Car Lease News Today

Figures released by the AA have revealed that less that 5% of drivers do not wear seatbelts and one in 20 could be thrown through their windshield should they have to make an emergency stop.

Observers for the firm found when watching roundabouts and junction throughout the country almost 40,000 vehicles where drivers were not wearing seatbelts.

On top of this almost 10% of all traffic was judged to be going too fast when negotiating the junction, AA President Edmund King said: “AA Streetwatch observations show that 5% of drivers are still not wearing a seatbelt despite this contributing to 30% of road deaths.

“Many of those un-belted were taxi and van drivers who should be aware that they are potentially more at risk due to their higher mileage. It is of great concern that 5% of drivers still haven’t got the ‘cluck,click every trip’ message.”

Surveys conducted before the actual investigation found that over 80% of AA members expected there to be 5% of people using mobile phones whilst in control of a vehicle. However the actual results reflected that less than 0.23% of people were using phones without ‘adequate’ hands free provisions.

Across the pond in the US schemes have been implemented in schools to make people aware of the dangers that are faced by distracted driver. Back in the UK vehicle leasing and contract hire firms warned how warranty, insurance and any leasing agreement would be voided should a driver be caught or involved in an accident where they were on a mobile phone or not wearing a seatbelt.

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Ironically last year we talked about the increase in Vat and would it harm the car industry as a whole. Results showed a good start to last year followed by a down turn, probably due to the new government and the worry of lost jobs and economy.  Well here we are gain with another hike in the VAT, so business lease together with a make of car with low depreciation seems to be the order of the day. Mercedes offers options in this area, first they have a range of low emission vehicles and even through some bad times when the quality of build was questioned, Mercedes still held its own on the depreciation stakes. 

Of course if you are a business owner, and many Mercedes drivers are, the increase in VAT will make little difference as you can claim 50% of it back, although the private lease market may be different.  So Mercedes car lease is likely to remain popular and in fact may be the driving force within Mercedes new car sales this year.  If new car sales drop, like they did 2 years ago, then used values will rise, which again will keep those Mercedes car lease monthly payments down. If there is going to be a survivor, Mercedes is likely to be it.

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Normally after the traditional 3 year lease doing around 30,000 miles, these cars find themselves as prime stock on used car forecourts up and down the country, but with changing car leasing habits this stock could now dry up according to an article by Automotive news. This is because many companies including public sector organisations are now extending their car leasing contracts to 4 years and average mileage of 21,000 miles being quoted. so when these cars become available they no longer represent the bread and butter options they used to. The article goes on to say that Ford and Vauxhall are now losing out more to German cars, including Volkswagen. You can read the full article by AM online based at the used car conference.

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It has been announced that Macquarie will offering Lease within its Honda dealerships throughout Australia. This is a partnership that will allow Macquarie to offer many financial services to help the Honda buyer and leasing customers.There is ahope that this help Hond customers throughout, especially Honda car lease . A small article published by Automotive Business news.

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Uncertainty does 2 things, either it prevents a decision or any decision is a safe one.  That is the theory that many business owners who are thinking about renewing their current vehicle is facing at the moment. The uncertainly of leadership in the country, as we write together with what tax obligations everyone will have in next 5 years, will either put the lease buyer off, or maybe convert a car buyer into a contract hire purchaser in order to keep money in the business.

To add to the uncertainty parties are not talking much about individual industries or markets, just a better Britain a they put it. So will each party see the motor indusrty, something to be invested in, or will we do what we have done since the 60’s, just allow it to be controlled by the economy, hence no real British owned factories anymore.

So the contract hire business like many others we suppose will sit and wait to see how the business owner and consumer will react to what might be a new part and a new chapter in British politics. We can’t remember when political decisions made such a big difference in purchase decisions and the car lease industry  will hope that leasing will be norm and buying second.

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Many choose car lease because it keeps money in the business and there are some benefits of claim vat back as well as other costs. But there are rules that determine what amount of VAT you can claim back, for example do you use your lease car for work or both work and pleasure.

The difference is being able to claim back 50% of VAT of 100%. The simplest way to figure out is your company car for business or both is, where is your lease car parked at night? If you or an employee takes that vehicle home at night, it will be declared as a vehicle used for both personal and business use even if the car is parked and brought back to work. This is because the journey to and from a fixed place for work, is deemed as personal use.

It is important to find out what your VAT liabilities and benefits are before entering any car lease or contract hire deal, as many liabilities are in place to ensure the company car does not become a free perk.

You can find out more from the Governments own pages on company cars and VAT

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For VAT registered businesses the reaturn from 15% to 17.5% should not make any difference, considering they should be able to claim the vat back on monthly payments if the CO2 emmission of the car is low enough. But there may be a question on how the current price increase of cars in general 2.5% more, will effect the motor trade as a whole and the underlying residual values of the vehicle you may be wanting to lease.

Car lease prices are not seperated from the private buyer. In better words is there are plenty used cars to go around, then residual values drop and so monthly car lease premiums go up. If there is a shortage of used cars the opposite occurs. The availability of used cars is directly erlated to the sale of new ones and the amount of trade ins the dealerships get to dispose of.

In simple terms if the increase in VAT slows down new car sales again, it is likely that used prices will remain high or even rise further, pushing down car lease premiums.

For private lease searchers there may be no benefits, as private purchases have to pay full vat and so monthly premiums are set to rise. but business owners may get an even better deal on business lease should new sales slow down again.  Of course the scrappage scheme has been extended so, this will stimulate new car sales, but we are finding it is the cheap korean cars that are benefitting the most form this, not the typical Audi, BMW executive market.

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Here is a new way to sell your car car products, stick them on You Tube and claim these products will reduce your car lease penalties when you return your car. These products are designed to remove scratches and make your leased car look lilke it has just come from the showroom, rather than returning it there. It is a good and unique idea and possibly true, although I doubt any real damage will be covered up and I would suppose that teh residual value of the vehicle would have been calculated with normal usage in mind, not a perfect car. Any way here is the footage. Even if you do not buy this stuff, maybe you should consider waht condition you will be returning your leased car.

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What a great video taking the mick out of Americans stating they need training on how to use lings website. This will be posted around the globe and great marketing tool for the mad china women (her words not ours). This is something other car lease companies need to emulate, and porbably quite simple with animation. Of course ling became semi famous with here appearance on Dragons Den and her claims to have the cheapest car lease deals in the country ( abrave claim, subject to challenges). Anyone who is tarhet online car lease leads will need to treat lings cars with respect as the marketing is creative and fun. An alternative to lings cars is Leasebam, which does not publish prices, but allows real people quote with real prices. not as much fun but more business like for those who want to save time, save money and have  a little more sanity in their business arrangements.

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There is 2 ways to buy car lease, either direct from the official brand dealership or from broker. Both can have different benefits depending on the deals at the time. You would assume that the car dealersip who buys the cars would and should always have the best car lease deals, but that isn’t always so. Often a car lease broker can buy a car from the same dealership add his commission and then get a finance comapny to underwrite certain cars cheaper than the main dealer. Often this is because dealerships are controlled by national conditions and prices and have to use certain finance companies to get kick backs, where the small broker company can find finance cheaper and pass those deals on to the consumer. It is ironic that some main dealers will lend out cars to brokers for shows and business fairs.

However when a main dealer wants to deliver a lease deal, they often then can’t be beat. After all they have the ability to reduce the retail price of the car first, then throw in cheaper serviceing etc, however for some makes this rarely happens. There are certain makes though, that have too many cars in storage and the dealers are instructed to give whatever deal they can to assure sales, in this case brokers struggle to be competitive.

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