What is the best executive company car option to lease? Normally this is a battle between the Audi A6, the BMW 5 Series and the Mercedes E Class, as the German prestige brands have become a staple part of the UK’s automotive industry.
In recent months, the BMW 530e and Mercedes E300e or Mercedes E300de PHEV options have pushed their brands that little further.
With major tax changes due April nearly every company car user has a keen eye on CO2; anything pure electric or plug-in will result in some significant cost savings for the end user.
That doesn’t mean that every car will be “alternative fuel”; there is very much a market for the petrol and diesel only combustion engines. Rather than be swayed by public opinion and conjecture, try to choose a fuel which is not only going to be practical for company car tax but also choose one which actually meets your needs and requirements.
Head across to our “choosing the right fuel” guide for the latest help and guidance – https://www.carlease.uk.com/car-e/
So all brand-new lease cars include maintenance? One of the confusing subjects for those drivers new to the world of contact hire is the position on maintenance – who services the car? Do I need to change the tyres? Just because a car is brand-new, it still needs servicing and maintenance and there needs to be some understanding on who pays for this.
A warranty is NOT a maintenance programme; this acts to help customers where their vehicles incurs faults or defects through no fault of their own.
Indeed, servicing and maintain the vehicle correctly is imperative to benefit from any warranty works and claims. Each manufacturer will offer a varying warranty. At a minimum this will be 3 years but some now offer 4/5/7 year warranty programmes to provide complete comfort to the end user. The key is to look after this warranty and carry out your maintenance correctly.
Modern cars will instruct you to top-up oil, coolant, monitor tyre pressures and service intervals. Just follow their instructions.
On who pays for the “looking after the car” elements will be dependent on the arrangement you decided to undertake. Very briefly – you either choose driver-maintained or funder-maintained with leasing. For a driver-maintained contract, you are agreeing to self-maintain the vehicle and all aspects of the vehicle’s mechanics must be looked after by you.
As a standard position our website will show a driver-maintained agreement which effectively shows you the price for the vehicle (excluding or including Vat) but which would not cover any maintenance aspects.
In order to get this quote, you need to ask our team for a funder-maintained agreement which can be added to your contract for an additional cost. When you have the latter, you are going to benefit from the funder agreeing to the cost of all servicing, tyres, mechanical repairs and, in some cases, breakdown recovery.
Some of our select finance companies will even include tyre repairs for punctures thereby creating a position where you need to only fuel and insure the vehicle only.
For company car users this is crucial as your car is often a key part of your working life.
So which is better – driver or funder maintained? Again, we cannot suggest one position being better or worse than the other. It is very much a question of you considering the information we put to you, or the company, and a decision being made which meets the needs and requirements. For some lower-mileage drivers, particularly on a 2-year contract, the vehicle may need only need one service and it will be unlikely the vehicle will need any tyres to be changed. In this case, you may take a view that a maintenance program just wouldn’t be in your best interests. For high-mileage drivers, particularly covering 25,000 miles and higher, there will be 1 to 2 services being carried out per year. You may also need to change tyres on an annual basis. What you have to work out is it better for the cost to be provided for in your monthly rental rather than to meet this cost on ad hoc basis? If you are a risk-averse individual/ company looking for complete certainty of cost, you are likely to need a funder-maintained agreement.
In terms of the car shown here, the Jaguar XF DIESEL SALOON 3.0d V6 S 4dr Auto, this is based on the following configuration:
Firenze red Metallic Paint
Perforated grained leather – Ebony/Light Oyster with Contrast stitching
Morzine headlining – Light oyster
20″ 5 split spoke gloss dark grey diamond turned alloy wheels – style 5036
As standard the car includes a rear-view camera, 19” alloys, xenon headlamps with LED signature, LED daytime running lights, heated front seats, cruise control, Meridian 380W sound system, 10-way electric front seats, perforated grained, climate control, front parking aid, por folding auto-dimming heated door mirrors, InControl pro navigation with 10” touchscreen, blue tinted glass, heated insulated glass, rain sensing windscreen wipers, emergency brake assist, hill start assist, red coloured brake callipers, traction control, premium carpet mats, apply carplay/android auto, Bluetooth, lane departure warning system, rear parking aid, traffic sign recognition, wifi hotspot, auto dimming rear view mirror, DAB radio, InControl app and protect, S body kit, approach lamp, automatic headlamps, Jaguar sense, multifunction steering wheel, 4-way electric lumbar support, 40/20 split folding seats keyless start, keyless entry system, immobiliser and alarm.
In terms of additional options, consider upgrading to privacy glass, powered tailgate/boot lid and choosing one of the 19” and 20” alloy upgrades.
In terms of the technical-side company car and business users can note the P11d at £52,830.00 and CO2 at 157g/km. The 2993CC 8 speed auto diesel engine delivers 46.3 combined (EC), 40.8 (WLTP), 300ps and 0-62 times if 6.4 seconds. The service intervals on the diesel Jaguar are every 12 months or 16,000 miles whichever lands sooner.
So would the Jaguar XF be your select car option? Or would you be choosing something else?
