[Boo34]

Hi all,

After many years of company cars, I'm thinking of opting out of the car scheme and taking an allowance. This will allow me a greater choice of car than the limited list the company offer.

It's a buyers market and there are seemingly some nearly-new bargains around at the mo.

I reackon I'll have a monthly budget of around £600 to spend but I'm a bit confused as to the best way to finance this ie straight loan or PCP etc? 3rd party finance or BMW's own?

In my mind, I won't miss £600/month as my take home pay will be almost unaffected - so I can treat the cost almost as a lease, just budget a little for maintanance etc.

So, I'm after paying a minimum deposit (say £2.5K) and £600/month - what's the max purchase price I could aim for?

P.S. Which car to pick is totally different quandary - I do around 25K miles per year so am erring towards a 5 or even a nearly new 7? Decisions decisions....

[dxb335d]

If 600 quid aint nothing to your pay packet. Save up a bigger deposit than 2.5k.

[M3-FAST]

Have you thought about the leasing option?

We lease our work cars and if you get the right deal can work out OK.

We have a Lexus Is220d multimedia on 30k miles pa - that works out fully maintained to £550 per month. I know you don't want a lexus but gives you an idea on costs. We have also leased a couple of new shape Citroen C5's 2.0HDi for £200 per month inc vat each on a 10k pa option!! They were on a special deal and a lot of car for the money.

Just an option to maybe consider and no worries about future re-sale values.

This firm has some good special offers - got BMW 320D se coupe's with leather for £350+vat. You will have to add some on for the extra mileage though. http://www.smartlease.co.uk/specialoffers1.html

[Boo34]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

If 600 quid aint nothing to your pay packet. Save up a bigger deposit than 2.5k.

It perhaps came across wrong - £600 is a combination of the saving I'd make by not having to pay a benefit in kind tax on my company car / fuel card and what's left of the additional car allowance payment I'd receive after I'd paid my income tax on it.

So while £600 is a significant wedge of cash - I'd still end up taking the same amount home each month as I'm used to.

What I don't want to do is shell out a particularly big deposit, or be significantly worse off each month than I am at present.

[Boo34]

Originally Posted by redE93cab

Have you thought about the leasing option?

We lease our work cars and if you get the right deal can work out OK.

We have a Lexus Is220d multimedia on 30k miles pa - that works out fully maintained to £550 per month. I know you don't want a lexus but gives you an idea on costs. We have also leased a couple of new shape Citroen C5's 2.0HDi for £200 per month inc vat each on a 10k pa option!! They were on a special deal and a lot of car for the money.

Just an option to maybe consider and no worries about future re-sale values.

This firm has some good special offers - got BMW 320D se coupe's with leather for £350+vat. You will have to add some on for the extra mileage though. http://www.smartlease.co.uk/specialoffers1.html

Thanks for the reply Red,

Yes, I did think of leasing but having seen some of the second hand deals around at present (£30K buys a decent spec '57 plate 535d msport, or low mileage '08 plate 730d sport) I was thinking of going down this route?

I will have another look though - as the fully maintained aspect appeals.

[marriedblonde]

With BMW finance you'll easily get a car costing around £31K with a sub £600 monthly payment and £2.5K deposit. So look at cars in the £35/36K bracket that you can do a deal on.

J.

[gIzzE]

You need to speak to an indipendant broker, BMW finance rates are laughable at the moment as they are in serious crap.


How many miles a year do you do??
This makes a big difference to both the rate and what sort of car you want to be in.



Just put someone onto the person I use at Lombard to fund a 911, he bought a 2005 911 C2S with all the toys for £36k, he put £3k down and funded the Porsche over 36 months at £598 a month with a balloon of £16k.


So something like a 57 plate M3 at £35k would be about the same.

You could get into an 07 plate 335i for about £23k with teh right options on it and sub 20k miles on the clock.

Do that over 36 months for £630 a month
48 months for £488
60 months for £400

Or, do it over 36 months for £400 a month with a 9k balloon at the end.


So a few options.


But need to know what car you are looking at as that makes more difference than purchase price.
A year old 750i costing £80k is only a little more to fund a year old 120d M-Sport to fund at the moment as you can bag the 7 series for around £25k and it will still be worth £12k in 3 years, where as the 120d is £20k and worth around £10k after 3 years.

Also, spend £35k on a new 325d M-Sport and it will loose £22k+ over 3 years, buy the year old M3 at £35k and it will loose only £10-15k.

[gIzzE]

Also, put as little deposit in as possible, get the right funding and its cheap, so why tie your money up in it?

[Boo34]

Cheers for that....

