New car time - EV PCP deals?

[Amraam]

So my model 3 is going back. Long story short; new job means I no longer have access to salary sacrifice scheme, so car's going back early. Gutted. So, I need a new car, and quickly. Current car has been a fantastic bargain; ~£350pm full maintained and insured for a model 3 LR. I cannot afford to buy or lease a model 3 any way now, so I need to look at more sensible options. The cost of petrol is eye watering, and whilst I only do 10k miles a year, the cost approaching £2 a litre is making me seriously consider staying electric.

With that in mind, I have my eye on the MG ZS EV Trophy long range. It's hardly a sporty thing, but packs the tech I deem necessary, has adequate range, would be cheap to insure, and has V2L which is handy for hobby stuff and camping. Problem is the PCP deals. To get my monthly payments down to £400, I'd be needing to put down a £5k deposit. I have that money, but the idea stings.

Carwow has some deals available, just waiting on the dealer to get back to me with details.

I've been very fortunate to have a model 3 for so relatively cheap, but it is al why this cost feels so high - welcome back to the real world, Harry.

I'd like a decent size hatch or SUV that will take all my radio control gear, has decent spec (satnav, good range if EV, good economy if ICE, not stupid slow because anything is going to feel slow after 4.2s to 60, not a garbage audio system, with Bluetooth as a minimum for phone connectivity.).

What's out there that piques your interest that you'd point me to? Not beyond buying a run around for the time being, though we are going to Cornwall (from Newcastle) for a week's camping and I'll be damned if we're going in her 2013 Kia Picanto that doesn't even have AC.

 

[[TW]Fox]

£20,000 to drive an MG for 3 years?

 

[Amraam]

£20,000 to drive an MG for 3 years?

Four years, but yup, it's getting scary. Model 3 was nigh on £14k for 3 years but that was a crazy cheap deal.

I don't know the best option to go for. I don't want to go back down the route of buying used cars and faffing about fixing them, and I need to get something sorted quickly.

But paying smaller amount on PCP for a petrol car is going to rack up £2k a year on petrol alone. I don't want to drop to £200 and drive around in a 1L fiesta with no perks at all. Would rather pay nearer what I am now and keep some comfort/tech

 

[inflames]

Unfortunately I doubt you will be able to get a brand new car, even an MG, as quickly as you want. All manufacturers are struggling to source parts and people are waiting on cars they ordered a long time ago.
Iv been looking at some deals on EV and vast majority of them are all around the £500+/month.
You might get very lucky, but unfortunately if you need a car as quickly as you state. You might have to buy a 2nd hand car and in advance welcome back to eye watering fuel costs.

 

[Richie]

Out of curiosity, what is the cheapest EV Elec deal out there for a proper car? (Not the Ami type)

 

[inflames]

Also that deal you had for a tesla model 3, that really was a steal was looking at their current pcp and Tesla finance deals they where over £800/month. I am sure it’s cheaper else where but direct from Tesla was rather expensive.

 

[squerble]

As above, it's unlikely you'll be getting a brand new EV within a month. I'd wager if you need it within 3 months you'll still have basically no choice. Going to have to look second-hand, although their prices are pushing brand new territory too.

You could have a look at the Kia eNiro - decent amount of space, economical platform, new model about to come out so there could be some "clearance" offers on the old stock?

 

[sovietspybob]

I think MG have just closed orders for the rest of the year as well so they can try and catch up with the demand so i think you'd struggle to get hold of one even if you wanted

All electric cars are crazy prices, i was watching original Hyundai Ioniq's, they were down to about 12 grand for an early model with around 50k on it 18 months ago, the same car is 19k now.. If you want an electric there just isn't a cheap way in anymore. Again for the Ioniq's there were lease deals of about £200 not so long ago but there's nothing like that around now.

 

[Journey]

I'd like a decent size hatch or SUV that will take all my radio control gear, has decent spec (satnav, good range if EV, good economy if ICE, not stupid slow because anything is going to feel slow after 4.2s to 60, not a garbage audio system, with Bluetooth as a minimum for phone connectivity.).

You can get an MG MG5 SW (Long range 61kWh pack) in the Exclusive trim within your budget and I think it hits your requirements. The PCP example was £3049 deposit, with 48 months at £376.72, and a final payment of £12,510, the credit cost over the 4 years is an eyewatering £3,151.56 but I suppose you could pay off the PCP if you could find some finance yourself. That was with the 10k miles and the vehicle was/is in stock for immediate delivery, brand new.

