Hi all I am very tempted by the Scout lease deals at the moment - test drove one on sunday at a not so local Skoda dealership as no one in my part of the world appears to have a demo car.

 

Although its not the prettiest of cars it seems to offer a lot for the money and without the lease option not a car i could afford new.

 

Having just had a baby back in october safety is a big concern and of course space for her and our resident pooch! - the scout ticks them boxes perfectly.

 

Now my question is regards to the actual lease, which I have never done before - when you do the hand over at the end of the lease I am concerned just how picky they are regards to marks or damage on the car - I am a detailer in my spare time, my cars get cleaned weekly - i am also really fussy about parking and how its treated so do not expect to much of an issue, has anyone had any problems dealing with VAG in this way? 

 

I have searched and cannot find anyone moaning about VAg leasing mostly just on the net about brokers who like to have the car returned as inspected fine then spring you with a bill after the cars returned.

 

In short what seems like a good deal I'm worried may turn into something quite expensive...any thoughts are appreciated...

Edited 18 February, 201511 yr by ultramagnetic

Fair wear and tear is acceptable.

Assuming you are looking at the current £1,200 deposit and 23x £145 @ 10,000 miles then a few minor scuffs and scratches will be acceptable.

It sounds as though you look after your cars. A thorough detail the day before you return the car will guarantee that your car will be the smartest car ever returned! Most are lucky to get a £5 automated scrub!

The Scout is a great choice and the current deals are simply outstanding.

As you have a pooch, I can recommend https://www.dogcages.uk.com/catalog/skoda/skoda-estate-2013-on/

I was the guinea pig for the divider, and ended up with a spare divider to fit a car with the variable boot floor in raised position plus a bolt on piece to add when it's in the lower position (I ended up with the 1 piece lower position version in the car as I have no variable boot floor).

 

If you wanted the divider I'd be happy to ship it to you for somewhat less than the £98 list price. You would need to purchase the normal above seat guard bit direct from dogcagesuk to go with the divider still. If you are going for the variable floor and want to divide the boot (it can be put anywhere, I have mine in line with the 60/40 seat split so I can drop the larger part of the seats and have the dog secure in the 40% part still) then it would be a nice option.

 

Shameless plug I know, but thought I'd throw it out there!

 

We are seriously thinking we will go for the Scout 184 next time over the vRS as it has 4x4 and the Mrs works in the middle of nowhere with many steep/mud/ice covered hills in the winter - it's a great car and as you say, by far the most for you money.

Leasing carries a few more risks than say running a PCP (which is essentially a different model of hire purchase with a baloon payment at the end).

Firstly you end up havig to pump in quite a deposit to secure the car....this covers some of the initial depreciation on the vehicle (to soften the blow on the lease company) and its burnt cash...you'll never see it again.

Once in the lease the oportunities to return the car if you need to get out of it are more limited. Contractually you'll often find you are culpable for a large percentage of the total lease charge for early termination. Id say so long as you are covered financially (can afford the payments longer term and are in secure employment) and understand the risk then all is good.

Excess mileage costs can be steep on lease vehicles as the mileage constraint is often one of the key factors making the vehicle cheap to lease. You go considerably over the agreed mileage it will hurt your pocket, would with a PCP too but likely to much lesser an extent

...particularly given you would have the option to sell the vehicle rather than returning the vehicle to the finance company...so thats another potential out you dont have on a lease.

Also with PCP once you've paid half the total outstanding finance, a loophole in consumer protection law does allow you to terminate the finance agreement, give the car back and walk away...you might get stung for some damage/excess mileage but if the car is clean and within its total agreed mileage limit you can just walk away. Cant do thay with a lease.

Also some lease companies can be right sticklers for cars being returned in next to A1 condition.....i.e any knocks and scrapes they do not deem as reasonable wear and tear they'll bill you for it. Again the same can happen to some extent on a PCP but you of course dont have to give it back to the finance company, its not the only option unlike the lease.

That said some lease companies will agree to sell you the car at the end of the lease so that might be an option.

I think it is simply a case of understanding some of the associated risks...id suggest if the car is likely to get used quite hard and perhps exceed the mileage limit you might well be better off PCP'ing one.

I would suggest PCP over a lease as well - much more flexible and from what I've seen usually very similar monthly costs.

Hi all thanks for the replies most helpful - regards to the deal the dealer has a car sat in germany ready to ship, its such a good deal and the deposit is very low compared to some of the other figures quoted- regards pcp I have not really looked into it - the lease deal seems almost to good to be true to be honest!

