Leasing cars through your employer...

lordrobs

lordrobs

lordrobs

Soldato
Joined
30 Sep 2003
Posts
16,753
Location
Norwich
My essential car user allowance has been scrapped in favour of an extra 6ppm in travel allowance. To stop us all throwing our public sector toys out of the pram they have said that anyone who was on the essential user scheme is automatically eligible for a subsidised lease car.

Now as I'm getting a bit fed up with hacking about in my car for work I thought I would consider it even though the subsidy from my employer isn't great compared to similar schemes.

As long as I go low CO2 my monthly contributions completely counteract the BIK so I will be looking at about £230 pcm which includes everything bar fuel (I can claim fuel for work use though)

The scheme is limited to Fords and having considered how much I'm willing to pay and with CO2 being the limiting factor I have decided that if I do go for one it will be a 5 door Focus Econetic with alloys being the only extra.

The main thing I'm wondering is- is £230pcm all in a rubbish deal?

At first I thought "no chance" but then I factored in running costs, road tax, depreciation, insurance etc. etc. and it doesn't seem too bad.

Also I have been told (I'm awaiting confirmation) that the £230 will come out of me pre-tax pay meaning that the amount I am out of pocket will be about 20%(?) lower than that. Does that sound feasible?

As you can tell I'm pretty clueless so any advice would be good. Thanks :)
 
[TW]Fox;16710469 said:
I would hate to pay 2000 quid a month to drive a crap car.
Click to expand...

I would love to have £2000 a month to spend on one...

I thought the Focus was still regarded as one of the best cars in its class? It will be more modern and better to drive than my Octavia so I can't really see why it would be "crap"?
 
Seems a pretty bad deal to me.

Tax - £150 a year / £12.50 per month
Tyres - £300 a year / £25 per month
Mot & Service - £160 a year / £13.33 a month
Insurance - £240 a year / £20 per month

= £70.83 for the essentials, so in essance paying about £160 a month for a crap car. £160 could go a long way towards a decent couple of year old car that you dont have to question yourself about.
 
lordrobs said:
I thought the Focus was still regarded as one of the best cars in its class? It will be more modern and better to drive than my Octavia so I can't really see why it would be "crap"?
Click to expand...

Because its a horrible generic diesel hatchback, whats good about it? It shakes the gearstick to death at the traffic lights, is noisy, and in Econetic trim isn't even that great a spec. It's just... gah.

Sure its probably the best in class but it's a class full of rubbish. I wouldnt pay £200 a month to drive any of them.
 
GinG thanks for your opinion.

I think my biggest error is in comparing the running costs of my car with the all in lease cost of the Focus.

Also I have just had an email back saying that the lease amount is deducted after tax, which goes against the advice I was given, making it more expensive than I originally thought.
 
You cannot compare the costs of running an Octavia vRS, a performance car, against running a diesel Focus lease car in order to ascertain value. Not unless you can accurately price the additional benefit the performance nature of your car gives you per month.
 
GinG said:
so in essance paying about £160 a month for a crap car. £160 could go a long way towards a decent couple of year old car that you dont have to question yourself about.
Click to expand...

Would it? Not saying the deals good or bad but £160 a month doesn't sound like a lot of money with which to get a 'decent' car.
 
[TW]Fox;16710616 said:
Sure its probably the best in class but it's a class full of rubbish.
Click to expand...
Fox your opinions verge on stupidity sometimes. The Golf, Focus or even the new Astra are far from 'rubbish'. Just what are you comparing them to to be able to say that?
 
I'd suggest you drive one before listening to the anti diesel ramblings, the only diesel vehicle I've driven that shook the gearstick at the lights was a 1993 daf minibus....

In terms of value for money, it depends what you compare it to. On a personal loan you're looking at about 5k over 3 years once you take out the running costs, which buys you a pretty decent used focus
 
iaind said:
I'd suggest you drive one before listening to the anti diesel ramblings, the only diesel vehicle I've driven that shook the gearstick at the lights was a 1993 daf minibus....
Click to expand...

Every single manual transmission diesel car I have ever driven has done it. Every single one. The last being a 2009/59 plate 320d M Sport. I'm not talking WOW THAT THING IS GOING CRAZY but... there are vibrations felt through the transmission. It's what 4 cylinder diesels do, only people who were in denial when they owned them will deny that :p
 
£230 * .8 = £184 you are losing. Someone worked out roughly £70 for the essentials - I'll go with that figure.

So you are only paying £114 a month for the car. Which frankly is great value. That's only £1368 a year.
 
[TW]Fox;16711258 said:
Every single manual transmission diesel car I have ever driven has done it. Every single one. The last being a 2009/59 plate 320d M Sport. I'm not talking WOW THAT THING IS GOING CRAZY but... there are vibrations felt through the transmission. It's what 4 cylinder diesels do, only people who were in denial when they owned them will deny that :p
Click to expand...

Honestly, my mondeo at idle didn't vibrate that much. It was audible and you could feel it a bit through the pedals but not the gearstick, wheel or seat. Definitely not something that would put me off a car, if it does you then ffair enough but doesn't mean everyone will see it the same way
 
[TW]Fox;16710872 said:
You cannot compare the costs of running an Octavia vRS, a performance car, against running a diesel Focus lease car in order to ascertain value. Not unless you can accurately price the additional benefit the performance nature of your car gives you per month.
Click to expand...

A very valid point. I, very simplistically, added up all of my running costs and compared it to the lease cost. I really need to add in a third comparison, that of a 3 year old Focus or equivalent.
 
taximike said:
£230 * .8 = £184 you are losing. Someone worked out roughly £70 for the essentials - I'll go with that figure.

So you are only paying £114 a month for the car. Which frankly is great value. That's only £1368 a year.
Click to expand...

taximike, I'm just a simple inbred Norfolk boy... can you run me through those numbers, specifically the .8 multiplier?
 
Technically, wouldn't we need to multiply it by 0.69 (100% - (20% Income Tax + 11% National Insurance))?

Purely from a numbers point of view, you should also consider what you'd get for selling your Octavia (assuming you own it outright), and consider the current running costs adjusted for the extra 6ppm

I wouldn't bet on the Focus being better to drive than the Octavia vRS. It might handle better being as the focus wuld have newer suspension etc, but as a package, you'd be down on a shedload of power and enjoyment.

If you're bored fine, but on the face of it I wouldn't swap personally.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom