Has anyone bought their company car?
Discussion
Has anyone bought their company car, and are you able to negotiate the price?
The car in question is an Audi A1 1.6 Tdi Sport, with 39k miles, 2 years old registered in Jan 2012.
My girlfriend uses it as a commuting car and is very happy with it. We've been offered the car for £11,200, which seems about the value of a private sale, so not a bargain but cheaper than retail which is about £13k from an audi dealer.
My main question is do you think I can haggle with the price, they seem to suggest it's fixed, but this price seems high and the Webuyanycar price is £9k, which suggests to me it would auction at about £10k. Car is with leasedrive.
I don't have the time to follow it to auction to get it for a lower price, so we either buy direct from the lease company or look at other options.
The car in question is an Audi A1 1.6 Tdi Sport, with 39k miles, 2 years old registered in Jan 2012.
My girlfriend uses it as a commuting car and is very happy with it. We've been offered the car for £11,200, which seems about the value of a private sale, so not a bargain but cheaper than retail which is about £13k from an audi dealer.
My main question is do you think I can haggle with the price, they seem to suggest it's fixed, but this price seems high and the Webuyanycar price is £9k, which suggests to me it would auction at about £10k. Car is with leasedrive.
I don't have the time to follow it to auction to get it for a lower price, so we either buy direct from the lease company or look at other options.
Make them a written (i.e. email) offer and see what they say. If it truly isn't negotiable (and I doubt this) then you have three options- pay what they want, follow it to auction, or let it go. Fourth option is to beg, or to make a strong case (like using other valuations etc), but I doubt that would work.
Do you know if her company leases the car or whether they own it outright ? I suspect its probably leased.
If it is then it will all be based on the figure the lease company are quoting them to retain the vehicle.
I suspect they are charging her the finance option to buy amount plus a small admin fee, thats what one of my old employers used to do.
This does make it non negotiable as the lease companies don't generally negotiate and will just take it back and send it to auction or Car Giant etc ....
If they own it out right, which isn't the norm then there may be a bit more room.
If it is then it will all be based on the figure the lease company are quoting them to retain the vehicle.
I suspect they are charging her the finance option to buy amount plus a small admin fee, thats what one of my old employers used to do.
This does make it non negotiable as the lease companies don't generally negotiate and will just take it back and send it to auction or Car Giant etc ....
If they own it out right, which isn't the norm then there may be a bit more room.
Yes I have done this.
The company I used to work for bought cars from new. I ran it for 2 years as a Company Car before leaving. I enquired about purchasing it and they offered for retail (about 11k-12k at the time). I offered 7k and we settled on 8k (with a full dealer service and new tyres) which was a bargain for a 2 year old 35k mile example.
Whilst my offer was a bit cheeky it was a car that I wasn't bothered about owning. Whilst a brilliant car it is rather boring and in a way I was looking forward to purchasing something else. However, at that price I couldn't argue and it is now the wife's/family car.
I was perhaps at an advantage as due to them owning it they had nothing else to do with it if I didn't buy it and it would have ended up in the pool (and it was a bit good to be a general pool car).
I was slightly nervous as normally knowing the history of the car is as advantage. Being at a fairly young age and having a company car I hadn't treated it as well as I would my own shall we say. However, the frequent Italian Tune Ups (some may have been from cold) don't appear to have done any harm and 2.5 years on the only thing to have broken is a sidelight bulb (until the wife drove into the back of another car recently but that is another story).
The company I used to work for bought cars from new. I ran it for 2 years as a Company Car before leaving. I enquired about purchasing it and they offered for retail (about 11k-12k at the time). I offered 7k and we settled on 8k (with a full dealer service and new tyres) which was a bargain for a 2 year old 35k mile example.
Whilst my offer was a bit cheeky it was a car that I wasn't bothered about owning. Whilst a brilliant car it is rather boring and in a way I was looking forward to purchasing something else. However, at that price I couldn't argue and it is now the wife's/family car.
I was perhaps at an advantage as due to them owning it they had nothing else to do with it if I didn't buy it and it would have ended up in the pool (and it was a bit good to be a general pool car).
I was slightly nervous as normally knowing the history of the car is as advantage. Being at a fairly young age and having a company car I hadn't treated it as well as I would my own shall we say. However, the frequent Italian Tune Ups (some may have been from cold) don't appear to have done any harm and 2.5 years on the only thing to have broken is a sidelight bulb (until the wife drove into the back of another car recently but that is another story).
It's not owned by the company in my case, but the lease company. And it is them I am talking to directly about buying it.
As for just getting a new company car, I suspect that buying it at 2 years old would work out cheaper as the depreciation is lower than a new car, even taking into account insurance/maintenance etc.
As for just getting a new company car, I suspect that buying it at 2 years old would work out cheaper as the depreciation is lower than a new car, even taking into account insurance/maintenance etc.
JackReacher said:
It's not owned by the company in my case, but the lease company. And it is them I am talking to directly about buying it.
As for just getting a new company car, I suspect that buying it at 2 years old would work out cheaper as the depreciation is lower than a new car, even taking into account insurance/maintenance etc.
Then i suspect they won't negotiate, the don on retail PCP's etc where there is often a larger GFV, on fleet stuff its usually even slimmer margins, they'll just ship it out and write any loss off against tax.As for just getting a new company car, I suspect that buying it at 2 years old would work out cheaper as the depreciation is lower than a new car, even taking into account insurance/maintenance etc.
Dr G said:
A1s make mega money at auction, a dealer is lucky to take a grand out of one at that kind of price level.
The lease company will likely do quite well out of it by simply letting it go through BCA.
Interesting, I presume they are still popular then. I will bite the bullet and go for the price they have offered, hopefully it won't lose too much money in the next year or twoThe lease company will likely do quite well out of it by simply letting it go through BCA.
My dad always used to care for his company cars like they were his own, then - because he knew their history and how well they had been looked after - at changeover he'd buy them for my mum.
Until, that is, his boss realised that my dad took really good care of his company cars and started overruling him, buying them for his own wife at changeover time.
RHIP and all that. The b
d.
Until, that is, his boss realised that my dad took really good care of his company cars and started overruling him, buying them for his own wife at changeover time.
RHIP and all that. The b
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