I do about 25K miles per year - mostly long journeys up motorways.

I've had mine for two years and am fed up with the hard ride - it's fantastic on occasions but day-to-day it just isn't comfortable enough.

I'm erring towards the comfort of a 7, probably a low milage '08 730d sport - there's lots about for around £30K.

If I went 3rd party for the finance what sort of discounts do you think are achieveable at the moment?

Have you used Lombard alot? Would you recommend them?

Thanks for the advice......

[gIzzE]

Originally Posted by Boo34

Cheers for that....

I do about 25K miles per year - mostly long journeys up motorways.

I've had mine for two years and am fed up with the hard ride - it's fantastic on occasions but day-to-day it just isn't comfortable enough.

I'm erring towards the comfort of a 7, probably a low milage '08 730d sport - there's lots about for around £30K.

If I went 3rd party for the finance what sort of discounts do you think are achieveable at the moment?

Have you used Lombard alot? Would you recommend them?

Thanks for the advice......

I use Lombard all the time, I have a good relationship with them but my accounts manager left recently, however my personal bank manager took over which is a right bonus.


You are best to speak to a broker, someone like Gareth at Bespoke, he deals with this sort of thing all the time and will get you the best deal for your circumstances.

http://www.bespoke-auto.co.uk/bespoke-automotives

The 730d is a very, very nice car, I use one all the time, ours has 20" wheels and is still comfy. It is amazing the way it feels big and comfy on the motrway but still drives like a small saloon when pressing on.

Personally though I would find a 2007 car for closer to £20k as a £30k sport on an 08 plate will still loose £10k in year one.

[NFS]

Originally Posted by Boo34

Hi all,

After many years of company cars, I'm thinking of opting out of the car scheme and taking an allowance. This will allow me a greater choice of car than the limited list the company offer.

It's a buyers market and there are seemingly some nearly-new bargains around at the mo.

I reackon I'll have a monthly budget of around £600 to spend but I'm a bit confused as to the best way to finance this ie straight loan or PCP etc? 3rd party finance or BMW's own?

In my mind, I won't miss £600/month as my take home pay will be almost unaffected - so I can treat the cost almost as a lease, just budget a little for maintanance etc.

So, I'm after paying a minimum deposit (say £2.5K) and £600/month - what's the max purchase price I could aim for?

P.S. Which car to pick is totally different quandary - I do around 25K miles per year so am erring towards a 5 or even a nearly new 7? Decisions decisions....

I was in a very similar situation 3 years ago. At the time I decided to treat the car allowance separately from my 'normal' pay and spend it all on a car.

However, in hindsight I wish I had considered other options.

For instance with 25k miles a year you will kill most of the value of any car within 3 years. As a result most of your £600 will go on inflation. To avoid that you could consider getting a nice family car, which will hold value less due to lower mileage and something more unusal for work.

You also need to think about the costs to exit any deal in 1 year, 2 years and 3 years.

If you buy new remember that yr 1 depreciation is savage, which means that will probably not be able to sell and pay off the debt with the proceeds until year 3.

PCP deals are great value at the moment and remove the risk of residual values from you. At your mileage they will be expensive though. Work out the difference if you go for £10k miles a year and factor in the excess mileage charges. It will probably be cheaper.

Leasing again would be a good option, fixed costs, low risk etc.

I bought my car from new over 4 years on lease purchase with a very small deposit. I underestimated the cost to exit early, which hasn't been helped by the economic slump. Will probably keep the car to 2010 now, which is no bad thing.

If I was starting again from a blank slate I would buy used and definitely stick below £25k, not worth spending any more on a car that will be used as a tool and depreciate fast with high miles.

There are people I work with who bought cars for cash at circa £10k and have kept them for 4 or 5 years. Their car allowance is being spent on the mortgage or has funded buy to let properties etc.

Worth considering when a 55 plate e90 330i can be bought for £ 10k or less.

[NFS]

Originally Posted by Boo34

Cheers for that....

I do about 25K miles per year - mostly long journeys up motorways.

I've had mine for two years and am fed up with the hard ride - it's fantastic on occasions but day-to-day it just isn't comfortable enough.

I'm erring towards the comfort of a 7, probably a low milage '08 730d sport - there's lots about for around £30K.

If I went 3rd party for the finance what sort of discounts do you think are achieveable at the moment?

Have you used Lombard alot? Would you recommend them?

Thanks for the advice......

If you are looking for a 730d go I'd suggest you go for one around 2 years old. Should be no more than £20k and will still have 1 years full BMW warranty. Should cost no more than £5000 a year to run.

www.carshop.co.uk have are selling ex BMW lease cars on a sale or return basis.