Is leasing ever a good thing?

dannyrst

Ant555 wrote: »

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

Just go round the car and check for any before handing back. Be really picky though. Pay for them doing yourself and you won't have any issues.

thescouselander

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?

Actually that's the attraction of PCP to me - if things go pear-shaped with my income I could just hand the car back and cut my motoring costs to zero over night. That's a good thing IMO.

Cornucopia

Ant555 wrote: »

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?

This is the advantage of a PCP over a Lease - you are not committed to handing the car back and paying a charge based on condition or mileage being outside the terms of the agreement.

The options with a PCP are:-

- Give the car back
- Buy the car for the MGFV (Balloon payment).
- Sell the car and settle the finance.
- Part-ex the car and settle the finance

Excess mileage on a PCP starts from about 4p per mile and rises with the size/cost of the car, but this is only payable directly if you give the car back. Otherwise it is embedded within the car's actual value.

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

There seem to be some good deals at the moment (I think summer, generally, seems to be a quieter time for the main dealers).

Double_V

ChumLee wrote: »

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

Ford, Peugeot, Dacia etc.

ChumLee

Double_V wrote: »

Ford, Peugeot, Dacia etc.

So the Mondeo and Focus are lesser cars that a German taxi? In your opinion of course.

ChumLee

neil.woos wrote: »

Ermm, is it surprising for you to know that people DO in fact purchase cars using their debit card? Yes, brand new cars as well.

But not you Neil, despite your criticism you like a bit of driving someone else's car.

darkmatter101 wrote: »

M3 is on lease and will be given back to the dealer by mid January. It obviously has much more torque than the Integra at low revs so I just hope I wouldn't feel fustrated when driving the Integra on urban roads.

flashg67

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?

So? I I lost my job, within a short period of time, The mortgage company would take my house, Finance co, my car, Sky would stop me viewing good (and rubbish) TV and Plusnet would cut me off and stop me being able disagree with MSE forum posts!
I imagine a lot of people are in the same bot, but life is full of 'if's' - you can't put your life on hold 'just in case'...

Mercdriver

ChumLee wrote: »

You sound like what's his name?

Maybe while you're on Darkmatter can you explain why a premium V50 Volvo will driver better than the Ford Focus estate, when both have come off the same production line in Belgium?

For Pete's sake are you going to call every new member a troll or accuse them of being someone else with no evidence?

How old are you? 13? Grow up!

FreddieFrugal

Double_V wrote: »

[STRIKE]Ford[/STRIKE], Peugeot, Dacia etc.

:eek: Blasphemer!!!!

How could you put Ford in with Dacia! Lesser car? They're right up there in class for driving dynamics.

The only reason you'd only consider an Audi/Merc/BMW on lease is because you can give it back before they start falling apart. Very unreliable, especially BMW.

I consider the ability to make reliable long lasting cars as a better mark of quality than having plush materials and a high price tag.

thescouselander

IanRi wrote: »

:eek: Blasphemer!!!!

How could you put Ford in with Dacia! Lesser car? They're right up there in class for driving dynamics.

The only reason you'd only consider an Audi/Merc/BMW on lease is because you can give it back before they start falling apart. Very unreliable, especially BMW.

I consider the ability to make reliable long lasting cars as a better mark of quality than having plush materials and a high price tag.

I agree. I've owned both an Audi and BMW and both have suffered from reliability problems. Nice cars but German engineering isn't always what it's cracked up to be IMO.

Also I can never understand why cars like the 3 Series are claimed to be the best in class by car reviewers when the competition is actually very good and even better in some areas. I guess BMW marketing reps must have a good expenses limit with which to entertain the motoring press.