Anyone got a Business / Personal Lease car - some very tempting offers around...

[Sysman]

One thing to watch out for is that they base their offers on basic models. So they might say:

Car value at new: £20,000
Monthly fee: £200 x 24

But then if you add, say £1500 of extras (wheels, stereo, leather, metallic paint), rather than adding that to the value at new and factoring in only the depreciation of those items, they add the entire cost to your monthly fee, making it £200 + (£1500/24) = £262.50.

So they don't take into consideration the higher residual value of the vehicle given your additional extras, which you have paid for in their entirety anyway.

This is just in my experience, but thought I'd mention it as I don't think it's made very clear by some companies.

Well I've always reckoned that you can pretty much write off the cost of extras when selling a car, and I'm fairly sure leasing companies think the same way. A pile of extras might make it more saleable when it comes to the crunch of course.

Not that I'm complaining. I've done quite well over the years buying 2 year old top of the model range motors piled high with extras.

[Durbs]

As above, does anyone have a car on personal / business lease and have any constructive feedback on them.

I've been toying with the idea for a while. I have always purchased my cars outright, but when I saw a deal for, say, an Audi A6 for £220 + VAT a month on a 6 + 23 it got me thinking.

Yup, i've recently got one after musing it over for a while but I went for a small economical motor as anything big doesn't make financial sense whereas I dont get hammered tax-wise as mine hugs trees.

What swayed me was its brand new motor that I could spec myself, no hassle if it breaks and no tax. In 2 years I get to spec and choose another different brand new shiny motor.

The price you quote will end up balls though, I've got an A1 and pay £300/month for that (although I did go for all the toys, uprated audio, media pack, tw@t nav, rain pack, light pack etc etc etc). So add a bit to that because you WILL want to add toys once you see the options brochure.

All in all, i'm happy I went that route.

Bad points - I've still got to fix what gets accidently damaged, I need to hand it back in good nick in 2 years time so if a scrote runs a key up it or one of the kids pukes on the seats, it'll cost me. If I somehow end up unable to find work for a few months i'm screwed but theres always work out there so i'm not overly worried.

Go for it...

[scooby]

Yup, i've recently got one after musing it over for a while but I went for a small economical motor as anything big doesn't make financial sense whereas I dont get hammered tax-wise as mine hugs trees.

What swayed me was its brand new motor that I could spec myself, no hassle if it breaks and no tax. In 2 years I get to spec and choose another different brand new shiny motor.

The price you quote will end up balls though, I've got an A1 and pay £300/month for that (although I did go for all the toys, uprated audio, media pack, tw@t nav, rain pack, light pack etc etc etc). So add a bit to that because you WILL want to add toys once you see the options brochure.

All in all, i'm happy I went that route.

Bad points - I've still got to fix what gets accidently damaged, I need to hand it back in good nick in 2 years time so if a scrote runs a key up it or one of the kids pukes on the seats, it'll cost me. If I somehow end up unable to find work for a few months i'm screwed but theres always work out there so i'm not overly worried.

Go for it...

Ditto, I got a Seat Leon FR+ 170 TDi for less £300 all toys included. You cant buy for that price, AND i got it in 3wks which over the xmas period was impressive. No hassles of selling it in 2 years and making a massive loss as per my A4 on finance 12mths ago. I hand it back, and either lease another, or move on!

[bobspud]

Ditto, I got a Seat Leon FR+ 170 TDi for less £300 all toys included. You cant buy for that price, AND i got it in 3wks which over the xmas period was impressive. No hassles of selling it in 2 years and making a massive loss as per my A4 on finance 12mths ago. I hand it back, and either lease another, or move on!

All good until you find out that your next gig is a 200 mile round trip and then spend the next 2 years trying not to use a car you payed good money for... either that Or you hose the milage in 5 months and then have to pay half the remaining lease fee to give it back or every mile for the rest of the lease costs you more than the petrol...

[stek]

I have a 55 plate Cadillac CTS with 88k on the clock, 3.6 ltr, all toys under the sun, paid 4k, but has LPG, love it, massively fast, and 67p a litre on gas.

[Bluebird]

What are the implications on this tax wise?

Currently I'm doing about 500 miles a week, which is giving me about £200 tax-free [ although I've got all the wear & tear on the car.

If I leased - whats the deal on milage BIK?

I presume the LTD pays the lease so, if the lease was £200 a month then the only cost to me is personal milage?

[northernladuk]

What are the implications on this tax wise?

Currently I'm doing about 500 miles a week, which is giving me about £200 tax-free [ although I've got all the wear & tear on the car.

If I leased - whats the deal on milage BIK?

I presume the LTD pays the lease so, if the lease was £200 a month then the only cost to me is personal milage?

You need to check the extra charge on mileage over 10k. 26k pure business let alone personal is going to incur some hefty extra mileage charges I would have thought.

[Bluebird]

You need to check the extra charge on mileage over 10k. 26k pure business let alone personal is going to incur some hefty extra mileage charges I would have thought.

ok, but if I can get a deal that addresses the milage - what are the tax implications?

[ChrisPackit]

My accountant advised me, on my particular circumstances, that it was better to rent personally and claim mileage rather than trying to reclaim VAT and petrol with BIK implications etc

Obviously DYOR

[psychocandy]

All good until you find out that your next gig is a 200 mile round trip and then spend the next 2 years trying not to use a car you payed good money for... either that Or you hose the milage in 5 months and then have to pay half the remaining lease fee to give it back or every mile for the rest of the lease costs you more than the petrol...

Thats what I've always been worried about....