Electric car monthly subscribe, but without the films

It’s a completely different way to get a car. If I had high personal insurance costs it might be attractive. And the free charging pretty much anywhere is worth something.

I think I’d need to get my head around not having the keys and the whole ‘black box recorder’ thing but if you were happy to be speed limited and pay the £1000 insurance excess then it certainly could be a great deal on some of the cars.

One thing the Guardian article doesn’t make completely clear is the car you are renting isn’t always a new car. Potentially it’s been well-used by the time you get it. I think they’re under 10K miles at delivery. But there have been lots of people expecting a brand new car (especially on cars with wait lists) and some dented, scratched, 9-month old car turns up for £900 per month and their expectations were clearly not met.
 
It's eye-wateringly expensive (£800/mo for a Model 3 SR+) and doesn't allow you to really benefit from one of the best EV features - home charging.

If you don't have access to home charging, drive a LOT of miles and have massively expensive insurance it might be worth a look but even then you'd save hundreds by arranging and paying for the different elements individually.

On the plus side, some people will like the flexibility of changing car every couple of months or may only want a car for odd months per year - then it is a much more attractive prospect.
 
blun said:
It's eye-wateringly expensive (£800/mo for a Model 3 SR+) and doesn't allow you to really benefit from one of the best EV features - home charging.

If you don't have access to home charging, drive a LOT of miles and have massively expensive insurance it might be worth a look but even then you'd save hundreds by arranging and paying for the different elements individually.

On the plus side, some people will like the flexibility of changing car every couple of months or may only want a car for odd months per year - then it is a much more attractive prospect.
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Some of the deals are worse than others definitely. You can really see how much discount they are probably getting from some manufacturers to get the prices they are offering. Tesla obviously don’t discount so they’re not cheap.

You can quite literally use any of the public charging networks in the cost. Including Tesla Supercharger (if you rent a Tesla). If you were using an Ionity charger for 79p/kW that looks like a great deal. With the cheapest of the other rapid networks at 23p/kW it could work out OK, especially if you have an inefficient car like a PS2, iPace or eTron. But at 1000 miles per month the charging cost isn’t going to be a major saving.

The Hyundai Kona at £565 per month looks reasonable value compared to leasing one for 2-3 years. It’s all about how much flexibility you want in yiur car choice.
 
WJA96 said:
You can quite literally use any of the public charging networks in the cost. Including Tesla Supercharger (if you rent a Tesla). If you were using an Ionity charger for 79p/kW that looks like a great deal.
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Charging is currently limited to the following companies

Free charging comes via BP Pulse, Shell and Tesla’s network
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The way prices are going, everyone's gonna be leasing cars in the near future. Makes sense for leases to innovate to differentiate from each other. Needs to be clearer what you're getting though otherwise it's just preying on people unfamiliar with EVs.
 
It looks like a pretty good service if you just need the use of a car for 1-3 months. I think it only works if you select one of the smaller cars though, as the costs escalate quickly for those with an RRP over around £40k
 
Just some fag packet maths I currently do 12k in my old Saab 9-5 Aero.

Insurance is £150 a year.
Tax £330
SU Petrol @33MPG £1983 a year.
Maintenance £300 a year.
M.O.T £40

£2803 a year or 234 a month.

That's 150 a month in my back pocket or £1800 a year to spend on activities. Also I much rather sit doing those miles in an old comfortable barge than a small city car with not a lot of power.
 
[TW]Fox said:
If cars get more expensive so does leasing. It doesn't change the basic maths.. someone has to pay for the car.
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Yeah ofc. Just saying ppl can make the monthly payments but don't have a lump sum in the bank. Maybe EV prices will come down, but atm it's looking like a £10k rise in car prices.
 
billysielu said:
Yeah ofc. Just saying ppl can make the monthly payments but don't have a lump sum in the bank. Maybe EV prices will come down, but atm it's looking like a £10k rise in car prices.
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EV battery prices are coming down.
When the Leaf was first launched batteries where over $1000 per kWh, now they are about $150. The general consensus is once the battery price per kWh drops below $99 then EV’s will become more mainstream and cheaper.

