Almost said goodbye to VW yesterday.....almost

[Hertsman]

The BMW pricing is always a mystery as you seem to always get good deals through brokers, and seen many say they got some great discount at dealers, but on my company lease system they are very pricey with only the car within reach and without many of the desired packs also. In contrast the VW seemingly fly under the radar as 'Golfs' and my TCR was well within my band with no stretch whatsoever.

Company car prices are entirely to do with how the company concerned has its own discounts, preferences and relationships in place.

When I was a company car driver, our lease provider used to have some crazy cheap prices on some marques, but not others.

Equally, same lease provider but for a friend who worked for a different company had a different pattern entirely with other marques being the value point in the range.

There is no obvious reason for it, but it has to be tied to someone setting a preference and predicting volumes or something.

Yep, its likely procurement getting really good deals with some, and not much out of others,

Was chatting to a colleague who had just got himself a Vauxhall Astra GTC and was very pleased with himself at doing so, until explained that he had paid a reasonable amount more than the Golf R I was driving that also had a few options also like the Prets.

The Fords and Vauxhalls even with pretty standard units were a lot more than the Golf R, but most do not know their cars and it passes them by. I actually got money back on my Golf R and now TCR out of my allowance.

[fredgroves]

Our prices were available as a spreadsheet and I did a massive calculation to create a "value index" figure for each car then sorted them to find the biggest bang for buck

And then removed anything made by the French 

[Mag_Pie]

This echoes quite a few things I've been thinking about lately on and off, and for some reason I have previously found myself looking through the BMW website at the 1 series, then I found this thread!!!

I can't think of what I would want to replace my current car with in the future, I feel like I'm waiting to see what happens with the MK8, Seat, and A3 offerings.  For me it was usually a case of seeing the newer model of a car and instantly liking it and wanting to upgrade, or just getting plain bored after 2 years and having my head turned buy something else, but lately I still feel happy with what I have and don't feel the need to spend my money.  Maybe that will all change when I start seeing things in the metal.

One thing that my Wife keeps saying is that if I am wanting to keep changing cars then I should go on PCP like her friends, they're driving the likes of Clio's and nothing as exotic as my tastes.  I'm not so sure myself as I feel the monthly payment would be higher and at the end of the term I'd not want to fork out the balloon payment for something I've owned for years and be forced to change, but my point is that I'd feel stuck on that route and couldn't simply keep it when it's paid off at the end of a normal loan if my circumstances or mind change.  Food for thought for me.

[fredgroves]

PCP or leasing is for if you want to keep getting a new car.... ok so you could buy the vehicle from either, but thats not really how either is designed or technically what its for.

Both are about financing the first 1/2/3/4 years of a new car and not caring about the balance of the value.

You can achieve the same as HP though by simply financing the final buy with a bank loan at the end of the PCP/lease period. A bank loan is always more competitive than whatever HP the dealer is offering anyway.

PCP and leasing are easy ways of having a new car and the OEM's want to shift more new cars so make it easy for you to do so, not that you couldn't do the same thing on your own if you have the cash/credit available.

In case you haven't realised it by reading on here, the ultimate cheapo way of doing it -

1) have your own cash for an outright buy
2) get max discounts through DTD/CarWow/Broker
3) Take PCP, get manufacturer "deposit contribution" (a PCP sweetener)
4) After taking delivery, withdraw from the finance agreement, paying off the car in full, keep the "deposit contribution" as you are entitled to under FCA rules.

Obviously all of those things you can tweak to your circumstances but this is the ultimate cheapest way of buying a new car.

[Mag_Pie]

PCP or leasing is for if you want to keep getting a new car.... ok so you could buy the vehicle from either, but thats not really how either is designed or technically what its for.

Both are about financing the first 1/2/3/4 years of a new car and not caring about the balance of the value.

You can achieve the same as HP though by simply financing the final buy with a bank loan at the end of the PCP/lease period. A bank loan is always more competitive than whatever HP the dealer is offering anyway.

PCP and leasing are easy ways of having a new car and the OEM's want to shift more new cars so make it easy for you to do so, not that you couldn't do the same thing on your own if you have the cash/credit available.

In case you haven't realised it by reading on here, the ultimate cheapo way of doing it -

1) have your own cash for an outright buy
2) get max discounts through DTD/CarWow/Broker
3) Take PCP, get manufacturer "deposit contribution" (a PCP sweetener)
4) After taking delivery, withdraw from the finance agreement, paying off the car in full, keep the "deposit contribution" as you are entitled to under FCA rules.

Obviously all of those things you can tweak to your circumstances but this is the ultimate cheapest way of buying a new car.

Shifting a car on every 2 years or so sounds great, I guess I'm just old fashioned and used to owning them and weighing up options.  I don't think my Wife can understand how 3 years feels like an eternity when cars are your only vice haha.

Interesting points though, like you say you could take the PCP and then settle it yourself but keep the sweetener.

[fredgroves]

If you really don't hang onto them, personal leasing is the cheapest way.... but getting the exact spec you want is hard with leasing, often lucky if you can even choose the colour.

Does let you keep swapping.

[dubber36]

If you really don't hang onto them, personal leasing is the cheapest way.... but getting the exact spec you want is hard with leasing, often lucky if you can even choose the colour.

Does let you keep swapping.

Perhaps if it's fairly short term, ultimate spec doesn't really matter. If the car is going to be a keeper, then have exactly what you want, but I would personally 'make do' if it was only for a year or 18 months. We all know you'll never see the money spent on options ever again.

[fredgroves]

Perhaps if it's fairly short term, ultimate spec doesn't really matter. If the car is going to be a keeper, then have exactly what you want, but I would personally 'make do' if it was only for a year or 18 months. We all know you'll never see the money spent on options ever again.

This is true!

TBH if you are buying BMW/Audi/VW/Merc performance models none of them are exactly poverty spec.

That thing you can't live without.... you probably can.

And the colour? IMHO none are exciting, they are all a bit meh.

[Snoopy]

I hope recent times make people reevaluate how they live month to month and are so ingrained in consumerism....

[Mag_Pie]

I think I'll have to get used to keeping cars longer, things change in life with families etc. it just makes the decision of what to get and when that little bit harder, now if I could have a double garage with a daily commuter and something fun.