Buying A Car After A Lease Period ?

[Aletank]

If you get a car on lease for 2/3 years etc , Do you have the option to buy the car at the end of the lease period ? If so what price is this normally at ? eg Trade etc

 

[Dieselman]

Most companies will allow the driver to buy the car, but the rate isn't often very good, though occasionally is.

 

[RichardM]

I asked to buy my E270 at the end of the 3 year leased and I was shocked at how much they wanted for it. It seemed to be about £4K over trade. I could have bought a car with higher spec from a dealer for the price they wanted.

I've heard of people tracing their car to auction and buying it that way as it can be much cheaper.

 

[Mr E]

I asked to buy my E270 at the end of the 3 year leased and I was shocked at how much they wanted for it. It seemed to be about £4K over trade. I could have bought a car with higher spec from a dealer for the price they wanted.

I've heard of people tracing their car to auction and buying it that way as it can be much cheaper.

Exactly the experience I've always had - if the lease company had been realistic with it's value then I would have bought both the Omega estate and W211 saloon for Mrs E to use. Ridiculous prices and a complete lack of willingness to negotiate meant I went elsewhere.

 

[saorbust]

To be fair to the lease companies - they take a risk on the value of the car in x years time, so that's why at the end of the lease the price to clear is higher than you might think.

 

[st4]

If buying after the lease is important a PCP agreement has this built in. its as clear as night and day before you sign what this is...

 

[Dryce]

To be fair to the lease companies - they take a risk on the value of the car in x years time, so that's why at the end of the lease the price to clear is higher than you might think.

That doesn't make any sense.

The risk they take is that the value will be lower than expected.

They offset that risk by configuring the monthly payments and final value accordingly - which means they really should discount the final value to build in some contingency.

However I would guess there is some blurring of this logic to make things less transparent. The manufacturers give the lease co a deal that means they take the discount off the top and add it to the bottom. The lease co and manufacturer don't want to undermine the final value / market confidence in the residuals. And finally the lease co might just get away with the higher price with some of their customers - so it's worth a punt.

 

[Mr E]

To be fair to the lease companies - they take a risk on the value of the car in x years time, so that's why at the end of the lease the price to clear is higher than you might think.

They will bang it through the auction house which will undoubtedly give far less then the money they were looking for.

My example - 2004 W211, 220CDi, 165k miles. They wanted 14k for it 11 months ago.

Or my Omega in 2004 - 2000 2.5 V6 Elite estate, 160k miles. Wanted 12k, my local dealer had the same car with half the mileage for 8k.

i would have bought the Omega at 8k, even with the mileage, as it had been rock solid and had everything we wanted for Mrs E. When I offered 8k and backed that up with an ad from the dealer, I was told that 12k was what they wanted and if I didn't want to pay that then they would auction it (but not tell me when or where).

 

[Dieselman]

However I would guess there is some blurring of this logic to make things less transparent.

They don't want you to buy the car at all, they want you to lease another one.
They manipulate the price to make purchase unattractive.

 

[saorbust]

Bingo.

I don't know about the others - but LeasePlan, Network Vehicles and Lloyds all use British Car Auctions.