 

We have a dog cage thanks for the offer we currently use - regards fuel costs was quoted 6p + vat per mile.

I would suggest PCP over a lease as well - much more flexible and from what I've seen usually very similar monthly costs.

 

Not with the current deals on vRSs and Scouts.

 

I've just signed up for a vRS which was considerably cheaper per month than a PCP, even factoring in the initial payment. Of course, I'm not building up any equity for the next car which is the main advantage of PCP over lease.

 

Steve

Not with the current deals on vRSs and Scouts.

I've just signed up for a vRS which was considerably cheaper per month than a PCP, even factoring in the initial payment. Of course, I'm not building up any equity for the next car which is the main advantage of PCP over lease.

Steve

Lots of other potential pitfalls to leasing though...as long as you are aware and factor for it then can be a good deal....you need to get rid quickly, knacker it or put too many miles on it you could stand to pay dearly with a lease. They look great at face value but reality is they are less flexible than PCP.

Really they are designed for business users who can absorb any kind of excess charge into their business costs and not necessarily affect their own personal finances; just you pay the VAT on it.

Up until yesterday i was set on doing the lease thing, having read your replies and some other sites I'm unsure what to do now so confused!!

 

I have to say I have read some pretty interesting views on leasing which to be honest seem to be written by people who dare i say may not have ever actually leased a car! (at least thats how it feels) also surely it depends on the individual deal to be had surely?...

 

Regards the scout lease deals the general opinion is that it is a bargain....i know back at xmas the golf r was a stupidly good deal on lease for around 199 a month...its now 300+

 

Regards pcp i see the attraction, however i do not have or would i want to pay an upfront deposit of say 2k then monthly finance and fingers crossed its worth the total value on returning the car...

 

Having always bought and sold privately second hand motors in the last few years of looking for cars i think I'm right in saying the markets changed I found it very hard to find the model i am after and be in the sort of condition I would want to buy.

 

I bought a 500 Abarth last year just to use for a few months till my little one arrived and it was awesome re mapped fun, but i bought it for just over what webuyanycar had quoted and it was in superb condition guess i got lucky and sold it without losing a penny - my point is it feels most people are moving to finance or lease deals hence cars are not coming onto the market and sellers are finding it hard to get a good price - i know a few cars i have seen advertised are easily 1-2k over priced and wondering why they are not selling.

 

I looked at a yeti second hand which was advertised on here for around 6 months it started at around 12k and slowly went down to around 8.5 k around new year - i viewed it and it was in poor condition (in my opinion), the seller did admit he was offered a rubbish trade in and thought i will sell it privately and make a bit of profit (his words) and he ended up selling it to a garage and getting even less than the trade in he was offered previously against his new yeti.

Edited 19 February, 201511 yr by ultramagnetic

You wouldn't have to put £2k down, £1k would be enough, and there is no fingers crossed at the end, that's the point of it being a GUARANTEED future value - note they are very conservative and base the GFV on base spec, so if you add sat nav for example you will always be worth WAY over the GFV. But even if you are not, you just give the car back and it's their loss not yours.

Generally you will be in equity by at least a substantial double zero figure, but more likely a few triple zeros which you can use as a deposit on the next car (assuming you stick with the same manufacturer or you settle/sell privately to get the cash out).

Given your comments on people talking about leases that have never done it, it sounds like you need to research PCP a little more yourself!

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Up until yesterday i was set on doing the lease thing, having read your replies and some other sites I'm unsure what to do now so confused!!

I have to say I have read some pretty interesting views on leasing which to be honest seem to be written by people who dare i say may not have ever actually leased a car! (at least thats how it feels) also surely it depends on the individual deal to be had surely?...

Regards the scout lease deals the general opinion is that it is a bargain....i know back at xmas the golf r was a stupidly good deal on lease for around 199 a month...its now 300+

Regards pcp i see the attraction, however i do not have or would i want to pay an upfront deposit of say 2k then monthly finance and fingers crossed its worth the total value on returning the car...

Having always bought and sold privately second hand motors in the last few years of looking for cars i think I'm right in saying the markets changed I found it very hard to find the model i am after and be in the sort of condition I would want to buy.

I bought a 500 Abarth last year just to use for a few months till my little one arrived and it was awesome re mapped fun, but i bought it for just over what webuyanycar had quoted and it was in superb condition guess i got lucky and sold it without losing a penny - my point is it feels most people are moving to finance or lease deals hence cars are not coming onto the market and sellers are finding it hard to get a good price - i know a few cars i have seen advertised are easily 1-2k over priced and wondering why they are not selling.

