Car Leasing

milliebear00001

Hi there

Hope this is the right place to post. My dad is a pensioner onfixed income and needs to replace his car. He doesn't want to use capital and has been looking into leasing. He likes the idea of being able to change vehicles when he likes, and not having depreciation on his asset, as he would have if he used the monthly money set aside to pay off a loan. I am dubious that this is the best option, but know nothing about leasing.

Anyone have any experience/opinions about this route?

Armengar

leasing is far from "change when you like" as they are still tied into a contract, albeit might be a year but most good deals tend to be 24/36 month ones. Look about though. As far as "asset" goes, you wont have an asset as you are leasing it, paying for the use of the car rather than paying off the car. After the lease period is up you hand your keys in and walk away (so to speak, if the car is damaged or you have excess mileage on the agreed amount then you will need to pay more)

Hintza

Lease deals are normally not that great on smaller cars so you need to do the sums throughly if it is a small car.

The other thing is don't look for the car decide on a short list and look for the deal.

Leedslad_3

Ok leasing is basically the same as renting a car, However its cheaper as you have to supply your own isurance.

The pros of leasing are:- If the car fails you will get an immidiate replacement, You dont pay the car tax, 24 breakdown cover is included. You just pay a monthly fee.

The cons:- You are as said beofre tied in to a contract however with most national companys this is done on a minimum of 6 months, You are limited on the milage per month.

Obviously the cost depends on the lenghth of contract and the amount of mile you will be doing.

In my opinion i would steer clear from leasing a car. The only people who tend to lease a car are compamys and very rich people.

I hope this answers your question.

Hintza

I lease mine and i don't think i am wealthy at all...lol

negg

"You dont pay the car tax, 24 breakdown cover is included"

That depends on the contract.

milliebear00001

Hintza wrote: »

I lease mine and i don't think i am wealthy at all...lol

Can I ask who you lease from, and how you've found them?

Leedslad_3

i think you will find that as the leased car v5 document is in the name of the leasing company that they will be the only one who are able to tax the car. As standard this is usally met by the company who own the car.

As for the breakdown cover this does indeed depend on teh contract but again normallya s standard with all the nationls who do leasing this comes as standard.

Hintza

I wouldn't recommend my current company (we are arguing over car tax which should be incuded but I have managed to get one of the few deals where it isn't, needless to say i asked the question but never git it in writing) but I normally go through http://www.contracthireandleasing.com/ . I hire in February but have found the best deals tend to be end of December.

I have a formula that I use to decide if a car is good deal or not:- divide the monthly payment into the best price you can buy the new car for and if the number is >70 the the deal is OK if it gets >100 then it is a fantastic bite their hand off deal. If the deal is below 70 buying will probably be cheaper buying. This will vary depending on finance costs but I based that on 7% the last time I did it.

Remember this year scrappage is going to mean that lease deals on small cars will be particularly bad.

The best lease deals you will get will be on unpopular cars that manufacturers are wanting to move without visibly slashing prices. So any Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep models can be particularly good if you get your timing right.

We currently have a Jeep Grand Cherokee and personally I love it. Her in doors wants something to tow ponies with otherwise I could have something more sensible .

What sort of car are you looking for?

milliebear00001

Well it's for my dad, but bizarrely he wants an MPV because of all his grandkids! He uses his car for camping holidays and currently has an estate, but sees an MPV as a way of getting lots of boot space plus occasional extra seats. Love that formula - will give it a try!

J400uk

If your leasing you have to find the right deal and jump on it. They move very quickly and you can't afford to be too picky. Usually the best deals are on cars that hold onto there value well and the manufacturer has a batch they want to offload.