was a great help. A clever move too as people were probably less interesting in putting out a large deposit...
HotUKDeals usually has the occasional stand out deal. Carwow has a lease search function that's nice but doesn't include all deals.
I like leasing, and had some very good deals on it for nice cars.
Positives - no car salesmen to deal with. You can get the car over the phone in minutes and not deal with BS for hours.
Fixed cost motoring for 2 or 3 years with no worries
Premium brands cheaper because they depreciate less.
Maintenance can be added a good rates (not always)
Downsides - it’s a contract and almost impossible to get out of (unlike PCP) without having to pay contract penalties.
Try leaseloco or the Pistonheads lease deals thread as a starting point for deals.
Ah yes, arranged via a couple of emails rather than the “I’ll have to speak to my manager” negotiation theatrics of the dealership.
Leasing.com lets you sort by price (monthly, total, etc) these days. What Car? have a good leasing search on their site too.
i've done PCH on my past 4 cars and works for me. i need a decent reliable car for work and am fortunate to get an ok car allowance, so for sheer ease and lack of hassle, and having a known fixed cost every month, it works for me. yes you never own the car, but buying cars is dead money in my mind. you don't have the same cancellation rights as on a PCP (rule of halves and quarters), but the couple of times i've early terminated a contract, the esrly release fee hasn't been ridiculous. if you keep the car for 3 - 4 years and have reasonable millage (<15K) you can find some good deals out there. try nationwide vehicle contracts as a starting point to see what your budget will get you and what deals are around (it's an aggregators site). If you have something specific in mind also speak to the local brand dealership as well, they all do PCH (although would prefer you take PCP out) and there's some good deals to be had at the moment as they still count them as a new car sale which the garage are very keen for given little to no new sales over the past 4 months. my partner has just picked up a new VW Tiguan in decent spec, with full servicing, breakdown, tax, and 3 months free hire for only £35 a month more than she was paying on a second hand golf.
Just done our first contract hire as we have no interest in keeping the car.
no tax to pay and not much more to pay than a used car per month. Went to dealer to test drive and ordered over email etc. Just waiting on it arriving.
. https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/legal-advice-please-cancelling-a-new-car-dispute/.
/blockquote>just never goes away that thread
I'm on my second PCH car after coming off the company car scheme (they changed the criteria and was I no longer eligible). Dealt directly with the dealer both times, I couldn't see any reason to involve anyone else.
My reasoning is thus:
Yes it's rental, but unlike houses which generally go up in value, cars deprecate in worth (both financial and their condition). If I bought new then paying off the ticket cost at the rate I'm paying per month for a lease would take me about ten years. By which point I'd have nothing further to pay as I'd own outright... a ten year old car. At which point I might as well have just bought a 10yo car in the first place. And then what, run it into the ground bangernomics style? Or get shut before all the big bills start coming in in which case I'm back to square one anyway.
Alternatively, for the same monthly outlay I can drive a new car every two to three years with a full dealer's warranty, not have to worry about things like MOTs or tyres, full breakdown cover, and their "assurance" service which deals with any issues and adds things outside of insurance like courtesy cars. At which point it seemed a bit of a no-brainer.
No doubt someone's going to drive a hole straight through my logic and there's possibly a 'sweet spot' for buying that I'm not aware of. But however I sliced it it always came down to "you get what you pay for," I like driving so for me it was worth it to have a nice place to be.