Lease car - good idea or not?

pauln

I'd welcome advice on whether to lease my next car. 
I currently own a 2009 Vauxhall Zafira which I had as new due to an offer of trading in my previous car which was then 10 years old.  The Zafira is coming to a natural end now so I'm looking to replace it.
I'm not really into cars (as you can tell by the 2009 Zafira and running it into the ground) and don't want to buy another new one as I don't want to spend £15k minimum even though I have it available in savings.
The Zafira has become expensive in recent years to maintain so I'm worried that if I spend about £7-8k on a second hand car then I'll end up with a something which would soon become expensive to maintain.
Therefore I'm considering a lease car as a way of getting something where repairs are free for 3 years due to the car warranty.
Is this sensible, or should I just buy a new car outright rather than enter into a lease deal where I'm effectively paying interest for a loan when I have the cash available to purchase a new car?
All advice welcome plus suggestions of good leasing companies.
Thanks

Grumpy_chap

pauln said:

I'd welcome advice on whether to lease my next car. 
I currently own a 2009 Vauxhall Zafira which I had as new due to an offer of trading in my previous car which was then 10 years old.  The Zafira is coming to a natural end now so I'm looking to replace it.
I'm not really into cars (as you can tell by the 2009 Zafira and running it into the ground) and don't want to buy another new one as I don't want to spend £15k minimum even though I have it available in savings.
The Zafira has become expensive in recent years to maintain so I'm worried that if I spend about £7-8k on a second hand car then I'll end up with a something which would soon become expensive to maintain.
Therefore I'm considering a lease car as a way of getting something where repairs are free for 3 years due to the car warranty.
Is this sensible, or should I just buy a new car outright rather than enter into a lease deal where I'm effectively paying interest for a loan when I have the cash available to purchase a new car?
All advice welcome plus suggestions of good leasing companies.
Thanks

Is there anything actually "wrong" with the Zafira now?  

If you order a lease car now it is likely to be on a long lead time (as all new cars are) - several months or even a year has been heard of.

A lease car, or PCP, or anything that is structured around regular upgrade / renewal will cost more in total long term than the old method of buying a car and running it into the ground.  I suspect the depreciation on the Zafira has been only a little over £1k per year.  Lease is going to be at least £3k per year.

There is no difference in warranty between a new lease car or a new purchased car and it does not mean all repairs are free in either case.  (Some lease deals have maintenance included as an extra, but I did not read the OP as meaning that.)  If an individual buys a new car, drives it like they stole it, and burns the clutch out in 6 months, needs new brakes and tyres, none of that will be warranty.

What are your car needs?
size - people / luggage
mileage and type of journey

If you are in a position to pay £15k for a new car, different power train options may work out better in total life cost even if the initial outlay is higher like-for-like.

TadleyBaggie

I got a lease car around 2 years ago as I could lease for around £200 + VAT pcm which was around half what it would have cost to buy via PCP.

pauln

Grumpy_chap said:

pauln said:

I'd welcome advice on whether to lease my next car. 
I currently own a 2009 Vauxhall Zafira which I had as new due to an offer of trading in my previous car which was then 10 years old.  The Zafira is coming to a natural end now so I'm looking to replace it.
I'm not really into cars (as you can tell by the 2009 Zafira and running it into the ground) and don't want to buy another new one as I don't want to spend £15k minimum even though I have it available in savings.
The Zafira has become expensive in recent years to maintain so I'm worried that if I spend about £7-8k on a second hand car then I'll end up with a something which would soon become expensive to maintain.
Therefore I'm considering a lease car as a way of getting something where repairs are free for 3 years due to the car warranty.
Is this sensible, or should I just buy a new car outright rather than enter into a lease deal where I'm effectively paying interest for a loan when I have the cash available to purchase a new car?
All advice welcome plus suggestions of good leasing companies.
Thanks

Is there anything actually "wrong" with the Zafira now?  

If you order a lease car now it is likely to be on a long lead time (as all new cars are) - several months or even a year has been heard of.

A lease car, or PCP, or anything that is structured around regular upgrade / renewal will cost more in total long term than the old method of buying a car and running it into the ground.  I suspect the depreciation on the Zafira has been only a little over £1k per year.  Lease is going to be at least £3k per year.

There is no difference in warranty between a new lease car or a new purchased car and it does not mean all repairs are free in either case.  (Some lease deals have maintenance included as an extra, but I did not read the OP as meaning that.)  If an individual buys a new car, drives it like they stole it, and burns the clutch out in 6 months, needs new brakes and tyres, none of that will be warranty.

What are your car needs?
size - people / luggage
mileage and type of journey

If you are in a position to pay £15k for a new car, different power train options may work out better in total life cost even if the initial outlay is higher like-for-like.

Thanks for your reply.

The Zafira needs a few £k spend on it for the next MOT which I'm not keen to do as we seem to be paying a lot.

We're fairly careful drivers and won't do more than 12k miles per year.  We need four seats and boot big enough for my son's golf clubs.  Not really interested in flashy extras so happy to have something basic.

I realise wear and tear isn't covered under the warranty but thought an actual malfunction was.

Bigwheels1111

I have a Peugeot 5008,  1.6 bluehdi auto 2016. Old shape.
Same size, large boot etc.
At 65mph I get 54mpg.
Around town 35mpg.
Not hit 18k yet.

Any now or old car will be overpriced.
Long wait on new cars 6-18 months.

macman

Bear in mind that there is no way out of a leasing deal, short of bankruptcy. If you contract for say a 3 or 4 year lease, you are locked in-there is no early termination option.

Goudy

If you HP, PCP or lease you will pay interest or some form of profit to someone which will be at a far higher rate than what your savings are earning.
OK the monthlies might look tempting, but you'll pay interest/profit all the same.

So buying with your savings is probably the way to go money wise, even better if you can then replace the savings as you aren't forking out constantly for repairs, servcing, breakdown cover etc.

It might be worth looking at something like a New Dacia Sandero, they start at £12,500.
They are a far better car than the old model as they are based on the current Mk5 Clio and not the old model.
You will get 3 years warranty and breakdown cover.
If you also buy a service plan for a few hundred, that should give you pretty much fuss free motoring for the next 3 years for less than £13,000.

No MOT's, servicing taken care of, you probably won't need tyres or brakes in that time either.
All you need to worry about is petrol, insurance and RFL.

You will have no trouble trading in your Zafira, which should chip a modest chunk of the initial outlay and I know it sounds odd but Dacia models tend to suffer less in depreciation than a lot of their competition, so the depreciation hit is a smaller percentage of a small starting figure.
It's reported one should hold around 60% of it's valve over 3 years.

If you can negotiate a decent trade in figure for your Zafira, you could be in a new car, with all the benefits without hemorrhaging a load of money over 3 years or so or paying a penny interest for the pleasure.

As Dacia used to say, you do the maths.

I am not sure Dacia offer contributions on PCP deals, but it's quite common to sign up for a PCP deal, take any dealer/manufacturer contribution, then settle the finance before you pay a penny interest. It's perfectly legal and saves you the contribution figure off the price you pay.