Looking for the best special offers in car leasing?
What’s your best deals?
A common question from many of our personal leasing customers; we all want value/the best deal/the best car lease special offers – but what does this really mean? As a leasing broker, we work alongside a number of finance companies who each provide a price for almost every make and model of new vehicle in the UK.
Using their rates, special offers and our own special offers, we regularly have nearly 400 bespoke special offers which could easily fit into the “best deal” category for a customer.
The main issue is finding the right car for the customer – a 1.5 diesel Nissan Qashqai might be £150 per month but if you are only covering 5,000 miles per annum, is this really suitable?
This is why we ask our customers to be a little more specific and think more carefully about what they actually need before asking what is best for them.
Getting the best deal for car leasing
Our main advice to each and every customer, particularly those looking into leasing a vehicle for the first time, is to make sure they educate themselves on what the product is, how it works and how suitable this is for their needs and requirements.
Car leasing (or contact hire as it is strictly known) is a long-term contract of 2, 3 or 4 years on a new vehicle. As such this represents a big financial commitment; second only to mortgage on your home.
You must have good credit and for those customers with poor credit/missed-payments/CCJs you will need to consider other options as this will not be suitable for you. Additionally, leasing is not a short-term or flexible arrangement.
If you only need a car for a 1 or 2 months, then it won’t matter if a deal is £200 for the A-Class. If that contact is a 4 year term, this is completely unsuitable for your requirements. For these types of customers you need to look at car hire or flexi-lease, where you will pay 2 and 3 times more per month for the privilege of flexibility.
It’s very simple to work out how to get the best deal, by having some key information already noted before you search:
- Term – do you want the car for 2/3/4 years? While a shorter term is more flexible, a longer-term may offer cheaper monthly rentals and you may not want to swap a car every 2 years.
- Also consider your personal circumstances – a growing family/changing jobs and new car technology should form part of your assessments;
- Initial rental – the first payment you make in leasing van be a “no deposit” amount, meaning the initial rental in month 1 is the same throughout the contact. Some customers prefer enhanced initial rentals which are 3/6/9 times the monthly rentals. As this is not an interest-led product, it doesn’t influence overall or total cost of the package. It is about you working out if you want a consistent rental throughout or whether you prefer to enhance the initial element to make the subsequent monthly rentals less onerous. If you see a rental of £99 based on a £5000 initial, be careful of thinking this is automatically better than a £200 per month “no deposit” deal – do the maths!
- Mileage – try to accurately calculate your annual mileage. If you are already in a lease vehicle you will know how to do this. For non-leasing customers, check historic MOTs will show you the mileage difference form one year to the next. A deal at £100 may be good but if it is a based on a 5,000 annual mileage contact and you are covering 15,000 miles, then it really isn’t suitable.
Having some set parameters is so important as it allows you to compare deals on a like for like basis. This is just about comparing our prices to your local dealership but if you are not set on a specific vehicle or brand/manufacturer, it allows you to easily compare what value you get from each vehicle.
Every car has a list price/P11d which gives you an idea of the car’s overall value. When you compare this to the monthly rental it helps you to understand if it is a financially astute deal.
For example you can have a Range Rover Sport with a list price of £70,000 and a monthly rental of £500 in comparison to a BMW X5 with a list price of £60,000 and the same monthly rental. If you are not badge conscious, you might say that the Range Rover is the better deal?
How many car lease quotes should I get?
When we respond to a customer with a quotation and phone call, it is alarming when we hear “which one are you again”. This often arises in cases where customers contact multiple leasing brokers, dealerships and finance companies.
This is not to say speak to one business only; we absolutely agree you should receive some comparison quotations. However, if you have selected a quote from a car leasing comparison website like Autolease Compare , they have already compared a number of leasing broker prices to provide you with the best price.
If you subsequently get quotes from other brokers and comparison websites, you may receive 10’s of quotes and phone calls. The conclusion is that you will be confused and may even choose something you didn’t want.
In all cases, try to use the comparison websites to get an idea of pricing and then speak to no more than 3 brokers on like for like comparisons. This will ensure you get the deal AND the experience you really want.
In terms of the car shown here, the Mercedes-Benz A CLASS HATCHBACK A180 AMG Line Executive 5door Auto (Petrol), this is based on the following configuration:
- Cosmos Black Metallic Paint
- Artico man-made leather/Microfibre Dinamica – Black with red stitching
- Multibeam LED Lights (FOC)
- 18″ AMG 5 twin spoke light alloy wheels in titanium grey with highsheen finish
As standard the car includes privacy glass, rain sensing wipers, active brake assist with forward collision warning, adaptive brake assist, floor mats, hard-disk navigation, 180 degree rear view camera, active lane keep assist, attention assist, active park assist, 10.25” media display, 7” instrument panel screen,
smartphone integration, AMG bodystyling, DAB radio, wireless charging, electrically adjustable and heated door mirrors, headlamp assist, LED lights, 3-spoke flat bottomed steering wheel, artico leather, light and sight pack, mirror package, seat comfort pack, heated front seats, sports seats, 18” alloy wheels, keyless go and alarm system/immobiliser.
View our current Mercedes A Class Offers
On the technical-side company car and business users have a P11d of £30,180.00 and CO2 of 137g/km. The 1332CC 7 speed auto petrol engine delivers 53.3 combined MPG, 136ps and 0-62 times of 8.8 seconds. Service intervals are set at every 12 months or 15,500 miles, whichever lands sooner
