Best lease car deals available?

[CYMR0]

Chicane-UK said:

Thanks! I've never actually bought a new car before so I have no idea about this kind of stuff.

What would be a realistic deposit amount that I should aim to go in with on something like a Fiesta ST? £2k? £3k?

The more the better, but it depends on your circumstances.

I would assume something like 6 monthly payments on a lease car + an admin fee would come to £1,200 ish so that's not a bad starting point.

A base ST is £14,135 from drivethedeal.com. Adding a £1,235 deposit to that would give an amount of credit of £12,900. That works out at £199.72 per month based on the Ford finance calculator. At the end of 2 years, you can either pay £9k to own the car, sell or trade in the car and pocket anything over that, or hand it back in pristine condition. If the car is actually worth £10k then that's effectively £40 a month back off your monthly payments.

[Blown2CV]

Chicane-UK said:

CYMR0 said:

Don't forget that if you managed to get a discount, some or all of that could come off the deposit. Don't just look at the headline figures; while leases are basically non-negotiable, PCP deals take the amount of the principal from the sale price of the car and are therefore just as negotiable as straight sales.

Thanks! I've never actually bought a new car before so I have no idea about this kind of stuff.

What would be a realistic deposit amount that I should aim to go in with on something like a Fiesta ST? £2k? £3k?

also there is the interest rate that they may have movement on, but only if they've stuck some extra on there in the first place. As far as deposit goes, a bigger deposit means reducing the balance to finance, and therefore interest charges, but you've got to weigh that up against the opportunity cost of doing something else with the money required for that big deposit. The larger the deposit you have, the better other types of finance may be overall than PCP anyway.

[Chicane-UK]

Blown2CV said:

also there is the interest rate that they may have movement on, but only if they've stuck some extra on there in the first place. As far as deposit goes, a bigger deposit means reducing the balance to finance, and therefore interest charges, but you've got to weigh that up against the opportunity cost of doing something else with the money required for that big deposit. The larger the deposit you have, the better other types of finance may be overall than PCP anyway.

Thanks. I'll aim to put some more money away, and go see them in a couple of months. And if the deals aren't appealing, just go take out a lease.

[Tuscan63]

Chicane-UK said:

Thanks. I'll aim to put some more money away, and go see them in a couple of months. And if the deals aren't appealing, just go take out a lease.

I was in the same boat but decided to lease, my car is being delivered in a weeks time.

I wanted a St-3 so it had all the extras or at the least a St-2 with some options. To get what I wanted I was looking at a 3-5k deposit, and then payments of 250-350 a month on top. Then a optional payment of 8k after two years. That was for a 6 month old used car.

However with the lease deals now it is far cheaper to lease one. It's going to cost around 5.5k for two years and then I hand the car back. The used market is going to be flooded in 18 months with all the lease cars being handed back and I imagine the used proced will be so cheap so I really enjoy the car I'll try and pick one up for 8-10k.

Depends if you like owning a car or not though

[Zoon]

Tuscan63 said:

I was in the same boat but decided to lease, my car is being delivered in a weeks time.

I wanted a St-3 so it had all the extras or at the least a St-2 with some options. To get what I wanted I was looking at a 3-5k deposit, and then payments of 250-350 a month on top. Then a optional payment of 8k after two years. That was for a 6 month old used car.

However with the lease deals now it is far cheaper to lease one. It's going to cost around 5.5k for two years and then I hand the car back. The used market is going to be flooded in 18 months with all the lease cars being handed back and I imagine the used proced will be so cheap so I really enjoy the car I'll try and pick one up for 8-10k.

Depends if you like owning a car or not though

Ouch, 1300 deposit and 220 a month on a 2 year lease.

[greggy50]

Got emailed couple decent offers today

Both on a 6 + 23 contract 10,000 miles per year with Rivervale Leasing

Ford Fiesta ST-2 + Style Pack + Metallic Paint
£164.99pm
Total Payable = £4,619.72
Average Monthly Cost = £192.48

Ford Focus ST-3 + Metallic Paint
£221.99pm
Total Payable = £6,215.72
Average Monthly Cost = £258.93

[AbzST64]

Zoon said:

Tuscan63 said:

I was in the same boat but decided to lease, my car is being delivered in a weeks time.

I wanted a St-3 so it had all the extras or at the least a St-2 with some options. To get what I wanted I was looking at a 3-5k deposit, and then payments of 250-350 a month on top. Then a optional payment of 8k after two years. That was for a 6 month old used car.

However with the lease deals now it is far cheaper to lease one. It's going to cost around 5.5k for two years and then I hand the car back. The used market is going to be flooded in 18 months with all the lease cars being handed back and I imagine the used proced will be so cheap so I really enjoy the car I'll try and pick one up for 8-10k.

Depends if you like owning a car or not though

Ouch, 1300 deposit and 220 a month on a 2 year lease.

I got a Focus ST-3 on lease just a few weeks ago. I was £700 deposit and £220 month. 2 year lease, 10k miles! Nothing could get near that deal!!

[RYH64E]

Calza said:

Anyone seen any good deals on big 'premium' diesel estates with quicker delivery times?

My dad had his eye on the new E350 BlueTec but the delivery time is March. His car got wrote off a few weeks ago so needs a replacement asap.

He's now looking at the E220 BlueTec and I'm trying to talk him out of it (7 gears and only 170bhp .. pah!).

March? I ordered one last month and it's due in December (E350 with the new 9 speed auto), maybe try another dealer they might have some pre-booked delivery slots.

