Thank you to Enterprise (Leigh/Greater Manchester), for allowing the CarLease UK team to test and review one of their new cars – the BMW 5 series estate.
Unlike us, you would speak to Enterprise if you need short-term or flex-lease style arrangements.
As a car rental company, they can offer a facility to use a car for a day to day/weekly basis. Unlike contract hire, car hire is far more flexible in that you can use the car (or van) for as long as you require, with no penalties or issues if you need to return the vehicle early. In addition, car hire is not a credit based arrangement, so if you have poor credit or if you have a new-start business then you may better speaking to a car hire company. With contract hire, most companies will require that a business has at least 2 years’ accounts, up to date management accounts, director information and, in some cases, the director must themselves have positive credit. If you, or your business, cannot fulfil this then you may need to look at hire and flexi-lease style arrangements. While the flexibility and ease of arranging does sound attractive, do consider that you will pay a premium for this. Car hire is far more expensive than contract hire.
Organising a new car does feel more and more like it is becoming a little more complicated. For company car drivers you have car policies/company car tax/driving behaviours and fuel choice. For personal drivers, while only some of these are relevant, do consider that changes to emissions and pollutions, are making everyone consider what car which they drive. Across parts of London you have the Congestion Charge Zone which applies for certain areas between 7am and 6pm, Monday to Friday. For any car or can which emits over 75 g/km of CO2 you will have to pay a daily charge of £11.50 (presuming you pay in advance – £14 if you pay on the actual charging day).
To qualify for the 100% discount, you need to pay a £10 application fee and ensure this is renewed every year.
To supplement the above, there are Low Emission Zones (LEZ) which operate over a wider part of London. These are utilised to target the most polluting of diesel vehicles. Unlike the above, these zones operate on a 24 hour/7 day a week basis. There are no flexible times to travel. This means for anyone driving in and around the M1, M4 and even Heathrow, you need to monitor the road signs as you may be charged for driving in the area. If you fail to monitor this, you may receive a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) afterwards.
From 8 April 2019, an Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is being introduced within the same area as the Congestion Charge Zone. Like the LEZ, this will be on a 24 hour/7 day a week basis. As you will read, from April 2021, this area will continue to spread across most of Greater London – Again, check your vehicle to see if you qualify for discounts and, if not, you will need to arrange payment for travel.
So what does this mean for personal drivers? For those operating outside of the Greater London area, you might think this doesn’t affect you. You would be very wrong in assuming this – councils across the UK (Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield) are now exploring congestion-type charging.
This will come into force, whether drivers want it or not. Moving forwards with your car choice, you are going to have to consider electric, hybrid or plug-in hybrid vehicles as an alternative to combustion engines. The issue some drivers have is that many of the leading leasing deals are commonly on a petrol and/or diesel car. Therefore customers are inclined to go into these vehicles.
Added to that, is that some driving styles are better suited to combustion engines. When you take an electric vehicle, you need to be aware of charging points (have one installed at work/at home), distances (electric vehicles can only travel so far on a full charge) and the actual driving experience of the vehicle. At the moment, as many of the electric vehicle grants have been removed, there is no actual incentive to have an “eco car”. This may change purely on the costs involved in travelling to the city.
As areas like Manchester and Liverpool grow, the councils will introduce more traffic calming measures; congestion zones are an easy way to do this. However, for regular commuters, using public transport may not be appropriate. In these cases, it might be more economic to pay more for an electric vehicle or PHEV (and be congestion charge free) rather than to elect for a cheaper petrol/diesel car.
In terms of the car shown, the BMW 5 SERIES DIESEL TOURING 520d M Sport 5dr Auto, this is based on the following configuration:
· Metallic – Carbon black
· Dakota leather – Black/Black world with exclusive stitching
· Aluminium rhombicle interior trim with pearl chrome finish
· 18″ M double spoke light alloy wheels – style 662M + Run flat tyres
As standard the car includes heated front seats, park distance control, sports seats, Bluetooth, M Sports suspension, part-electric front seats, leather upholstery, cruise control with brake function, 18” alloys, 6-speaker sound system, acoustic glazing, heated windscreen washer jets, rain sensors with auto light system, brake assist, brake energy regeneration, CBC, hill start assist, floor mats, speed limiter, power tailgate, 20GB hard drive, digital cockpit, navigation (professional), follow me home headlights, LED daytime running lights, LED fog lights, gearshift paddles., M specific wheel and pedals, ambient interior lighting, deformation zones, alarm system with engine immobiliser, warning triangle with first aid kit, crash sensor and wi-fi hotspot preparation. In terms of additional factory options, consider – sun protection glass, the BMW display key or, if your budget allows, the M Sport Plus Pack.
On the technical-side, company car and business users can note the P11d at £43,450.00 and CO2 at 125g/km. The 1995CC 8 speed auto diesel engine delivers 190ps, 58.8 combined MPG and 0-62 times of 7.8 seconds. Service intervals on a diesel BMW 5 series are every 24 months or 15,500 miles, whichever comes sooner.
So would the 5 Series Estate be your select leasing option? Or would the Mercedes E Class, Jaguar XF Sportbrake or Audi A6 Avant get your vote?
Find the webs best lease deals on the BMW 5 series estate @CarLease UK – or – check out more estate car lease options below.