Also, EV prices are potentially being held artificially high so manufacturers can protect sales of their ICE cars. The tax benefits also help to hold prices high.
 
[TW]Fox said:
If cars get more expensive so does leasing. It doesn't change the basic maths.. someone has to pay for the car.
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i think his point was between the choice of outright purchase or lease the hand almost is forced to go lease as the only “affordable” entry into some EVs rather than a statement suggesting cost parity would be present on a lease.

particularly as a more expensive EV product can (at the moment) have a good chunk of fuel costs reassigned to the lease payment.
 
adam cool dude said:
Just some fag packet maths I currently do 12k in my old Saab 9-5 Aero.

Insurance is £150 a year.
Tax £330
SU Petrol @33MPG £1983 a year.
Maintenance £300 a year.
M.O.T £40

£2803 a year or 234 a month.

That's 150 a month in my back pocket or £1800 a year to spend on activities. Also I much rather sit doing those miles in an old comfortable barge than a small city car with not a lot of power.
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They all have more power and more importantly torque than you might expect. 200bhp in a Hyundai Kona is downright sprightly. Even the 136bhp in the Zoe/Vauxhall Corsa e/Peugeot 208e makes for a surprisingly quick car. And the refinement is probably closer to your SAAB than you might expect.

Let’s be honest, once you take depreciation out of the picture, your car is MUCH more expensive to run. Bangernomics is always going to win over anything to do with a new-ish car because the biggest cost in running a new-ish car is the depreciation.
 
adam cool dude said:
Just some fag packet maths I currently do 12k in my old Saab 9-5 Aero.

Insurance is £150 a year.
Tax £330
SU Petrol @33MPG £1983 a year.
Maintenance £300 a year.
M.O.T £40

£2803 a year or 234 a month.

That's 150 a month in my back pocket or £1800 a year to spend on activities. Also I much rather sit doing those miles in an old comfortable barge than a small city car with not a lot of power.
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But if you only need the car for say 3 months over the summer, that's £380*3 = £1140 (£95/month) vs your £234/month. Obviously it doesn't necessarily work if you need a car full time, but I can see how it could be appealing in some circumstances
 
adam cool dude said:
Just some fag packet maths I currently do 12k in my old Saab 9-5 Aero.

Insurance is £150 a year.
Tax £330
SU Petrol @33MPG £1983 a year.
Maintenance £300 a year.
M.O.T £40

£2803 a year or 234 a month.

That's 150 a month in my back pocket or £1800 a year to spend on activities. Also I much rather sit doing those miles in an old comfortable barge than a small city car with not a lot of power.
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That’s simply “old car is cheaper than new car”
 
No upfront is pretty significant as well. To get decent monthlies on a lease you are normally stumping up at least the equivalent of a years worth of payments unless there is a crazy deal on (Still gutted I didn't get the M140 shadow on 369/369 :eek:).
 
Jonnycoupe said:
i think his point was between the choice of outright purchase or lease the hand almost is forced to go lease as the only “affordable” entry into some EVs rather than a statement suggesting cost parity would be present on a lease.

particularly as a more expensive EV product can (at the moment) have a good chunk of fuel costs reassigned to the lease payment.
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Outright purchase is virtually unheard of with new cars anyway isn't it? I remember reading years back something like 90% of new car purchases for one brand were PCP not cash.

So this doesn't really change much - in many ways a lease is a less flexible, more expensive alternative to PCP anyway.
 
Fair, I guess we see the rise of these shorter term but expensive subscriptions. Particular where maybe a way into 18month old cars with limited initial down payment and no longer term commitment.
 
[TW]Fox said:
So this doesn't really change much - in many ways a lease is a less flexible, more expensive alternative to PCP anyway.
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This different in the sense that there's no upfront payment and no minimum commitment - you can lease/rent a car with running costs included in one month increments, changing car at any time.

You do pay quite a bit extra for the flexibility though, and as mentioned above the car you receive might not be brand new.
 
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