Finance lease for van ending what do do?

[Mandyj58]

Hi all

We're coming to the end of a finance lease for a van, there's a balloon to pay at the end of the agreement then we can enter into a secondary agreement, return the van or sell the van on behalf of the finance company.

We want to keep the van I've heard it's quite common to sell the van to an unrelated third party then buy it back? If I did this what kind of figure would the finance company be looking for from me? I don't want to go in too high.

The van is a Citroen Luton 2010 model, balloon payment due is £3500 + VAT and it was a 5 year agreement.

I'm happy to supply further information if anybody can help.

Thanks.

 

[The Byre]

All you have to do is ask yourself the question "What would it cost to buy a Citroen Luton 2010 model with guaranteed mileage and condition and is there anything better out there?"

 

[Paul Norman]

Running a 5 year old van is seldom the right thing to do. I would look into the costs of getting a new one. Unless your mileage is tiny.

 

[Mandyj58]

Thanks for your comments. To be honest this van is definitely worth keeping as the mileage is low and it's probably the most serviced van in the country. Any idea how much could I get away with saying I've sold it for to the finance company?

 

[The Byre]

Any idea how much could I get away with saying I've sold it for to the finance company?

TBH, I do not understand this question.

List price for a Citroen Luton 3.5 ton 2010 in really good condition with full service book and low mileage (under 100k) is about £6-8k, so paying the final price and running it for a few more years seems to be a no-brainer!

 

[Paul Norman]

What the OP is asking, I believe, is how to set about getting someone to pay the £3500 balloon payment for him. There are finance houses that provide this service - and they will then lease the van back to him/her for a further period of time.

There are lots of companies providing this service. The only way I know of accessing them is to go back to the dealer, but there may well be better ways of achieving this. We need someone in vehicle financing and leasing to answer that one.

 

[The Byre]

There are finance houses that provide this service.

I think they're called banks!

 

[David Griffiths]

In most cases where the vehicle is leased, the lessee cannot purchase the vehicle directly from the leasing company. That's one reason to use a friendly third party - they pay off the leasing company and then sell on to the lessee. The alternative is to carry on paying a secondary rental to the leasing company which should be a nominal sum, but I know of some leasing companies (that I wouldn't touch with a bargepole!) that charge the same monthly rental as in the primary period.

The other reason is that it's not uncommon for the leasing company to want a cut of the final sale price. So if the vehicle is sold for say £6.000 the leasing company keeps £300 and gives the balance back as a refund of rentals. Selling to a third party for say £3,000 halves this amount, but it really isn't very big in the overall scheme of things