Leasing for Dummies?

[Waylander 1,349]

Would appreciate some gentle teaching of the basics please.

Decided I should get rid of the E60 and perhaps lease a car instead - may well scratch my Jag itch.

But I know jack-all about the process.

Don't currently have a limited company but will most likely be heading this way so I guess I need to ask my accountant if I should consider a personal or business lease; is there even any point in the latter though if I'm not VAT registered?

I can see the payment varies based on how many months you give as an upfront payment and how long you lease for.

Is there any point in having a longer lease period as I figured the point was to be able to swap more frequently with a shorter lease period?

I've played around on the contracthireandleasing website and surprised that upping from 10k to 12k mileage seems to cause a jump in the monthly fee.

Also im assuming they always quote on base spec and even options like satnav etc have to paid extra?

A little bewildering to the uninitiated!

[CarMad 739]

From what I've seen its all about grabbing the good deals and being flexible. 

A few at work are leasing but mostly average cars, a full spec Astra Elite for £140 a month and only 2 or 3 months up front as an example. He has a good motor with lots of toys for little outlay, but some that just went for the good deal and a car that gets him from A-B. Again Merc have done some great lease deals recently but they all tend to be stock deals mostly. 

Business vs Personal I will leave to others to comment, business leases for higher end cars tend to be much better but again not always. 

Nearly all deals are very mileage sensitive and higher end cars often want 5 or 6 months up front pushing if its value for money or not. 

Keep an eye out for deals would be my view if thats the way you want to go. 

[Booster 1,124]

Contract hire is definitely gaining popularity amongst those that wouldn’t have considered it five years ago. 

Forget business leasing. You won’t be able to get a business lease unless you have filed three sets of annual accounts at Companies House. Additionally, you would be hit with Company Car Tax so no point in going down that route. Yes, there are often deals that are far better on business terms for vat and regualatory issues but they aren’t available to you so I won’t bore you with them!

There is often very little difference between the monthly payments on a 2, 3 or 4 year deal. The difference is that the deposit remains the same ie either 3 or 6 months down at the start which effectively makes 2 year deals more expensive than 4 year deals assuming you take a new contract hire deal out at the end of it. 

It is important to remember that you will be in that car for the duration of the term and therefore a change of circumstances (job - extra miles or child - extra seat requirement) could get expensive as to get out of the car early normally requires a minimum of six monthly payments and can often mean the remaining payments being made to hand the car back. 

Optional extras can get very expensive. For example £3800 worth of options on a 3+35 deal will cost you an additional £100 per month as the lease company expect you to pay for them in full. 

As carmad says, there are some bonkers deals that get released every now and then so if you are prepared to say yes there and then, you can get a very cheap car. Be warned though, these won’t often be stock cars, everything is built to order these days and lead times are silly at the moment. 

Setup alerts with some brokers for deals so that you get emails and then choose your moment and pounce!!

[Waylander 1,349]

That’s really helpful, thanks.

so the position is we’re swapping out the wife’s civic for a 5+2 (still looking, likely to be used - outlander, sorento, Santa Fe or Qashquai+2) and figured we don’t need 2 full sized cars.

we were tentatively thinking of swapping out my 520d business edition for an old Porsche - just something fun to drive but instead figure a new lease car may be nice. Still saloon.

i was keen on the XF but quite like the XE. Only issue with jags and relevant to this discussion is the base spec looks weak and extras expensive.

i guess I can take the risk of waiting for a monster deal and snap up ASAP and then sell my BM but case of waiting it out?

 

any recommendations for brokers to set alerts up with?

(going to see the Lexus GS tomorrow too)

[Booster 1,124]

Nationwide Vehicle contracts and Select vehicle leasing have good deals although you have to watch all of these companies as the headline monthly payment is often with a massive 9 months upfront and then 5k miles per annum. As soon as you put a normal mileage and deposit into the deal, the price shoots up. 

[Booster 1,124]

Also Skyfleet is worth a look 

[Waylander 1,349]

thanks Booster

[garcon magnifique 4,602]

Lexus might be a worthwhile option. Unless they’ve changed in recent years then standard spec on higher end models is very good compared to the Germans. 

Jag do seem to have changed in that regard. Previous model XF and XJ Portfolio were fully loaded as standard. 

[Waylander 1,349]

went to see the GS300 but test drove the LC500 Instead

[garcon magnifique 4,602]

Do you think she’ll notice the difference if you don’t tell her? 

