Leasing a car. My take on it.
Discussion
Acquiring a new car and then getting rid of it after only three years makes no sense, no matter how you finance it. Probably the best way is to PCP the new car, buy it at the end of the lease period with an extended warranty and keep it for a couple of years. A friend is doing this with his Focus in a couple of months time. If it has been looked after, nothing much should go wrong in any case. My Mazda 6 has cost precisely £110 in non-routine repairs in nine years, but I couldn't guarantee that for a new, more complex one 
Justin Case said:
Acquiring a new car and then getting rid of it after only three years makes no sense, no matter how you finance it. Probably the best way is to PCP the new car, buy it at the end of the lease period with an extended warranty and keep it for a couple of years.
this has to be the sensible path, surely?CABC said:
this has to be the sensible path, surely?
Not if you can happily afford a nice new car every 3 years with all of the latest kit and a full manufacturers warranty, VED etc. included.As above, I see it as just another bill. Been caught out before with heavier than expected depreciation, big bills etc. so now I just decide what I want and pay monthly for it like my mobile phone.
Appreciate that financially this won't work for everyone, but the same goes for buying second hand or running a car for 5+ years. Everyone's situation is different so there is no perfect answer.
SWoll said:
CABC said:
this has to be the sensible path, surely?
Not if you can happily afford a nice new car every 3 years with all of the latest kit and a full manufacturers warranty, VED etc. included.I can't decide at the moment on lease or not, looking at the total costs vs my current car costs it seems cheap, extra £100 or less a month for a brand new car with warranty.
Then looking at the costs on their own, £300pm over 4 years on a 3+47 deal is £15k, which is, well, a lot. And there's the being tied in for 4 years, which actually doesn't bother me too much. I have about £800 spare cash each month as it stands, so an extra £100 won't hurt much. I am aiming to put away enough over the next 7 years to have a £50k+ deposit, along earning £45k which should see me finally being able to buy a house at the age of 45...
But then... my Dad's 2015 Vauxhall Country tourer with 35k miles on the clock, worth £11k, is currently in the process of s
tting it's rear haldex diff. That's looking to be a £2-3k bill. Out of warranty, of course. 
Desicions, decisions...
Then looking at the costs on their own, £300pm over 4 years on a 3+47 deal is £15k, which is, well, a lot. And there's the being tied in for 4 years, which actually doesn't bother me too much. I have about £800 spare cash each month as it stands, so an extra £100 won't hurt much. I am aiming to put away enough over the next 7 years to have a £50k+ deposit, along earning £45k which should see me finally being able to buy a house at the age of 45...
But then... my Dad's 2015 Vauxhall Country tourer with 35k miles on the clock, worth £11k, is currently in the process of s
tting it's rear haldex diff. That's looking to be a £2-3k bill. Out of warranty, of course. Desicions, decisions...
Edited by Tall_Paul on Thursday 25th July 23:14
Flumpo said:
I don’t lease or pcp a car as my mileage is astronomical so it wouldn’t work.
One thing to bear in mind is that mileage is not all that relevant with PCP, unless you plan to had the car back at the end of the term.You can still make the final payment, or part-ex the car if you choose to do so, and the only consequence of high mileage would be an adjustment on the part-ex price.
I've pch'd last 3 cars and don't think I'd buy on hp or cash ever again. Never done pcp as I think it's expensive and mostly taken by lazy People who just walk into a showroom to get bent over. Imo of course.
I've now taken it one step further than PCH and moved to a monthly rental subscription model. Get my model 3 in 4 weeks and will hand my PCH back 6 months early.
I've now taken it one step further than PCH and moved to a monthly rental subscription model. Get my model 3 in 4 weeks and will hand my PCH back 6 months early.
I've just leased my first car, Leon Cupra.
No chance could I afford to buy a second hand one for less than what I'm paying per month on a new one via lease. You've then got to worry about getting a loan, taxing it, fixing anything that goes wrong, MOT, outdated tech and the fact it's been ragged every mile of its life.
