Buying Ex Company/Lease Cars

WellKnownSid

motorguy wrote: »

That would be my fear too.

Diesel Particulate Filters, Dual Mass Flywheels, even turbos, fuel pumps and injectors dont seem designed to last the lifetime of the car, therefore you're really playing russian roulette with a big bill.

Many petrol engines have these too, albeit all are under far less pressure / stress than their diesel counterparts.

PierremontQuaker03

The car I currently own is an Audi A3 petrol - it had 113k on the clock when I bought it at 3 years old and now 5 years later it has 149k on the clock - and touch wood - it has be absolutely fine, no issues. It was an ex sales rep car for Evans Hallshaw and was serviced every two months - so I agree that to reduce the risk then you should look thru the service record of the car you are about to buy - some company car owners are good, they look after the car and have it serviced regularly - but some are not as it is not their car so they treat it like crap and those are the ones i am trying to avoid.

bigjl

As Minrich says, go to an Auction.

Few dealers do much to their stock by way of preparation.

And you will save some money as long as you know what the cars value is and don't just bid up near the price on Autotrader.

Only buy cars that have come from a large leasing firm. And only with full main dealer history.

bigjl

motorguy wrote: »

That would be my fear too.

Diesel Particulate Filters, Dual Mass Flywheels, even turbos, fuel pumps and injectors dont seem designed to last the lifetime of the car, therefore you're really playing russian roulette with a big bill.

My mk3 Mondeo bought with over 80k was pretty much faultless, my V50 with over 100k was also reliable.

Chose well and it is a good place to buy, but as you say if you come unstuck then you are in the hook.

misterbarlow

Our leased company C-max is coming up to 3yrs in August and we have only done 19k in it so far, treated it like gold its immaculate, would love to buy it at the end of lease, but just cant afford too...

neilmcl

As others have said best place for a high mileage, lease car would be the auctions (BCA, Mannheim etc). I'd personally get something that's less then 3 years old then take it up to a main dealer for a check up and hopefully sort any issues before the warranty runs out.

mcjordi

Pop along to SMA in birtley.. or the ones up at gateshead? manhiem is it?

WellKnownSid

misterbarlow wrote: »

Our leased company C-max is coming up to 3yrs in August and we have only done 19k in it so far, treated it like gold its immaculate, would love to buy it at the end of lease, but just cant afford too...

Low mileage, well serviced examples can attract a premium at auction, especially if you have several private bidders all getting worked up.

Personally, I'd be looking carefully at service history and also checking the car out esp tyres. Our local council along with a certain utility will only seem to pay for the cheapest to be fitted to their fleets.

In our case, our council operate a large number of pool cars - all a particular make, model and colour. They get driven by a different person every day - and by all accounts of a friend of mine when they go to pick one up at some unearthly hour they often find a problem (dead battery, mis-fueled, no oil, warning lights, accident damage). Rough bodywork isn't a sign of a bargain car underneath...

loskie

http://www.lexautolease.co.uk/content/products/carselect.aspx

PierremontQuaker03

loskie wrote: »

http://www.lexautolease.co.uk/content/products/carselect.aspx

Looks as though these guys are closing 20th May 2016 - but thanks for the info