Neo_VR

To set the scene - up until recently, both myself and SWMBO had our own cars, along with our own insurance polices, as well as being named drivers on each others. Now we have chosen to get a car through her NHS lease scheme, which includes maintenance and insurance for both of us. Her car has now been sold, and she will be cancelling her insurance soon. Come november, when my (lease) car goes back - then i will be cancelling insurance on that and we will both just use the one car. The question is - we have both built up considerable amounts of no-claims bonus, around 15 years each. which im assuming will be lost during the 3 year period we have the NHS car. Is there any way this can be mitigated?.. ive read that NCB "expires" if not used for two years. So far the only thing ive come up with is to get another cheap car and each take out a policy on it? - or is this likely a false economy?

Some companies allow the cost of electricity to be reclaimed on expenses.. (although difficult to prove without additional hardware to split the chargepoint elec from the main meter) I think - going forward with the smart meter rollout too, there are opportunities for "smart" charging equipment that can kick off the car charge as a function of controlling grid demand - of course its like a more modern version of economy 7. Some small electricity companies are already offering something similar for "agile" energy use: https://octopus.energy/agile/ As for the savings if they fit your use case, then yes you will save money... hopefully the new WLTP range ratings should help clear up some of the confusion as the current NEDC ratings are even more pie in the sky than they are for normal cars and dont take into account a potential 25% range variance over the winter months. by my (rough) calculations on my 330e vs Leon cupra on a single journey (commute) conservatively i will save £500 a year in fuel for that trip alone when done on in EV. And the monthly cost of the car is coming in less than an equivalent petrol-only model due to the lower BIK. I think in 2-3 years time EV will be pretty much mainstream and there will be much more choice.. Geneva motorshow this year was all about rise of the EVs, with every manufacturer showing something.

Well hello there Amanda. long time no speak I do still have the Cupra for now And when it does go back in november, no doubt its spot on the drive will be taken by something somewhat less practical and sensible

So couple of weeks in.. Really enjoying it so far!! Real battery range is coming in around 12-14 miles for me, which just about covers the commute round trip.. Based on this - Compared to the Cupra on this journey alone should save me around £500 a year in fuel! Some of the longer journeys we have done vary depending on battery charge - a trip from mancheser to central york over the weekend was 70mpg using the sat-nav and eco-pro mode, as soon as the car got onto the first mway sliproad the engine started as it was automatically saving the majority of battery charge for York urban roads, the trip back was around 55mpg, but thats due to only having 35% battery left when leaving but still very respectable for a 250bhp petrol car.. and it also shifts very respectably for a heavy eco-minded car too!!! Now have a proper 32a charge-point fitted at home so it charges the car in a couple of hours and means i dont loose battery charge when pre-conditioning. Tried to use a couple of GMEV chargepoints over the weekend too - none of which worked right for me, plugging into the post when told to by the app and it would sit at "waiting to charge" - Not a massive issue as the costs involved in most "occasional use" public charging dont add up for a PHEV, as the connection charge negates the benefit with such a small battery. I did manage to get a small (free) charge at a local Lidl store from a PodPoint installation - its a rapid charger so didnt stick around long to anger the full EV brigade when i can only charge at less than 10% the max rate the charger can deliver lol.

Im there tomorrow... Ill keep an eye out

Sent you a PM...

Not necessarily... Your salary sacrifice part may stop when the car goes - but it will depend when mr tax man decides you have paid enough BIK tax and changes your tax code back. - The HMRC view car salary sacrifice schemes the same way as company cars for tax purposes. The 5' looks great btw!!

The BIK for PHEVs is 9% for 2017/2018 (which will have been calculated in your current monthly cost quote) but goes up to 13% for 2018-19 and then 16% for 19-20 - the new tax system based on emissions and battery-only range starts april 2020 which i think is 14% for the 330e. So basically it means the tax you will pay (the amount your tax code will be reduced by) will almost double over next 2 years. Its also worth bearing in mind that the tax code change can lag behind by up to a year, so its entirely possible that you will still owe the taxman for this car in 2021. See http://www.nextgreencar.com/company-car-tax/bik-rates/ for more info