I looked at a yeti second hand which was advertised on here for around 6 months it started at around 12k and slowly went down to around 8.5 k around new year - i viewed it and it was in poor condition (in my opinion), the seller did admit he was offered a rubbish trade in and thought i will sell it privately and make a bit of profit (his words) and he ended up selling it to a garage and getting even less than the trade in he was offered previously against his new yeti.

No ones trying to discourage you from going for a lease....they "can" be a cheap way to run a decent car just you need to be aware of the potential pitfalls of doing so. For example dont take a 10k/year lease and then do 20-30k/year in it as the lease company will try to bankrupt you, just one example.

PCP's are also not so clean cut granted but by its very nature (being mucj like a HP agreement - consumer driven and offering some consumer protection) they afford you a but more flexibility around changing the car or getting out of it should you find you really need to before the term is up. A traditional lease is less flexible.

By all means if you dont want to hear or take well intentioned advice, can I ask why ask for it?

Oh an BTW Ive done a number of PCPs and whilst I havent personally done a lease per se I have for a period of circa. 2 years run a series of long term rental vehicles which constituted much the same thing. Contracted mileage and car after 3 months more or less had to be returned in the condition it went out in (i.e whilst not necessarily immaculately clean as new in terms of condition).

I found it a bit of a ball ache to be fair as I knew every little knock or scrape (within reason) id get collared for, as I would do excess mileage. Is kind of to the extreme given that a car driven for 3 months should really still be as new when returned (unless youre an idiot or v unlucky) but I felt I was having to avoid parking dinks, kerbed wheels etc more than I ever have done since.

That is somewhat the difference (and in response to your original post) a lease company will undoubtedly be stricter about the cars condition/mileage etc than VWFS/dealer would be if returning/selling a PCP'd car I am pretty sure.

The v low rentals on the vehicle are on the basis the car will have a good retained residual value at the end and so make good on the sale...so they are betting on the vehicle being returned in a good condition and low mileage.

Frankly I think many of these lease companies will come unstuck as I doubt the Scout will hold its value as well as they anticipate if the other O3 models are anything to go by...and if they are cheap now they wont be for alot longer I wouldnt wager.

Pipsysp please don't take it i don't want your opinions - i do i wouldn't ask otherwise! I have asked the dealer today for some pcp details on the scout see how that pans out - thanks everyone!

 

Just had a look on the  deal on the skoda website

 

http://www.skoda.co.uk/models/octavia-scout

 

Seems to be 7k deposit and 35 x 199 payments...what am i missing here?!

Edited 19 February, 201511 yr by ultramagnetic

Ignore the website deal, it's just an idea.

You can move the sliding scale of deposit/pcm costs whichever way you want. Plus the GFV may be different from what the website says, and that's not including any discount that you should be pushing a dealer for.

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What everyone here has missed is that the current stonking deals on Scout and to a lesser extent vRS are in fact Personal Contract Hire and not any form of a lease.

Few things to note from someone who has both had plenty of them and also sold plenty of them -

Base your annual mileage at 5k. 95 % of the time it will always work out cheaper as an overall cost to do this and pay excess mileage and not to plump for the mileage you may do (eg 15k) straight away. 7.2ppm inc vat is both fairly standard AND not unreasonable. Doing it this way also defers a chunk of the overall cost until the end - another good point.

The wear and tear levels are normal and are not out to catch you out. Most end of agreement cars go to auction.

Look after your car like it was actually your own ( as I have always done) and you'll never have an issue.

Clean / valet the car thoroughly before hand back and give them less reason to dig deeper.

Give as little money up front as possible - it's just dead cash and you'll never see it again. On a deal like the Scout where it's £89+vat PCM and £1500+vat upfront - make it only 3 payments up front instead as the monthly fig will still be unbelievably affordable.

Remember that metallic with most personal (and business) contract hires is usually free of charge as this will bolster residuals for them.

Also remember that your road find licence is also paid for the duration - not such a big deal on vRS but definitely worth remembering on the higher ved Scout.

Usually 3 year deals work out a little dearer and 2 or 4 years is where it's at. 4 years if not much more is a good idea but factor in the 4th year warranty extension cost and also cost of your own breakdown cover - it all mounts up.

Octavia 3 PCH deals at the minute are very good on 3 years.

The halfs and thirds rule still applies to PCH so should you need out, getting out of it is still doable.

Do it - you won't regret it. PCP is great too but you will be a good £200 dearer PCM that way and fool if you chose it.

