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Car Leasing.

BTW - there are loads of lease brokers around, but a good place to start is nationwide vehicle contracts. Not necessarily the cheapest prices but a very easy to use website, with a wide range of cars, makes it easy to see the difference between say a 2 year and 3 year least term, different mileages, etc.
 
Up to now I've had personal leases from Alphabet arranged by my previous employer. That's no longer available to me. Alphabet were really good and never quibbled about condition. How do I chose a new leasing company? There are all sorts who email me but I've never heard of them and they could even be a scam for all I know, does anyone have a list of know decent lease brokers / companies?
 
I've got a son dropping off a financed car on Monday, he doesn't know what sort of finance and the car has a few substantial dents all down one side.
I don't envisage a happy day for him!
 
I am on my 8th PCP - I have never had any of the dealers quibble about the condition of the returning car, and I never pay any attention to washing my cars.

On my most recent PCP, I paid a holding deposit to secure my manufacturing slot....the residual took care of paying off the remaining finance (I walked away from that car after 2.5years) and the remaining deposit to keep my repayments in line with what I consider as reasonable for the type of vehicle I was buying.
 
philsparks said:
"Don't know who is buying the galaxy but for info you can get galaxy's starting at about £180 per month"

sorry - you can't. Two points:

The deal I got is 3+35, which at £180/mth is less than £7k in total. Given that even the road tax is gonna be close to £1k that leaves £6k to cover the depreciation on a £36k car over 3 years, the borrowing cost and some profit for the lease company. Simply won't work

After about half a day of surfing and phoning various dealers, brokers and finance companies you get to around the same lowest possible deal from them all - I had about 5 quotes which were within around £3 per month of each other.

Perhaps your £180 is for a business lease (excl VAT), for a poverty spec car and on a 12+48 payment cycle. Not the same as personal lease on a 3+35 cycle.

cheers
Phil
Click to expand...

No its not impossible. I arranged a Vw Passat all track last year at £135 pm Inc vat with 435 deposit on a 10k 24 month contract.

It all depends on manufacturer discount and we are now in silly season. Deals change constantly. Ford are well known for discounting into the high 40%s ....
 
Here are some potentially useful web sites for comparing leasing deals for cars. I collected them while forum watching for the last car make I bought, the previous car make had remained the same for over 40 years.

https://www.drivethedeal.com/

http://www.carfile.net/

http://www.discounted-new-cars.com/

https://broadspeed.com/

https://www.dsgauto.com/

https://www.carwow.co.uk/

I have not used any of these websites apart from doing comparative searches on buying a new vehicle.

I eventually bought a 1 year old vehicle with the combination of toys that I wanted.
Could I have done better with a finance deal - perhaps I would have got some additional benefits eg multi year service plan etc. Perhaps a better headline price, but I hate paying interest and borrowing money apart from short term loans that are a sales incentive with zero interest that I can pay off very quickly. I would also have to have waited several weeks for it to be glued together and shipped to the UK.

A nearly new ex management car from the manufacturer can be an interesting prospect. Can have an extensive range of toys and it has the advantage that you can see it on the dealers forecourt, you need to chat to a few dealers to find out specifically about ex management cars (not the ones used as rental cars)
 
Well I had a wander over to a 'trade' dealers today to have a look at an almost direct replacement for Daughter's car. This company hide behind a dealer for Mini, Honda and BMW near Southport and claim to sell their part-ex vehicles at fixed but low cost after safety check and valeting. Their reviews show that people think their interest for finance is extortionate, but no negative comments about vehicle quality. Daughter would be paying cash anyway.

Different colour but same spec. Lower mileage. Price about £2.2k below what she paid for the last one 12 months ago. No visible bodywork problems. Tidy clean interior, clean boot and engine bay, no obvious nasties on firing up engine. And plates bearing the name of a nearby Citroen dealer, indicating a locally used vehicle. So it seems genuinely to be a trade in for something from their new ranges. But no test drive as it was trapped in a corner behind several rows of s/h stock. Only obvious issue a few parking scrapes on wheels..all of which points to a young driver lacking skill rather than a boy racer. Wheels could be sorted for a max of £600 (They are of the so-called 'diamond cut' variety) and still come in at around £1.8k below her previous pay out/budget.

We shall see. There are plenty of DS3s about, but the 'bells, whistles' and 160 BHP she thinks she needs to move a shopping trolley are rather less common.

Mull
 
Diamond cut wheels are more expensive to refurb than normal ones but not £150 a time. Normal wheels can be done for £20-25 each, you have to get the tyres removed first and refitted afterwards by a tyre fitter.
Diamond cut jobs have to be turned on a lathe and recut, so it’s going to be more, maybe £50 or £80 a wheel, but a mainstream car isn’t £150 a corner unless it’s warped and needs replacement. I’m not sure that I would bother beyond a bit of a rub-down and a relacquer that you can DIY with the tyres on. It’s going to get kerbed again, let’s be honest.
 
