phil121081

It's exactly this for me.

I know what my cost of motoring is going to be from the outset, you could even work out fuel costs if you so wished (within reason).

I've always been of the opinion to buy appreciating assets and rent depreciating ones...

cars (for the most) are firmly in the latter camp.

pcp is somewhere in the middle and that muddies the water somewhat...

gaddafi

From a leasee's perspective I think it's mostly to do with the perceived prestige of driving something new or nearly new that apparently lists at £30K or £40K. That is a massive draw for many people dressed up in excuses like reliability. You probably don't get it any more than I do. The more I can afford, the crappier my cars seem to get! From the leasor's perspective, it's clearly a neat trick if you can get people onto a mobile phone type monthly payment plan where you upgrade every two years and sign a new deal. You also get to control the used car market to a greater extent as all those returned leases come back to your network.

RichUK

Is this where I admit to having PCP'd our Nissan Leaf?

So, I suspect I either didn't know what I was doing, or I possibly used the finance as a way to see whether such a car would work for us long term without any real commitment.

As it turns out, within about six months we knew the car wouldn't work for us long term, and so at the end of its three year agreement later this year, it goes back and we're done. Perhaps the difference being that as an electric car it offset about 75% of its finance costs in fuel saved.

Nick Graves

The Pug iON and Nissan Leaf really fall out of bed, depreciation-wise.

I hope you're not left underwater, Rich.

RichUK

Their forecasted GFV is £7k more than it actually will be. The bottom just fell out of the cars as they did so many cheap PCP deals to get them out of the door in the first place.

If we were staying with a Leaf we'd be in for a tricky conversation. However we're not. I just couldn't make the figures for a Tesla work, and the E500 continues to waft me on longer journeys in complete comfort, so it was a no brainer for the Leaf to go back.

gaddafi

you have seen the light

when are you next near Goodwood or in the city?

Nick Graves

Yep - Otto is king. Long live King Otto.

Trouble is, a lot of other people have also realised that the Leaf was predicated on a scam; the gov't boondoggle that made the price cheaper in the first place, seems to get deducted in the end.

Oddly, I have wondered when Teslas will fall out of bed; the 4WD version might be quite a lark, even if it's merely used to bomb Mercedes-Benz Hertford, like some drunken twat did last year...

RichUK

I will check the diary, be good to catch up.