Magic Boot

I'm going to be looking at a new motor in Jan 2003 and am seriously contemplating a lease contract.

A friend of mine runs a 225Bhp Audi TT (and he's not even a hairdresser ) and he's always on about how little it's costing him, £350ish/Month and the fact that he will be upgrading to a new model at the end of the 3 year term.

I'm going to have about £19k capital to throw at a new motor if I choose to buy leaving the rest to be financed by Mr Bank, CCard etc. Or should I bank the 19K and get a decent motor (BMW 330ci)on a leasing agreement and pay the monthly amounts.

I know some of you have or are still leasing your Scoobs, so what would you do? What are the Pros & Cons?

Cheers.

Mark Miwurdz

As Howard Hughes once said

"If it flies, floats or *****, rent it"

...and I'd put cars in that category as well (as long as you're not going to do loads of miles - like I did)

Cheers
Kav

Magic Boot

Kav,

Mileage wise im in the 12-14K per annum teritory. Need to get some idea of pros & cons to convince the other half that i'm doing the right thing.

I'm also hoping to get married in 2003 so need to preserve Honeymoon funds etc.

Mark Miwurdz

12-14K should be fine, mate.

The beauty of leasing is that you have fixed costs over the term of the lease providing you adhere to agreed mileage limits. It gets better if you can get maintenance chucked in as well. It's about as close as you get to fixed cost, depreciation-free motoring.

There are literally loads of companies doing personal lease deals at present but I'm afraid I couldn't make any personal recommendations. You'll need to get busy on the web or put a question up on the BBS.

Best of luck!

Cheers
Kav

^Qwerty^

Just look in the back pages of the Top Gear (for example)

I was suprised at what you can get for your money....
(or works if you take the cash)

JoeyDeacon

^Qwerty^,

Just one thing they always make those figures look better than they really are. For a start those figures will be excluding VAT and will probably be the cost per month excluding maintenance.

One other thing do you have to put a deposit down as well??

Have to say though I wish I leased my Impreza instead of buying it. If you are going to keep a car longer than 3 years then it is probably cheaper to buy it but if you only intend to keep it for 2 years then leasing it will probably work out cheaper.

GaryK

Magic,

Well I got an MY02 WRX back in July for the ridiculous sum of £264+VAT p.m on 15k p.a.! that's non-maintained. Why? Well lost $hit loads + running costs on my old STI, couldnt stretch to an STI on contract hire and having never owned a new car thought it was a cheap way to get one! I also opted for a 3+23, wanted it as short as poss. in case I get bored! check out www.contracthireandleasing.com which has comparisons, I got a good deal simply cos they weren't shifting bug-eyes and in light of the price cuts Im glad I did. I opted for PCH as I claim business mileage at 45p/mile which is better than having it as a co. car and getting stung on tax, downside to that is I cant claim VAT back. If your a sole trader you could offset the whole cost against profit.

HTH

Gary

JoeyDeacon

GaryK,

£264 + V.A.T = £310.20

To put that into some sort of context I owned a MY00 from new and sold it after 22 months losing £8650 which worked out at £393.18 a month. Take into account the interest on the loan and it would have been much cheaper to lease the car than to buy it.

rik1471

Interesting

Mr evolution

If you are not buying new car leasing is only cheaper for people who can claim half the VAT back.

scoobyroof

Try Ian Armstrong at Stan Palmers in Carlisle they will do you a fantastic Contract hire deal mention my name to ian, Tel; (01228) 525051 or e mail him at ian@stanpalmersubaru.demon.co.uk best prices I found in the UK!!!!!! hope this helps, put your 19,000 grand in the bank and earn interest

Kev_turbo

I got an MY02 WRX in september this year financed through International Motors finance. The deal was sorted at Adrian Wildings in Kendal and they were offering £1000 deposit and £270 p/m for 2 years (there adaptation on 3 + 23). All in not bad and they took my past car (a rolling wreck) as full deposit and I managed to talk in a few bits to persuade me to sign.

I did this when they had the car in the showroom with a screen price of £22,750, so was well chuffed. Yes it is £7200 to borrow the car for 2 years but are the MY02's going to be worth £15K when 2 years old with 20k miles on??? I think not.

The only restriction 10,000 miles p/a and I can mod it if I like but I must let them have a saleable car back in 2 years.

Kev