The best family car to lease of 2019? No longer are our customers clamouring for the MPV and space wagon type vehicle i.e. the Ford Galaxy, the VW Touran or the Citroen Grand C4.
The modern customer now wants anything, and everything, SUV or crossover.
Such is the influence that many manufacturers don’t seem to be making anything other than this type of car or, in some cases, are amending their hatchback platforms to more elevated driving positions like the Ford Ka and Fiesta Active.
For any personal or business lease customers, the market is very much SUV as these cars offer space, style and value. The increasing supply, and competition, has resulted in even the more basic vehicles looking great and having all of the necessary options you would need – navigation, parking sensors, parking camera, cruse control, Apple CarPlay now feature in many vehicles.
The winner is very much the customer, as they are now getting more car for their money and it is effectively allowing them to enjoy a brand-new car which meets their family’s needs.
Leasing allows you to buy or sell the car at the end right? For many customers transferring over from the traditional hire purchase and PCP route, particularly on used cars, the operation of the new car market can be slightly different and there are small nuances you need to note.
The first thing to stress to customers is that they need to identify exactly what financial product they are reviewing and to ask them a key question – is this suitable for your needs and requirements?
The instinct to want to buy or own something is very much a natural part of our automotive make-up. It is a question we hear quite offer but, when we ask WHY they want to buy (or have the opportunity to do so) it is not something they can really answer.
While many customers use PCP, very few actually purchase the car and, in some cases, some will not even see the whole term out (voluntary termination).
For that sort of customer, they are effectively carrying out a contract hire-style agreement without the cost and practical benefits. Whether or not a customer should go new or used is again a subjective query. Some customers are happy to take the risk of a used car, some being out of warranty, on the basis they are saving money against a new one and are beating the depreciation.
Should you procure the car cheaply, on a good rate of finance and the car doesn’t have any issues then your argument is a sensible one.
For those spending more on fixing the car than what the car is actually worth – you are not beating depreciation!
With contract hire, customers have to be clear that this is fixed term contact. This is not a flexible arrangement which means you can’t hand the car back at any time, without cost, nor can you sell it to a third party or buy it yourself. The key is that you are entering into a fixed agreement for 2, 3 or 4 years based on your annual mileage requirements (anywhere between 8-50,000).
The focus of leasing is to provide you, or the business, with certainty i.e. you are using a new car for a certain time period.
At the end of the contact you must return the vehicle and you are not automatically entitled to own it. If purchasing a car is absolutely essential then a PCP, finance lease or hire purchase must be used. However, if you do want to build a car’s use around your circumstances, contract hire does work very well. Some customers have certain requirements for their families and this could change in 3- 4 years; why not build a contract around this and achieve certainty of cost?
With contract hire you can also include all servicing, maintenance and tyres via a funder-maintenance agreement. This is suitable if you only want to fuel and insure the vehicle.
The crucial thing to note is that you need to adequately research the products available to you and then make a decision which meets your needs and requirements.
In terms of the car shown, the Nissan QASHQAI DIESEL HATCHBACK 1.5 dCi [115] N-Connecta 5dr (manual), this is based on the following configuration:
Metallic Paint – Pearl black
Cloth upholstery
18″ alloy wheels
As standard the car includes privacy glass, auto wipers, auto hold function, hill start assist, intelligent emergency braking with pedestrian recognition, android auto, Apple CarPlay, Bluetooth, front parking sensors, intelligent around view monitor, parking assist, lane departure warning, rear parking sensors, rear view camera, traffic sign recognition, push button starter, Nissan connect evo 7” navigation, smartphone integration, Tomtom connected, electric folding and heated door mirrors, DAB radio, steering wheel mounted controls, body coloured externals, leather steering wheel, ambient lighting, safety shield plus pack, 60/40 split folding rear seats manual lumbar support for driver and passenger, intelligent key, LED indicators, high beam assist, fog lights, climate control and a Thatcham Cat 1 alarm.
Upgrade to a Tekna if you want a car with a little more specification.
On the technical-side company car and business users can note the p11d at £26,550.00 and CO2 at 110g/km. The 1461CC 6 speed manual diesel engine delivers 67.2 combined MPG (EC), 59.3 (WLTP), 115ps and 0-62 times of 12.3 seconds. Service intervals are set at every 12 months or 18,000 miles whichever lands sooner.
So would the Qashqai work for you? Would select this as your next leasing option? Or would the Peugeot 3008, VW Tiguan or Hyundai Tuscon be your preference?