My previous car was an Abarth on PCP and that cost £40 less than the Cupra with 2k less miles allowance but the RRP of the Cupra is almost double. I also got bored of the Abarth after two years, but due to it being on a 48 month PCP, I wasn't up for paying thousands in neg equity to get out of it. With the lease, I simply hand it back, and hopefully at that time i'll be bored of it
I never thought i'd lease, I initially saw it as throwing money down the drain, but since weighing up the cost of buying a second hand one for two years, I can see why people are keen on them.
I don't think there's any right or wrong answer when it comes to 'buying' a car, do whatever works for you.
No chance could I afford to buy a second hand one for less than what I'm paying per month on a new one via lease. You've then got to worry about getting a loan, taxing it, fixing anything that goes wrong, MOT, outdated tech and the fact it's been ragged every mile of its life.
My previous car was an Abarth on PCP and that cost £40 less than the Cupra with 2k less miles allowance but the RRP of the Cupra is almost double. I also got bored of the Abarth after two years, but due to it being on a 48 month PCP, I wasn't up for paying thousands in neg equity to get out of it. With the lease, I simply hand it back, and hopefully at that time i'll be bored of it
I never thought i'd lease, I initially saw it as throwing money down the drain, but since weighing up the cost of buying a second hand one for two years, I can see why people are keen on them.
I don't think there's any right or wrong answer when it comes to 'buying' a car, do whatever works for you.
Personally I found leasing to be a pretty efficient and affordable way of buying a new car, although this wasn’t my initial intention when taking out the PCH.
Taking my example, I paid about £3,500 over 2 years, then bought the car for £12,800 from VWFS. So, c£16,300 total spend. Equivalent to around a £5k discount on RRP. Would I have got that discount anyway if buying new outright? I’m not so sure, plus I got to run the car for a couple of years before deciding I liked it enough to buy it.
Taking my example, I paid about £3,500 over 2 years, then bought the car for £12,800 from VWFS. So, c£16,300 total spend. Equivalent to around a £5k discount on RRP. Would I have got that discount anyway if buying new outright? I’m not so sure, plus I got to run the car for a couple of years before deciding I liked it enough to buy it.
P4D said:
I've just leased my first car, Leon Cupra.
No chance could I afford to buy a second hand one for less than what I'm paying per month on a new one via lease. You've then got to worry about getting a loan, taxing it, fixing anything that goes wrong, MOT, outdated tech and the fact it's been ragged every mile of its life.
My previous car was an Abarth on PCP and that cost £40 less than the Cupra with 2k less miles allowance but the RRP of the Cupra is almost double. I also got bored of the Abarth after two years, but due to it being on a 48 month PCP, I wasn't up for paying thousands in neg equity to get out of it. With the lease, I simply hand it back, and hopefully at that time i'll be bored of it
I never thought i'd lease, I initially saw it as throwing money down the drain, but since weighing up the cost of buying a second hand one for two years, I can see why people are keen on them.
I don't think there's any right or wrong answer when it comes to 'buying' a car, do whatever works for you.
You sound like a guy falling into a money pit of debt.No chance could I afford to buy a second hand one for less than what I'm paying per month on a new one via lease. You've then got to worry about getting a loan, taxing it, fixing anything that goes wrong, MOT, outdated tech and the fact it's been ragged every mile of its life.
My previous car was an Abarth on PCP and that cost £40 less than the Cupra with 2k less miles allowance but the RRP of the Cupra is almost double. I also got bored of the Abarth after two years, but due to it being on a 48 month PCP, I wasn't up for paying thousands in neg equity to get out of it. With the lease, I simply hand it back, and hopefully at that time i'll be bored of it
I never thought i'd lease, I initially saw it as throwing money down the drain, but since weighing up the cost of buying a second hand one for two years, I can see why people are keen on them.
I don't think there's any right or wrong answer when it comes to 'buying' a car, do whatever works for you.
Never once in your post have you spoke about the actual cost of buying a Cupra or an Abarth. You have used some cracking man maths to chat about justifying your next purchase.
