Would you lease a car?

[Orangeinmybluelightcup]

Just can't decide which way to go on this! Leasing a car for 4yrs, very affordable monthly payments, brand new car, nothing to do so no hassle, but nothing to show for it at the end. Vs buying a second hand car, which is £10k more, responsible for MOT, servicing, anything that goes wrong, bit you own it.

I suppose I feel that leasing is dead money but am tempted by the lower costs.

Does the second option have to cost £10k more?

I have an old banger. But it’s mine. I’d never lease a car, hate the idea.

Do you just change car after 4 years then op?

Yes after 4yrs you would give it back.
We are going electric and that is the price, so yeah it's £10k more.

I do this and update it every few years. I like driving newer safer cost efficient cars so it's worth it imo. Depends on what you want.

We did the lease car thing through work after a series of expensive repairs on second hand cars.

It was lovely to drive without having to worry about replacement tyres or potential repairs...the one time I had a flat that needed replacing made me realise how much easier it was. Call the number and they called out recovery for the car to sorted. No extra costs.

However, I was so conscious that it wasn't "our" car and was terrified of it being marked/scratched.

I honestly thought we'd done fine until the handover, he picked up 3 tiny scratches that could only be seen from a specific angle and one of the alloys had been kerbed I still blame my husband for that so the handover fees were close to £400.

Driving for 3 years without worrying about a breakdown was lovely. Driving for 3 years like I was in my dad's brand new car that mustn't be marked not so much.

Financially it made sense for us, it was directly cheaper than MOTs/servicing any of our previous cars but I wouldn't do it again.

Hmmmmm @WTFisNext, we've got 4yo & 6yo plus a large dog... 😬

We lease them at work because we can claim the VAT back on the payments but I’d never do it on a personal level.

I tend to buy cars that are 12-18 months old and keep them for about 8 years.

Normally I would never lease but, for an EV, I think I would. Simply because the technology in 4 years may well be very different.

@Orangeinmybluelightcup

It was literally the only negative for me but enough to stop me doing it again.

Maybe ask to see their check in costs before committing to anything. If they're within the realm of acceptable for you it may still be worth it, especially if they cap the maximum to pay for damage.

I'd be a bit more worried with.children and a dog and the return cost of a lease as I know they look for damage. But others who have leased can advise more on how strict and costly they are at the end .

Is there much point in owning an asset which decreases in value though? Essentially work out what will cost you less over the four years then go from there, it a massive hassle selling cars too, so don't underestimate the value of just giving it back 🤣

I last owned a car in about 1993 !! I had company cars then moved to contract hire. I don't see the point in owning a car that will end up costing you money in repairs/MOT etc when id change it every 2 or 3 years anyway - and I get a better car.

It's £10k difference looking at 4yrs

I lease through salary sacrifice. I much prefer not worrying about the car at all. Any repairs and servicing is sorted immediately via a web form. Tyres are renewed whenever I need. Breakdown and courtesy car is included.
No insurance costs. No sorting sales or purchasing. Every three years I choose a new car and it gets delivered and swapped. So easy.
I can drive good cars, in good repair. The hybrid I now have even brings tax advantages.

We have leased a few and currently have a lease car, also electric. We always do less miles tver we are allowed and twice we have been let off paying any wear and tear because the mileage was less than it should have been. The wear and tear were small scratches, we have young kids! I think I'd only lease now. There are some great deals to be had. Try to find one with barely any upfront cost, they do exist, a lot will ask for 6 - 9 monthly payments upfront which can be a lot!
My Leaf costs 200 a month and we only paid £200 upfront.

We've leased for the last few years, previously buying £5k cars that needed replacing every 3ish years.

All cars cost money, it's working out whether you feel the extra is worth it. We have gone down to one car and have a hybrid so we are saving on fuel, MOT and second car costs but even the new expense is worth the reliability of a new car.

@ginislife

I last owned a car in about 1993 !! I had company cars then moved to contract hire. I don't see the point in owning a car that will end up costing you money in repairs/MOT etc when id change it every 2 or 3 years anyway - and I get a better car.

Really?

My car is 20 years old, but is a very high performance saloon. Cost £5,000. I won't ever lose money on it, and servicing costs I can live with.

What do you mean by a "better" car?

We recently went electric and had just the same dilemma OP. In the end the fear of getting stung to repair minor damage at the time to hand back and also feeling limited to the pre-agreeed mileage should we end up wanting/needing to do more were the deciding factors BUT it was a very close call.

We ended up borrowing the money to purchase at a very low (fixed) rate via our mortgage lender and have done it over 8 years. At the end the car will be paid off. It’s the same monthly payment as it would have been to lease the same car for 3 - 4 years and then hand it back. If after 4 years we want to sell and buy again we could (if the figures stack up) but we are very happy with the car and can’t see us wanting to change it in a hurry. Our monthly payments also equal not that much more than the amount we used to spend on fuel per month!

My mate is stuck with a leased car courtesy of her stbexh. Nightmare. £450 annual service charges for a start.
So if you are clear on the commitment, it might work.

@Orangeinmybluelightcup

Just can't decide which way to go on this! Leasing a car for 4yrs, very affordable monthly payments, brand new car, nothing to do so no hassle, but nothing to show for it at the end. Vs buying a second hand car, which is £10k more, responsible for MOT, servicing, anything that goes wrong, bit you own it.

I suppose I feel that leasing is dead money but am tempted by the lower costs.

With most lease cars you are still responsible for servicing and MOT

We had 2 old diesel cars which both dropped dead on us within a month this year - a low mileage 04 plate Zafira and a high mileage 61 plate Kia Ceed.
They were fairly economical on fuel, but I put £100pm into savings to cover servicing & road tax, and sometimes that wasn’t enough.
The Kia was an expensive MOT failure in March. We had intended to keep running the Zafira, and also getting a small hybrid on a lease, but it pre-empted us with a £2000 mechanical failure in April.
So now we have just started a 3-year lease on a Honda Jazz, which is a hybrid - it’s £240pm, with all road tax and servicing included, so net cost to us over previous spending is under £140pm.
It is lovely having a brand new car with all the gadgets, high mpg and low emissions.
I’m hopeful that in 3 years time electric car technology and infrastructure will have improved enough for us to then lease one of those.
(NB should mention that we’re both retired now and don’t need to do a lot of miles. I’m not sure this would have worked for us with school age kids!)

@AnneLovesGilbert

Does the second option have to cost £10k more?

I have an old banger. But it’s mine. I’d never lease a car, hate the idea.

I'm the same as you, I'd never lease. I bout 2nd hand a 5 year old car with only 20k milage for 5k. Not each year is 50 ish. My car is tax free. In the 3 years I've had it it's not needed anything other than a set of tyres. I'm likely to get another 5 years out of it before I bother changing it, so it's 5 k cost would work out about 700 ish a year. Bet no lease comes to less than 700 a year

I lease. I set a budget and find something I want that’s in budget. I like driving a nice new car. I spend a lot of time in it and don’t want to drive something old or which is going to cost a lot of money to fix

Leasing is a mugs game, especially when you don't even have the option to buy at the end. I'd probably go for one last petrol car and get one thats 3-4 years old.

Electric cars are frightfully expensive though and the battery life means it's not economical to buy one second hand. Hopefully the technology evolves rapidly and they become more affordable soon.

I was very apprehensive about leasing, the idea of dead money etc. But now I wouldn't go back - I get to drive a much more luxurious car, with all the bells and whistles I want, at an affordable price. And hand it back after a few years, rather than be lumbered with lots of extra cost in repair, and putting up with a car I don't like.