New car ordered.

[vaheedakhtar]

Well, after the disappointment of finding out that the GTD has a 26 week build slot, I looked at the VAG family and have just completed the order form for the new Seat Leon FR 184.


Spec is: Apollo Blue with the upgraded 18" performance alloys.
Tech pack (touch screen Nav, front and rear parking sensors with screen graphics, LED exterior lights)
Comfort pack (auto lights, wipers, folding and tilting mirrors)
Standard equipment: LSD, bluetooth with audio stream, telephone kit,
MFSW, ipod connection, SD card slot, cup holders, driver profile, front heated screen.

Not bad for £222 all in with 10k a year mileage limit and 6 months down.

Preferably, I would have gone with the red or the grey - but I need a car ASAP and beggars can't be choosers (as they say)

I've read allot of reviews and all the mainstream motor journalists have rated it really highly.
Let's hope it lives up to it's expectations.

[whytie]

Really can't understand lease deals unless it's for a fantastic car, so you've paid 6 months upfront as a deposit? £1340? Then £220 per month for what 2 or 3 years? £5,300 or £7,900, all to drive a seat Leon fr that you are not allowed to modify and will just hand back at the end of the 2 or 3 years and spent over £6,600 or £9,200 (all rough figures)

[DDM]

Really can't understand lease deals unless it's for a fantastic car, so you've paid 6 months upfront as a deposit? £1340? Then £220 per month for what 2 or 3 years? £5,300 or £7,900, all to drive a seat Leon fr that you are not allowed to modify and will just hand back at the end of the 2 or 3 years and spent over £6,600 or £9,200 (all rough figures)

i'm with you if it's a car for personal use, but it could just be for a company car. 

[Liam0205]

Pros and cons I guess

It's fairly stress free motoring, cars covered by warranty, no MOT or tax to pay.

A lot of people pay the same per month for a loan for a used car, which lets say you borrow £10k to by a used car over 5 years, the car probably won't be worth that much after anyway

[dansmith180]

Really can't understand lease deals unless it's for a fantastic car, so you've paid 6 months upfront as a deposit? £1340? Then £220 per month for what 2 or 3 years? £5,300 or £7,900, all to drive a seat Leon fr that you are not allowed to modify and will just hand back at the end of the 2 or 3 years and spent over £6,600 or £9,200 (all rough figures)

For me personally I agree, for that money if rather but a used MK5 GTI. However if you want to drive a new car it's a good way of doing it because if you only plan on having cars for a few years at a time you would probably lose more or the same money than what you end up paying for rental in depreciation and you don't have to pay out £££££ for a new car which a lot of people can't afford.

[paulw123]

you'll probably loose £5000 when you drive it away new, around the roundabout and back to the dealer again to trade it in 

[Liam0205]

Which company is this through, may look into it for my work car

[vaheedakhtar]

Hi all,

If I'm honest, until now, i've never been in the leasing camp (so to speak) myself. I always thought it was allot of money to drive a rented car!

There's a number of reasons as to why i went for the leasing option this time around, as appose to my usual method of purchasing cars - a mixture of trade in - cash - low interest borrowing for 2-3 years. (normally with cars over the £10-12k mark)

* For very reasonable monthly money, I'm getting a brand new car with nothing to worry about. No repair bills, no tax and no MOT.
* My GTi has really put me off from owning a used car. I know it's not always the case, but I've spent about 50% of the initial purchase price on repairs alone, in the 2.5 years I've had it.
* I'm self employed, so I can claim the things back.
* Generally, I don't keep a car for more than 2.5 years. In the past 17 years, I've owned over 10 cars. The amount of money I've lost in depreciation alone is harrowing. OK so I'm paying for someone else's initial hit - but I'd much rather pay the initial 2 year hit - than commit to buying a 2 year old car and be left with an asset that has a massive negative equity. I don't know about any of you, but I don't have a spare £27,000 lying around to buy a car outright; and even if I did, I would never pay 100% cash for a car.
* I won't have any worries about trying to sell the car in 2 years. I hand it back and start again. No long term ties or uncertainties when it comes to changing. 

