How To Tell If Car If Car Is Ex-lease

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metricspaces

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Hi folks. I'm moving on from my S3 and looking at getting something else. Just wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to tell if a car is ex lease?

I'm looking at a 2010 A5 Sportback 2.0 TDi Sline. The garage is saying it only has one owner.

Now i know they bought it from auction as the pics they sent me on are from an auction room...car on a turntable. The garage told me they bought it from Audi who took it as a trade in...so a possible lie there already!

I've done a motor history check so I'm happy it has had only one owner. But I've a feeling it was a lease car.

I rang up the Audi garage it was serviced at and they wouldn't tell me if it was a lease car or not. They said they couldn't give out that info as I'm not the owner of the car.

I spoke with the garage selling the car and asked if it was a private owner or a lease company on the V5. The sales guy said it was a private owner & called out the owners name. But from more research I see that lease cars may have the drivers name on the V5 rather than the lease companys name.

I think it's more common for lease cars to go to auction than trade-ins that Audi would get. Especially for cars 4 years or newer as Audi has their own approved used car scheme.

So there's a greater chance it is ex-lease and the sales guy is just trying to hide the fact as typically lease cars fetch less on resale...so the sales guy will make a bigger profit for himself if he hides the fact it's ex-lease.

So is there any way for me to determine if the car is ex lease?
 
metricspaces said:
Hi folks. I'm moving on from my S3 and looking at getting something else. Just wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to tell if a car is ex lease?

I'm looking at a 2010 A5 Sportback 2.0 TDi Sline. The garage is saying it only has one owner.

Now i know they bought it from auction as the pics they sent me on are from an auction room...car on a turntable. The garage told me they bought it from Audi who took it as a trade in...so a possible lie there already!

I've done a motor history check so I'm happy it has had only one owner. But I've a feeling it was a lease car.

I rang up the Audi garage it was serviced at and they wouldn't tell me if it was a lease car or not. They said they couldn't give out that info as I'm not the owner of the car.

I spoke with the garage selling the car and asked if it was a private owner or a lease company on the V5. The sales guy said it was a private owner & called out the owners name. But from more research I see that lease cars may have the drivers name on the V5 rather than the lease companys name.

I think it's more common for lease cars to go to auction than trade-ins that Audi would get. Especially for cars 4 years or newer as Audi has their own approved used car scheme.

So there's a greater chance it is ex-lease and the sales guy is just trying to hide the fact as typically lease cars fetch less on resale...so the sales guy will make a bigger profit for himself if he hides the fact it's ex-lease.

So is there any way for me to determine if the car is ex lease?
Click to expand...

What's wrong with an ex lease / company car? There are usually big penalties if you return the car with any damage so they are often very tidy.

My Golf TDI was bought 10 years ago as a ex lease and has been a great car, still going strong. Last year I bought an A4 S-line for the mrs that was an Ex Lloyds Tsb company car, also leased.

With the price of a new Audi I thing a high percentage will be initially leased / hire purchased.
 
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My 2010 Passat estate was ex lease. Full VWSH, immaculate condition, 101k miles and on lt, paid £8k for it march last year. I would only look at ex lease cars when it comes to replacing it. Previous owner was VW Finance on the log book.
 
Just a personal preference. I'd rather buy a car that wasn't a lease car.

So anyone know how to tell if a one owner car was a lease car when the V5 doesn't have a lease company on it?
 
if i was buying another car, and it was ex lease,id feel more comfortable knowing,its been serviced regular and the mileage is accurate,my previous a3 was ex lease.....no issues at all in 5 years of ownership.........best buy ex-lease,than joe blogs down the road who's probably used wrong oil in it,clocked it etc.
 
Cheers for the replies. Any idea how I can determine if this one owner car is ex-lease?
 
My Passat was a lease car purchased with 75k miles on it back in 2001, and after 12/13 years and currently on 217k miles, it's the most reliable car I have ever owned! There's no proof that a privately owned car is better looked after than a lease car, but hey, personal preference and all that, it's your money.

If you know someone in the trade who can do a full dealer HPI check, I'm sure they can find out for you.
 
I did a check with www.motorcheck.ie where they check if there's outstanding finance, is this not the same as doing a HPI check?

I was on the phone to motorcheck and they said all they can check is whether there is outstanding finance. They can't find out any further details.

I'd really like to know if the car is ex-lease or not, and if ex-lease who the car was leased to i.e. a private individual, company car or rental company.
 
metricspaces said:
I did a check with www.motorcheck.ie where they check if there's outstanding finance, is this not the same as doing a HPI check?

