Gap between lease cars - what to do!

Gap between lease cars - what to do!

Author
Discussion

pherlopolus

Original Poster:

2,087 posts

157 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
I will have a month between lease cars, and don't want to extend the current one by a month due to servicing and tyres probably being required (and going to be 3000 miles over anyway).

It's going to be a few hundred pounds to hire something (£600 for something reasonable, I do 4 x 130 miles a week at the moment), so tempted to get a <£1000 car to last the 4-5 weeks then sell it on...

What do others do?

benjijames28

1,702 posts

91 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
Your money your choice. I would go for something like a petrol Mondeo.

surveyor

17,768 posts

183 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
I'd start watching Ebay auctions, listed by ending soonest, and limited to £1,500.

I would ban myself from looking after beer.

I would put a winning bid on the first combination of price, interest and err engine size...

Jimmy Recard

17,540 posts

178 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
surveyor said:
I would ban myself from looking after beer.
If you don't, I'm sure Camra will try

VonSenger

2,465 posts

188 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
I too will have this exact issue in March/April. Im going to get an jag xtype diesel estate (mondeo basically) Im going to keep it to ferry my bike around and skip runs etc.

quavey

177 posts

151 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
As above but avoid beer fueled ebay excursions. It rarely ends sensibly...

Might as well buy something interesting, my advice and just to tick a box (unless youve ticked it) in this case would be an E39 535i. They crop up for buttons occasionally, and although many will say "buy a 528/530 they offer the same performance and better fuel economy" Whilst they might offer slightly better economy the driving experience of the V8's are a different world.

However if fuel economy is an issue, any E39 is normally a bargain especially for short term. You can often find genuinely nice low mileage late 520i's for £1500 and what an awful lot of car for such little money.

Enjoy!

curlie467

7,650 posts

200 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
VonSenger said:
I too will have this exact issue in March/April. Im going to get an jag xtype diesel estate (mondeo basically) Im going to keep it to ferry my bike around and skip runs etc.
Let's hope it's better than the one my brother bought.

Marvtec

421 posts

158 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
The boring answer is hire something cheap. Something as crap as a C1/Aygo/1007 will make you enjoy the next car even more.

ITP

1,996 posts

196 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
Or, you may realise after driving a cheap car about for a month, maybe a sub £1000 focus, that it actually perfectly fine, good fun to drive. Then you begin to question why you are splurging £300/month on something that doesn't do anything your old focus does for £0/month.......

benjijames28

1,702 posts

91 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
ITP said:
Or, you may realise after driving a cheap car about for a month, maybe a sub £1000 focus, that it actually perfectly fine, good fun to drive. Then you begin to question why you are splurging £300/month on something that doesn't do anything your old focus does for £0/month.......
Always a risk. But if i did a lot of miles I would choose comfort over cost. On other hand a Lexus barge or Volvo Estate would be very comfy.

talksthetorque

10,815 posts

134 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
ITP said:
Or, you may realise after driving a cheap car about for a month, maybe a sub £1000 focus, that it actually perfectly fine, good fun to drive. Then you begin to question why you are splurging £300/month on something that doesn't do anything your old focus does for £0/month.......
Much as I'm sure OP appreciates you pointing out he's wasting his own money on his comfort for 12 hours a week.......

I'm going to put "fail an MOT" in as a starter for 10.

We have a lease car.
We also have a 10 year old car.
Guess which one does 500 miles a week, and which one occasionally requires something doing, despite having any attention that it needs when it needs it.
I wouldnt want to be doing 500 commuting miles before a weekend look at something if it threw a light up on the dash/made a funny noise going round a corner on Monday morning.



davamer23

1,126 posts

153 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
Funnily enough, for the gap I had I bought a £300 150k Focus. One seized caliper and one top mount later I sold it on for £300.

surveyor

17,768 posts

183 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
talksthetorque said:
ITP said:
Or, you may realise after driving a cheap car about for a month, maybe a sub £1000 focus, that it actually perfectly fine, good fun to drive. Then you begin to question why you are splurging £300/month on something that doesn't do anything your old focus does for £0/month.......
Much as I'm sure OP appreciates you pointing out he's wasting his own money on his comfort for 12 hours a week.......

I'm going to put "fail an MOT" in as a starter for 10.

We have a lease car.
We also have a 10 year old car.
Guess which one does 500 miles a week, and which one occasionally requires something doing, despite having any attention that it needs when it needs it.
I wouldnt want to be doing 500 commuting miles before a weekend look at something if it threw a light up on the dash/made a funny noise going round a corner on Monday morning.
Used to do it just fine. What did me in was the unlucky unreliable one too many...

