Van Leasing Advice

[sprocketflup]

My vans gone bang. Big time. Garage reckon its terminal, not worth chucking the money at it to sort it. Send it to the great scrapyard in the sky. B*ll*cks, I really could do without this

So ive got to sort summat out. Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of leasing?

 

[Essex1]

Business or personal?

Lease hire or lease purchase?

 

[sprocketflup]

Business use, and ******** if i know thats all Greek to me

 

[Essex1]

Lease purchase = you own the van at the end.

Lease hire = you do not.

 

[Sidewinder]

See your accountant.

Are you Ltd. Co.

Contract hire (lease hire) van is not an asset on the company so does not attract any tax liability.

All costs of the hire and maintenance come off your corporation tax liability.

 

[sprocketflup]

Well, i know more than I did earlier. Thank you Essex

Not ltd, Sole trader. My accountants closed else Id be ringing him. That's a bit more info tho, thanks SW

 

[Sidewinder]

I think as a sole trader, you can still take out a business lease and offset all motoring costs against your tax return.

The issue may be VAT for you, our vehicle is contract hire, and as we are VAT reg'd we can claim all the VAT back on the vehicle rental and the maintanance, and the contract hire is based on the ex-vat price.

 

[Essex1]

Finance lease will mean a set price per month. Rental costs are 100%?tax deductible. Usually no mileage limits. You either hand the vehicle back at the end of the term or carry on leasing. There may be a charge for any damage over fair wear and tear. Better option for VAT registered people.

Lease purchase will mean you own the vehicle at the end. No VAT payable. Not great for VAT registered people. Greater option on payments depending on deposit/final payment values.

Basically comes down to whether you are VAT registered and if you want to own it or not.

 

[Sidewinder]

Essex, we get 100% of our vat back on commercials.

There will be a mileage limit on the contract, and there will be an excess charge if you go over it.

As it happens I'm just in the process of sorting out two new vans now on contract hire.

 

[Essex1]

Essex, we get 100% of our vat back on commercials.

There will be a mileage limit on the contract, and there will be an excess charge if you go over it.

As it happens I'm just in the process of sorting out two new vans now on contract hire.

Sorry I was not clear. VAT is recoverable on the deposit and the hire charge NOT the cost of the vehicle.

 

[Murdoch]

Buy new (with a loan) and keep for 10 years

Buy 2nd hand and keep for 6-8 years.

Either way the asset is yours.

Leasing comes with mileage "costs" - state you mileage - if you do too few miles , you have paid too much, do too many miles and you pay at the end.

Just saying

 

[pewter]

When I was looking I discovered you can get 12% off new vans from VW. So a new one with discount was the same as a year old one.

Only down side was the 6 month wait and the cost of all the options I put on.

Autoebid is a great website for discounts on new vehicles

 

[Blue Duck]

I hear vw are increasing their leasing prices to help pay for the recalls!

Who the **** are they trying to kid, they have ALL been at it for years!

 

[binky]

tax has changed for van purchases, you get the tax back in year 1 only rather than over numerous years as previous, can't quite remember the details, but as I recall it makes buying new a more appealing option - . Last year I bought a £23k Movano, discounted £7k as pre-facelift model, so ended up as £15k + vat, after tax deductions ended up as nearer £11k + vat for the year (I'm vat registered). In short brand spanking van is costing me £10 per day plus diesel. with the bonus of 20k service intervals, no tyres, brakes etc etc

 

[Blue Duck]

They have, who's in the dock next ? Mercedes ? BMW ?

Not BMW.

I don't want to drag this thread in another direction as the advice is good! So I PM'ed you a press release from some important sounding organisation, all very boring but you'll get the point.

 

[sprocketflup]

The last van was a Renault traffic. After its gearbox self destructed a couple years back I was told by a few folk that "It was common knowledge that the Trafics gearbox was a bit fragile" Wasn't common knowledge to me

With that in mind, what do you know that is 'common' problems for vans? I shant have a Trafic/Vivaro/Primastar again now that I know the gearboxes are sh&te

 

[Lurch]

The last van was a Renault traffic. After its gearbox self destructed a couple years back I was told by a few folk that "It was common knowledge that the Trafics gearbox was a bit fragile" Wasn't common knowledge to me

I knew the gearboxes were fragile but still bought one, my Vivaro has now done 150k and the gearbox is starting to whine a bit.

I shant have a Trafic/Vivaro/Primastar again now that I know the gearboxes are sh&te

If you are ruling out vans that could have problems then it looks like you are using the bus or walking to jobs.

 

[Essex1]

Transit Connects. Avoid like the plague.

Transits in the other hand. I have had 3 (still have 2) and are great. No perfect such as the fuel tank has a vent that lets water in if you drive through deep water and the passenger seats (if you have a bulkhead) are OK for someone that does not have knees. Anyone with legs however cannot sit in the passenger seat without being crippled.

 

[sprocketflup]

I know they all have problems, but some problems are more liveable with than others. That gearbox cost me £1300 to sort. Then a year later I had to shell out another grand when the alternator belt snapped and took out the timing belt, bouncing 3 valves off 2 pistons.

What killed it this time, again less than a year later, was an injector leaked inside the motor, the fluid hydrauliced and snapped a conrod, amongst other stuff. When the garage rang me to tell me the motor was toast I of course asked about getting a recon unit in. "Its finding one that's the problem, all the scrapyard vans are in their due to the same problem"

Like I said I shan't have another, once bitten and all that. Having said that, the reason I went for a Trafic was coz I had been lent one by a solar firm I was subbing to that had done almost 300k. I asked the bloke about it and he said that the only thing he'd spent out on it was fuel and tyres. "I'll have one of them then" thinks I. Ah well.

You pays your money, you makes your choice. It'd be nice to know the 'common knowledge' things tho to make that choice a little more informed I feel

 

[sprocketflup]

Plasterer mate of mine always buys Transits as they are cheap to repair when there is a problem. He hit a couple of pheasants at speed a few months ago and put huge great dents in the front of his. Cost £37 to sort