Is leasing ever a good thing?

ChumLee

neil.woos wrote: »

Hahaha so what I thought is true. You are on some sort of car lease/PCP deal. Yeah you can afford it now but what if you lose your job? Can you still afford it? Won't the finance company take back THEIR car?

Sorry Darkmatter you're well wide of the mark.

I have no finance on any of my vehicles, so losing my job is of no concern to me. I'm also mortgage free so sleep happily at night.

neil.woos

My point being that if you can afford to pay for a car outright in cash with disposable income that is always better than getting a car on finance and worrying if you aren't able to make payments in future. In my view the former is truly affording a car and the latter so not much

Cornucopia

You can't possibly know the circumstances of everyone who ever bought a car on finance - and that's a large number of people.

What about someone like me - I could have bought my car for cash, but a 0% PCP offers several advantages over doing that. I am prepared to live within the rules of the scheme for the sake of that.

I don't work in the traditional sense, nor do I claim benefits. So there is no possibility of me losing my job/benefit entitlement and consequently being unable to fund the car payments (which are only £156pm anyway).

If you're going to lecture people, you need to understand that not everyone is the same, and that on a like-for-like financial comparison, a Lease or PCP may be preferable, or it could be straight finance, or a bank loan, or cash. They all have their advantages and disadvantage - that is why people sometimes find it difficult to choose.

BJV

neil.woos wrote: »

If someone has a car on finance or similar:


A) They don't actually own the car - until you make the final payment - just like your house.
They have rules to abide to - it will depend the type of finance.


If someone can AFFORD a car:


A) They aren't in a financial mess if they're car gets scrapped for whatever reason. I.e. does not impact their credit history. Not always gap insurance ?
Or perhaps new for old within terms of their own motor insurance?
They are also in a mess unless they can afford to go and buy another.
They OWN the car
W Woo start the fanfare?
C) No rules to abide to
D) They are putting their hard earned cash into a depreciating asset. Personally I would rather know how much a vehicle was going to cost me all in rather than give someone a chunk of money and hope and prey that I get something back in years to come.





How more clear can I be? Technically speaking someone on a 50k salary is ELIGIBLE to lease out a car that is worth £50k brand new. They also have other commitments such as rent/mortgage, children, bills and so forth. Whether can AFFORD to get that car is entirely another matter.

My parents always without exception used to buy their cars - always a year old and then they would change when repairs started to get expensive normally six years. They would hand over the cash and drive away then immediately start to save to the next one.


It took me a long long time, lots of calculations and cost efficiencies but even they now lease. If you can pay cash chances are you will of had to of saved it. So why not lease instead. Enjoy the car in the best years of its life when statistically repair bills will be minimum and then change. Keep you hard earned cash in the bank and don't throw it at a depreciating asset.

ChumLee

neil.woos wrote: »

My point being that if you can afford to pay for a car outright in cash with disposable income that is always better than getting a car on finance and worrying if you aren't able to make payments in future. In my view the former is truly affording a car and the latter so not much

So if the interest is less on finance than it is on an investment and you can comfortably afford the repayment. You're better off financially by cashing in and buying outright?

neil.woos

BJV wrote: »

My parents always without exception used to buy their cars - always a year old and then they would change when repairs started to get expensive normally six years. They would hand over the cash and drive away then immediately start to save to the next one.


It took me a long long time, lots of calculations and cost efficiencies but even they now lease. If you can pay cash chances are you will of had to of saved it. So why not lease instead. Enjoy the car in the best years of its life when statistically repair bills will be minimum and then change. Keep you hard earned cash in the bank and don't throw it at a depreciating asset.

Maybe so but that model only applies to buying a certain type of car with a set depreciation rate, only 1 year old etc etc.


It maybe cheaper to get a car that is 3-4 years old, sell it off after 6 years and redoing the same thing.

ChumLee

neil.woos wrote: »

Maybe so but that model only applies to buying a certain type of car with a set depreciation rate, only 1 year old etc etc.


It maybe cheaper to get a car that is 3-4 years old, sell it off after 6 years and redoing the same thing.

Or buy a Yaris and save money by not having rear brakes?

Double_V

It depends from person to person.
I actually like lease cars, mines on PCP contract for 36 months. And I can change my car after 1.5 years to any make and model.

The reason on lease, I don't have to worry about MOT, servicing, any repairs etc.
I had Audi A1 previously, loved that car. Went to Audi event and saw A5 and fell in love with that. Asked the sales person. And it wasn't much difference.
And I did not put any deposit. Just handed the A1 keys and took delivery of A5.
Now it comes with 3 years free full servicing and repair etc not that it will need any repairs. Plus road tax is next to nothing.
And no MOT for 3 years.

If you can afford car on cash, then go with the buy outright.
And if you are to go on lease route then make sure you get Audi/BMW/Merc, not any lesser make then it's not worth it.

Good luck with the purchase.

ChumLee

Double_V wrote: »

It depends from person to person.
I actually like lease cars, mines on PCP contract for 36 months. And I can change my car after 1.5 years to any make and model.

The reason on lease, I don't have to worry about MOT, servicing, any repairs etc.
I had Audi A1 previously, loved that car. Went to Audi event and saw A5 and fell in love with that. Asked the sales person. And it wasn't much difference.
And I did not put any deposit. Just handed the A1 keys and took delivery of A5.
Now it comes with 3 years free full servicing and repair etc not that it will need any repairs. Plus road tax is next to nothing.
And no MOT for 3 years.

If you can afford car on cash, then go with the buy outright.
And if you are to go on lease route then make sure you get Audi/BMW/Merc, not any lesser make then it's not worth it.

Good luck with the purchase.

What is a lesser make than a run of the mill German car?

Ant555

Does anyone have any info on what charges are applied at the end of a lease for, say, car park dings and wheel scratches.
Is that the big unknown at the end of a lease and is there ever any negotiation or are you forced to pay whatever the lease co says is the current rate?

Also, is now a good time of year to be looking at car deals or is it best to wait until the new registrations come out? I don;t know if there is an optimum time of year nowadays