Mr-B

3,768 posts

193 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
I had the same issue many years ago and used easycar (they appear to be a car hire broker now, who knew!) Got a car for about £9 per day, virtually new car and stuff like breakdown cover, road tax, servicing should it be required all in. I do like the idea of buying a shed though and then punting it on, something that has done all its depreciating can't lose much more in a month, the only downside is not knowing if it will last the month without a breakdown/failure and how long it takes to get shot of it.

Nickbrapp

5,277 posts

129 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
Have you worked out how much it would cost you to extend the lease and do anything that may need doing? Can't imagine it's going to be more than the cost of a short term car, plus the costs to change on the insurance, plus anything that may go wrong in that time. Plus the tax you'll have to buy then most likely loose part of.


Have you also called the lease company to see if they will do a deal on the excess miles? People on here do it all the time and get charged less per mile than they would if they had just sent the car back over the miles.

For ease of life I would just extend the current one.

Edited by Nickbrapp on Monday 20th February 21:41

ITP

1,996 posts

196 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
talksthetorque said:
ITP said:
Or, you may realise after driving a cheap car about for a month, maybe a sub £1000 focus, that it actually perfectly fine, good fun to drive. Then you begin to question why you are splurging £300/month on something that doesn't do anything your old focus does for £0/month.......
Much as I'm sure OP appreciates you pointing out he's wasting his own money on his comfort for 12 hours a week.......

I'm going to put "fail an MOT" in as a starter for 10.

We have a lease car.
We also have a 10 year old car.
Guess which one does 500 miles a week, and which one occasionally requires something doing, despite having any attention that it needs when it needs it.
I wouldnt want to be doing 500 commuting miles before a weekend look at something if it threw a light up on the dash/made a funny noise going round a corner on Monday morning.
Thing is, I have actually spent years and 10's of thousands of miles commuting up and down the country in many cars worth sub £2000, and many times sub £1000. They are perfectly comfortable, safe (Saab 9-5 for example) and haven't thrown up dash lights every Monday morning.

I have also done the same in company supplied, new, hire cars, golfs, mercs etc. They did the job no better, apart from being a bit more economical. Although the fuel cost saved is dwarfed by what they would cost to lease, especially for 15-20k miles a year.

I would personally rather buy a cheap, but good, car to put lots of boring commuting miles on as this causes great depreciation cost, and spend more on a special, low depreciating fun car. But, there are now many people who seem to be petrified of any car out of warranty, convinced it will cost them their life savings in repairs. It will also obviously leave them stranded every time they venture a few miles from home. Leasing is clearly best if this is your worry, just for peace of mind, and monthly budgeting in case the old banger throws up an unexpected bill one month, of say, £300.


anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
And we're back to lease vs buy rolleyes


philmots

4,630 posts

259 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
Done it all, new cars, used cars, bangers...

Now have 2 lease cars. When you take into account fixed costs on old used cars the new lease car is suddenly surprisingly cheap (I didn't say cheaper!)

But everyone to their own. I've a young family now and don't have time anymore to get my hands dirty fixing stuff on the cheap and I prefer the thought of the wife and kids in a new, safe and reliable car.

ITP

1,996 posts

196 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
Whoops! Sorry about that!

Back to the one month gap before your next lease, I would look locally, gumtree/newsagent window etc, for something with 6 month plus mot for sub £500, cheaper the better, make sure it drives ok, then go for that. Should get most if not all back if the car is genuine.

nickfrog

20,874 posts

216 months

Monday 20th February 2017
quotequote all
ITP said:
Thing is, I have actually spent years and 10's of thousands of miles commuting up and down the country in many cars worth sub £2000, and many times sub £1000. They are perfectly comfortable, safe (Saab 9-5 for example) and haven't thrown up dash lights every Monday morning.

I have also done the same in company supplied, new, hire cars, golfs, mercs etc. They did the job no better, apart from being a bit more economical. Although the fuel cost saved is dwarfed by what they would cost to lease, especially for 15-20k miles a year.

I would personally rather buy a cheap, but good, car to put lots of boring commuting miles on as this causes great depreciation cost, and spend more on a special, low depreciating fun car. But, there are now many people who seem to be petrified of any car out of warranty, convinced it will cost them their life savings in repairs. It will also obviously leave them stranded every time they venture a few miles from home. Leasing is clearly best if this is your worry, just for peace of mind, and monthly budgeting in case the old banger throws up an unexpected bill one month, of say, £300.
Why £300 ? We pay £200 amortised for a diesel £26k list car, inc tax. We could probably run an older family car for £150 or less a month. Why on earth we would want to do that is beyond me though. My niece runs a 1.2 C1 with a/c and all the stuff she needs for £112/month (amortised). She could probably save £9.54/month by buying a second hand car out of warranty, that will need consumables, MOT, either etc etc.