We just PCH'd a vRS Octavia 184 manual estate with sunset and black pack. £500 down inc vat and just over £200 PCM inc vat. A complete no brainer.

Let me know if you need anything else answered.

Dave

Hi Dave - thanks for your reply most helpful from someone has experience of doing it, i am just not keen on having to pay a lump at the end of the hire, as i may need to then sort another deposit if i did the lease or as you pointed out pch! 

 

The point about looking after the car is my point exactly, I would not hammer it to death, I am always very careful with my own cars and would not treat this any different day 1 it would be fully detailed and protected inside and out, i would never run a car without odd tyres etc.

 

I know from experience peoples level of 'my car is pristine' is not always as i see it - trust me i have been all over uk to look at cars 'mint' 'pristine' cars and wow some of the things i have seen!!

 

Few years back my wife changed her C1 it has over 70k miles on it and around 4 years old - the salesman commented it looked better than the cars in his showroom!

I do have another question for you, do you have gap insurance?

 

 

What everyone here has missed is that the current stonking deals on Scout and to a lesser extent vRS are in fact Personal Contract Hire and not any form of a lease.

Few things to note from someone who has both had plenty of them and also sold plenty of them -

Base your annual mileage at 5k. 95 % of the time it will always work out cheaper as an overall cost to do this and pay excess mileage and not to plump for the mileage you may do (eg 15k) straight away. 7.2ppm inc vat is both fairly standard AND not unreasonable. Doing it this way also defers a chunk of the overall cost until the end - another good point.

The wear and tear levels are normal and are not out to catch you out. Most end of agreement cars go to auction.

Look after your car like it was actually your own ( as I have always done) and you'll never have an issue.

Clean / valet the car thoroughly before hand back and give them less reason to dig deeper.

Give as little money up front as possible - it's just dead cash and you'll never see it again. On a deal like the Scout where it's £89+vat PCM and £1500+vat upfront - make it only 3 payments up front instead as the monthly fig will still be unbelievably affordable.

Remember that metallic with most personal (and business) contract hires is usually free of charge as this will bolster residuals for them.

Also remember that your road find licence is also paid for the duration - not such a big deal on vRS but definitely worth remembering on the higher ved Scout.

Usually 3 year deals work out a little dearer and 2 or 4 years is where it's at. 4 years if not much more is a good idea but factor in the 4th year warranty extension cost and also cost of your own breakdown cover - it all mounts up.

Octavia 3 PCH deals at the minute are very good on 3 years.

The halfs and thirds rule still applies to PCH so should you need out, getting out of it is still doable.

Do it - you won't regret it. PCP is great too but you will be a good £200 dearer PCM that way and fool if you chose it.

We just PCH'd a vRS Octavia 184 manual estate with sunset and black pack. £500 down inc vat and just over £200 PCM inc vat. A complete no brainer.

Let me know if you need anything else answered.

Dave

Yes, always take gap insurance. I have return to invoice covering 3 years deferred 1 year (as Aviva cover the first year new car replacement) for £120.

So if I write off the car at 3 years and 11 months old I get £35k back in my pocket.

I got stung writing off an 11 month old BMW 135i, bought it for £47k, insurance payout was £27k... Ouch!

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But don't take it from the dealer. Just google and get the best price. Dealer wanted to charge me £500 for 3 years cover (with no option to defer).

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I read ala are probably the best online.

Yea, they are a decent one. I'm with 123gap

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PCH is just a business contract hire, the only difference is you have to pay the VAT. Id thought Id just put that out there.

Again as long as you understand exactly what it is you are getting into either way can be a cost effective means of running a nice new car. Restitution/excess mileage rates do also vary wildly between different lease brokers so would just suggest making sure you read and understand all the fine print before signing the dotted line.

Oh and god yes never lease/PCP a high value motor without GAP insurance unless you have money to burn.

Ive never had to use it but sometimes it can really work to your advantage, particularly if you take Return To Invoice (RTI) cover. Knowing that you'll effectively receive the difference between the full value and what was owed and that the finance gets rescinded means you can just start again, perhaps with more cash in the pocket than you set out with.

Edited 21 February, 201511 yr by pipsyp

Turboman - the vrs deal you mentioned, 500 down 200 a month sounds fantastic, is that a skoda deal?

Can you give me more details please?

Turboman - the vrs deal you mentioned, 500 down 200 a month sounds fantastic, is that a skoda deal?

Can you give me more details please?

I went to the dealer on sunday asked about the vrs deals and it was around £800+ deposit and about £270 a month for standard car in estate form based on 10k a year