car leasing

specialman

specialman

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Pat MacInnes
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I'm looking for some advice on companies to use, as I'm now thinking that a lease might make better financial sense.

I currently run a Leon Cupra R, which although brilliant, isn't fuel efficient enough for my company's 14ppm mileage allowance. So it's diesel time, plus I'm starting to think that a bigger car might be better for me....

Which lease companies are you guys using? Bear in mind, I'll be doing this as a private individual, as i get a car allowance to subsidise covering running costs and (to some extent) purchasing the car. Also, I do about 45,000 miles per year so I need a company that will do competetive mileage allowances - are there any companies who specialise in catering for high milers like myself?

Had a quick look on Google with a search for 'CAR LEASING' but it came up with every Tom, Dick & Harry and I got a bit confused about what was out there.

Ideal car? German and other prestige makes are out of the question because of cost, so it's Vauxhall, Ford and the 'alternative VAG brands (Skoda/SEAT), although TBH, as long as it's going to get me from A-to-B I'm not actually that fussed; my allowance isn't so high that I can be too picky when it comes to getting flash motors anymore.

Never really looked into leasing before (even though I've been told i should have) and the only people I know who are leasing are those with posh Mercs and Beemers that cost as much as my mortgage. Any advice on the best route to take?

Anyway, any help that can be provided, if only to point me in the right direction, would be most appreciated.... :)
 
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I looked into this when I needed a car for work. All of the companies I looked at where not really any good for those of us that do I high mileage.
 
I used http://www.buyyourcar.co.uk/ last time. Got some great quotes on an Audi A4 about 4 years ago and a VW Tiguan a year and a half ago. Went to respective showrooms and was give quotes much more than those. Then said that if they could match then I would put deposit down there and then. In both cases they matched the prices.
 
Get a price for your exact requirement from Ling Cars - then go to your local main dealer for a quote. Tell them your quote from Ling Cars and they'll probably match it. You get main dealer service and support with an 'internet' price :D

I did this with a Lexus two years ago.
 
I've used this comparison site in the past which has (with a little digging) come up with some good deals. If looking at the business leases just make sure you add VAT onto the rental and look out for the up front multiples when comparing rates:

http://www.contracthireandleasing.com/

From time to time some manufacturers need to offload certain models and there are some very good deals to be had but this either takes a lot of searching or presumably someone with some industry info.

Alternatively, although no personal experience, Ling Cars - as 2Blue says - seem to come highly recommended on numerous car forums, although the owner is as mad as a fish :)
 
You will end up paying the earth for a lease doing 45k per year. You would be better off buying a 6 month old car - an economical diesel - golf, astra, focus, etc. and rocking with that - if you can afford to buy. If not, then what will the cupra sell for, and get a diesel for whatever the money is.
 
my company's 14ppm mileage allowance.
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They're having a laugh. Diesel is now £6 a gallon, so that's at least 43 mpg to break even on fuel cost alone. Depreciation at 45k a year will be at least another 14ppm and then there's servicing, tyres, brakes, etc. 40ppm is nearer the mark and I think you'll find that MPs give themselves a bit more than that!
 
Peter B said:
They're having a laugh. Diesel is now £6 a gallon, so that's at least 43 mpg to break even on fuel cost alone. Depreciation at 45k a year will be at least another 14ppm and then there's servicing, tyres, brakes, etc. 40ppm is nearer the mark and I think you'll find that MPs give themselves a bit more than that!
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I know, crazy isn't it? It's actually 47mpg to break even on diesel and about 43mpg on petrol - those are figures that aren't that easily achieved unless you have new technology cars, especially with petrol engines.

The other mad thing is that 14ppm was set about four years ago; I had my Mondeo TDCi back then and diesel was less than a quid so fuel has gone up by 50 per cent but the allowance hasn't.....:thinking:

One saving grace is I'm lined up for about £3,800 of mileage tax relief from the past six years ravelling. Doesn't make up for what I have lost but at least it will help out. Thing is, the boss sees that as making up for the 14ppm shortfall, to which i reminded him this has nothing to do with work maters other than that it's based around work mileage...


lawrie29 said:
You will end up paying the earth for a lease doing 45k per year. You would be better off buying a 6 month old car - an economical diesel - golf, astra, focus, etc. and rocking with that - if you can afford to buy. If not, then what will the cupra sell for, and get a diesel for whatever the money is.
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That thought crossed my mind; hence why the guys who have leases at our place hardly leave the office....

Think the last option might be best; reckon my Cupra is worth £4500 selling private so I think I could probably shell out another £800-£1000 to add on top. Reckon i'd get a decent 9-5 estate or a Vectra for that. Back to square one....
 
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Do your company pay more allowance for a larger engine? I know one guy who drives a 2.2 litre diesel to get more cash from his co, even though it is just as economical as the 2 litre version. Works with Mondeos and Primera, maybe vectra.....
 
How much is business mileage and how much private? If you're doing 30k a year plus your company should be buying the transport and giving you a fuel card. 14 ppm is pathetic and you should not be subsidising their business. Tell them your car is broke so they'll have to give you a car. If you keep your car too then you won't have to use theirs for private mileage which is how you get thrashed on tax.
 
srichards said:
How much is business mileage and how much private? If you're doing 30k a year plus your company should be buying the transport and giving you a fuel card. 14 ppm is pathetic and you should not be subsidising their business. Tell them your car is broke so they'll have to give you a car. If you keep your car too then you won't have to use theirs for private mileage which is how you get thrashed on tax.
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Pat has not mentioned it, but when I have been paid mileage allowance's that low, I have been getting a car allowance from the company as well. Then they expect you to have a car available.
 
If you use a company car your company can either pay you miles or pay all the fuel. If you get a car allowance but pay for private fuel, then you get taxed less and collect 40p for the first 10k miles
 
leaky5 said:
Pat has not mentioned it, but when I have been paid mileage allowance's that low, I have been getting a car allowance from the company as well. Then they expect you to have a car available.
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Yep, I get an allowance (£320pm) but that has to be spread across paying for the car AND paying for servicing and other maintainance costs.

To clarify, I get the car allowance plus whatever fuel I put in, they pay at a rate of 14ppm. If you don't get an allowance then you are on the 40ppm rate.... regardless, 14ppm is a low figure to work around, which is the problem I'm facing at the moment; I don't want to get rid of my Cupra but I just can't stomach having to pay back £100+ every month.

srichards said:
How much is business mileage and how much private? If you're doing 30k a year plus your company should be buying the transport and giving you a fuel card. 14 ppm is pathetic and you should not be subsidising their business. Tell them your car is broke so they'll have to give you a car. If you keep your car too then you won't have to use theirs for private mileage which is how you get thrashed on tax.
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In 2011 I'll be looking at 45,000 business miles (last year's figure was about 42K, the year before substantially less) with about 5,000 miles as private. If I told them my car was broke, the boss would just bust my balls beyond belief....

matty said:
If you use a company car your company can either pay you miles or pay all the fuel. If you get a car allowance but pay for private fuel, then you get taxed less and collect 40p for the first 10k miles
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That's not how it's run at my place. You get an allowance then you're on 14ppm for your fuel. If you don't have the car allowance then you take 40ppm for the first 10,000 miles then 25ppm thereafter.

Our accountant did offer people on a car allowance to opt out and go 40ppm but TBH, I can't affor
 
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45k a year? No car leasing company is going to give you a good deal for that.

They work on depreciation from purchase price plus servicing (etc) costs - its going to be worth next to zero at the end of that kinda mileage.

A quick look on autotrader will tell you that a VW Passat 1.9d that cost about 22k three years ago is worth less than 5k after 130k miles on it. So thats 17k depreciation for starters. Add in servicing, and tyres at probably 4 services a year (say 1000 quid per year) and about 600 quids of tyres per year thats easily 5.5k, so thats 22.5k (+VAT) they will want, about 7k per year rounded down.

Thats probably very conservative too!
 
desantnik said:
45k a year? No car leasing company is going to give you a good deal for that.

They work on depreciation from purchase price plus servicing (etc) costs - its going to be worth next to zero at the end of that kinda mileage.

A quick look on autotrader will tell you that a VW Passat 1.9d that cost about 22k three years ago is worth less than 5k after 130k miles on it. So thats 17k depreciation for starters. Add in servicing, and tyres at probably 4 services a year (say 1000 quid per year) and about 600 quids of tyres per year thats easily 5.5k, so thats 22.5k (+VAT) they will want, about 7k per year rounded down.

