Thinking of getting an EV

Haggisman said:
Have you checked if the quote on the SS scheme is accurate including insurance? On our scheme, the initial quote they give is for the "average" insurance cost. When I did a proper quote with them, they asked for more insurance details and it added about £50/month!
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No I haven't done that as I haven't proceeded to application stage. Ive been going off the prices they quote on the website which is tailored to my company, but I'll keep this in mind, thanks.

Haggisman said:
Assuming you do your own servicing on the current car? £156/year (-~£35 for MOT) = £120/year left for everything else. Filters/oil/etc. = £60 or so? That only leaves £60/year for consumables such as brakes, tyres, wipers, screenwash, etc. which seems very low!
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A standard service around £100-£120, MOT £40. I don't include brakes or tyres or anything else in that as they are not annual service items. Ive listed tyres separately and brakes would be included in the £100 a month average repair buffer.

lordrobs said:
Did no one also tell you that an old BMW 325 wasn't going to be the epitome of fuel economy and cheap maintenance? :p
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You mean the conversations where every time someone asks about getting a diesel they are told to get a petrol because of the big repair bills?

I had little choice to pick up this car. My old car's engine failed (smashed valves) and everything used was crazy money (still is). A friend was selling this and it had full service history.

I also needed something a reasonable size. Didn't want to go smaller than a mid sized estate, and this remains a problem now looking at these EVs. I saw an Ionic 5 on the road today, its nice, but no bigger than an older Ford focus hatchback.
 
lordrobs said:
It has a much bigger boot than a Focus hatch. In volume terms it is closer to a Focus estate and bigger than your 3 series. It is a touch shallow, a gripe I have with many modern estate cars as well.

I think when it comes to load space you just need to dig into the dimensions to see if it suits your needs or not.
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I dont know how they measure it but there is no way its bigger. The Ionic 5 is a hatchback of similar style boot to a Focus or Astra. Perhaps it is a very deep boot (vertically) but with no front to back distance.
 
jpaul said:
Is ID3 on the menu - with the back seat down I think you can get bikes in, and, it is saloon size with some of dynamics of 325 (or my 3 estate).

You won't change your driving habits with the reduced electricity costs - so is 12K a year lease sufficient ?
I can do 12K on a commute but the prospect of more weekend day trips because it is cheaper would be an attraction, but might need a recharge..
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I dont think the bike is the big problem any more. I do less biking now than I used to. I can take the wheels off and put the seats flat for that.

Its more about taking camping gear and suitcases (the dog goes in the back seats not in the boot). And picking up 3m 2x4's and bags of cement, sand, etc from the DIY store.
 
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I asked chatGPT to put a list of together of the specs for the cars im interested in. Here's what I got to after a few iterations.

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There aren't as many rear wheel drive ones as I'd hoped. Id prefer that but I guess its not essential.

I initially really liked the Peugeot e-308 SW, but its a bit slow compared to the others. ChatGPT has it at 8.5 seconds to 60 but online it says 9.6s.
 
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Haggisman said:
Might also be worth adding some figures for a loan/finance for a couple of year old EV (including the RV at the end of the term), to see how that matches up.
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So taking one example (because its a lot of work to work this out for every model).

I would need a £20k loan to get an Ioniq 5 that is 3 ish years old. That is £387 per month for 5 years.

I would save c. £200 monthly in fuel costs.

But I would still incur the insurance, servicing/MOT, breakdown cover, tyres. A quick insurance quote is coming in at £80 a month (nearly double my current car).

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So yeah, if I take account of the c.£100 repair budget for the current car, it would cost me £100 a month more than current to buy the car direct. Which is about the same as it is going to cost to get the new car on lease.

I am then left with an 8 year old EV at the end of the five years, maybe worth around £10k? So yeah if you take that into account its probably the cheaper option.


I don't know, this is tough choices and a lot of money either way.

If I take the lease I have completely hassle free motoring.

If I buy the car direct I have to get a £20k loan, which is a lot (I might not get approved) and I would have liability for the car in terms of repairs (if not covered by warranty) and insurance etc.
 
Here's some used prices on the MG5:

MG5 Trophy 61 kWh, 2023, 1k miles - £22k
MG5 Trophy 61 kWh, 2023, 9k miles - £19k
MG5 Trophy 61 kWh, 2022, 17k miles - £18k


IF I could get £3k for my current car that would mean I could get a 2022 model for £15k (£290 a month over 5 years).

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That is about the break even point in terms of affordability now.


Would you have any concerns owning an EV that is already 3 years old, over another 5 years timeframe?

I think, the MG has a 7 year warranty, battery 10?


Do you think this is a better option than leasing the same car? Its about the same net cost to me, but I'd get a brand new car instead of a 2/3 year old one, but I'd not own it after 4 year lease is up.
 
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Haggisman said:
b) If you want to keep it after the lease is up, then that's an option, and you get very low cost motoring after 4 years
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This is true, unless it ends up needing costly repairs. Then Im in the same situation as with my current car. The continual lease removes that risk completely, of course Im paying for that continuously too.

The residual value after 5 more years would also be unknown. Doesn't matter if Im keeping the car, but does if I sell it on.


I think the key here though, which is amazing with the EV, is that whichever option I choose, Im not paying any more than I am with holding on to my current 19 year old BMW. So I can't really lose? I may not win, but I can't lose, can I?
 
Haggisman said:
Lease cost is £377 for the MG5?

Take off £105 for insurance, maintenance, tyres & breakdown (65 + 13 + 17 + 10)

Ignoring repairs, your ongoing lease cost would be £272/month more than running the car after the loan is paid off. That's a lot of repairs! (Or a decent deposit towards the next car if you don't dip into it)
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Here's all my options on the MG5.

