Personal car lease, too good to be true?

rodenal

How much is the balloon payment on your clio and what is the value left in the car? You've been paying a frankly phenomenal monthly payment for that type of car, I would expect you've got lots of capital left in it.

Anyway as long as you go in eyes open there's nothing wrong with leasing - you seem to be looking at an awfully large jump in types of car though. You could lease something still a bit bigger than your clio on a 3+24/36 deal for about £200-£230 a month inc VAT. Saving something (monthly) and still getting a new car would this not make more sense?

smitchy73

zappahey wrote: »

I'd rather have this
http://www.lingscars.com/Mercedes/SLK_Roadster/1768897-2.1_CDi_BlueEFFICIENCY_16v_%28201bhp%29_250_Convertible_2dr_2143cc-personal.html

That is one f***ed up deal, awesome, thats less than my vw golf bluemotion, hhmmmmn tempting but no good in this snowy weather:D

Hintza

david69 wrote: »

i have looked into leasing many times in the past but it always comes back to the same questioni don't have an asset at the end .

OK in the strictest sense a car is an asset but it is a depreciating asset and a potential money pit.

You must do your sums carefully on this but if you choose the deal and not the car then you can get some great deals. These are quite a bit rarer now but go back 5 years an there were some real steals out there.

maninthestreet

smitchy73 wrote: »

That is one f***ed up deal, awesome, thats less than my vw golf bluemotion, hhmmmmn tempting but no good in this snowy weather:D

The deal-clincher must surely be the inclusion of Ling's sexy first aid kit.

Strider590

fRAiLtY- wrote: »

Someone please rain on my parade and point out a logical and sensible reason for this? At the moment I'm feeling quite annoyed I didn't do this research back then! I'd like to stress this is a personal lease, not through a business and the prices above include VAT.

Cheers.

Yeah, something goes tits up, you lose your job, combined mortgage/rent/bills and car eat through your savings in 2 months (you can't have much in savings if your buying stuff on credit), you lose your home and your car, you have no transport to travel to work and no fixed abode = unemployable.

Suddenly that fake social status you obtained with a Merc/BMW/etc, is gone and your wannabe middle class "friends" abandon you.

Seems a bit pessimistic? I know it does, but I saw this happen to no less than 6 people between 2009 and 2010.

Living on credit is a mugs game..... It's just playing into the hands of the super rich "elite".

My car owes me nothing, I bought it outright, it's reliable and costs me about £150 a month all in (petrol, tax, insurance, etc).

neilmcl

Strider590 wrote: »

My car owes me nothing, I bought it outright, it's reliable and costs me about £150 a month all in (petrol, tax, insurance, etc).

But it may have cost you thousands in depreciation.

getmore4less

neilmcl wrote: »

But it may have cost you thousands in depreciation.

I think he bought a second hand Vauxall

pick them up for near scrap value after a few years so not a lot of depreciation left.

fRAiLtY-

Strider590 wrote: »

Yeah, something goes tits up, you lose your job, combined mortgage/rent/bills and car eat through your savings in 2 months (you can't have much in savings if your buying stuff on credit), you lose your home and your car, you have no transport to travel to work and no fixed abode = unemployable.

Suddenly that fake social status you obtained with a Merc/BMW/etc, is gone and your wannabe middle class "friends" abandon you.

Seems a bit pessimistic? I know it does, but I saw this happen to no less than 6 people between 2009 and 2010.

Living on credit is a mugs game..... It's just playing into the hands of the super rich "elite".

My car owes me nothing, I bought it outright, it's reliable and costs me about £150 a month all in (petrol, tax, insurance, etc).

Hmmm, why would I want to spend my savings doing the opposite to what I'm trying to achieve by saving, i.e. in a savings account it will gain interest and increase (albeit slowly). If I spend it on a car, it's tied up and at the end of it is worth less. I don't see how it's "living on credit", presumably though paying £35k for the car new outright, only to sell it 2 years later for, according to Parkers, £20k if you're extremely lucky at a dealer, £15k is you're unlucky privately. So, in that 2 years you've tied up £35k, then 2 years later got £15-20k of it back, so you've lost, in this example, around 50% of your money. You could lease the same car, again in this example, for just over £7k, then hand it back and get another.

I'm all for owning assets, but why own something that depreciates, it's akin to buying a house in 2007 for £150k knowing what was about to happen, then selling it now for £120k and claiming that's good business? Yes I could lose my job, my house, and my friends - although I'm not aware I have any, but then I could die as well! If I lose my job whether I own a car or not is going to be largely irrelevant, the house will be my primary concern.

I like my cars (despite owning a Renault), I'm not afraid to say that and I'm not afraid to say I'd like a better class of car. If you'd have seen my hairstyle and dress-sense you'd realise that my "image" or how I appear to others is really not a priority of mine, I'm so far behind the proverbial "Jones'" I meet them on the way back! I've owned a french piece of motoring genius for 7 years, I've driven many Vauxhalls including a brand new Insignia and that was underwhelming, Fords I simply don't like. I don't think you can beat the quality and feel of a German car, so yes it is a jump in class, but from a Renault a pair of rollerskates would also be.

Thanks everyone for the responses, it's good food for thought!

Cheers.

Strider590

^^ If you can afford a 35k car, you'll buy one..... Buying on credit is purely an attempt at making it appear as though you earn enough to be able to do that.

With one obvious exception that we are all effectively stuck with (mortgages/rent), you should never buy what you cannot afford in cash. I live by this rule and it's serves me very well indeed....... And if you don't have the cash, but you still want something, the you need to work harder to earn more to pay for it. Borrowing money is a long slippery slope, if that money is not making you money (ie for business) then it's costing you dearly.

I can easily afford £400 a month in free cash (so around £550 when you remove my car from the equation), but i'd never even consider throwing that away on a car or a status symbol. It just seems like complete madness.
The only people who care what car I drive, are the sort of pretentious people that I don't feel worthy (on a decent human being level) of my time.

neilmcl

Strider590 wrote: »

^^ If you can afford a 35k car, you'll buy one..... Buying on credit is purely an attempt at making it appear as though you earn enough to be able to do that.

But this isn't about "buying" anything. It's contract hire, not credit purchase, completely different animals. This is about the decision as to rent or buy. If you could rent a car for 3 years for less than you'd lose from buying the same car over the same period then it's a bit of a no brainer.