Leasing - experiences?

Hodders · 1 Sep 2024 at 15:14

We want to move to an EV but want to wait for 2 or 3 years just to wait and see what happens to the battery tech and the residuals.

So we need a ICE to cover the period before we make our minds up on an EV.

We want an estate and the new Skoda Superb estate looks perfect.

Had a lease offer of:
10k miles per year
24 months
£800 up front
£265 per month after that

Total over 2 years: £7160

The alternative would be to buy a 2 year old car and sell it in 2 or 3 years. But doing that would easily lose us a similar amount in depreciation and interest on the whole purchase price over the ownership period.

That looks like an effective way of covering the period in question.

Any gotchas I'm not aware of having never leased before?

Hodders · 1 Sep 2024 at 18:30

I think my big concern is depreciation on EVs. Waiting a couple of years will say a lot.

Plus it would not surprise me if a new battery tech (solid state for eg) comes out and just mullers existing tech.

Lastly the lease cost of an EV like the EV6 is well over double the EV6 which tells you a lot about depreciation!

Hodders · 2 Sep 2024 at 18:43

Moobert said:
That looks to be a good deal if thats what you are after, mind if I ask who that is with?

Leasing route. Never heard of them, bit lease loco threw them up.

Hodders · 2 Sep 2024 at 20:40

Looking at that option. But reality like the idea of a manufacturer warranty, plus using a Skoda superb estate as an example it looks like the 2 to 4 year depreciation is more or less the same as the lease cost I've been given above.

SKODA Superb Depreciation Calculator

Find and calculate the depreciation of your SKODA Superb for any stage of your ownership.

www.themoneycalculator.com

Using 28k as the 2 y.o purchase price. Keeping for 2 years will give us a final value of 20500.

A lease does seem to make sense....

Hodders · 2 Sep 2024 at 22:48

We make about 2 trips a year down to my brother in Catalonia.

I'd rather do that in a 10k mile car at the bottom of the bathtub curve than a 100k car that is rapidly climbing the end of the curve. It's one of the reasons we are thinking of changing out 105k miles Hyundai i40.

The stronger argument would be to buy a 2 year old car at - say - 20k and keep it for 6 or 7 years until it's done 90k+ a depreciation of about 17k.

But also bear in mind leasing means I have £28k+ sat in savings/offsetting mortgage/in an ISA.

It is swings and roundabouts - plus being honest, I quite like the idea of a new car with new tech.

Hodders · 3 Sep 2024 at 00:20

radderfire said:
Well, each to their own, but I would say a 90K Superb won't be rapidly climbing the end of the bathtub curve. I would also say the experience of driving a 6/7 year old Superb would be pretty similar to driving a 2 year old one.

You can almost buy the car for what you would pay in lease charges.

Also, re electric cars, I wouldn't say the overall experience was that great, particularly with the state of the charging network. This would be an argument for keeping an ICE car longer, although I do accept electric has green plus points.

Appreciate your point.

My thinking is this:

Buy 2 y.o. car for 28k, keep for 7 years. Total cost 17k depreciation plus the 4% interest on 28k purchase price that I will lose (the 28k that won't be in an ISA, it will have bought the car) over 7 years (9k) = 17k+9k = £26k

Lease cost £4k per year, over 7 years = £28k cost. But I will earn some interest on the £28k (less over time as I use it up to pay for the lease), so lets say I earn £4.5k interest. Total cost. 28k - 4.5k = £23.5k

Lease costs less, plus I get a new car every 2 years.

Feel free to tell me I'm talking rubbish! I'm happy to take criticism :-)

Hodders · 3 Sep 2024 at 00:22

radderfire said:
Well, each to their own, but I would say a 90K Superb won't be rapidly climbing the end of the bathtub curve. I would also say the experience of driving a 6/7 year old Superb would be pretty similar to driving a 2 year old one.

You can almost buy the car for what you would pay in lease charges.

Also, re electric cars, I wouldn't say the overall experience was that great, particularly with the state of the charging network. This would be an argument for keeping an ICE car longer, although I do accept electric has green plus points.

I'm happy to accept that a Hyundai i40 will almost certainly age less gracefully than a Skoda.