Lease car best value

crazygaijin

Has anyone got experience leasing a car lately?

I am self employed and want to lease for tax effectiveness.

Something smaller the better, I would be grateful for a good link comparing the different offers.

I cant find anything here on mse.

Doozergirl

http://www.contracthireandleasing.com/

Has lists and lists - the best offers from the different companies pop up on the front page. Once you've been lookig for a while you'll see a trend in certain types of car that appear cheap - it moves around week by week.

www.lingscars.com

Really good for seeing exactly how much it costs as her pricing is transparent. Everyone else quotes without VAT move their deposit amounts etc but ling quotes with all different mileages and you know exactly what the deposit is and over how long the contract is. She's pretty cheap but not necessarily the cheapest.

www.gateway2lease.co.uk I found to be very cheap when looking but it's essential to call them as the pricing is often a little different - often cheaper than online.

If one company is offering a particualr brand or model cheaply, you'll find they all are. Mostly impossible to find deals that actually exist. Lots of companies don't bother contacting you or phoning you back when they say they will get you a quote. Didn't find that with the two above.

crazygaijin

Thank you very much very helpful.

Another thing I want to ask about is if there are any Gov incentives for leasing a hybrid car? There was lots of talk I remember about incentives for going green.

I dont like the Toyota Prius which is only a half hybrid. I am talking about the true hybrid cars that you can control if you drive power or petrol.

novazombie

There are very cheap deals on hybrids now.

Also you dont have to pay congestion charge.

But as for true hybrids we in the UK havent got any yet.

In Japan they have had them for years, I hope soon one will be released in the UK.

Most only use electric motor when driving under 20mph and sometimes electric motor kicks in as well as petrol. But as to controling it no you cant like a true hybrid.

Ling_Valentine

Doozergirl, thanks for the kind words.

Quoting to consumers without VAT is against the law. You have to ask what drives all these companies to break the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 as this is a criminal offence (for the past year)? All price indications you give to consumers, by whatever means, should include VAT. This total price must be displayed prominently so that consumers can see it. Prices may ONLY be indicated exclusive of VAT at an outlet or through advertisements from which ALL of your business is with business customers.

As Doozergirl indicates, many of the deals advertised on the contracthireandleasing site do not exist. Or initial payments are manipulated, or "document fees" (made up charges) are withheld, or simply they will try to bamboozle you into a higher-cost car. No deals are checked by the site owners, the site is purely run to generate advertising revenue, and it is buyer beware. Plus, the ex-VAT display is 100% illegal. There is no standard initial payment so you get all sorts of rate combinations (often hidden elements) quoted.

It is true that many companies do not return calls. Often you have no idea who you are really dealing with. This industry is crying out for proper regulation.

I only operate with "white-hat" methods, fully disclosing everything, and displaying 1300 fully-atributed testimonial letters. I find that honest opinions from real customers are far better than getting to the top of some dubious list. There are always bargains, though it changes from month to month. I wish I could always match everyone else, but without breaking the law or misrepresenting, that is impossible. In the end you should ask "why am I being misled?" and "what's the total amount payable over the period?"

Re hybrid, novazombie is sort of right, but you can't have a half-hybrid, that is an oxymoron. What is a "true" hybrid? A hybrid is by its nature half-half in its power delivery/source. The Prius is well tested and works. It is reliable and does a good job, but it's manufacturing of the batteries is often overlooked in its "green-ness" The Insight is sold out for many months. I think you mean a "true" electric car, which leaves the G-Wiz and some Axiam things, which are basically not available to lease and are really suitable for in-town transport (and hope you don't have a bump). They are not "real" cars.

Often, you are far better going for a highly efficient diesel over 15k a year, or petrol at 10k a year.

Green-ness is more effectively measured by your driving style. The greenest option is to drive gently and not to drive at all when you don't need to. Obvious but true.

Ling

AdrianHi

crazygaijin wrote: »

I am self employed and want to lease for tax effectiveness.

I've done the sums on this before, for part business part private use you can only claim back 50% of the VAT and then you have to pay BIK personally (benefit in kind tax). It depends on the car, tax bracket (CO2 emmissions), personal tax rate, mileage etc. but it is pretty marginal leasing throught the business vs. doing it privately.
For me private would have been best by a smallish margin.

Ling_Valentine

For me too. I lease my own car privately and claim back business miles at 40p/mile. Much simpler too. Plus you get searched rather than the business, so easier for newer businesses.

Ling

Happy_Shrimper

Been thinking about this and had a quick browse at Lings site.
I'm a private car owner and use my car every weekday to commute to work and clock up just short of 30000 a year. I am employed so would be at my expense with not tax rebates etc.
What is the advantage for a private user to lease a car in this way rather than buy new? Looks like for my mileage I'd be looking at about £7 - 8k over 3 years. I could buy a car for that and sell it at the end of 3 years. Leasing you still have to pay for servicing and repairs outside of warranty.
Maybe I need to work out how much it would cost to buy the same car and compare against leasing.
Any plus and minus arguements grately appriciated!

AdrianHi

When I did a higher mileage than I do now (18K-25K a year), I used to compare leasing with buying and the extra mileage payments ruled out leasing.
The best bet is buying young / nearly new and considering selling it on before warranty expirey.
If your really committed you can try playing the market the way someone I know does by buying nearly new examples, haggling hard on prices, of sought after models recently released, running for 9 months and selling on privately.
I know someone who managed to be driving cars like the BMW 535d (when it first came out), M3, Audi S4 over a 3 year period and only loosing £3000 in depreciation. The risk is if the used car market tanks like it did last year you will get stung, the person in question read the market and bought a 6 year old car before the market fell.

Batchy

Im leasing a brand new car at the mo, 2 year deal and a deal it was most certainly as i did it 6 months ago, and its now near as damn it 50% more expensive than it was then!

just gotta time it right and get a car you actually WANT rather than a car that just looks like it will do. I choose my cars emotionally and make a financial decision seperately.

At the time if I sold my second hand Jag i would have got 3k

I waited nearly 6 months with it sitting on my drive SORN'd and instead got 4.5k...

As i said, dont be desperate, and take your time and make the right choice, helps if you have a good credit rating also as Lings NEED that good credit rating!