In Review; BMW 218i M Sport Step Auto

Thank you to our personal leasing customer from Wigan (Greater Manchester) for visiting the CarLease UK team to collect their new BMW 2 Series in the snow! Thankfully the “beast from the east” did not prevent the car from being delivered to us by the BMW logistics team and also the customer from collecting their new car.

As the customer was a young driver, we thought this may be useful to run through some of the basics of leasing a car, as we do get asked a number of questions quite frequently in this arena.

Is there an age limit for a car lease arrangement? The age restriction only applies to the fact that this is a credit agreement and therefore you need to be aged 18 years or older. Added to that, which is relevant for young drivers, is that you need to hold a full UK driving licence; you cannot lease a vehicle with a provisional driving licence.

The restriction for many younger people is credit. As contract hire is a credit based product, you will have to undergo a full credit search before being able to progress further.

You must have positive credit; this is not a product which is suitable for those with indifferent or poor credit. For younger people, this can be difficult as they are not simply old enough to have created that credit profile. As such, we do suggest that for anyone considering a credit agreement, that they run an Experian or online report first, in order to understand their position.

If there are any mistakes/issues, it provides an opportunity for the individual to correct these before speaking to a credit broker.

For those younger people who still live at home with their parents, there may be an opportunity to run a joint-application, so that the child and parent run a credit check on the vehicle. There are very few finance companies who offer this but it is nevertheless possible so long as the two parties are living at the same address and the child is under 25 years of age. Also remember, that insurance is not included when you lease a vehicle, so factor this into your cost analysis!

Additionally, the customer here wanted to add a non-manufacturer option – privacy glass. Another question we get asked a lot is whether or not you can add accessories to a lease vehicle. In short, you can add dealer/3rd party accessories to a vehicle so long as you either tell the finance company at order stage (so to add this to the contract) or you contact the finance company after delivery and obtain their permission. In relation to the car here, privacy glass was not available as this was an allocation based deal. The vehicle was already built and on route to the UK so it was not possible to amend the vehicle at all. The customer simply arranged to lease the vehicle while it was in transit to the UK. As such, the privacy glass was added as a 3rd party option, which was notified to the finance company in advance of the deal thereby adding this to the contract.

Additionally, the third party option was circa 1/3 of the price of the option directly from the manufacturer, so there was a cost-saving too!

In terms of the actual car shown here, the BMW 2 SERIES COUPE 218i M Sport 2dr [Nav] Step Auto Petrol, this is based on the following configuration:

· Mineral grey Metallic Paint
· Hexagon cloth/Alcantara – Anthracite/Blue
· Brushed aluminium trim with black high gloss finish
· 18″ light alloy wheels – M Double spoke style 461M in ferric grey

As standard the car includes automatic wipers, heated washer jets, automatic stability control, dynamic traction control, dynamic brake control, hill hold assist, floor mats, stop/start button, real time traffic information, electrically adjustable and heated door mirrors, body coloured externals, chrome exhaust tailpipes, 60/40 split folding rear seats, Bluetooth, rear parking sensors, ambient lighting, air conditioning, front sports seats, navigation, LED headlights, M Sport multifunction steering wheel, crash sensors, warning triangle, first aid kit, immobile, Thatcham Cat 1 alarm and run flat tyres. In terms of additional factory options, consider the sun protection glass, front parking sensors and heated front seats for a perfect car.

On the technical-side, company car and business users can note the P11d at £29,410.00 and CO2 at 129g/km. The 1499CC 8 speed auto engine delivers 136ps, 56.4 combined MPG and 0-62 times of 8.9 seconds. Service intervals on a BMW 2 Series are every 2 years or 18,000 miles, whichever lands sooner.

So would you select the BMW 2 Series Coupe as your preferred leasing option? Or would you have the Audi TT, Mercedes SLC or VW Scirocco?

Let us know your thoughts on your perfect lease car!!

Click Here for the best deals on a new BMW 2 Series for personal or business lease hire from @CarLease UK