Ex lease cars

[bluenose1940]

Just wondering if any of you have any experience of purchasing ex lease cars.

I suppose that it might be possible that there are some who never buy their vehicles any other way.

Obviously some ex lease cars will find their way to a new owner via a dealer who maybe buys most of his stocks from a lease company.

Has anyone on here purchased a vehicle directly from a lease company?

I found out the other day that I have a relation that has worked for one of the country's biggest leasing companies for over 30 years.  The thought crossed my mind that I might approach him but, I thought that I might seek out any thoughts from more experienced buyers first.

Any comments will be much appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[rayaans]

3 hours ago, bluenose1940 said:

Just wondering if any of you have any experience of purchasing ex lease cars.

I suppose that it might be possible that there are some who never buy their vehicles any other way.

Obviously some ex lease cars will find their way to a new owner via a dealer who maybe buys most of his stocks from a lease company.

Has anyone on here purchased a vehicle directly from a lease company?

I found out the other day that I have a relation that has worked for one of the country's biggest leasing companies for over 30 years.  The thought crossed my mind that I might approach him but, I thought that I might seek out any thoughts from more experienced buyers first.

Any comments will be much appreciated.

Thank you.

 

Lease companies usually stick their vehicles in an auction. The majority go through BCA. The good ones are usually picked up by dealers and then find their way onto the forecourt with a £2-4k inflated price depending on the value of the car.

Private buyers can participate and in some ways have an advantage i.e a private buyers usually pay private rates at auction if they want to keep the car which is more than a dealer would be willing to pay as they would have reduced profits. Although saying that, sometimes the dealers hike the price up anyway.

Looking at the state of most leased vehicles, they don't seem to get the best care - many are used hard and some have service contracts with Kwik Fit etc.

[dutchie01]

here in Holland Leaseplan sells their ex leasecars directly to the public from various showrooms. I purchased a BMW 118 petrol 4 yrs old with 21000km at about 10% below marketprice with 6 months warranty. The service history is mentioned on their website and all is very transparent. I was very impressed with the service and transparency. of course i double checked with the BMW dealer that delivered the car and had it in maintenance and all was known and correct. 

Advantage is the cars are young max 4 yrs and in holland are serviced at main dealers. pricing around 10% below dealerprices and beeing an ex companycar it is better equipped than privately bought cars.

Dont know the UK situation but in Holland i was very impressed and  will safely recommend doing this. 

[Vintagesixtysix]

Hi Geoff,
Having had company lease cars for over 20years with my last business I can comment from the other side of the fence.
I treated those cars exactly like my own private vehicle.... serviced on time.... tyres changed before illegal... family & other animals told to treat the inside with respect.... cleaned inside & out regularly.
I saw it as a tool of the trade...didn't want my customers seeing a skip driving into the car park ..... and when blessed with the presence of a senior manager or going to another site with a client I didn't want them to have scrape the kids McDonald's off the seat first.

What I couldn't control was where it was serviced & the quality of parts & tires used.... as were all on contract accounts.

I've also know guys who are '000 s of miles over service times and almost having to be threatened with consequences if they didn't get it done or only coming to light after being nicked for a tyre, speeding, bulb out etc.

So I'm sure your relative will know long standing customers..... whose mileage and vehicle condition they can probably almost predict along with their service history.

Over the years I have enquired a couple of times to buy my vehicle at the end of the lease.... I would call the price competitive not mind blowing cheap..... but of course I knew every mile it had done.

Hope helps

Phil


Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

[Scoops]

I would echo Vintage's comments in that the cars in our fleet are looked after - have main dealer servicing, have manufacturer recommended tyres fitted and so on. As the only Lexus in the fleet, it has been solely serviced and tyre changed at my local Lexus dealer. There will be many abused examples out there but then I guess you just need to be careful and get the facts about the vehicle before spending any money.