[DanTheManc]

Originally Posted by chris330D

Where did you see £239? I got £299 that's inc VAT and fully maintained.

I should image that's a business lease price rather than a personal lease.

[rogerxp]

Solvent Vehicle Leasing. Yes, it's +vat but still very cheap.

[rogerxp]

I meant Solent

[chris330D]

Doesn't list a Golf R there?

[doughboy]

Not wanting to state the obvious, but remember to factor the initial large payment in to the monthly cost to get the "real" monthly payments.

I.e. £299 on 6+23 equates to 29 payments of £299 over 24 months (the first 6 being in month 1) = (29x299)/24 = overall £361 / month.

So sometimes a longer lease with a higher £/month can work out cheaper overall £/month, i.e. £320 on 6+47 = £353/month.

You can also play with the initial amount and they will quote variations on that, don't think your are stuck with what they offer online, i.e. try 3+23 or 6+23 or 9+23 or 12+23 etc etc to suit your funds.

I went for 9+23 to help keep the monthly down, and higher up front payment means you are financing less so less interest equals lower payments overall.

[RCUK]

Wish id seen that GT86 deal ... damn thats cheap!

[dobbo99]

Originally Posted by doughboy

Not wanting to state the obvious, but remember to factor the initial large payment in to the monthly cost to get the "real" monthly payments.

I.e. £299 on 6+23 equates to 29 payments of £299 over 24 months (the first 6 being in month 1) = (29x299)/24 = overall £361 / month.

So sometimes a longer lease with a higher £/month can work out cheaper overall £/month, i.e. £320 on 6+47 = £353/month.

You can also play with the initial amount and they will quote variations on that, don't think your are stuck with what they offer online, i.e. try 3+23 or 6+23 or 9+23 or 12+23 etc etc to suit your funds.

I went for 9+23 to help keep the monthly down, and higher up front payment means you are financing less so less interest equals lower payments overall.

good point, and perhaps mostly ignored.

I spoke to one broker and said I wanted to put down a larger sum, and he asked why I would do that as it costs me more, when I said that it would lower my monthly cost over the term he went silent - obviously didnt realise, or thought he could get away with me paying the same monthly amounts as quoted (or something similar)
I laughed.

[mowflow]

But that's flying in the face of your own advice surely. Pay a bigger initial sum or pay slightly higher monthlies. Either way you are paying the money. I get the point that you are then not paying interest on the extra amount financed but what kind of rate are we talking about? My math isn't good enough to calculate. Not sure it even can be calculated without knowing the lease companies purchase price and expected resale price of the car.

[dobbo99]

120d sport is being offered out at £150/month, had a couple of emails this morning.

http://www.claris-vs.com/cars/car_details.aspx?id=1720

[doughboy]

Just been looking for E63 lease deals, they're all back up at round £800-£1200/m, just one at £469, but that has a £6,700 deposit!!

6 months ago there were dozens of offers under £500/m, mine was £470/m so it shows the benefit of manufacturer subsidy when they want to shift some cars.

Wonder what will be going cheap in 18 months time?

[mowflow]

That's what scares me slightly about a lease. When yours is up what do you if there is nothing but utter dross available at a reasonable price. Buy a snoter and sit tight?

[doughboy]

It's kind of exciting in a way, no idea what will be around then, but there will be something for sure. I like the fixed time on the car, it forces you to plan for the change, maybe into something that you wouldn't normally go for if that's all thats available on a deal. whereas I'm a creature of habit and will keep a car too long if left to my own devices.

Too many great cars to try, not enough time!!


If mine has to go with no replacement, then I'll just have to drive the van full time (as happened for 6 months after the 335i went and before the E63 arrived).

Missus has Countryman Cooper S for family stuff if needed.

Already putting aside £200/month for the next deposit, so that will ba £4800 in 2 years to go towards lease or finance.

[rogerxp]

I hadn't realised you could tweak the initial deposit Mike but had obviously realised the deposit needed factoring back into the overall cost. That Golf R deal (6+23) with a headline figure of £249p/m in fact cost £363p/m once vat & deposit factored in. That deal quickly vanished!

Which websites do you guys use to check out the latest & greatest deals?? I get e-mails from Niche but that's it. I know there are some comparison ones out there too but wonder which people perfect to use??

[doughboy]

I use www.contracthireandleasing.com as a first off.

It seems to be the 'Rightmove' of the leasing industry.

Look at the quotes then start phoning round.

[rogerxp]

I was on that one the other day Mike and found it difficult to narrow things down, see special offers or put things into price order. Gave up after 20 minutes

[gIzzE]

Originally Posted by rogerxp

I was on that one the other day Mike and found it difficult to narrow things down, see special offers or put things into price order. Gave up after 20 minutes

Choose the model you want, ie bmw and 3 series.

Then the shape.

Then select the maximum monthly amount to get rid of all the silly prices.

[doughboy]

Roger,

You have to do a bit of trawling, its unavoidable.

Sorting purely on headline rate per month would be misleading with all the different deposits and no. of months variants meaning headline rate is not the whole picture.

Total cost over the period is the figure you need, and you just have to work it out, lots of times.

I made a table of total-cost-of lease figures from different variants of 6+23, 9+23, 6+35 etc etc.

Also factor in going for lower mileage leases and then paying excess mileage, which is often cheaper than going for a higher mileage lease.

[gIzzE]

Adding the mileage at the start can also be far, far cheaper.

E220cdi at the mo for £340 at 10k miles and only £352 for 20k miles.

But agree that you have to look at the whole picture.

[Frobius]

I imagine that's something you just have to go through with the lease provider at the time!

[gIzzE]

Yeah you do need to look at it pretty closely.

Sometimes as Doughboy says it can be far cheaper to just pay the excess mileage at the end, I have seen 4.9p mile extra on a car at the end, but the hire company charges you 7 or 8p a mile to add it at the start?

The others like the E220cdi someone posted on the Merc forum it was 7ppm at the end and only £12 a month to add 10,000 miles a year to the contract.
So £1400 if you did 20k with excess mileage, or £288 to add it to the start.

[gangzoom]

I presume the predicted interest rate rise in 2015 will put up the price of car finance? What were the finance/lease deals like pre 2008 when interest rates were much higher?

Or does other factors like predicted resale value/ manufactures contribution have a bigger impact on lease/finance rate ?

Have never leased a car, wife's Civic will be PX when it hits over 100k which is going to happen in the next 12-24 months so planning/saving for its replacement already. Leasing might work since she really don't care what car she drives..though paying interest on a depreciating asset like a car still doesn't sit quite right in my mind.

[doughboy]

Originally Posted by gangzoom

Leasing might work since she really don't care what car she drives..though paying interest on a depreciating asset like a car still doesn't sit quite right in my mind.

If you're not set on a model, then bargain hunting on a lease deal on a supermini / hatch will be the cheapest way by a mile.

Don't think about it in terms of a loan on a depreciating asset.

You are just paying x£/month for the exclusive use of a new car, then it goes back.

It's just a life "overhead" cost.

Whether you borrow to fund it or spend savings and lose the interest that way, you always pay.