Company Motor Leasing

[DRFC1879]

Hi all,

I'm new to this site (although a couple of friends have been telling me for ages that I ought to sign up). Anyway I'm looking for a bit of help and advice please.

I'm way overdue for a new company motor having done them a favour by taking on a terrible Astra for a few months due to a good deal they got on bulk leasing. I'm now looking at the following as options:

Alfa 159 JTD (would LOVE one but looks waaaaay too pricey on lease)

Volvo S40 R-Design

Audi A3 2.0 TDI Sportback (My MD has seen the fuel economy on the dreadfully underpowered 1.6 but no way I'm having one of those!)

BMW 320D ED

Lexus CT200H (My wife takes delivery of one on Friday and the performance is shoddy so not keen but it's a last resort)

As intimated above, the MD is motivated by fuel economy (as would I be if it were my business with current fuel prices) and also monthly lease costs. Everything above is coming in around £450 pcm from Lombard with servicing included except the Alfa which is another £100 over that. I need to go back to him with some prices closer to the £400 mark or even below if possible and that's where I'm looking for advice. Anybody on here work in the leasing industry or recommend anyone else to go to for a more competitive quote.

I'm also open to suggestions of other cars provided they're not:

Ford
Vauxhall
French

Thanks in advance,

Mike.

Edited by DRFC1879 on Tuesday 29th March 11:12

[PigFilth]

I am responsible for our car fleet - deal with Ogilvie Fleet and found them much better than others. May be worth Googling and having a look at their site to see if they can help?

[mattviatura]

PigFilth said:

I am responsible for our car fleet - deal with Ogilvie Fleet and found them much better than others. May be worth Googling and having a look at their site to see if they can help?

Ogilvie are very good.

[P700DEE]

Alfa Guilietta Hope I can get one as my company car.

[velocemitch]

Funny you should say that...... Alfa are doing good deals on Giuletta's on business contract hire at the moment, well under the figure you have quoted for the 'list'. To be fair they are a cheaper car than stuff like the 320D. The 140BHP 2.0JTDm is a bit of a tax buster too at 13% BIK.

I'm in exactly the same boat, but coming 'downward' from a 320D which is now being seen as too expensive in the current climate.

[dave9]

Audi A5 convertibles were £249.99 plus vat last week (yes, really!)

[dave9]

why is he bothered about fuel too - won't he pay you a set amount per mile, say 13p ish

[OldSkoolRS]

dave9 said:

why is he bothered about fuel too - won't he pay you a set amount per mile, say 13p ish

He might have a fuel card which means the firm pays the full cost of the fuel used. The user pays yax on this benefit though, so you have to work out if it's worth the tax bill over the 'free' fuel...in my case it isn't as I'd need to do well over a full tank of fuel a month for private use. In the past I sometimes made a small profit if I bought fuel cheaply and drove economically, but for the last year I'm about £3-5 outo f pocket per tankfull on average, but it's still cheaper than paying the tax man if I had a fuel card. The OP doesn't say if he has a fuel card though...

Ours are leased too, but IIRC our monthly limit was around £550 due to the higher mileage and all inclusive servcing and tyres. I just managed to squeeze an A4 2.0TDi SE Avant 2 years ago, so might find it above budget next year at replacement time, so I'llbe interested to see how the OP makes out.

[VeeFour]

BMW 320ED
Lexus hybrid thing
Toyota Auris
Toyota Prius

The Lexus and Toyotas are all 10% BIK, and come loaded with kit - even as 'base' models.

The BMW is a lot more powerful, and has better handling, but has very poor equipment levels.

[Ade07]

dave9 said:

Audi A5 convertibles were £249.99 plus vat last week (yes, really!)

Really? Who was offering this deal?

[DRFC1879]

Thanks all for the replies.

I do have a fuel card for business mileage and have to declare my private mileage which is deducted from my expenses at the average cost of fuel used per mile during the month. It saves me paying tax on the fuel benefit and I rarely use the company motor for private mileage so always declare a low mileage to pay for.

The 1 Series is a bit small for what I need - I often have a lot of product samples and/or display equipment to show my customers.

I'll have a look at Ogilvie as I know they're not currently on our list so may be worth checking out.

Thanks again, I'll let you know how I get on.

[CraigyMc]

320d ED is the only one I'd look at (In fact - I've got one on order)

[VeeFour]

Just be aware that the extra BIK on diesels is going up from 3% to 5% next year, which will make a 320ED twice the cost of a better equipped Prius / Auris HSD.

All depends on what you want - cheap tax bills or an all-rounder that's fun to drive at the weekends.

If you're like me, you'll get incredibly bored of your daily company shed, which means you're better off with something cheap to tax, so you have more money to spend on weekend toys.

[PigFilth]

Whereabouts you based?

[XDA]

What about a VW Golf Bluemotion? Very good on company car tax.

[mattviatura]

For anyone interested we've just had a memo to the effect that VWFS are removing the Golf from their small business campaign WEF April 1st as lead times are so bad.