I used these as a starting point - http://www.freedomcontracts.com/

then take the deal to your local dealer who will invariably match it without the admin fee. That is what Honda and VW did for my last 2.

When you say 'cooking'...

The Leon Cupra 290 is the 'Golf R' of the moment in terms of lease. Mate is lining one up.

As gad said, most are 'base' spec, so if you want to get into the options list your cost will go up significantly... on the Golf, the leather was about a £1500 option from memory and you effectively split that over the term, so you pay for it full... if you buy the car, you sell it with the options so they have a residual value of sorts, not so with lease, you just give it back.

I've done both, the CRV was poverty spec and it was ok, they wanted an extra £10 a month for a leather gear knob. erm. no thanks.

The Golf is very well specc'd as standard so wasn't an issue for me, other DSG, leather and gangsta rims, none of which interested me.

 

He can have my 1.2 Punto facelift 8v (see Lotus Evora 410 thread) for 1.5k in June. Colour might not appeal

 

Yeah - the trick is to pick whatever unsaleable junk the Germans are discounting (don't say discounting...) this week and stick with that as is. Build as Kustom Kar and it will cost you big.

 

[/quote]
Yeah - the trick is to pick whatever unsaleable junk the Germans are discounting (don't say discounting...) this week and stick with that as is. Build as Kustom Kar and it will cost you big.
[/quote]

unsaleable junk? steady on mine was on a 6 month build...

 

Yup - there's rarely anything for 'immediate delivery', yet a lot of the 'top offers' barely cover the depreciation on the 'list price'.

It's a bizarre game they play.

 

That's exactly what I did with my Peugeot. It's a top spec car so there weren't really any options available or needed. I did have to wait a long time (not that it was a problem) but got a pretty good deal in the end.

 

I used these for my last lease, prices always seemed competitive.

http://www.contracthireandleasing.com/

 

As Nick says, look for a deal on a model and trim where the base specification has all that is required; adding options is very costly over the agreement period. The old payment profiles of 3 + 23, 3 + 35 are rarely quoted now so that low headline monthly payments hook-in punters, but with massive down payments.

And the golden rules are never, ever go for a deal with maintenance, unless it's part of a very attractive package like Mini TLC, and never have a rental term longer than the factory warranty.

My best ever deal was on an X3; there was a 3 series model change at the time and there were no cars for dealers to sell. BMW were pushing out X3s simply to give dealers something to sell.

Again, as Nick says, German metal is the place to look for contract hire deals.

 

I'm thinking of a BMW 235 as the next lease. Some good deals out there currently.