I was on the phone to motorcheck and they said all they can check is whether there is outstanding finance. They can't find out any further details.

I'd really like to know if the car is ex-lease or not, and if ex-lease who the car was leased to i.e. a private individual, company car or rental company.
Click to expand...

The dealer HPI system is more comprehensive than what we can pay for online.
 
just look on the v5
 
My understanding is that a car that's a lease car may not have the lease companies details on the V5 i.e. a V5 without information about a lease company does not mean it wasn't a lease car.
 
Theres nothing wrong with ex lease cars, I always buy on condition of car etc, but if it really bothers that much if a car is ex lease, why not order a brand new car, you know where you stand then!
 
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Look on the number plates, lease company's have their name along the bottom, if it's got new plates then I'd be suspicious
 
joinerman said:
Look on the number plates, lease company's have their name along the bottom, if it's got new plates then I'd be suspicious
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Wouldn't be so sure.....my company BMW just says BMW (UK) and a postcode on the number plates. It's leased through LEX
 
audi upgrades
99% chance if it was ex-lease 1 owner = i think by law main driver has to be named on v5 for insurance reason's

If you own the car you can request full history off audi
you can also try contact BCA because 90% ex-lease goes through them from VAG group ,lex-auto .......
mines was ex-LEX but i have full paper work including every service,pad & tyre change
also had the lease company's card with the customers name on it
 
Gaz170 said:
99% chance if it was ex-lease 1 owner = i think by law main driver has to be named on v5 for insurance reason's

If you own the car you can request full history off audi
you can also try contact BCA because 90% ex-lease goes through them from VAG group ,lex-auto .......
mines was ex-LEX but i have full paper work including every service,pad & tyre change
also had the lease company's card with the customers name on it
Click to expand...

Not with LEX and my company. My company name is on the V5 - causes all sorts of fun when people in my company get speeding tickets. But it's all a bit odd as although LEX do our scheme my company have created another company purely to administer the scheme with them!

The weird thing is when the police do a check against my number plate it comes up with my company name but my address. They then can find my name when they check the address?! The V5 however has the company address. But with speeding tickets they seem to just send them direct to head office.

So on that basis they must be linked so you can get all the data.

Wouldn't stress if it's from LEX.....they do look after the cars and the contract is pretty harsh if you mistreat it or damage it (£750 dilapidation fee). I damaged the turn indicator on my wing mirror which you could hardly see but they insisted it got replaced. They also insist its smart repaired before being handed back if any scuffs etc.
 
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Ask the seller for the name and address of the previous keeper and send them a letter or try and get there phone number you could also ask to view the log book and get the details off it yourself
 
I dont know if you can start to demand the details of the previous owner, pretty sure data protection would come into it if you started copying the V5 form info down.

And tbh i would be pretty annoyed if someone started contacting me to ask on the status of the car, i would refuse to tell them.

It seems you want to know if it is a ex lease car to know if you can knock the price down, im pretty sure the garage will laugh at you and not change there price, its obviously a good price or you wouldnt be looking at it, and given how Audis sell themselves there not going to go any lower becuase you think it is an ex lease.

As an aside i have had two LEX lease cars, including my Audi which i got at 3 years old with only 22,000 on the clock and it hasnt required 1p to be spent on it.
 
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I have read that Audi has been getting its trousers pulled down etc for doing a lot of this, ie placing cars for sale and giving the impression that they are privately owned cars just been traded in, I'll add myself to the list of those typically choosing to look elsewhere. Now, when I was a lot younger, I bought a very nice VX Cav GSI 4X4 that was exhire - and that fact was offered and not hidden - there was no other way I could have bought that type/value of car! Makes you think, why are Audi hiding where some of their used cars comes from, especially, unlike other marques, some of their dealers resell "their own original sold new,now traded in" cars.
 
There are obviously pros & cons from buying ex-lease. I personally think it's safer to buy a one private owner car when buying a car 4 years old or newer.

An ex-lease could be a car that was leased out to a car rental company. I don't think a driver renting a car is going to worry too much about any potential damage down the road.

Same holds true to a lesser extent for ex-demo cars, company cars, and probably to a lesser extent with a private individual who leases a car.

In my opinion it all comes down to the simple principle that we take better care of items we own personally, items we've invested a lot of our own money. A driver of a rental car, demo car, company car or lease car has no investment in it & doesn't have to pay the repair bills or sell it on.

