Vanarama/hitachi review

[Cws123]

Hi. I’m about to sign up to a lease deal I’ve seen. I’m new to the world of leasing and would appreciate some advice to the following questions.

1. Any feedback regarding vanarama and the funder hitachi who is financing the car. Anyone had any issues on returning the car with hitachi?

2. Shall I take out maintenance at £20 a month. Covers servicing and tyres. This equates to £720 over the 3 year term. The car in question is an Audi A3 tfsi. I rang local Audi dealer who stated the car maybe on fixed or longlife servicing but they won’t know until the car is delivered?! Sounds ridiculous to me.

3. Is gap insurance recommended?

Thank you in advance

[Mo28]

My brother had a Jaguar XE through Hitachi. Car got written off 3 months after he got it. He didn't have gap insurance but managed to get his initial deposit back which was around £2.6k and is quite lucky he got it back. They were pretty decent to deal with but he did have to do a bit of chasing to get stuff rolling.

Maintenance and gap insurance really depend on how many miles the contract is and how much deposit you will be putting down. In regards to servicing, it will likely need one service at the two year mark and you should be able to avoid having to do an MOT if you return the car a couple of weeks before it is due.

[SpanishTony]

Somebody will probably know more about this than me, but IIRC with my merc they said that in the first year they'd replace it with a new one so no need for gap insurance in the first year at least.

[Mo28]

SpanishTony said:

Somebody will probably know more about this than me, but IIRC with my merc they said that in the first year they'd replace it with a new one so no need for gap insurance in the first year at least.

Doesn't apply to leased vehicles