Buying my lease car

silvercar

My car lease ends in a couple of months and the leasing company have given me a price to buy the car from them. If I don’t buy it, no doubt it will end up in auction somewhere. Is there a way I can find where it goes and buy it cheaper through auction? 

Anything to watch out for?  

born_again

TBH, if you know the car & want it then just buy it from lease co.
It will go to auction (BCA maybe) & while you can bid, you could end up paying more in the long run or even not getting the car.

Search out Jonathan Porterfield on u-tube. He does live streams from a couple of auction (Not BCA) but his focus is EV.

DullGreyGuy

silvercar said:

My car lease ends in a couple of months and the leasing company have given me a price to buy the car from them. If I don’t buy it, no doubt it will end up in auction somewhere. Is there a way I can find where it goes and buy it cheaper through auction? 

Anything to watch out for?  

Surprised they're willing to sell you the car, given the different VAT treatment of leases over HP most won't sell the car to the leasor (but may suggest you arrange someone to buy it for you that then gift it or sell it to you). 

It depends on how unusual the vehicle is... certainly my PCP/HP went back because the balloon was £10k over sticker price for it. I did see it come up for auction (was a not common car in a not common configuration) but didnt try to bid for it. 

No idea what happened to it, they did a MOT before it went to auction and DVLA has no record of the car since with no owner registered, no export, no insurance, no further MOTs etc so presumably it went out the country. 

silvercar

DullGreyGuy said:

silvercar said:

My car lease ends in a couple of months and the leasing company have given me a price to buy the car from them. If I don’t buy it, no doubt it will end up in auction somewhere. Is there a way I can find where it goes and buy it cheaper through auction? 

Anything to watch out for?  

Surprised they're willing to sell you the car, given the different VAT treatment of leases over HP most won't sell the car to the leasor (but may suggest you arrange someone to buy it for you that then gift it or sell it to you). 

It depends on how unusual the vehicle is... certainly my PCP/HP went back because the balloon was £10k over sticker price for it. I did see it come up for auction (was a not common car in a not common configuration) but didnt try to bid for it. 

No idea what happened to it, they did a MOT before it went to auction and DVLA has no record of the car since with no owner registered, no export, no insurance, no further MOTs etc so presumably it went out the country. 

Not that unusual, it’s a Tesla Model 3. This isn’t a balloon payment, it’s an end of lease price. 

Would yours have been transferred to a private plate? That may explain the lack of registration.

DullGreyGuy

silvercar said:

DullGreyGuy said:

silvercar said:

My car lease ends in a couple of months and the leasing company have given me a price to buy the car from them. If I don’t buy it, no doubt it will end up in auction somewhere. Is there a way I can find where it goes and buy it cheaper through auction? 

Anything to watch out for?  

Surprised they're willing to sell you the car, given the different VAT treatment of leases over HP most won't sell the car to the leasor (but may suggest you arrange someone to buy it for you that then gift it or sell it to you). 

It depends on how unusual the vehicle is... certainly my PCP/HP went back because the balloon was £10k over sticker price for it. I did see it come up for auction (was a not common car in a not common configuration) but didnt try to bid for it. 

No idea what happened to it, they did a MOT before it went to auction and DVLA has no record of the car since with no owner registered, no export, no insurance, no further MOTs etc so presumably it went out the country. 

Not that unusual, it’s a Tesla Model 3. This isn’t a balloon payment, it’s an end of lease price. 

Would yours have been transferred to a private plate? That may explain the lack of registration.

No, its still registered under its original plate

Goudy

It could be the lease company are getting the jitters because of EV prices.
I might be remembering incorrectly, but didn't Tesla cut their prices in 2023, not just once but a few times?

There are costs to send cars to auction and there's no guarantee they'll make their money.
As the market between your lease starting and the current used prices could have changed, the lease company might be looking at shifting their cars in different ways. 

If you really want it, negotiate with the lease company.
Go in fairly low and work up to what you are comfortable with.

You might want to try and find out what similar cars are making at auction to give you a starting point.

silvercar

DullGreyGuy said:

silvercar said:

My car lease ends in a couple of months and the leasing company have given me a price to buy the car from them. If I don’t buy it, no doubt it will end up in auction somewhere. Is there a way I can find where it goes and buy it cheaper through auction? 

Anything to watch out for?  

Surprised they're willing to sell you the car, given the different VAT treatment of leases over HP most won't sell the car to the leasor (but may suggest you arrange someone to buy it for you that then gift it or sell it to you). 

It maybe the company leased the car and so I would be a third party. Certainly it was on salary sacrifice, with insurance and maintenance included plus a clause that if I left the company the company can end the lease with no penalty.

DullGreyGuy

silvercar said:

DullGreyGuy said:

silvercar said:

My car lease ends in a couple of months and the leasing company have given me a price to buy the car from them. If I don’t buy it, no doubt it will end up in auction somewhere. Is there a way I can find where it goes and buy it cheaper through auction? 

Anything to watch out for?  

Surprised they're willing to sell you the car, given the different VAT treatment of leases over HP most won't sell the car to the leasor (but may suggest you arrange someone to buy it for you that then gift it or sell it to you). 

It maybe the company leased the car and so I would be a third party. Certainly it was on salary sacrifice, with insurance and maintenance included plus a clause that if I left the company the company can end the lease with no penalty.

Then yes, the employer is the leasee and hence why they can sell it to you without fear of VAT reprisals. 

chrisw

The lease companies always want top whack for the cars for some reason. I enquired about a company BMW I had and they wanted £14k for it which was more than I could buy one from a dealer. I later saw it sold through auction for £10k. 

I finally bought my next leased Volvo for £11k before Covid and sold it 4 years and 40k miles later for £10.5k.