Buy, Lease or Loan

[danA3T]

I'm looking for opinions or those that have actually done the maths:

I've always had 2nd hand cars, my old A3 8L I had for years and loved. I bought my current car new for £18k ish because the 8P was a run out model.

Webuyanycar will give me £13750 for it today which is probably a rubbish price but for the sake of this gives me a benchmark.

I've seen new A1 S-lines for lease at under £150 a month and if you assume I didn't get as good a discount on my A3 (book with options was £22k from memory) therefore my car has cost me about £6k over 3 yrs with some rounding and assumptions.

For the same period, I could lease that A1 and it'd cost me £5k ish and not have responsibility for a depreciating lump of metal in my garage, hand it back and repeat.

My query is as to which route is more popular for the petrol heads on here?
Does the lease company screw you when handing the car back for each bit of wear and tear (making leasing expensive)?

I have my own company so there may be a saving tax wise on a lease but my accountant won't be around until next week.

 

[jojo]

The figures are playing with your mind, you are comparing owning an A3 black edition(£6k) and an A1 S-Line(£5k), I know which car I'd rather have outside my drive!

Anyways, the lease route is more beneficial, if you can make most of the mileage allowance, but you never own the car, on the other hand, you have a new car on your drive every three years, which makes you look successful, and like you say, there are tax benefits from doing it through your company.

Buying the car on loan means its YOUR car, minus the finance of course, but it doesn't tie you down for three years, so you have options midway through, if you fancy a change, or circumstances changes.

 

[Oranoco]

I would not lease a car ever as you never own anything from it. Also with friends who have had cars on lease come handing them back they have been stitched up.

 

[danA3T]

The figures are playing with your mind, you are comparing owning an A3 black edition(£6k) and an A1 S-Line(£5k), I know which car I'd rather have outside my drive!

Anyways, the lease route is more beneficial, if you can make most of the mileage allowance, but you never own the car, on the other hand, you have a new car on your drive every three years, which makes you look successful, and like you say, there are tax benefits from doing it through your company.

Buying the car on loan means its YOUR car, minus the finance of course, but it doesn't tie you down for three years, so you have options midway through, if you fancy a change, or circumstances changes.

Yeh my mate said the same,lol. He actually questioned whether the A1 is a girls car, haha.

I suppose my life's changed the past few years, I'm no longer spending ages cleaning or tinkering with the car and I do like the idea of a new car every few years - purely that its covered by warranty, requires no MOT etc. I suppose I've never felt completely satisfied with my current A3 either. The tech in the car feels outdated, And I do miss a petrol.

 

[danA3T]

I would not lease a car ever as you never own anything from it. Also with friends who have had cars on lease come handing them back they have been stitched up.

This is a big concern, i wonder if getting screwed on handing it back is common practice?