Buying new car question...

makrin

Forum user
Aug 5, 2011
49
2
Bradford
I'm thinking of floggin' the cougar :cry: insurance has gone up and petrol prices are killing me (£260+pcm), so I think I need to sell it and get something a bit cheaper to run.

I've been looking around for a new car - deposit monthly payments etc etc... but the thing I don't quite get is this "Optional Final Payment" malarky.
Am I right in thinking, if I don't want to pay it, I don't have to but I just give the car back and start a new lease?

Dumb question, I know... but I've never gone down the leasing/buying new route before.


Thanks :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It can class as a voluntary repossession with some companies and therefore can affect your credit rating.

Not the case most of the time...just be careful.

In answer to your question...yes you can hand it back.
 
I'm thinking of floggin' the cougar :cry: insurance has gone up and petrol prices are killing me (£260+pcm), so I think I need to sell it and get something a bit cheaper to run.

I've been looking around for a new car - deposit monthly payments etc etc... but the thing I don't quite get is this "Optional Final Payment" malarky.
Am I right in thinking, if I don't want to pay it, I don't have to but I just give the car back and start a new lease?

Dumb question, I know... but I've never gone down the leasing/buying new route before.


Thanks :)

All I will say is read the contract carefully and think about all the what ifs e.g. what if it gets written off, is there any additional payment you have to make if you hand it back etc etc
 
A lease should just be a lease, ie you pay for an agreed amount of time then hand the car back at the end of the agreement. Job done.

What you're looking at there is a PCP or similar, these are a finance package where you pay a deposit, then a monthly payment for a set period followed by an option to buy. Be careful with these. You can just hand the car back and end it, but if there is any damage or excessive wear, or excess mileage then they can charge you for it. You also need to look out for 'guaranteed value' in the wording otherwise you can be left to make up the difference if the car is worth less than they expected it to be.


All in all you will end up paying more out a month than you are paying to fuel your cougar. You will however drive a new (soulless) car which doesn't need maintenance bills. You will howver have to get it serviced religiously!
 
with the optional final payment type you also find written in there a bit about how you also have to have it serviced as required otherwise they also service when returned and give you the bill for service and repairs, and if not serviced over a period of years the depreciation of car not having full service history
 
I've done three PCP deals (Ford 'Options' as it was called then) and they have worked out good for me.
I did well below the agreed mileage so each car had a bit of equity above the final payment value (sometimes called 'balloon' payment).
I therefore used that equity as a trade-in value for the next car.
The last PCP deal I did was on my first Cougar. For that I paid the final payment and I still haven't traded that car in after 13 years. :LOL:

As already said, you do have to stick to your end of the agreement including keeping up a main dealer service history, stay within the agreed mileage etc. I think there was even something in there about washing it regularly. :D

It's worth noting that I would have lost any trade-in equity if I had simply given the car back.
I also stupmed up the maximum 35% deposit on all three deals in order to keep the monthly payments down.

Back then, I had more disposable income and for some of the time I was receiving a travel allowance from work.
Petrol was a hell of a lot cheaper then too!!!
I could never afford to do these deals now.