Got 6 months left on my first lease car (Volvo S90) and I’ll definitely do it again for an everyday, commuter type car. The Volvo has been absolutely cracking as a car, really lovely thing; being new it’s given me precisely zero problems or surprise costs, and at a price I don’t even really notice.
My experiences with used cars I’m sure work out cheaper as an ownership proposition even taking every tiny thing into account - but the hassle of things breaking or failing and having to source them, fit them, trek to Halfords for bits and tools, or organise getting the car to a garage, ignoring even the very occasional breakdown, really outweigh the savings for me. I’ll only suffer it for something special. For the everyday motor - it’s lease for me please.
As a side discussion I’ve done 2 PCPs now and not sure I will bother again, seems the costs work out about equivalent, but painless handback at the end. I’m never going to be keeping the car forevermore. It took a bit of work and trekking around to get decent trade in bids at the end of my previous PCPs - I’ll stick with the known quantity of the lease cost I think.
My experiences with used cars I’m sure work out cheaper as an ownership proposition even taking every tiny thing into account - but the hassle of things breaking or failing and having to source them, fit them, trek to Halfords for bits and tools, or organise getting the car to a garage, ignoring even the very occasional breakdown, really outweigh the savings for me. I’ll only suffer it for something special. For the everyday motor - it’s lease for me please.
As a side discussion I’ve done 2 PCPs now and not sure I will bother again, seems the costs work out about equivalent, but painless handback at the end. I’m never going to be keeping the car forevermore. It took a bit of work and trekking around to get decent trade in bids at the end of my previous PCPs - I’ll stick with the known quantity of the lease cost I think.
Modern cars are not as good as those from say 20 years ago in terms of their capacity to keep soldiering on year after year with minor bits & bobs not working quite right. I understand that having an engine management light showing is now an MOT failure. Packed with snazzy but sketchy electronics I’d be surprised if my current 2019 registered car will see its 10th birthday without loads of money being spent fixing it in years to come which will be with a laptop not a spanner.
We leased a VW Touran 2.0TDI family... The reason we leased was because when the kids get older they won't be coming with us so much, so we won't need such a big car in the future.
Also our thoughts are that electric cars are the future and diesel cars will slump in value, but as this car gets high 50s to the gallon it's good for us for now.
When our lease ends we plan to get one of those VW ID Buzz vans as my wife loves the concept of a T2 but we don't want the expense and hassle of running a classic car (we already have one of those a classic mini)
- Pete
Also our thoughts are that electric cars are the future and diesel cars will slump in value, but as this car gets high 50s to the gallon it's good for us for now.
When our lease ends we plan to get one of those VW ID Buzz vans as my wife loves the concept of a T2 but we don't want the expense and hassle of running a classic car (we already have one of those a classic mini)
- Pete
My last car (3 series), which I bought at 1 year old with 10k on the clock, cost £390 per month in depreciation and running costs over 3 years/15000k p.a.
I owned this car outright.
18 months ago I decided to try leasing, and the equivalent cost is now £335 a month (initial payment + all monthly payments + all maintenance* divided by 24, which is length of the contract).
Even better, I put the £10000 equity I had in my 3 series when I sold it, into a S&S ISA, and it’s increased to £13000.
I owned this car outright.
18 months ago I decided to try leasing, and the equivalent cost is now £335 a month (initial payment + all monthly payments + all maintenance* divided by 24, which is length of the contract).
Even better, I put the £10000 equity I had in my 3 series when I sold it, into a S&S ISA, and it’s increased to £13000.
- I can be pretty sure of my maintenance costs as it’s first service was at 19000 miles/16 months into the contract and the next service isn’t due until 2 years after that or around another 19000 miles, either way it would have gone back way before that point.
SWoll said:
roadsmash said:
100 said:
Why do people lease cars - do they really need the latest thing but can’t properly afford it?
We were doing so well. 
Gareth's post above shows exactly why leasing can be the more cost-effective option.
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff