My experience of leasing a car

Dr House

Dr House

Dr House

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About 2 years ago I leased a car for my wife, BMW had some very good deals and I leased a 530D GT M-Sport

The contract was for 16 000 miles over 2 years, I did 31 000 miles.

So if anyone is interested this is how much it has cost me.

£12 500 in payment
£2 500 in excess millage charges
£250 service
£300 tyres
£450 to fix a small dent and scratch

Total cost
£16 000 over 2 years.


Theatrical numbers if I had bought a used car for £25k
£8500 ish depreciation
£500 road tax
£500 in tyres (assuming I would have got half used tyres)
£500 warranty (assuming I got one year free)
£425 service

Total cost £10 400

So assuming I would have dented the used car also it has cost me around £5000 more to go with the contract hire as apposed to buy a used car, for that I have driven a brand new car for 2 years, not had to go through the trouble of selling the car and had a more or less stress free time with the car.

So was it worth it? I honestly don’t know. However today I bought a used car instead of leasing one.
 
Kind of makes sense with it being less headache when you come to sell the car. Still £5k is a lot of money, whether it's worth the saving you from the hassle of selling etc, I'm not too sure about.
 
I do agree its a lot of money but it takes some of the uncertainty of running costs out as you never know how much a care will really depreciate.

That and you have to consider that I did not have £25k stuck in a car which would cost me around 3% to borrow.
 
Now calculate like for like, a brand new 530D GT vs leasing one for 2 years.

Yes you can say "I wouldn't have bought one new anyway" but the two scenarios in the OP are fairly different. You'd probably have lost 16k in depreciation alone on a brand new one.
 
No a new one is Just under £50k.

A 2 year old used one with 30k miles is worth at max £21k.

So assuming you got £10k off list when buying new in depreciation alone I would have lost £19k
 
Don't you pay road tax on a lease car?

Why would you spend more on tyres and service if you'd bought it as opposed to leasing it?
 
Dr House said:
No a new one is Just under £50k.

A 2 year old used one with 30k miles is worth at max £21k.

So assuming you got £10k off list when buying new in depreciation alone I would have lost £19k
Click to expand...

A 2012 530d GT M sport is a lot more than 21k sadly or I would be forcing myself to get over the looks.
 
They are listed on the bmw used site at round 25-26k for a 2012 car so a dealer is going to offer you early 20s as a px.
 
Bug One said:
Don't you pay road tax on a lease car?

Why would you spend more on tyres and service if you'd bought it as opposed to leasing it?
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The cost of road tax is included within the least cost.

He states that a non leased car wouldn't have been brand new and thus would have come with 'part worn' tyres, causing him to change them sooner.
 
Was the 2.5k mileage charge cheaper than getting a lease with a bigger allowance?

When I was looking at leasing l worked out that you could push the mileage a bit and not be out of pocket, but doing double the miles allowed worked out much more expensive. My calculations put your charge at 16p a mile too, which seems a lot.
 
The good thing about leasing a car is the fact you don't get any surprises, the car is under warranty so it all gets fixed free.

You pay your monthly lease and insurance and the odd set of tyres.
 
Antony101 said:
The good thing about leasing a car is the fact you don't get any surprises, the car is under warranty so it all gets fixed free.
Click to expand...

This it the same as buying any car under manufacturer warrranty though.

Remember that the lease deal on this particular car was astonishingly good, so good that it spawned numerous threads on various forums and had all sorts of people who'd never normally buy one clamouring for one.

Put together a price for a lease on, say, a 530d. Loads more money than buying used, as you'd expect :(
 
[TW]Fox;25933779 said:
This it the same as buying any car under manufacturer warrranty though.

Remember that the lease deal on this particular car was astonishingly good, so good that it spawned numerous threads on various forums and had all sorts of people who'd never normally buy one clamouring for one.

Put together a price for a lease on, say, a 530d. Loads more money than buying used, as you'd expect :(
Click to expand...

I should have said in comparison to finance. Most poor folk like me have to finance a car for ages and it normally exceeds the warranty.
 
Skeeter said:
Was the 2.5k mileage charge cheaper than getting a lease with a bigger allowance?

When I was looking at leasing l worked out that you could push the mileage a bit and not be out of pocket, but doing double the miles allowed worked out much more expensive. My calculations put your charge at 16p a mile too, which seems a lot.
Click to expand...


It was cheaper to pay up front but bmw messed up the paperwork and because the deal had finished I could not change the quote I had already done.

[TW]Fox;25933779 said:
This it the same as buying any car under manufacturer warrranty though.

Remember that the lease deal on this particular car was astonishingly good, so good that it spawned numerous threads on various forums and had all sorts of people who'd never normally buy one clamouring for one.

Put together a price for a lease on, say, a 530d. Loads more money than buying used, as you'd expect :(
Click to expand...

I agree with this. I would never have dreamed of leasing a car nor buying a new car but it seemed to make sense with this offer.

My view has always been that if I can't afford to buy it I will just get a cheaper car and not lease something I can't afford. However because of the tax implications and potential ROI in other places it makes it very hard just to keep cash sitting in a car but you only live once.
 
Dr House said:
Theatrical numbers if I had bought a used car for £25k
£8500 ish depreciation
Click to expand...

Would it really depreciate a further £8500 in 2 years after it's already depreciated £25k? If so then wow! A £50k car reduced to £16,500 in no time.
 
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