Thats probably very conservative too!
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I was going on the proviso that there may be another option other than buying a car but judging by what you guys are saying, leases are just not going to help me - they'll probably see me worse off....

Thanks for the linky too - that's interesting that for the majority of people at my place, we're running 2ppm under the HMRC guide....

subliminal1ne said:
14ppm? could you not find a new company?
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I take it you're a millionaire who doesn't have to work?....
 
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That expense rate is only the maximum acceptable as mileage rates, they don't govern a minimum.

And of course the rate is set once every six months - when fuel prices spike you will find that its impossible to travel for the money they are giving, even if your car does 60mpg.
 
WhatCar have a new leasing tool that brings up a load of prices for each car. Had a quick play and it works quite nicely.

In terms of working out what car to get, this tool - Carbuzz works nicely for filtering down all the new cars on sale. (Ignore the supercars at the start, they go away after putting in a sensible price range!). It also has aggregated reviews, so it's simple to see which cars are the rubbish ones.
 
Pat,

I'm a little out of date on this as I retired 11 years ago.

A couple of years before I decided to take early retirement my company decided to withdraw all perk company cars, which mine was, and replace with an allowance. The allowance was based on a fixed sum plus % of salary to allow for difference in position. My allowance was £4,200 and then we got paid 20p per mile for any business mileage.

I did all the investigations you are doing and concluded that purchase was the only option. I could afford to run a similar car to my company car at the time, Mondeo Estate, but would be on a 4 year lease plan. The mileage was the killer. anything above 10,000 raised the prices. The base for calculating the cost of a lease is the residual value. Certain cars fair better e.g. BMW but the high mileage kills it for all.

I ended up buying a 4x4 and was glad I did.

I quoted my figures above only to show that your employer doesn't appear to be very generous.

Hope this helps.

Ken
 
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Thanks Ken - think you've helped make my mind up. Our system is based on two levels; one for the plebs (the level I'm on) and an allowance for management that's about 30 per cent higher.

Although I always remind myself that I could be in a worse position (doing something i hate/not having a job etc), this issue is one I've been banging the drum about to no avail so I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that A) my current car has to go, despite me loving it to bits, and that B) buying as opposed to leasing is, like you and others have pointed out, the only sensible financial option. Thanks to those who've pointed out good leasing companies but I think that I need to earn a lot more to afford anything to cope with the mileage I do.

Been having a look this morning on't interweb and there is light at the end of the tunnel; there are decent cars around for the money I want to spend (£4,500 for my Leon + £1000 cash)... seen a 55-reg Mondeo ST diesel with 70K nearby for £5,000 that fits the bill, and have seen a few others (Saab 9-5/Vectra estate/Avenis estate) that I'd be totally happy to drive and would suit what i want. Okay, mileage on most is 50-75K but that's just one of those things.

Don't know if I am truly, 100 per cent sure about buying a car with higher mileage than I was originally going for, but I suppose that's the compromise on my budget, and at the end of the day, it's a better route than buying a new(er) car that would have 150,000 miles on the clock and be worth worth nothing in three years....

Cheers all for the advice :thumbs:
 
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Yes, I think you are looking at the right area - buy a 5k mile muncher ~4-5 years old, run it until something expensive goes wrong (probably turbo charger) then bin it, buy another.

That is the cheapest option for high mileage car drivers who don't get a full company leased vehicle (where such things aren't a problem, its the company's problem :D)
 
specialman said:
seen a 55-reg Mondeo ST diesel with 70K nearby for £5,000 that fits the bill,
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That's a very good price for a very good car (not that I'm biased) I'd have expected £6k+. You could also consider a Mondeo Titanium X it's similarly specced, same engine, just doesn't have the body kit. They do suffer from egr valve problems, but if you get a slightly earlier model you can blank this off and not have to worry about them. Mines a 56 plate and has an electronic valve which can't be blanked off without the engine management light being lit permanently. If you do get a latter one with electric valve, you can get replacements, should it need it, from Jaguar dealers, they're about £120 as opposed to about £240 from Ford dealers. I just replaced mine this afternoon, took about half an hour.
If you do intend to buy an ST TDCi have a look on STdriveRS forum, for any tips of what to look out for.
 
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