Car lease expiring

sociallyawkward

I have chosen to lease cars for years. I'm a late 50s women, no man in the household and zero interest in doing anything to a car except fuel it and drive. The kind of driving that I do means having a safe reliable vehicle is essential to my day-to-day life but also for me at present is such that I'm not yet willing to consider completely electric vehicles. 

The lease on my current vehicle ends early August and the lease company have just provided a quote which, like for like, is just under 37% more expensive than the current contract!!!! This is by far the biggest, most disproportionate (IMO) increase that I have seen in about 20 years!

I don't want to buy a secondhand vehicle. I would consider buying new - but actually don't really know how to go about it in terms of timings, types of financial agreement etc. I would consider swapping to a different lease company - but wonder if the 37% increase is going to be reflected across the board? And I don't know where to look in terms of determining which lease companies are reputable in any event. 

Any advice please?

ButterCheese

Could you not look on car lease sites and just choose a cheaper one?  e.g. depending on if you have a £2k initial payment, I've just seen a petrol skoda octavia for £239/month.  How does this compare with what you were paying before, and what car is it?

sociallyawkward

I currently have a Toyota Corolla hybrid - which suits me absolutely perfectly. £489/m including servicing/tyres - rising to £668 if I renew and take another the same! It's the % increase that's irked me so much.

Arunmor

The trick with leasing is don't pick the brand pick the deal.  That means looking for slightly less favoured cars or cars that are in stock just before a facelift model comes out etc.

The problem now is that manufacturers get fined £15,000 for every ICE car sold if they don't sell 28% EVs this year (I reckon they might drop that figure a little in the budget).  Can you find any late 2024 registered cars that need shifted?

Arunmor

Going with what you have:-

Mildly_Miffed

sociallyawkward said:

I currently have a Toyota Corolla hybrid - which suits me absolutely perfectly. £489/m including servicing/tyres - rising to £668 if I renew and take another the same! It's the % increase that's irked me so much.

Is your current lease three or four years?

Because the world was a VERY different place in 2021/22...

Frankly, though, your current deal sounds expensive from here. Are you sticking with the same financier every time, or did you search the market?

You might look at those deals that @Arunmor has just posted and say "But they don't include servicing or tyres" - that is NOT going to add up to anything remotely close to a hundred quid a month...

What inclusive mileage are you looking at, and how much up-front?

Desmond_Hume

That’s an expensive leave. Nearly £500 a month for a Corolla (yes, I know it includes maintenance & tyres)!

Get onto LeaseLoco and search by budget. 

Ms_Chocaholic

Can you buy your current lease car, at least you know it's history/reliability

moneytorques

Arunmor said:

The trick with leasing is don't pick the brand pick the deal.  That means looking for slightly less favoured cars or cars that are in stock just before a facelift model comes out etc.

The problem now is that manufacturers get fined £15,000 for every ICE car sold if they don't sell 28% EVs this year (I reckon they might drop that figure a little in the budget).  Can you find any late 2024 registered cars that need shifted?

Exactly that if you are looking for a relative bargain, I've leased this way for the last 9 years and it's served me well. I also agree however prices have skyrocketed lately.

Desmond_Hume

I don’t think prices have skyrocketed?  You can get a Qashqai hybrid on a 6+23, 8k miles for £284 pm. That’s just over £7K. It’ll lose that in depreciation in year 1. Its not a car I’m interested in but, inexpensive lease deals do exist and they’re not that hard to find. 

Mildly_Miffed

Before we know for SURE if it's expensive, although I agree it sounds it, we need to know the OP's annual mileage...

If she's unwilling to even consider moving from a hybrid to BEV because of "type of driving", I'm guessing there's range anxiety due to semi-frequent long runs, so a 6-8k/year mileage may well not be remotely relevant...

Upfront and term also make a big difference.

20k on a Corolla hybrid estate could be £375/mo or £565/mo from the same site, depending on 48+9 or 24+1.
https://www.selectcarleasing.co.uk/car-leasing/toyota/corolla/estate/18-hybrid-design-5dr-cvt?mileage=20000