The 330e was around £320 on special offer (compared to £354 for the 530e - this offer only disappeared this week) however one catch is BIK rates getting hiked over the next couple of years from 9 to 16% so the cost will increase. On other forums there have been people who have ordered as early as july/aug last year who had their orders cancelled in december for unspecified reasons and were told to re-order (theres a very long thread on PH about it) - They are in massive demand (as a company car tax-fiddle) and are stopping production shortly along with the Merc 350e and Golf GTE and etrons because the new WLTP emissions/economy stuff. With us it was a bit of an impulse purchase - I have a Leon Cupra on lease due back in nov, and she has a pug 208 coming up to 3 years old - given 99% of car journeys we are both in one car we decided to drop down to one "main" car (and maybe a weekend toy for me! lol) - admittedly the plan was for later this year closer to me handing back the cupra. We had been looking at BMWs - specifically a 320i or similar as we dont do the mileage to justify a diesel, and decided to check out her NHS scheme - never paid it much attention before as she said that her colleague was paying 250 per month for a corsa! - I didnt realize it also included insurance and maintenance! I saw the 330e on the specials page, for less £ than it would cost for a mid spec 320i on PCP - so decided to go for it. Now ive researched the car a bit more, it should suit our lifestyle very well - our commute is 12miles round trip in city centre, so that can be done full electric, compared to ~24mpg in my leon... Its got plenty of geek-factor for me, its fast and RWD, and she gets a BMW on the drive! lol....... and hopefully can be a stepping stone to getting a full EV in 3 years time!. So yeah.. Im looking forward to getting it! :-D

How bizzare coming across a BMW 330e thread on a skoda forum!.... Ill hopefully have a 330e Msport being delivered in the next month or so - ordered thru NHSfleet.. however seeing some of the issues others have had with orders being cancelled etc im not holding my breath until its actually on the drive. Personally i would have plumped for the 530e - as it was only a small amount extra per month for a higher spec car. but its very much overkill for whats effectively a city commute car lol, and the missus drew the line. Ill update this thread when (IF) it arrives!

Cheers Wardy. Ill look into smart repair then. If its going to cost £££ to get fixed i may just leave it - worst comes to the worst VWFS only charge £139 max for bumper damage requiring paint - im guessing a smart repair may be more than that anyway!.

Not a skoda, but still worth a post. So some utter toolbag has side-swiped the front of my Leon while parked in a public carpark. of course no note left.. Does anyone know if the damage is something that can be smart-repaired.. or is it a bodyshop job? Its a lease car - so it would need to be to a good standard to avoid charges when it goes back.

Well to update this thread after I got myself a Beastnut. A lot of money to spend on a (hopefully) part-time hobby but my man-maths kicked in and justified it in the end. Just need to learn to ride it now!

Nice to have a good natter and some tasty food. See you all again soon!

So after my brief foray back into mountain biking last year (had a Voodoo Bizango for a month, then it got nicked from my shed) im looking at getting a new bike for trail riding (llandegla, macc forest, cannock, Lee quarry are all local ish) Most my MTB friends have got full suspension bikes, and sing their praises, and i did have trouble keeping up with them on the decents. So - given i am thinking of spending around 1k on a bike, if its worth going straight for a full suspension model?... My research has pointed me towards the below as providing the best options: Boardman FS Pro (can be had for close to 1k with various discounts) Bossnut Beastnut (limited ed of the new bossnut with better components) Does anyone have any experience of these? Ta

I'm going to try and make it over as I'm free today now..

Just to draw conclusion to my "issue" - I had a call from their customer resolution dept today - they had listened to the calls and agreed it had not been made clear to me that the final payment had to be made before the car was collected, So they have removed the marks on my credit report.. so good stuff! As far as customer service goes i cannot fault them for the whole experience!

Well i called vwfs today and asked what the deal was - they said it will have been because i didn't pay the settlement until after the car was collected. I questioned why this was not pointed out to me when the guy i spoke to previously said it was ok to hold off paying the settlement until after the following months payment was due to come out to ensure that payment wasnt taken... he didnt have an answer to that. They have opened a complaint record and will get back to me soon.

Yep.. like i say - burned before ;)

True - but ive been bitten before when cancelling a DD which is why i didnt want to go down that road. Ill give them a ring tomorrow.

There was a settlement to pay, which was paid two days after the monthly DD would have come out. The reason i didnt pay it instantly is they couldn't tell me on the phone if monthly DD was going to come out, which would have cancelled out the settlement amount. It was all delt with quite quickly as the car tax and MOT was due to expire within a couple of weeks of ordering the VT.

Hi.. Just a quick question. Have you/Are you aware of the effect of VT'ing the car has had on your credit score? Reason i ask is i recently VT'ed my citigo, and now my credit report has updated, it shows the agreement has been VT'ed but also has a amber mark showing "payment was up to one month late" - just wondering if this is normal. Up until this, my credit score was exemplary and now its taken quite a knock, dropping from "excellent" to "fair"

Well given the epic lease deal that ran from Jul-Sept (Cupra Black for £132 a month with a £2400 deposit) and Seats inability to meet the high demand it generated with people having orders cancelled and colours changed. It works out at £5400 for two years motoring in a 300bhp 30k car.. Loads of PH'ers jumped on it to replace their Golf Rs the lease thread on there is approaching 40 pages long already. I am slightly biased though, as i picked mine up a couple of weeks ago

Give it 2 years and there will be LOAAADS as all the recent leased ones go back on the market!

I bought it last week. However it doesnt work right on the latest two Windows insider builds so i cant play it :( They have acknowledged it and are working on a fix though.