Car leasing? Suggestions?

[CustomLED]

Hi,

Now business is starting to get there and my current car is starting to have a couple issues, iv been thinking of leasing a car through the business.

I have no dowt many of you out there will do this so was just looking for maybe some insider info, rather than the traditional route of walking into a garage.

Reason I ask is I had a customer the other day who had just got a brand new Audi A6 with most the trimmings for £250inc VAT a month (£3k down) I can't seam to find anything anywhere near that.

I also don't mind maybe leasing a used car, so like an ex-lease but just carry it on if it works out enough cheaper, can't find any companies that do this.

The car I would like is a BMW 640d, but cheapest I can find is £346+VAT.

Thanks Tom

 

[HarveyIT]

If the issues with your current car weren't too serious, I'd consider getting them sorted, rather than having to pay those prices, but I'm guessing you've already been down that route?

 

[Talay]

Unless your company can stand it and has accounts posted, you can forget the company leasing angle in most places.

 

[PreciseHandTools]

Personally....leasing to me is one of the greatest 'spins' going (e.g. "You'll save money vs. buying, you'll have no maintenance worries blah blah"). For my money, by a good 3 year old car (i.e. post *severe* depreciation), dispense with any status symbol associations & always remember....from a money perspective it's not an asset, just a liability.

 

[tony84]

I leased my car towards the end of 2014 and I dont think I was asked for any accounts. I might have had to provide bank statements but that was about it.

I used a company on here called @Lease4Less

 

[IanG]

Are you sole trader or Ltd? If the Ltd company buys it and you have use then you'll have BIK to factor in to your maths.

No such issue with ST but in that instance you also can't write down the full lease amount as you'll presumably have personal use there also.

Your customer's Audi, fairly easy to get a low monthly on it. Audi are at £336 with £1920 down for the S Line Ultra for 10k pa so £250pm with another grand down and half the miles doesn't seem impossible.

Also that £3k down, do bear in mind that if that's a 24 month lease then you've effectively poured £9k in to the car and you'll give it away at the end of the term. I'm quite sure there are better ways of losing £9k to run a car for two years. 36 months doesn't look much better although that's "only" £4k a year hemorrhage as opposed to £4.5k

It doesn't even look that tax efficient given your line of work. You'd need to really really want to not fix your car.

 

[garyk]

Personally....leasing to me is one of the greatest 'spins' going (e.g. "You'll save money vs. buying, you'll have no maintenance worries blah blah"). For my money, by a good 3 year old car (i.e. post *severe* depreciation), dispense with any status symbol associations & always remember....from a money perspective it's not an asset, just a liability.

In most cases yes, but that doesn't always apply. Some years back I got a 21K car on 3+23, total cost over 2 years was 7.5K but the cars were selling second-hand for around 11/12K so go the purchase route it would have cost me 9/10K.

To the OP I would say don't walk before you can run. I have had friends start businesses and then go off and lease cars and get into difficulty. It's an expense you don't need. Buy an old focus for a grand, sorted!

 

[Mystro]

Hi Tom

Each quarter rates change, the reason you are finding it hard to get a deal is the finance company's are still working out the rates for quarter one (jan-march), over the next week or two deals will start to appear, be cautious when speaking to people about what they paid for their cars as they are not always truthful

I would suggest search a few reputable leasing companys sites as we all pretty much have the same deals, no one company will have something many others cannot get,

as for business leasing, if the company is not strong enough or a new start, then personally lease your car and use for business and claim the mileage back up to 40p per mile and over a year on 10k can pretty much pay for the car itself

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Hi,

Now business is starting to get there and my current car is starting to have a couple issues, iv been thinking of leasing a car through the business.

I have no dowt many of you out there will do this so was just looking for maybe some insider info, rather than the traditional route of walking into a garage.

Reason I ask is I had a customer the other day who had just got a brand new Audi A6 with most the trimmings for £250inc VAT a month (£3k down) I can't seam to find anything anywhere near that.

I also don't mind maybe leasing a used car, so like an ex-lease but just carry it on if it works out enough cheaper, can't find any companies that do this.

The car I would like is a BMW 640d, but cheapest I can find is £346+VAT.

Thanks Tom

Tom as mentioned above if you operate your business via a limited company do speak to your accountant about what is called a benefit in kind tax charge - you may be shocked at how much tax you will pay on the 'benefit' of having a company car.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

If you are sure leasing is the way you want to go I can personally highly recommend Lease World.

 

[The Byre]

- you may be shocked at how much tax you will pay on the 'benefit' of having a company car.

This! Your private use can end up being far more expensive than you may imagine!

Also, please remember - I bought a Honda Accord with 42k on the clock for £3,000 for my wife and the damn thing ran for six or seven years before we had to junk it. We sent about £500 p.a. for maintenance and MOTs etc., so that is £6,000 for six years driving.

A new car is no longer a sign of wealth or status, but a sign that you couldn't afford to pay cash for a used car!

Here's a final thought - every car gets scratched, knocked, bumped and/or driven into the ditch. In our case, my wife mistook a Ford Fiesta for an empty bit of road, an easy mistake to make, I grant you, but a very expensive one, if you are not insured fully-comp! A £3,000 car at the end of its natural lifespan? Who cares, get another one and carry on!

Driving about in a leased car means to live in fear of scratching the beastly thing and there is nothing good or clever about paying through the nose for that doubtful privilege!

 

[CustomLED]

Hi, thanks for all your input. The car iv been looking at iv been pondering for a while, it's not really a case of because mines starting to go wrong but it makes sence to sell while the going still good rather than wait till it completely knackarad as at the end of the day it's still a £15k(ish) BMW.

I know about the BIK tax you have to pay on cars, last time I spoke to my accountant he said that was if I bought it as was talking to him about the BMW I currently have.

My options currently are this
1. Keep car iv got (not much point)
2. Sell my BMW and buy a used 640D for about £25-30k.
3. Lease 640D and buy a weekend toy, something along the lines of a GTR. But more saving to be done.

 

[john1989]

Do you mean buy a weekend toy to avoid the BIK charge?