Here is a useful site for nearly new cars. Fixed prices, various outlets across the country.

www.motorpoint.co.uk

Have not bought from them but got very close to doing so. Some Ds3 models are listed - stock changes nearly every day
 
Obviously up to her Steve. Scratched wheels insult her 'designer sensibilities'. :D

I only repeated what she's been told by some firm in Manchester.

The wheels definitely need doing as water 'fogging' is beginning to spread under the laquer and that inevitably leads to rot and oxidation of the alloy.

First set of fancy alloys on my last FIAT suffered badly from that despite no 'kerbing' whatever. Turned out to be a substandard laquering job and to their credit the dealer replaced all wheels under warranty. New set were fine.

'Diamond Cut' strikes me as a bit of a flowery description, a bit like putting 'Digital' or 'Turbo' stickers on hairdriers. I may be wrong but it looks like the whole wheel gets painted then a portion of it is turned on a lathe of some sort and the paint cut away, before laquering the whole lot for weather protection. Whether any real diamond is harmed in the process is not clear. You don't need diamond to cut aluminium alloy. Obviously a bit more to a refurb than just a tidy up and recoating.


I've never had wheels refurbed, so I don't know how it's normally done. I'd imagine the easiest way it to take the whole car somewhere and leave it with them while they do it. Either that or you need a spare set of wheels or have your car on bricks on the drive for a few days... :D

Mull
 
I think both options are available! You are bang on re diamond cut, AFAIK that's exactly what they do, £150 a go seems heavy. The standard price is aplace in Leeds, when I have replaced a warped rim on the MX5 I am going to get the full set refurbed. Yes, I have a spare set!

I think the normal process is shot blasting then local repair to any gouges, then a powder coat and a lacquer.

I think the diamond cut lathes really do use an industrial diamond lathe tool at some point. You couldn't charge the same if you used boring old steel, after all.
 
Diamond cut wheels are a massive over engineering process to flatter the owner. They are a con to get the first buyer spend more money. After April 5 or 6, if the extra cost of Diamond Cut wheels puts the price of the car over £40k then the road tax will be punitively high for 5 years.

Sadly my second-hand car has them and I despise them.
 
Derek Wright said:
Diamond cut wheels are a massive over engineering process to flatter the owner. They are a con to get the first buyer spend more money. After April 5 or 6, if the extra cost of Diamond Cut wheels puts the price of the car over £40k then the road tax will be punitively high for 5 years.
.
Click to expand...

In which case it won't happen, people will spec a car with the cheapest possible wheels and pay the <40k tax rate, then they will go back to the dealer and buy a set of OE diamond cut wheels on mahoosive 385/15 x 20 tyres that sit like rubber bands, ruin the ride quality and weigh as much as an average teenager, and the job will be jobbed. The insurers won't get to know because the wheels are not obviously aftermarket, they are a dealer fit part, and that will be the end of it.
 
The answer whether to lease or buy is 'it depends'. Manufacturers will often heavily discount through lease deals (contract hire / personal contract hire) to shift metal with an undisclosed (huge) discount level to the customer. This can work very well if you are not after a specific car and do not want to spec options. Have a browse on www.contracthireandleasing.com. You will get far better deals through these brokers (many are fleet departments of large dealer groups) than wandering into a showroom as a retail customer. www.freedomcontracts.com are pretty good, I've leased Mercs through them in the past at ridiculously low cost.

The problem is if your circumstances change mid contract. I have leased in the past with great success and also buy outright, it just depends on the car and deal. I would not, however, enter into any lease or finance agreement on a vehicle without having 100% cash cover for the contract duration. Those who do are essentially driving a car beyond their means and financially exposed in the event of job loss / move abroad etc.
 
There were some cracking deals on the Golf R last year, I was sorely tempted, I think they were under £200p/m with a not too ridiculous initial payment. Not much around now, obviously since the pound has gone down the shitter.
 
If she wants French and fast, there's only one car that does it, and that's the RS Clio.

DS are previous generation Citroens.
 
stevec67 said:
I think both options are available! You are bang on re diamond cut, AFAIK that's exactly what they do, £150 a go seems heavy. The standard price is aplace in Leeds, when I have replaced a warped rim on the MX5 I am going to get the full set refurbed. Yes, I have a spare set!

I think the normal process is shot blasting then local repair to any gouges, then a powder coat and a lacquer.

I think the diamond cut lathes really do use an industrial diamond lathe tool at some point. You couldn't charge the same if you used boring old steel, after all.
Click to expand...
I've got diamond-cut wheels. If my lacquer should go bad or they get kerbed (3.5 years so far so good - touch wood, not concrete), I'd get the wheels fixed and painted. I don't care so much for that two-tone look.
 
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