Its a bit messy working out the lease cost, because I also salary sacrifice my pension. If I say that the car gets the 40% tax break rather than the pension, that obviously makes the lease look cheaper. So the cost shown here is for 3 different pension options, 15% (current), 13% and 12% and is the net cost to me (change in salary) after all those deductions.

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So the current car costs me £19k over 4 years (assuming £100 per month allowance for repairs, could be more, could be less in reality).

Depending on my choice of pension contribution, the lease will then cost me anywhere from £345 to £451 per month and includes all the fixed running costs, this would be over 4 years.

If i buy the car I can get pre-approved for a £15k loan over 5 years at 6.2% APR. I then have to meet all the fixed costs myself but I own the car and after 5 years it might still be worth £8-10k. If I was to sell the car at that point, obviously that option becomes way cheaper but in reality I cant do that as I will still need a car and again own one that's getting older.
 
Haggisman said:
You might not be able to get rid of the car completely after the 4 years, but you could trade it in, and next time only need a £5-7k loan to cover the £15k replacement
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Does this work? In 5 years time cars will be even more expensive so the fact I have a car worth £8k, likely still means I need another fresh £15k loan to then get an equivalent 3 year old car at that point.

Your analysis implies I could continually get a £7k loan every five years and continually buy a 3 year old car, trading in my 8 year old car. Does this work?
 
Yeah I see that for sure. I know paying a lease is more expensive, and locks me in continually to that cost as well.

But its hard to get the up front cash to spend £15-20k (or more) on a car as well. That's why Im currently driving a 19 year old car.

If the bottom end of the market wasn't so bad I'd probably have a 6-9 year old car right now.

This new venture is only viable because of the fuel saving is offsetting a good chunk of the lease/loan cost.
 
Haggisman said:
Yeah, absolutely - I was in exactly the same position a few years ago, there are benefits to both options - the lease is almost certainly going to be more expensive, and you'll be "trapped" in the same position in 4/5 years when it runs out, but obviously it does come with the benefit of a single fixed cost with nothing (barring the unlikely event of an expensive out of warranty repair) to worry about.
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I realised I had missed something - the £3k (slightly optimistic) value of my current car. I need to deduct that from the leasing option as I would be selling it when I take the lease. Its already included as a trade in value in the £15k loan option as the used car is £18k.

If I also add in the road tax from next year and a £50 repair buffer on the purchase option (last column) Im actually now more expensive than the lease.

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Haggisman said:
Have you looked at the figures over a longer period?

At the end of the 4 years, lease vs buy isn't going to put you in the same position - to be a fair comparison, the "sell current car" cell in the last column should be -£166.67 (£8k/4 years)

Your current risky car is almost 20 years old, the car you'll have after 4 years will be 6-7 years old, so it's not like you'll need to replace it straight away - it's still going to be perfectly useable, and massively more reliable than the current one :)

I realise it sounds like I'm really trying to push the "buy a used one" option, it just seems you're looking at the total cost over the 4 years without taking into account what comes after, apologies if that's not the case. :)
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I edited my post to show the residual £8k impact averaged over 4 years, and the impact of adding in a £50 per month repair buffer.

The ownership option is still cheaper but not massively so.


After 4 years (well technically after 5, as the loan is for 5), the loan repayments would go to zero so there would be a big saving there if I didn't replace the car and just kept it. Compared to the lease which I'd have to renew (but would get a brand new car again at that point if I did another lease).

Im not sure what the right answer is at this point.
 
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@Haggisman i notice you're in Birmingham, who did you use to fit your ev charger?

I notice via Octopus its between £900 and £1050. Im not sure how much I can knock off that cost by using a local installer, if its only a hundred quid I won't bother, but if I can get it down by a few hundred its worth it.
 
Journey said:
EDIT: Also go and test drive a random on of the cars on your list at the weekend, since it sounds like you've never driven one/been in one, you'll realise RWD isn't a big deal.
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I plan to go round a few dealers. The local MG dealer doesn't have an mg5 but there are some used ones locally I can look at.

I saw a 3008 today. Different style of car of course but the boot wasn't too bad a size.

I also saw a Hyundai Kona, I think that is going to be too small.
 
I agree, and I'd still need to pay for a charger installation.

There is a Hyundai dealer not far from me so I will go see the Ioniq 5. And I want to see the Renault scenic and the MG5 as well.

My BMW is supposed to be 7 seconds to 60, but it ain't fast. These EVs are equally as fast so I don't think I'm going to feel like it's too slow?
 
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pc-guy said:
Can you explain to me why a salary sacrifice EV lease would increase in monthly cost?

Was the scheme a purchase and repayment? As BIK system?
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The gross cost would be agreed up front and is fixed, but if the government changed the salary sacrifice rules or the BIK rates, that could massively change the net cost to me mid term.
 
pc-guy said:
BIK applies to a benefit - not a lease;

If the car was purchased and used for the employee’s sole purpose - the BIK applies which is the case for most of the “company car” purchase craze.

Salary sacrifice lease deal is a 4yr lease deal with pre-agreed monthly payments. I don’t see how that can be affected by BIK tariffs. It’s not a benefit, it’s a pretax arrangement.

The only thing that will change the interim payment is if the car was purchased through company umbrella and then used for personal use thus BIK band kicks in.

I stand corrected if someone can give me deals of their EV lease agreement.
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It counts as a company car even though I pay for it myself through salary sacrifice, so yeah it does attract BIK.

Do you know of another method which lets me get tax savings but without the BIK?
 
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