Answer: What cars did you have in mind? When you say 1 to 3 cars, in your name or in a business name? What is your budget? Deposit per car and per month? Please include the vat.
Question: We are a company based in Cornwall and currently we are reviewing our options around travel costs. We cover the whole county and some mileage claims are pretty high, so we are looking at whether leasing cars is a better option than paying mileage as we do at present.
We are not that materialistic, so the type of car is not that important but it needs to be fuel efficient so we were thinking either diesel or small petrol, for example a Renault Clio, which we believe does about 48 MPG. Having said that, I drive an old Jaguar so something bigger than a shoebox would be nice. Perhaps you could give us a couple of options?
Typically we would want to do 15,000 miles a year which @ 45p/mile presently costs us £6,750 – so the cost of running the car would need to be less than that, including fuel, insurance, servicing etc. Obviously the less it is the more of our staff will qualify for a lease car based on their mileage.
We are VAT registered in Cornwall, so the costs I have quoted are net of VAT as we can reclaim it.
While a deposit is not an issue in itself, we would need to show that by paying a deposit we got a better overall deal. i.e over the period of the lease we paid less money. What I really need from you is as far as possible the true cost of leasing a car, and what is included in the costs. E.g do we need to pay for the servicing and if so how much is that likely to be, does the lease cost include insurance and road tax etc?
If you have any further questions please feel free to contact me. I have meeting with the trustees on 9th September, as this represents a change of policy they will want to discuss the issue so having something for then would be really useful.
Answer: I will send you a few cars and options so you can compare. I'm afraid the prices are so low there is no more room to discount. However, if you lease more than 2 or 3 cars then there is probably a further discount of £50 per car but maybe a bit more depending on which one.
You ask about extra charges. While most companies charge £150 to £300 as a document fee, on the cars we lease it is either free or at most £29.50 per car. If you lease a car in most cases there is no delivery charge as you would have to pick up the car. However if you want the car delivered to Cornwall then there will be a one off charge so to cover the costs that are involved.
You ask about the deals offered with no deposit or with a deposit. A deposit would help with getting approval for a lease but we can negotiate this when the time comes. Sometimes a small deposit is put down to secure a car then given back or can become part of the payments.
Would you like to ask anything else or should I send you a few cars to compare?
Question: A list of cars to compare would be good, however I need you to clarify the issues around servicing costs, road tax, insurance - Do we pay these in addition to the lease cost or are they part of the arrangement.
Answer: If you lease a brand new car (factory order / highest price) or an ex demo slightly used car (from our fleet / cheapest price) the road tax is included for the first year and there after you pay for it as the car will be in your name.
All our customers find it far cheaper to arrange their own service with their local garage and not from the dealer. The dealer is always more expensive and if they are lets say in Manchester you will have to drive all the way to Manchester and back to get your car serviced. Not ideal really is it? Most people prefer their local garage.
I'm not sure why you are asking me about insurance unless you mean GAP insurance which covers you for theft, fire and if the car is written off in an accident. This type of insurance normally costs about £80 to £100 a year.
However, you still need to get your own insurance like you would if the car was yours. Again, it is far cheaper to get your own insurance as their is no same price for everyone and depends on how old you are, where you live, want kind of work you do, how many miles you drive, if you keep your car on a busy road or in a garage and so on. It is highly recommended you get your own insurance.
Other costs; Maybe a £29.50 document fee per car but that is negotiable and depend on the car. Some cars don't have a document fee. Delivery is not free if the driver has to come to you to Cornwall. However, if you came and picked up the car from the showroom then it is free.