I would value an ex-lease car lower than a car with one private owner. The industry does too...that's why garages buy ex-lease at auction at a significant discounted rate and then brand them as "one owner" car when they are advertising them.

As the previous poster highlighted, garages deliberately try to hold back this info. I'm speaking from personal experience searching for the last few months.

Audi themselves are guilty of this. I've seen many cars advertised as "one owner" for me to then do a history check and find out it has two owners. When I query Audi they suddenly seem surprised and tell me the first owner was just because the car is ex-demo. They aren't surprised, they were just lying :)

The history of the car affects its price in my opinion. Audi sell off ex-demo at a discounted price.

Also I've read reports that ex-demo could mean anything from it being a demo model in the garage, to an Audi staff member using it as daily driver, to it being leased out to car rental companies. Places like Hertz only keep their Audi's for 3 to 6 months.

I'm sure there are pro's to buying an ex-lease car. But I believe the con's outweigh the pro's when looking at cars 4 years or younger. I think it should be fully transparent to a buyer how many owners a car has had and if those owners were private individuals or not.
 
I purchased my car direct from the lease company at a discounted price, nothing was hidden, I got to testdrive it and poke through all the documents including the full service history etc.
 
The leased cars are only sold cheaper by the leasing companies because they buy them cheaper, much cheaper. When you are buying hundreds of cars you get them cheaper, this allows them to sell them on cheaper at a set price.

Personally i have never had it hidden from me, also a Demo will always be a Demonstrator car, it wont be a hire car leased to Hertz that would be an ex hire car.

Also i would be careful of saying Aud are lying, its a high chance they aren't, they may not know or there may have been an error. Every hire car i have had has had one previous or two depending on how it was done. The likes of Audhave no reason to lie, most people i know own ex lease cars bcause they are excellent value and they are well maintained. Hire cars may have been ragged, but most company cars etc are very well looked after, regularly serviced and have a lot of money spent on them as if they get damaged etc thenthe user gets hammered with a bill
 
My point isn't that people shouldn't buy lease cars. But rather that it should be made clear it's ex-lease/demo/etc, or it should be possible for a buyer to find out.

Regards ex-demo. Over the last few months I've come across a few cars for sale at Audi dealerships where they were advertised as one owner. I'd ring up and ask them to confirm this, they would confirm. Then I do a car history check and find out it had two owners - the first one for only a few months. I personally don't think they all made a mistake.

I read somewhere a while back that some Audi dealerships were leasing cars out to car rental companies, then taking them back into stock and calling them ex-demo. Of course what I read could be all garbage. But would I be shocked if it was true? Nope!

But either way. I think there's a greater chance that a one private owner is going to run a brand new car in properly over someone who has no money invested in the car & doesn't need to care about selling it on.

Why would a driver of a company car care about running it in properly, or care about being careful with the clutch, or care about the paint work? Being careless with things like this may have no major effect in the first three years...but the next owner will end up the problems & bills.
 
newbieboyy said:
The leased cars are only sold cheaper by the leasing companies because they buy them cheaper, much cheaper. When you are buying hundreds of cars you get them cheaper, this allows them to sell them on cheaper at a set price.
Click to expand...

Good point, I hadn't thought of that but it makes sense.

I'm guessing that's why independent garages like these auctions. They buy at way below the market rate for a second hand car. Then they advertise as "one owner" and expect the market rate, leaving them with greater profit.

I still think though that the general public would value demo/company/rental cars less than privately owned cars and this has nothing to do with the original price that the lease company paid for it new. It comes back to people treat things they get for free differently than if they shelled out their own cash for them.
 
Maybe thinking that I'm seeing both sides of the trade's "game", it has been said that the "quality" side of the secondhand car trade is having problems as "quality" used cars are not coming back in in the numbers required, mainly because the car hire/lease companies are ignoring their original gentleman's agreements and selling their "old" cars on direct to the public, also Audi and any other marque's dealerships do have a duty of care and responsibility to check out the true provenance of any cars they bring in to stock - wrt exlease/hire stock if they are not lying they are being lazy - you can't expect the public to return to a "trusted" brand after they have been short changed, as I said, there are some, hopefully "traditional" Audi etc dealerships that stock a lot of their previously sold to private customers cars. In my experience, the bulk of the chain dealerships seem to swop stock and can only mean one thing and that is to hide previous history.

Oh, and don't get me started on about the ACs of this world who in reality operate virtual used car lots, what you see is not for sale from here - "give us your deposit and we will bring a car in" !
 
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