At first glance a lease deal does seem mad, you pay a set sum each month for say 2 years and you (in theory) walk away.
I previously in a moment of maddness made the huge mistake of getting an Audi a6 on lease for £299 in vat per month. I had paid out £7176 in payments plus £1200 up front. A total of £8376.
Were I have to have purhased a new a6 cash the car would have lost that in depreciation anyway and then would have had the hassle of selling it etc. So that is on the plus side of the argument I think.....
However Audi finance were complete and utter bar stewards at the end of the lease, I had a light scuff on one alloy and underneath the spoiler (and I do mean underneath, parallel to the road) there was a speed bump scrape. Audi tried to charge me £2100 for repairs.....I asked the collection team where the car was going....they said straight to auction at BCS Glasgow. Therefore no repairs had been affected, for which they also tried to charge me vat.....
After months of wrangling I offered them a token £150, which they eventually accepted. I had looked after that car like my own (even though I loathed it's very sight) and the issues they picked up on were definitely fair wear and tear.
I think my point here is take ALL costs into the buying equation including depreciation and maintenance and the lease buy decision is not as clear cut as you would first believe. Also make sure you fully understand what happens at the end of the lease, lease companies look upon this as another income stream.
P.S. I previously paid cash for a mini cooper s - £15k, and watched that £15k in 3 years disappear in £200 per month chunks, so whilst I wasn't physically putting that money out each month the net effect was the same, also if I had kept my £15k invested it would have earned interest and also been available for other things in life....
Would I lease again? Maybe but not from Audi finance.
Cars ...can't live with em, wouldn't want to live without them...
