Can someone in simple terms explain a) if it is possible to transfer finance to another vehicle and what I would stand to lose in doing so? I'ma  year in to a 3.5 year PCP plan.

 

Basically I'm doing significantly more miles for work at the moment (unexpected when I bought the VRS) and am having thoughts of downgrading the VRS to something more economical and with a softer ride. I figure something like the 1.4 or 1.6 diesel would give me lower tax and insurance, along with an extra 15-20mpg and a smoother ride. Maybe even a low spec Octavia for better motorway comfort. As good as the VRS is, I never use the performance, it's only the DSG that I really enjoy the most about it as a commuting car.

You don't transfer finance on cars. You need to trade yours in so will need equity to make it happen.

You need to get in contact with who you took the finance out with, ask them for a settlement price. Once you have the letter with that you can go and find out what car to buy.

If you sell/trade the car deduct all the loses from the new plan and work out your fuel saving.

Lots of people think 15/20 mpg better will save them money! It does not when you add up the depreciation etc and cost to change.

On 10k miles the difference can be as little as a few hundred pounds saving, that is not much. It could take 10 years to recoup your cost to change!

I do understand what you say about comfort but at what personal cost ££'s are you willing to go?

Lecture over but please do the math before you jump in thinking you are saving money

Edited 24 November, 201312 yr by Defenderben

Yeah I understand running costs like mpg etc are far outweighed by the other costs, it's probably an idea not worth pursuing. The VRS still averages 40mpg which is very good.

you can change your car whenever on a pcp but the first year you will loose a lot of money as you pay more interest. Go to your dealer and they will tell you how much pcp you will pay on another car You can phone skoda finance (if you are with them) for a settlement figure. If wot you owe is more than your new car they can add the differance to the new one so you pay more for it (they have to fiddle the figures)  or you can pay more deposit.

Thanks, that's interesting to hear.

you can change your car whenever on a pcp but the first year you will loose a lot of money as you pay more interest.

Not quite true, the interest is spread over the whole payment term and if you settle early the remaining interest is deducted from the whole balance to give you a settlement figure.

The main reason it is expensive to change in the first year is that is when depreciation hits hardest so your part-ex price is less likely to cover the settlement fig.

Not quite true, the interest is spread over the whole payment term and if you settle early the remaining interest is deducted from the whole balance to give you a settlement figure.

The main reason it is expensive to change in the first year is that is when depreciation h its hardest so your part-ex price is less likely to cover the settlement fig.

Only going off what the dealer said on the interest. I was going to say depreciation but could not spell it 

Only going off what the dealer said on the interest. I was going to say depreciation but could not spell it 

Lol. Yeah that dealer sounds abit out of touch. I think it used to be like that but they can't get away with front loading the interest and making you pay it off first any more. Nice to know you are making interest and capital repayments from the beginning and they will refund you the interest on the "unused" portion of eh loan if you settle early :-)

Happens all the time - trading in part way through a finance plan so any dealer worth their salt should be able to give you a "cost to change". 

 

You could try re-negotiating the plan with the finance company (VWFS I assume) with the same car?  Works out cheaper than excess mileage charges...and probably cheaper than changing for the remainder of the plan.

The 1.6tdi isn't much cheaper (if any) to run than the vrs driven gently. Once you factor in the cost of diesel there's really not much in it. Insurance and ride quality are separate concerns though.

I was in a similar position to yourself.

Got a VRS. Love it.

Not too long into a PCP deal,

But changing job with a longer commute made me think of changing to a diesel Monte or even a mk1 VRS.

I regularly get 45MPG on my 25 mile commute in the VRS (driven sensibly) so for an extra 10MPG I realised it wasn't worth losing out on changing the car and also the extra cost per L for derv.

So changed my mind about downgrading and proper glad I did! Got a new found love for my car and the remarkable little beast that it is.