For reference the 10k miles at £1.85 per litre and 50 MPG is ~£1679. EV using 90% home charging (9000 miles in other words) on a proper EV tariff which I am sure you already have is ~£168 + £100 for public charging, so ~£268 in total at 4mpkWh. Over 4 years assuming no prices change at all, that is a saving of £5,644 in fuel costs, goes quite a long way to helping fund the car.

 

[Amraam]

You can get an MG MG5 SW (Long range 61kWh pack) in the Exclusive trim within your budget and I think it hits your requirements. The PCP example was £3049 deposit, with 48 months at £376.72, and a final payment of £12,510, the credit cost over the 4 years is an eyewatering £3,151.56 but I suppose you could pay off the PCP if you could find some finance yourself. That was with the 10k miles and the vehicle was/is in stock for immediate delivery, brand new.

For reference the 10k miles at £1.85 per litre and 50 MPG is ~£1679. EV using 90% home charging (9000 miles in other words) on a proper EV tariff which I am sure you already have is ~£168 + £100 for public charging, so ~£268 in total at 4mpkWh. Over 4 years assuming no prices change at all, that is a saving of £5,644 in fuel costs, goes quite a long way to helping fund the car.

That final point is what is weighing heavily on my mind, and it's a point that people often overlook. Electricity prices may (probably will) increase a lot, but petrol and diesel already is (and, again, probably) may continue to rise. Very unlikely it'll come down to nearer £1 a litre any time soon, but I may be known for my cynicism ha.

I was looking at Skoda Octavia and Fabias last night. The overall PCP deal looked a little less daunting, but then when you add £100pm in fuel alone, it adds up. More to go wrong and maintain with ICE too.

The other thing I need to consider is mileage allowance. Miles to base will drop from 15 per day to 6 ish, but I will likely be driving around sites more, so my current 10k mileage might be very different soon. I also have no idea if there is mileage claim system at the new place either. So much to consider, and I definitely thinking just buying a high mileage, decent condition used car for £2k or so for now is the safest option. In this market, I could probably sell it on at little loss...

Yeah I'm painfully aware of lead times I'm led to believe the Ioniq 5 has a 12 month+ wait?! The only reason I'm (naively) talking about getting MG ZS EV soon as I thought I saw some dealers with available stock?

 

[[TW]Fox]

Four years, but yup, it's getting scary. Model 3 was nigh on £14k for 3 years but that was a crazy cheap deal.

If its 4 years then its almost £25,000. I cannot possibly see how this is a good idea? You must be able to buy and run any number of better cars for less than £25,000 over 4 years.

The Tesla deal was good because of the incredibly favourable tax treatment of electric cars through the various salary schemes. The true cost of the Tesla lease was much more than the £14k you paid.

 

[SDK^]

It's probably the worst time to be buying a car right now.

New cars : easily 12+ month lead times
Used : 3 year old cars priced about the same as they were when new.

You need to lower your expectations across all of your criteria !

 

[inflames]

That final point is what is weighing heavily on my mind, and it's a point that people often overlook. Electricity prices may (probably will) increase a lot, but petrol and diesel already is (and, again, probably) may continue to rise. Very unlikely it'll come down to nearer £1 a litre any time soon, but I may be known for my cynicism ha.

I was looking at Skoda Octavia and Fabias last night. The overall PCP deal looked a little less daunting, but then when you add £100pm in fuel alone, it adds up. More to go wrong and maintain with ICE too.

The other thing I need to consider is mileage allowance. Miles to base will drop from 15 per day to 6 ish, but I will likely be driving around sites more, so my current 10k mileage might be very different soon. I also have no idea if there is mileage claim system at the new place either. So much to consider, and I definitely thinking just buying a high mileage, decent condition used car for £2k or so for now is the safest option. In this market, I could probably sell it on at little loss...

Yeah I'm painfully aware of lead times I'm led to believe the Ioniq 5 has a 12 month+ wait?! The only reason I'm (naively) talking about getting MG ZS EV soon as I thought I saw some dealers with available stock?

Think buying a cheaper used car sub 5k will be your best bet. Specially if you can afford to buy it outright, then run it until the prices and supply of new cars improve.

 

[Amraam]

If its 4 years then its almost £25,000. I cannot possibly see how this is a good idea? You must be able to buy and run any number of better cars for less than £25,000 over 4 years.

The Tesla deal was good because of the incredibly favourable tax treatment of electric cars through the various salary schemes. The true cost of the Tesla lease was much more than the £14k you paid.

I understand that, but the only cost I care about is the cost to me. What ever way I look at it, that tesla deal was a steal and I'm very lucky to have been able to get it, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm looking at expensive times ahead whatever I go for.

 

[Amraam]

It's probably the worst time to be buying a car right now.

New cars : easily 12+ month lead times
Used : 3 year old cars priced about the same as they were when new.

