Thinking of getting an EV

[danlightbulb]

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.

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.

 

[Haggisman]

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.

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.

 

[danlightbulb]

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.

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.

 

[danlightbulb]

@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.

 

[Tinders]

1k is a good price. At the height of Covid and EV adoption, I was getting quoted £1500 from all the ‘specialists’. And that was for a fairly basic PP solo. It’s a good gig for specialist installers

 

[Haggisman]

@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.

Mine was installed for free by Renault when I got my Zoe back in 2018, so it would have been one of their installers, or whichever company they appointed, not much use I'm afraid

 

[bigmike20vt]

mine cost £1300. on one hand part of me wishes i had got my car from jaguar used approved and they would have installed a free chargepoint........... on the other hand the car would have cost more and the charge point was not octopus compliant....... and my car has now been blocked from using Intelligent directly so i guess getting the zappi myself was not so bad.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

The only thing I haven’t seen discussed is the inevitable replacement for fuel duty which must be on the cards at some point in the next 5 years.

It’s safe to say, the future will be to get back to ICE levels of taxation on BEVs over the long term. VED has already been equalised so the next 2 targets will be BIK followed by fuel.

However, I think it will all be relative as they’ll have to maintain some of the differential otherwise they’ll never get the millions of ICE used cars off the roads.

 

[Journey]

@Haggisman i notice you're in Birmingham, who did you use to fit your ev charger?

Get a quote from Smart Home Charge, you can find a discount on EVM's YouTube channel as well.

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.

 

[bigmike20vt]

indeed RWD cars have come a long way. I went 25 years between rwd cars. unlike my folks sierra I have not had to put bags of sand in the boot to keep it on the road yet

 

[danlightbulb]

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.

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.

 

[Nasher]

indeed RWD cars have come a long way. I went 25 years between rwd cars. unlike my folks sierra I have not had to put bags of sand in the boot to keep it on the road yet

It will be nannied to death so you won't have to worry about that. If you get to the point where it's spinning the wheels, you just won't go anywhere

 

[jpaul]

Doubt he will match the fun factor versus a rwd bmw-6 (when the fun stops ...) , have only ever used chains, no sand, did sierra have a torsion bar.
hasn't that negative been replaced, by fwd ev torque steer Mr Kona , no signs of any mechanical lsd diff on ev's yet. (e: abarth 600e excepted )

Since you are considering private 2nd hand option, so bik irrelevant, would range on a phev make a good dent in daily commute
and preserve fun with something like Malt-vinegars 330e - recharging at work.
I guess lease on new phevs with 60mile range would be expensive versus listed bevs

 

[Haggisman]

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.

Yeah, the Kona is smaller than the Niro, and the Niro is just big enough if you need space for anything more than daily shopping etc.

Doubt he will match the fun factor versus a rwd bmw-6 (when the fun stops ...) , have only ever used chains, no sand, did sierra have a torsion bar.
hasn't that negative been replaced, by fwd ev torque steer Mr Kona , no signs of any mechanical lsd diff on ev's yet. (e: abarth 600e excepted )

Since you are considering private 2nd hand option, so bik irrelevant, would range on a phev make a good dent in daily commute
and preserve fun with something like Malt-vinegars 330e - recharging at work.
I guess lease on new phevs with 60mile range would be expensive versus listed bevs

Problem with that is, once you've used up the battery, your stuck with a heavy inefficient ICE with compromised capacity to make space for the battery. Plus you have all the maintenance costs of an ICE, and the risk of expensive electrical drive train repairs

 

[danlightbulb]

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?

 

[Tinders]

I disagree that the 330e is fun, the weight is a factor, you really feel it in the twisties, and the steering feel is as 'bad' as a EV. But id happily have another, the drive train is tried and tested, and the EV bit of it works well in summer. 90k miles in mine with no issues.

 

[pc-guy]

One thing to be careful of with salary sacrifice - we've just had a new government elected, and there's no guarantee of what they'll do with BIK rates over the next couple of years.

One of my work colleagues got burned when he got a MK1 Leaf through our Salary Sacrifice scheme a few years ago, when the rate was a really low %, and then they announced it was going up loads and ended up costing him an extra ~£100/month for the last couple of years he had it!

Have you considered a personal lease on a used EV? While the savings on the "fixed" costs won't be there (e.g. you'll need to sort the maintenance and insurance yourself) the cost of the actual car will be lower

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?

 

[Journey]

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?

Pretty much any EV will feel fast coming from a nigh on 20 year old BMW, as the 0-30 acceleration is way better, so if anything you'll feel like the BMW was slower that it actually was.

 

[danlightbulb]

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?

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]

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.

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.