Lease Car for bad credit

Heffi1

Hi, I don't normally post in this part of the forum, but I have a problem that I thought I would ask about here and see if there is a solution for me.

I currently have a lease car through my work on a salary sacrifice scheme, this was the only option available to me as I do not do enough business miles to justify a business lease.

Now to the dilemma, I was due to hand the car back in March having had it for 3 years and get a new one, but I work for the NHS and as they have recently gone through a huge amount of changes, I now work for a CCG rather than the PCT as was.

I spoke to Fleet solutions to see if I could get a new car and they said my CCG had not taken out a new contract so would not be able to provide a new car for me. I enquired with my manager what schemes were in place and he said that they (CCG) use a different lease car company. I gave them a call and they told me they do not have a salary sacrifice scheme in operation (family lease car)

So I am in limbo, I cannot renew my car with the original company and the new company do not do the scheme I need. So what do I do?

I need a car to get to work, I live in quite a rural place and public transport is dire to say the least.

I have defaults which are due to drop my credit file, but not until next year, is there anyone who would let me take on a new lease do you think and if so which manufacturers are more likely to look favourably on my situation.

I do not want a fancy car, one with a wheel in each corner and roadworthy will do, it is just to get me from a to b.

I know you probably can't give definitive answers, but I wanted to ask before I embarrass myself at the dealership when they say no...

Many thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Weird_Nev

If you can find £1000 you can buy a perfectly serviceable car that will be reliable, practical and relatively economonical.

That is probably what I would do in your situation, since other options seem closed or would be very expensive in the long run.

Look on autotrader, up to £1000, within 50 miles, Manual Petrol cars with whatever other requirements you need. You may be pleasantly surprised how much car £1000 buys you. You will have to budget for fuel (avoid diesels unless you do 20K+ miles a year, too many expensive parts to go wrong nowadays and they command a premium which makes them expensive for what you get) and maintenance.

One of the joys of a cheap car is that your losses are limited: If anything goes badly wrong, you scrap it, get your £200 out of it, and go and buy another.

Heffi1

Hi Thanks for replying, unfortunately I have no spare cash (payday next week so no funds at all) and there is no one I could borrow off, also I need to hand this car back next week. I only found out today so as you can imagine I am panicking a bit about it, but trying to look at all possibilities.

System

is there nothing you can sort out with your employer? seems a bit off that you now can't access a company car, obviously buying a banger would be the only real way to get past it - have you actually applied for the normal lease and been refused?

how far from work are you? could do a cycle/public transport link and save some money for a while...

edit: or could you not talk to the current lease provider and see if you could continue on the same lease as an individual - it might be unlikely but obviously you have a relationship with them already so might not need any more credit checks

Heffi1

I have thought of all sorts of ways I can continue, but unfortunately as we have moved to a CCG and they don't run this scheme, the old leasing company want their car back, I asked if they would transfer it and then I would still have a car, but they said they do not transfer any cars to other companies, it stinks, but I will have to look about for a banger and hope I can find something cheap that is roadworthy for a while at least.

I work about 6 miles away from where I work, but with the transport links it would mean travelling at least 20 in a round-about way to get there, it is not the easiest place to live here for transport.

Thansk for your suggestions though it gives me more to think about.