You need to lower your expectations across all of your criteria !

Yup, that's what I'm doing. Alas, it's going to suck going from the bells and whistles to a lesser car that costs more ha. Part of adulting I guess

 

[Journey]

That final point is what is weighing heavily on my mind, and it's a point that people often overlook. Electricity prices may (probably will) increase a lot, but petrol and diesel already is (and, again, probably) may continue to rise. Very unlikely it'll come down to nearer £1 a litre any time soon, but I may be known for my cynicism ha.

I was looking at Skoda Octavia and Fabias last night. The overall PCP deal looked a little less daunting, but then when you add £100pm in fuel alone, it adds up. More to go wrong and maintain with ICE too.

The thing is with the way BEV's are going, in 4 years time there is still going to be increasing demand for cars, especially used ones. It is impossible to work out the exact TCO over that time, given you don't know what that value will be at the end, and as mentioned we have to assume price rises for both fuel or electricity. You have to take a bit of a guess really, will a 4 year old MG5 be worth more than the £12.5k GFV + interest payments already made? If it is worth that (~£14,930) then your monthly cost is ~£311, plus the fuel saving cost again any ICE deal you can find. So as you said if saving £100 on fuel per month, what will ~£200-220 per month buy you over 4 years in an ICE car (£9.6 - £10.6k) what would it be worth at the end and how much would you have spent on maintaining it etc. Or a like-for-like what will it get you on PCP?

 

[Amraam]

The thing is with the way BEV's are going, in 4 years time there is still going to be increasing demand for cars, especially used ones. It is impossible to work out the exact TCO over that time, given you don't know what that value will be at the end, and as mentioned we have to assume price rises for both fuel or electricity. You have to take a bit of a guess really, will a 4 year old MG5 be worth more than the £12.5k GFV + interest payments already made? If it is worth that (~£14,930) then your monthly cost is ~£311, plus the fuel saving cost again any ICE deal you can find. So as you said if saving £100 on fuel per month, what will ~£200-220 per month buy you over 4 years in an ICE car (£9.6 - £10.6k) what would it be worth at the end and how much would you have spent on maintaining it etc. Or a like-for-like what will it get you on PCP?

This is where, financially, I struggle. I don't understand money stuff terribly well, and struggle to see the greater picture beyond what a total cost / 48 months is.

 

[[TW]Fox]

This is where, financially, I struggle. I don't understand money stuff terribly well, and struggle to see the greater picture beyond what a total cost / 48 months is.

He is correct though - but there is no certainty or easy way to calculate.

The difference between a lease and a personal contract plan is that the personal contract plan has a fixed value at the end which you can pay to keep the vehicle, whereas a lease is just a long term hire car that goes back.

Generally, this fee (Known as the 'guaranteed future value') will be lower than the actual value of the vehicle, meaning you'll have some equity in the car at the end (ie, you'll owe less to buy it than its value). If you hand the car back to the finance company at the end of the agreement, you lose this.

But if you pay the fee and purchase the car from the finance company you can sell it and keep this equity. Alternatively, which is what most people do, you can use this equity when you trade the car in towards another. For example, if the guaranteed future value is £10k but the car is worth £12k in trade-in, you get that extra £2k towards your next car (The other £10k going towards settling the finance agreement).

To calculate the true total cost of a personal contract plan over the time you intend to have the car you need to be able to subtract the equity value from the total you've paid. But you can't easily do this as you don't know what it is. Historically it was fairly easy, just look at the value of an older version of the same model, adjust the figure for changes in model and a bit of inflation and you could have a reasonably sensible estimate of what that equity might be. But in the current market this is impossible - car values are so different to historical levels that its very hard to predict what anything bought now will be worth in 2026.

I don't like personal contract plans for this reason - the only certainty you have is the monthly payment, the true cost is difficult to calculate and all of the focus is on the monthly amount not the total cost which is the opposite of how any sensible appraisal of a purchase should work. People take them out because the monthly payments are lower as you only pay off the difference between the purchase price and the final value (Though don't forget you pay interest on the full amount borrowed). Typically this means people pay more for a car without realising because they focused only on monthly payments. This is why the motor industry likes them.

 

[dlockers]

Consumers like them because they give you the "absolute worst position" up front. It is a risk management strategy. Also, you get the added advantage of being 50% through and being able to "toss the keys in".

A risk a consumer has to remember though is PCP's are mileage based, and going over can cost a lot.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Also, you get the added advantage of being 50% through and being able to "toss the keys in".

But it's worth noting its 50% of the outstanding amount, not 50% of the time. Typically with a personal contract plan the 50% point isn't until almost at the end of the agreement anyway because of the guaranteed future value at the end.