Zoe early termination

[Heathwood]

Hi all,

I've currently got a Zoe, which I took out on a 2 year PCP in December 2014. Having had another child, the car is perhaps a tad too small so I enquired with Renault as to where I stood with my finance deal.

I was surprised that Renault reckon the car at 14 months old / 1900 miles is worth £6.5k! For a car that was, I think, around £20k new before incentives / discounts is pathetic. It's also well over £2k less than the GFV, based on 2 years old / 12,000 miles. Clearly I'll just hold on until the end of the year then.

It did however make me wonder whether Renault got their numbers wrong or if they were so keen to get some EV's out onto the streets that they didn't really care too much about the financials.

Either way, it would seem to demonstrate that there's a very very limited used market for these and it would take a braver man than me to contemplate ultimately owning one, rather than just chucking it back to Renault at the end of the term.

Anyone else got a view on this situation. Butterface?

[ncbbmw]

Is that 2k equal to 10 payments?

For entertainment I put my Leaf details into We Buy Any Shed a few weeks back, they clearly didn't want it..

2014 64 Acenta, the offer was less than that!

[Heathwood]

The remaining 10 payments are only about £800, by which time the car will probably be worth about £4-5k the way it's going.

I also did a WBAC quote - £3.8k!

[HTP99]

With the current PCP offers on ZOE you can effectively pick a new one up for £10k, with that in mind; £6.5k trade value for a 14m old one seems a pretty good shout.

Are you at VT (voluntary termination) stage on the car?

[Heathwood]

Yeah, that's a fair point, but then why would Renault use a GFV of almost £9k after 2 years?!

I think I'm at voluntary termination stage as I'm between 12 and 18 months into a 24 months term.

I may have a quick chat with Renault finance but realistically I'll be holding onto the car until December

[HTP99]

The GFV is Renault's problem, not yours, that is why whenever I have someone in on a ZOE I always recommended a PCP; a) due to the £5109 deposit contribution and b) because of the uncertainty of the market, in 2 or 3 years time who knows what advances there will be in electric cars, the ZOE as it is now may well be obsolete by then and worthless; let Renault take the pain but if you want to you can still buy it.

Over the next few years Renault are going to have a massive stockpile of 2-3 year old ZOE's that aren't going to be worth anything like their gfv's.

Check the battery paperwork as you may not be able terminate the battery lease; you can't now but I seem to remember in the early days that you could; or a may have been mistaken.

Edited by HTP99 on Thursday 18th February 11:45

[PSRG]

My understanding is that Renault (and Nissan) are shipping a lot of the end of PCP/Lease ones out of the country. I had an A3 e-tron delivered on Tuesday, and the transporter had 3 Nissan Leafs that were going to Portsmouth and then the Bahamas!!

[patmahe]

Hmmm, note to self, check out second hand Zoes as values may be falling rapidly

[teabelly]

Second hand values seem to be tanking. 65 reg zoes with less than a few hundred miles are already down to £12.5k.

It's the battery lease plus Renault only guaranteeing a pathetic 75% of battery capacity. That's just not good enough. In winter the range is already reduced significantly so any battery range reduction is disastrous.

[HTP99]

teabelly said:

Second hand values seem to be tanking. 65 reg zoes with less than a few hundred miles are already down to £12.5k.

It's the battery lease plus Renault only guaranteeing a pathetic 75% of battery capacity. That's just not good enough. In winter the range is already reduced significantly so any battery range reduction is disastrous.

If there was no deposit contribution from RUK then £12.5k for 65 plate with minimal miles is probably too much, any car that is pre-registered or ex demo loses a massive chunk of money: don't forget that the Government grant takes them down to £15k.

However with the deposit contribution at the moment of £5109 then £12.5k is too much.

As for range in the winter, well I've had no issues with the one that I use regularly; as has been discussed many a time, they aren't for everyone but they are perfectly fine for alot of people.

[isleofthorns]

Heathwood said:

The remaining 10 payments are only about £800, by which time the car will probably be worth about £4-5k the way it's going.

I also did a WBAC quote - £3.8k!

Yes, but don't forget, according to a survey of their customers, you'll save over 2k using the cash to negotiate a better deal on your next car!

[gangzoom]

It's not just Renualt with silly final payment values but also Nissan. I think virtually every Leaf sold on PCP has had a stupid high final payment, otherwise the £0 deposit and low monthly payments woudlnt be possible. But as some one has already said as customers it's not our problem, we just hand the car back

[Heathwood]

Yeah, that's a fair point, but then why would Renault use a GFV of almost £9k after 2 years?!

I think I'm at voluntary termination stage as I'm between 12 and 18 months into a 24 months term.

I may have a quick chat with Renault finance but realistically I'll be holding onto the car until December

[HTP99]

Heathwood said:

Yeah, that's a fair point, but then why would Renault use a GFV of almost £9k after 2 years?!

My guess is to keep the monthlies at an acceptable level when comparing the cost of financing a ZOE with a Clio; for example.

If the GFV was set at a more realistic level, the monthlies would be far higher and sales would be non existent, apart from the odd few early adopters who have money to burn and like to try new things.

I have more ZOE's on order than Clio due to the current ridiculous finance deal but the majority of them are not your usual Renault customer so ZOE is also drawing in a different customer base which can only be a positive thing for Renault; in the long term.

Renault have invested a huge chunk of money in electric cars and to coin a phrase from a Renault guy when on ZOE training "it has to work", so short term (financial) pain for Renault for long term gain in the Z.E. sector.

Renault are losing money on every ZOE that is financed.

Edited by HTP99 on Friday 19th February 07:59

[talksthetorque]

Don't forget that on a VT the financed amount includes the balloon at the end.
have you paid 50% of the total amount payable?

[lost in espace]

I am keeping mine until the 24 month PCP hand back, anyone know if handing it back will be straightforward? We have a few dinks I need to sort, is there a leasing/pcp standard for any damage?

[dave_s13]

There will be a standard returns condition policy a bit like this

https://issuu.com/bfwsn67/docs/car_fwt_standard_20...

[dave_s13]

What do we all think about the mitsubishi IMIEV, Citroen CZero and the pug version. They see, pretty cheap to buy outright on autotrader and could be a could replacement for our doomed ZOEs.

[hornetrider]

gangzoom said:

It's not just Renualt with silly final payment values but also Nissan. I think virtually every Leaf sold on PCP has had a stupid high final payment, otherwise the £0 deposit and low monthly payments woudlnt be possible. But as some one has already said as customers it's not our problem, we just hand the car back

Zero deposit? Is that publicised or negotiated? Seems like it's 2.5k based on this and about 250pcm if you are looking at a 30kw Tekna:

http://www.nissan-offers.co.uk/new-vehicles/leaf?

[gangzoom]

hornetrider said:

Zero deposit? Is that publicised or negotiated? Seems like it's 2.5k based on this and about 250pcm if you are looking at a 30kw Tekna:

http://www.nissan-offers.co.uk/new-vehicles/leaf?

You have to call up the dealer, my in-laws got a Zoe for £500 deposit and than £160/month for 2 years, Renault paid for the home charger and threw in a few 'service'.

I honestly don't know why Nissan/Renault just lower the list price on these things rather than go through the farce of a 'negotiation'. The best deals last year were in March, so I expect the same this year.