Anyone do Personal Contract Hire?
 

Never really thought much about it until someone on here mentioned it on a thread about Civic Type R's.

I was doing some calculations on the costs of an outright purchase compared to personal contract hire. I drew up the following Pro's and Con's List:

Purchase PRO's:

-Can sell if required
-Have some collateral at the end i.e. sale value


CON's:

-Need to pay road tax each year
-Need to pay service cost each year
-Need to keep for more than 3 years in order to not lose out to depreciation

Contract Hire PRO's:

-Road tax covered
-Servicing charges covered
-After 3yrs I can get a new one
-Car isnt mine so wont be so worried about people damaging it etc
-Money I would have used to buy the car can generate annual interest (less hire rate)

CON's:

-Never own the car
-If mileage increases cost will go up (8p per extra mile over contract limit)
-Costly charges if I need to cancel contract

Anything Ive missed or does anyone have any experiences (good or bad) with Contract Hire?

Thanks,
Simon

contract hire cons
can't alter the car unless it can be put back to standard (spoiler, etc)
have to keep same car even if you get bored (unless there's a get out clause?)
aren't the monthly payments high compared to a personal loan?

http://www.gmcleasing.co.uk/lease-ve...ils.php?id=108

Civic Type R for £239+vat per month.

When it was on a special it was around £200!

I usually PCP mine, enables u to have a new car a lot cheaper than on HP.

Does any company do cars on a 12 month lease?

Looking for either a Golf GTi or similar (thought the Saab 9-3 TT on the gmc site was cheap - maybe if that could be on a 12 month contract?)

Yes but they cost a bomb due to the first year's depreciation

You mean the 17.5 % VAT payable don't you? Thats commonly mistaken for 1st year depreciation.

I've had loads of cars on pch- on terms between twelve months and three years.

To be honest I'd rather do it this way as its pretty much fixed cost motoring- you're not taking the chance on the depreciation.

At this point in time I wish I'd contract hired the X5, which, if the guides are to be believed, is depreciating at about £1100 a month!

Have a look at Car leasing, contract hire - UK to get an idea of the deals available. There are still some bargains to be had.

No.

Thanks for the replies. Im still reviewing figures but it seems pretty enticing.

Quick question though - when looking at quotes the offer terms such as "3+35" does this mean the cost is 3 months upfront deposit and then 35 months at standard rate?

Cheers,
Simon

Yep

You pay a non refundable deposit and then a monthly rate, some of the "deals" will look for 6/12 as a deposit.

Car Leasing – Contract Hire – Unbeatable Van & Car Leasing Deals have some good deals. The Civic type R is currently £214

Its good for me due to the amount of miles I rack up, after 3 years the cars gonna have at least 70k on it.

Work picks up the bill for my Volvo C30, then its scooby fun at the weekend!