Dead Car: New Car, leasing vs HP

Fergal1982

Hey guys. I put my car into the garage the other day (10 yrs), and it's come back needing a whole new engine.

Since it's so old, a new engine (even second hand) is going to cost more than the car is worth. So I'm thinking I might just buy a new one.

I've got a couple of options though. I could buy a car thats 1-2 years old, and get it on finance.

However, I've had a few people (including some who used to work in the motoring industry) advising that the way to go is Car Leasing (such as from Car Leasing - Contract Hire - Cheap Car & Van Leasing Deals). It definately seems interesting. I can definately see how your money goes further with this type of operation (I can get a brand new Focus Titanium X for about £300pcm.

Has anyone actually gone through leasing to get their car? If so, what did you think?

forgotmyname

Your money doesnt really go further though. For the equivalent of the deposit and less than 6 months payments i can get years worth of motoring.

I worked out recently one poster leasing a car for 3 years i could get 12 years worth of motoring.

I buy a car for £2000 run it for 4 or 5 years, Sell if for £500- £1000.

Then buy another for £2000.

The cars usually high mileage 100,000 - 130,000. As i dont do many miles so it averages out over my ownership.

So a lease would not suit me, Its a personal thing though. If your happy paying a couple of thousand deposit and £300 a month then go ahead.
Watch the mileage though, Going over your limits may be costly.
And does that include servicing? Cheaper plans dont seem to include service packages.

Ling cars seems to get a good mention. Websites awful though.

Ive looked but for that money i will stick to my plan.

Mindless_Clone

My friend, who is a single woman, leases her car and has done for years. She does it simply because she doesn't have the wherewithall to maintain it herself so, for her, there's peace of mind as she gets a car taxed, MOT'd and serviced and breakdown cover included all for one monthly payment... and it's a good car and she gets to renew it every few years too.

Personally I did look into it a while back but decided it's not for me. I was married to an ex motor mechanic for years so have enough confidence in car maintenance to not get ripped off by servicing etc. And I own mine outright anyway, hopefully for several more years.

forgotmyname

Thats the advantage for some, Its a fixed outlay that doesnt change. But when i looked at ling cars it seems servicing was not included. I didnt look to see if they had prices with servicing.

You also need to think, If you lose your job how will you pay the monthly fee for the car?
At least if you buy a car outright you can sell it, Store it or swap it for a cheaper one.

With a lease you need to keep paying.

property.advert

Leasing traps you. You find the up front balloon and then pay the monthly. At the end, you find another balloon or are stuck getting a new deal.

If you buy, you can decide when to trade it in.

Hintza

property.advert wrote: »

Leasing traps you. You find the up front balloon and then pay the monthly. At the end, you find another balloon or are stuck getting a new deal.

If you buy, you can decide when to trade it in.

What your describing are PCP deals.

Leasing are normally 3 months upfront followed by 35 payments (if 3 years).

Leasing worked well for a few years prior to about 2008/9 when manufacturers wanted to shift unpopular cars without (visibly) discounting them thus affecting residuals less.

If you expect to get a good lease deal on a popular car then think again. You might get an OK deal.

But the only way to figure out the best deal is to get a spreadsheet up and running and crunch the numbers.

To get anywhere near a good deal choose cars that are unpopular or are about to be replaced with a newer model.

If you do high mileage that is not great for leasing.

Fergal1982

Thanks for the input guys. I've been wavering back and forth on it, but I think I'm heading back into the buying via finance option. I found a fairly decent 11 reg Zetec that seems fairly decent (11.5k).

I'll need to finance it, either via a bank loan, or finance in the garage. The Bank is cheaper it seems, although the finance has the advantage of being secured against the car, so I'm not sure which is better/more likely to be approved.