Lease or buy a car

[John4810]

Has anyone done any research on the merits or pitfalls of car leasing. It looks a winner to me. I might find it hard to get credit, so this way would suit me. Yes I never own my car but a lot of people out there buy cars on HP or loans and pay a monthly amount, technically the car is not yours either, well not unless you pay the car in full. I don't suppose those who can will be on this site! Americans never buy, most of their cars are leased. There are quite a few leasing companies in the UK but they tend to target fleet owners, not really me and you. It would seem that you need to pay upfront about 3 months, then you get a brand new car for a minimum period of about 12 months. Any problems with it you simply tell them and they swap it - just like if you hire it. No MOT bills, no servicing or recovery firms.

Let me know what you think.

John

[Hintza]

Search "leasing" on this forum and it has been covered quite a bit.

General pointers low mileage helps but dop the summs on excess miles. Maintenance is an extra so decide whether the cost is worth it. Bit I love it.

However I am currently in a bit of a fight as my lease company are claiming they only pat the VED for first 12 months of my 2 year lease which is not what was said when i took it out (needless to say nada on contract). So got the i's and cross the t's and you should be ok.

Get a good spreadsheet up and running so that you can figure out if the deal is any gtood or not. Compared to what it would cost if you bought it (gfactor in VED, maintenance, excess miles, VAT etc)

Bigger cars better deal generally speaking. Factor in a darn good valet and taking care of any dings and scratches.

One last tip go for the deal and not the car eg if you want say a BMW you will not get a great deal but so think out the box a bit and the resale value is not your problem.

[mk6boi]

"However I am currently in a bit of a fight as my lease company are claiming they only pat the VED for first 12 months of my 2 year lease which is not what was said when i took it out (needless to say nada on contract). So got the i's and cross the t's and you should be ok."

A lease car is registered to a funder and not the end user, so the VED should be in the price or 99% of the time is.

[JonathanA]

VED isn't always included in the price, I've seen a couple of deals where only year 1 VED is included, after that the lease company supply the VED but recharge the cost of it to you. As ever, it is buyer beware and check the small print. This can be one way in which lease companies offer headline grabbing rates!

[mk6boi]

Just another way to make it look cheap, You should always get it included

[Hintza]

"However I am currently in a bit of a fight as my lease company are claiming they only pat the VED for first 12 months of my 2 year lease which is not what was said when i took it out (needless to say nada on contract). So got the i's and cross the t's and you should be ok."

A lease car is registered to a funder and not the end user, so the VED should be in the price or 99% of the time is.


Oh don't I know it. So thought it very strange when a month or so after taking delivery the blasted V5 landed on the mat in our name. Thought that a bit strange but assumed they were trying to hide the fact that it was a lease car for better resale.

I have a bit of work to do on the whole contract now to check there are going to be no other nasty surprises! It is a bit of a mine fiels I started athread on this a few days ago but got no replies :(