[Waylander 1,349]

Oh don't even start. While she is supportive of my doing this I've had to deal with enhanced expectations for the 7 seater. Should have kept a lid on this until after I bought her car!

[garcon magnifique 4,602]

Those new Discoveries are nice*... 

 

* And by nice, I mean totally fecking hideous...

[Waylander 1,349]

is this a reasonable deal?

this was the example deal on the black editions they have in stock.

would need to factor upping mileage to 12k and adding in px of my 520d too

do these deals always include service etc during the lease period too?

NHS deals used to include insurance too (all inc) but our bloody hospital doesn't take part any more. I'm assuming that's not standard for pcp?

 

also why would anyone lease vs pcp? It is the same if you hand the car back at the end isn't it? But slightly lower monthly costs until then?

[Andy_Bangle 3,123]

You could try having a comparing it to some of the deals on Whatcar. https://www.whatcar.com/car-leasing/deals/jaguar/xe/?type=personal&fuel=diesel&derivative=146eni 

Think it’s the same model. 

[Waylander 1,349]

Thanks that’s helpful 

so I should be looking at £350pm or anything below.

interesting the diesels are more expensive than petrol - I need to do some homework about the relative performance of both engines.

 

i see it makes sense if pence per mile is under 10p to maybe go for 10k vs 12k for cheaper pm costs.

 

last main question please.

for pcp (not lease) if I say for for 48 months but decide I want to give car back after 36 months and change brand, can I do that easily without penalty?

looking like this is eminently within reach and budget - starting to get excited !,

better go get my car valued for a potential px

[Drinks 101]

I've never had a lease or PCP but the initial rental seems like a lot on your posted examples. What is the relative cost over the term for your deal vs Andy's examples?

Isn't part of the benefit of this type of deal that you can change every couple of years and always be in something new/nearly new. Do you want to be paying the same amount but be driving something 3/4 years old.

As Carmad says with leasing you have to be open to anything and when you see a deal that suits, just go for it as the really cheap deals are snapped up fast.

[Waylander 1,349]

Thanks. Agreed. It was my first hard example but as you say plenty of cheaper deals with 3month initial not 9 actually for a much cheaper price.

also agree the whole benefit is change every 3years which is why I was wondering about a 4 year deal but changing 2-3 years into it.

will try to sign up to as many deal sources as I can as I'm ready to change immediately

 

im just nervous as its a totally new way of doing things for me so trying to minimise getting stung

[Booster 1,124]

Happy to review any finance documents for you if you want me to. 

 

[Ian_C 419]

Dumb ass question.  Does a 4 year lease automatically come with a fourth years factory warranty?  And if so, is this adding to the fourth year cost, meaning four year leases aren't any cheaper than three year leases?

[E-bmw 1,323]

No is the simple answer.

I am sure there is more to it, but that is my experience.

I leased a Citroen C1 as a runabout when I had the 3er track car only (I am about to send the C1 back as I now have the Cooper to perform both tasks) after selling the 530.

Just remember that the lease only effectively covers rental of the car, you still need to insure, tax & service yourself, unless some manufacturers will include this at additional cost. 

Especially an issue when considering your previous question just.

[Waylander 1,349]

I asked this same question too including about service etc and was told the same thing.

its a pity tax rules make NHS leases so reletively expensive now as they used to include everything

[Waylander 1,349]

That's very kind of you, thanks Booster.

I'll now start the hunt in earnest and ping you only when I think im onto something. *

There are a few £350pm ones but that hasn't factored my px in.

*I reserve the write to continue to ask dumb ass crap here

[billy2shots 893]

4 minutes ago, Waylander said:

 

*I reserve the write to continue to ask dumb ass crap here

 

 

It wouldnt be TSN without you W. 

[Ian_C 419]

1 hour ago, E-bmw said:

No is the simple answer.

I am sure there is more to it, but that is my experience.

I leased a Citroen C1 as a runabout when I had the 3er track car only (I am about to send the C1 back as I now have the Cooper to perform both tasks) after selling the 530.

Just remember that the lease only effectively covers rental of the car, you still need to insure, tax & service yourself, unless some manufacturers will include this at additional cost. 

Especially an issue when considering your previous question just.

Wonder how that would work, if the turbo blows up at 3.5 years (for example), given that you are simply renting the car?  Definitely a question that needs asking if you are going for a 4 year lease. 

[Waylander 1,349]

Btw for Lease/PCP: GAP insurance yay or nay?