New vRS campaign will have no free servicing and 1.9% pcp finance

[fewie]

Guys

Thought I'd share what the sales manager at a skoda dealer told me this morning. He reckons that the vRS and all yeti's will lose 0% to be replaced by 1.9% finance and the free servicing will be removed all together. He was at a national sales meeting on Wednesday where this information was presented, it seems to be inline with what others on here have heard too.

By my reckoning that makes a vRS approx £1k more expensive if bought over 41 months with a minimal deposit on pop, plus approximately £500 for a service package, along with the price increase of circa 3%. So about £2k more for my circumstances. All this means that I'd either have to negotiate a 14% discount in January or do as I intend to and order next week.

I accept that with higher deposits on pcp the difference will be less but unless dealers have been given back more margin now seems to be the time to buy!

[Fatfudgecat]

My dealer thought the finance was going to be 2.9% APR, with no free servicing. Apparently Skoda think this should be removed from VRS and Yeti as the free finance is cheapening these two halo elements of the Skoda brand.

I'm so pleased I took delivery last month! Get your orders in now folks!

[skovirg]

My dealer thought the finance was going to be 2.9% APR, with no free servicing. Apparently Skoda think this should be removed from VRS and Yeti as the free finance is cheapening these two halo elements of the Skoda brand.

I'm so pleased I took delivery last month! Get your orders in now folks!

 

Yep. Mine too. 2.9% no servicing including.

[fewie]

Even more reason to order then!

[Fatfudgecat]

fewie - guess where you'll be on Monday morning at 9AM....

[fewie]

^^ Christmas shopping for swmbo! But I'll be taking 5 minutes to place a deposit over the phone.

vRS Hatch

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Still debating on Kessy and whether to go red or grey stitch option...

[fewie]

And colour maxi dot!

[fireftrm]

My dealer thought the finance was going to be 2.9% APR, with no free servicing. Apparently Skoda think this should be removed from VRS and Yeti as the free finance is cheapening these two halo elements of the Skoda brand.

I'm so pleased I took delivery last month! Get your orders in now folks!

I don't believe, for one minute, anyhtnabout cheapening the brand. Far more likely, and sensible business, is that they are selling strongly and so don't need the same incentives.

[kenny]

I don't believe, for one minute, anyhtnabout cheapening the brand. Far more likely, and sensible business, is that they are selling strongly and so don't need the same incentives.

Don't be so sure, it's a fine line and juggling act. Residuals are so important to brand affordability for PCP purchasers. Yes there will be an element of sales going well but they wil also be aware if the continue too long it will have other impacts

[Orville]

Residual values are a very good point. With the VRS being the best seller within the Ocatvia range, and with most owners taking advantage of PCP finance, it makes sense than Skoda tries as hard as possible to retain resale values. I cannot see great offers such a "VAT Free" being applied to VRS' before the full term of current PCP financing deal has been completed, otherwise used values will be decimated and Skoda Finance will end up losing lots of money come hand-back time.

 

I was surprised at how high the GFV's were when I was quoted for my VRS. With the TDI holding ~50% and Petrol ~45% after 3 years, they are better than most German and Japanese cars. If Skoda chopped the 20% VAT (or offered similar incentives) there is no way that these cars will be worth their GFV's in 36-42 months time. I actually think Skoda have been too generous with this years PCP deals (0% Finance, great GFV's and free servicing), esepcially considering the car has little competition at it's price point.

[Dr Zoidberg]

Skoda are quite rightly proud of the decent residuals, so I agree a VAT free offer is very unlikely on a new car that's selling well.

This new finance offer sounds very believable , so if you are sat on the fence then it could be worth getting your order in before the change.

If their sales are affected too much they'll bring back a better discount, but that's probably six months away.

[Dodgy]

When the Octavia MKIII and particularly the vRS was first announced with pricing, there was a lot of unhappy campers on here as far as pricing went. Many of us went ahead and bought anyway, happy with the material value of what they were getting for their money.

 

I'm surprised there hasn't been even stronger words voiced with this news, or are we used to the prices now?

[Dr Zoidberg]

I think people have now had time to look round at what else is available in this price range and realised that while it's not the bargain that the Blacklines were, it is still good value.

[fewie]

Having not yet become an owner of a Skoda I'm probably more impartial than most on here and my opinion is that the mk3 Octavia is a much better car than the mk2. I nearly bought a blackline but whilst it was well spec'd it was still effectively an 8 year old design, the interior especially was showing its age in comparison with newer cars.

The mk3 with things like DAB, Bluetooth, xenon lights and mfsw as standard more than justifies the price increase to me. And the 0% finance (currently) and better residuals means price per month for a well spec'd mk3 is better than I was quoted on a blackline.

I will admit though that cash buyers or high deposit customers would be better off with VAT free type deals but the current demands and waiting list suggest that it'll be a long time before we see the likes of those deals again, if ever.

[PacmanVRS]

For those of you wondering what difference the change in interest rates would have on the monthly payments, I've compared the monthly payments for the vRS Estate 2.0 TDI manual.

 

On the Skoda website (with the 0% finance deal), a £347 deposit on that car means that you would pay £347 per month (http://www.skoda.co.uk/models/new-octavia-vrs-estate/finance-offers).

 

Using the same deposit and same GMFV, I've calculated how much more per month you would have to pay for each of the interest rates mentioned above:

At 1.9%, the monthly payments would be £30 more.

At 2.9%, the monthly payments would be £45 more.

 

I've set out my calculations below. As you can see, my figure for the 0% monthly payment is £336.77 rather than the £347 Skoda quote. This is likely because my figures do not take in account any fees.

 

Screen Shot 2013-12-22 at 20.01.32 by Ben Packer, on Flickr