[vaheedakhtar]

Which company is this through, may look into it for my work car

A company called 'leasing options' If you're prepared to wait 3+ months, they're doing the Leon FR with the Tech pack for £169.99 a month. with 6 months deposit and 10k a year mileage allowance.

[Liam0205]

Which company is this through, may look into it for my work car

A company called 'leasing options' If you're prepared to wait 3+ months, they're doing the Leon FR with the Tech pack for £169.99 a month. with 6 months deposit and 10k a year mileage allowance.

 The only this I don't understand is the deposit.

Do you get it back or is it a down payment and you don't have to start paying for 6 months ?

[Dosh]

No you don't get the deposit back

[slider955i]

sounds like a cracking deal to me , car would have lost more than that over 3 years on finance or bought outrigh
enjoy mate

[rosco07]

Really can't understand lease deals unless it's for a fantastic car, so you've paid 6 months upfront as a deposit? £1340? Then £220 per month for what 2 or 3 years? £5,300 or £7,900, all to drive a seat Leon fr that you are not allowed to modify and will just hand back at the end of the 2 or 3 years and spent over £6,600 or £9,200 (all rough figures)

i'm with you if it's a car for personal use, but it could just be for a company car. 

Having never had a leased car I used to think like this however, of late I have been considering it.  The above specced car is £25k+.  Ok I'm sure you could get it cheaper, say 10% discount so £22.5k.  After 2 years do you think you'd get £15.9k (£22.5-£6.6k) or £13.3k after 3 years (£22.5k - £9.2K) when it comes to trade if you bought it outright?

What I wonder is what you get stung for when it comes to handing back - scratches, car park dings etc etc.  I believe you can trade the car in (when you take out a new lease) to another brand in this case not SEAT so that this can be avoided.  Does anyone have such experiences, good or bad?

Under some circumstances leasing may be the cheapest way of driving new cars so long as you can generate the new deposit for the next lease.

[Frenzy]

i don't know much about leasing cars, so what happens at the end of the contract if you don't have a deposit for a new car - can you extend the lease on the existing car?

[vaheedakhtar]

Really can't understand lease deals unless it's for a fantastic car, so you've paid 6 months upfront as a deposit? £1340? Then £220 per month for what 2 or 3 years? £5,300 or £7,900, all to drive a seat Leon fr that you are not allowed to modify and will just hand back at the end of the 2 or 3 years and spent over £6,600 or £9,200 (all rough figures)

i'm with you if it's a car for personal use, but it could just be for a company car. 

Having never had a leased car I used to think like this however, of late I have been considering it.  The above specced car is £25k+.  Ok I'm sure you could get it cheaper, say 10% discount so £22.5k.  After 2 years do you think you'd get £15.9k (£22.5-£6.6k) or £13.3k after 3 years (£22.5k - £9.2K) when it comes to trade if you bought it outright?

What I wonder is what you get stung for when it comes to handing back - scratches, car park dings etc etc.  I believe you can trade the car in (when you take out a new lease) to another brand in this case not SEAT so that this can be avoided.  Does anyone have such experiences, good or bad?

Under some circumstances leasing may be the cheapest way of driving new cars so long as you can generate the new deposit for the next lease.

The leasing company expect the car to be handed back within 70% of the cars original condition. Curbed wheels and light scratches are acceptable. My family and many others I know have been leasing cars for the past 3-4 years. They swear by it now and would never go back to other finance avenues/cash purchases.

If you go through a broker, in my case, my brother, then there's no option of trade-in at the end. You can either a) hand it back, b) re-finance and keep it or c) pay off the balloon.

If you want that option, you would have to go through an official dealer - but you're not going tiger them to match broker prices for personal lease prices and the deposits are allot higher. They will match business's prices though.

Your best bet would be to find stock cars, which have no build time and then negotiate on the price.

My brothers just got his August prices from BMW and some of the prices are insane. A 320/520d for less than £300 a month.