New commute to work - advice required

Schnippzle · 26 Oct 2015 at 11:24

So, in a nutshell I'll be starting a new contract soon which will mean about thousand miles per week round trip up and down the M6. As a result I don't really want to be putting the e65 through that amount of miles, especially as it's petrol.

Having never leased a car before, I'm a little unsure of what the best option is to go for. Do I either take out a 2 year lease deal (assuming the contract ends after 9 or so months and keep it) or are there other alternatives?

My requirements are pretty basic: good mpg, preferably a quiet ride, comfortable seats (back issues), cup holders, auto box. I'm 186cm tall with size 14 feet (have run into pedal problems in the past) so small cars aren't really an option.

Like I said, I'm quite new to this way of motoring so open to suggestions & advice. Thanks in advance.

I should add: I'll be putting any lease deals though a limited company. Not sure if this makes a massive difference other than VAT.

iaind · 26 Oct 2015 at 11:56

What do you mean when you say the contract ends after 9 or so months? On a 2 year lease, the contract ends after 2 years and you hand the car back

At 50k a year, leasing is going to be very expensive and you'll need to consider how long manufacturers warranties last - you can get something like a BMW 520d for about £530 a month ex VAT on a 3+24, 50k per year

Haggisman · 26 Oct 2015 at 12:09

I'm assuming he means his employment contract.

In which case I can't see how it would be a good idea to commit to a 2 year (potentially very expensive at that mileage) lease when you may only need it for less than half of that!

Schnippzle · 26 Oct 2015 at 12:12

iaind said:
What do you mean when you say the contract ends after 9 or so months? On a 2 year lease, the contract ends after 2 years and you hand the car back

At 50k a year, leasing is going to be very expensive and you'll need to consider how long manufacturers warranties last - you can get something like a BMW 520d for about £530 a month ex VAT on a 3+24, 50k per year

Sorry, should have clarified. The employment contract will last about 9 months. Thing is, there is a good chance I'll be contracted for another long-distance job afterwards.

An option I guess is just to get an older diesel and get rid if my next contract doesn't require the same amount of driving.

iaind · 26 Oct 2015 at 12:19

Ah sorry I misunderstood. For 9 months I'd be inclined to purchase something, put the 36k miles on it and sell it on. Although a lot of guys I know who do contracting work end up hiring a car as it can be written off as a business expense that way. I'm guessing the contract must be fairly lucrative to be worth that sort of journey anyway!

The other way to do it would be to do a lease on a more reasonable value - say 25k per annum. That gives you a total contract mileage of 50k, you'll do 36k for the duration of that contract meaning you've got 14k more to "spend" before you get charged excess mileage rates (which is often the cheaper way to pay for a lease, downside is you get charged in one lump at the end)

Schnippzle · 26 Oct 2015 at 12:32

iaind said:
Ah sorry I misunderstood. For 9 months I'd be inclined to purchase something, put the 36k miles on it and sell it on. Although a lot of guys I know who do contracting work end up hiring a car as it can be written off as a business expense that way. I'm guessing the contract must be fairly lucrative to be worth that sort of journey anyway!

The other way to do it would be to do a lease on a more reasonable value - say 25k per annum. That gives you a total contract mileage of 50k, you'll do 36k for the duration of that contract meaning you've got 14k more to "spend" before you get charged excess mileage rates (which is often the cheaper way to pay for a lease, downside is you get charged in one lump at the end)

Hmmm, see what you mean about the rental. Definitely something worth considering although I wouldn't be able to pick up the car early enough on the day and drop it off late enough. So would have to rent Saturday to Friday instead of Monday to Thursday which is when I'd actually be using it. I'm guessing there are companies out there that specialise in longer term rentals without venturing into leasing territory.

Orangest · 26 Oct 2015 at 13:34

Schnippzle said:
Hmmm, see what you mean about the rental. Definitely something worth considering although I wouldn't be able to pick up the car early enough on the day and drop it off late enough. So would have to rent Saturday to Friday instead of Monday to Thursday which is when I'd actually be using it. I'm guessing there are companies out there that specialise in longer term rentals without venturing into leasing territory.

Do you live near an airport?

When I've needed to hire a car in the past, I've picked them up from Manc airport rather than the city based ones, it meant I could utilise the 24 hour opening times of the Airport ones to get away with a 1 day rental, rather than a potential 2/3 day one through the restrictive opening hours of the others.

E.g.

Pick up at 10pm on a Sunday and drop back by 10pm on the Thursday.

Schnippzle · 26 Oct 2015 at 15:13

Unfortunately not close enough to make that viable.