Mercedes in mid-Sept said:

The car will be a factory order for December delivery and built to your specification.

[Zoon]

AbzST64 said:

I got a Focus ST-3 on lease just a few weeks ago. I was £700 deposit and £220 month. 2 year lease, 10k miles! Nothing could get near that deal!!

Cracking price, who was that with?

[russ_a]

I went to our local Ford dealer and they wanted £240 a month for a 4 year old Focus on HP over 4 years, £1500 deposit too.

They just kept adding extra after extra - totally ignoring me stating I could lease a brand new Golf for half the price.

[Blown2CV]

russ_a said:

I went to our local Ford dealer and they wanted £240 a month for a 4 year old Focus on HP over 4 years, £1500 deposit too.

They just kept adding extra after extra - totally ignoring me stating I could lease a brand new Golf for half the price.

however it is worth taking into account that you have an asset at the end of the HP agreement... not than an 8 year old focus is an asset worth shouting about.

[RYH64E]

Blown2CV said:

however it is worth taking into account that you have an asset at the end of the HP agreement... not than an 8 year old focus is an asset worth shouting about.

Also worth noting that a 4 year old Focus will need an MOT every year and possibly repairing from time to time.

[AbzST64]

Zoon said:

AbzST64 said:

I got a Focus ST-3 on lease just a few weeks ago. I was £700 deposit and £220 month. 2 year lease, 10k miles! Nothing could get near that deal!!

Cracking price, who was that with?

It was Smartlease if i remember correctly. Website makes them look a bit dodgy i think but they were great. The deal was on around 2 months ago and i had to wait 4 weeks for the car!

[JetskiJezz]

About open a can of worms - apologise in advance.
I also know this subject has been covered many times, but it hasn't quite answered my particular situation.

So if anyone is interested and give me advice here goes:

I have my own limited company, the directors are myself and my wife.
My last lease car was a personal lease, but looking at replacing it all of the personal leases I'm viewing are more than just business plus VAT.
If I placed the lease using the company so that the company was listed on the lease document, but the deposit and monthly payments would come directly from my personal bank account, this means that no payment has come from the company whatsoever.
When I took out the personal lease I was asked to give a bank account and sort code for the payments to be made from - it didn't seem to matter what account it was as long as they got paid.

The question is, will I then be liable for benefit in kind company car tax?

I said it would open a can of worms, I also said it have been done to death, but I couldn't find anyone that had experience of doing it this way. - I genuinely need to know if this can be classed as me gaining a benefit that could result in a tax bill?

It is my company, so my company and therefore I would be liable if any payments were made (there is no chance of missing a payment anyway).

[theboss]

JetskiJezz said:

About open a can of worms - apologise in advance.
I also know this subject has been covered many times, but it hasn't quite answered my particular situation.

So if anyone is interested and give me advice here goes:

I have my own limited company, the directors are myself and my wife.
My last lease car was a personal lease, but looking at replacing it all of the personal leases I'm viewing are more than just business plus VAT.
If I placed the lease using the company so that the company was listed on the lease document, but the deposit and monthly payments would come directly from my personal bank account, this means that no payment has come from the company whatsoever.
When I took out the personal lease I was asked to give a bank account and sort code for the payments to be made from - it didn't seem to matter what account it was as long as they got paid.

The question is, will I then be liable for benefit in kind company car tax?

I said it would open a can of worms, I also said it have been done to death, but I couldn't find anyone that had experience of doing it this way. - I genuinely need to know if this can be classed as me gaining a benefit that could result in a tax bill?

It is my company, so my company and therefore I would be liable if any payments were made (there is no chance of missing a payment anyway).

HMRC's view seems to be that If the limited company forms the lease contract and is liable for payments, and the car is made available to a director/employee, a BIK liability arises. It doesnt matter if the cost to the company is reduced to nothing. Some people do it anyway - IMHO they are taking a gamble.

[gizlaroc]

If there is no paperwork whatsoever going through the company and everything is paid from you personally how likely is it that anything will ever be said?

I will say no more than that.

[Grandfondo]

gizlaroc said:

If there is no paperwork whatsoever going through the company and everything is paid from you personally how likely is it that anything will ever be said?

I will say no more than that.

If the car is on a business lease won't the lease co want the payments from the business account?

[RYH64E]

Grandfondo said:

If the car is on a business lease won't the lease co want the payments from the business account?

The company will remain liable for the payments but I don't think the lease company would care (or even know) which bank account the payments come from provided the correct reference number is used. In the case of a direct debit it doesn't matter if the account name is completely wrong providing the sort code and account number are valid.

I recently set up a direct debit to another bank paid from my personal joint bank account and the copy dd sent to me to check was completely wrong, my wife's name wasn't on the form at all despite the correct account name being Mr A and Mrs B Cdefg, I rang them to tell them that the account name was wrong but they were completely unconcerned, with good reason as the dd leaves every month with no problems.

There may be a slight risk of HMRC objecting to a business lease not paid for by the business and demanding BIK taxes, but the chances of them even finding out are slim to none imo. If the payments don't go through the business account, the lease isn't listed as liability in the accounts, and no VAT is reclaimed then how would they ever find out?

[soxboy]

Can we please stick to the topic of best lease deals? It's a valid question but should perhaps be a different thread in the Business section, otherwise we have pages of going back and forth lack a few pages back.

[gizlaroc]

Grandfondo said:

If the car is on a business lease won't the lease co want the payments from the business account?

No. They just ask for a sort code and account number.