Your opinions - XC90 2015 trade in or extend?

[hrp123]

Originally Posted by soupytwister

Absolutely 100% correct. The dealers/finance companies will be able to get cars with large discounts from Volvo on some occasions that the man on the street wouldn't be able to get - hence why you often get some unbelievable lease deals from time to time.

My 2019 Volvo S60 R-Design launch model I have leased for 18 months. It is £289/month with no upfront payment - so £5200 over 18 months with VED paid, warranty, etc. I think the car has got a £45k list price (I have no idea really - I just fancied it!). There is no way if I'd bought it for £45k cash new that I'd be able to trade it in for £40k after 18 months I'm unlikely to need to buy any new tyres/brakes etc, and the warranty items have all been covered free. So a nice easy fixed payment every month worry free. OK, perhaps someone can find a cheaper way, but it's just easier....bit like an iPhone contract. However, with an iPhone many people seem more than happy to pay £50/month for a £1000 phone!! I'm paying £289/month for a £45,000 car!! Which is better value

For the cash buyers out there, you'd have "less to show for it" after 18 months! Especially if your circumstances changed and you needed to sell it. With a lease, you can end it early and the penalty is 50% of the remaining payments. Is an easy "out".

I have 6 months out of the 18 months to go. I would just have to pay £289 x 50% x 6 payments to pay. So I simply phone up the finance house, hand it back to a guy who comes and collects it from my driveway, he drives it off, and I walk away. No WeBuyAnyCar, no dealers to sell to, no tyre kickers, no auto trader, etc etc.

With 6 months to go, I could take a hit of less than £900 to walk away from a £45k car hassle free...which in these crazy times, is an option that's nice to have!

** obviously we're talking about new/nearly new cars here so best not compare merits of a 6 yr old car in comparison to a shiny new whizzy up to date fancy technology car. Clearly driving around in a 20 yr old V70 Torslanda will (probably) work out cheaper Bangeromics is a matter for another thread (and one I also love having done that for years too!).

Wow, that sounds like a good deal. I didn't even realise they do 18 month deals. So would this explain some of the 18 month old cars that you sometimes see on the dealers lots with 10-15K on them. They always say these are ex-Volvo cars... but I do wonder how Volvo UK has such a big fleet that they can have so many 1-2 year old cars being auctioned off.

[hrp123]

Originally Posted by soupytwister

Depends how quickly you want it. If you want something in the next 2 weeks, likely to already be in the UK and be standard options. My XC90 lease was already "pre-ordered" and on the dealer's pre-order books but it was still 2-3 months away so I was able to factory spec it just before it actually got built (you can change spec up to a month or two before build date). All dealers have orders on the books they pre-order which they match up to buyers - there's usually plenty of "orders" which haven't yet been allocated so you just need to find a dealer with an unallocated order and spec it how you want it - getting quotes on Carwow usually sniffs them out.

However, no point speccing up a lease car. You pay full price on the options - ie, if its £2500 for a full sunroof, you pay £2500/24 months if a 2 year lease. You're paying the full price for an option over the term of the lease period. Not good at all. It works out cheaper to go for the absolute top model with all the options baked into the purchase price and lease that - will work out cheaper.

It's all a bit of a game really....eyes need to be fully open!

Just remember - you're in the driving seat (so to speak!). Plenty of cars out there. Plenty of dealers wanting ££. Don't suffer any "dealer speak" and sharp intakes of breath from them. In this day and age, it's no different from an item on a supermarket shelf It's a product to be sold. You shouldn't be made to feel "privileged" to be able to buy one of their lovely cars However, just like anyone, they need their cut and deserve some of your ££ to do a deal. Just take a look at the BCA auction site - absolutely stacks of 1-3 year old XC90's going through auction every week - probably mostly ex-lease.

Ah yes, same point I was speculating about in the last post... having spoken to 15-20 dealers the past week, I'm amazed how few actually seem keen to chase my business. Not sure if it is due to short staffing, or enough business on their books... but a good few dealers said they would call back and never did.

Even the used Volvo search site is cumbersome to use - and if you put an enquiry on a specific car, the dealer doesn't get the details of the car you asked about!

On the new cars, there are some 2020 edition and 2021 editions sitting unregistered... they are using 20% Friends and Family discounts to try and push the 2020 models but you get a very minimal manufacturer contribution and I think a 4.9% APR... but it still does work out slightly cheaper than the normal dealer discounts and 0%.

[soupytwister]

Originally Posted by hrp123

Ah yes, same point I was speculating about in the last post... having spoken to 15-20 dealers the past week, I'm amazed how few actually seem keen to chase my business. Not sure if it is due to short staffing, or enough business on their books... but a good few dealers said they would call back and never did.

Even the used Volvo search site is cumbersome to use - and if you put an enquiry on a specific car, the dealer doesn't get the details of the car you asked about!

On the new cars, there are some 2020 edition and 2021 editions sitting unregistered... they are using 20% Friends and Family discounts to try and push the 2020 models but you get a very minimal manufacturer contribution and I think a 4.9% APR... but it still does work out slightly cheaper than the normal dealer discounts and 0%.

So long as you’re speaking to them by phone. I think they get so many emails and prospective enquiries that they only go with “serious” enquiries. If you make it clear you’re about to spend the £££ they tend to become a bit more interested. I think anyway. Maybe it’s changed....

[hrp123]

Originally Posted by soupytwister

So long as you’re speaking to them by phone. I think they get so many emails and prospective enquiries that they only go with “serious” enquiries. If you make it clear you’re about to spend the £££ they tend to become a bit more interested. I think anyway. Maybe it’s changed....

Yeah mostly been speaking to them on the phone... maybe they have all hit their September sales targets!

[soupytwister]

Originally Posted by hrp123

Yeah mostly been speaking to them on the phone... maybe they have all hit their September sales targets!

One dealer I spoke to had hit their targets for September a few weeks ago.

[Cull06]

Originally Posted by hrp123

Ah yes, same point I was speculating about in the last post... having spoken to 15-20 dealers the past week, I'm amazed how few actually seem keen to chase my business. Not sure if it is due to short staffing, or enough business on their books... but a good few dealers said they would call back and never did.
.

Dealers make their money by Mr Jones walking in and saying he wants x car, sort it out for him.

The moment you start getting competing quotes you start driving down what little margin is left for the individual salesman and they quickly lose interest.

This always happens to me to be fair. I’m a buyer for a living. I have however found the likes of Carwow good for this. Though less so for the premium brands.

[techwatcher]

Originally Posted by hrp123

They always say these are ex-Volvo cars... but I do wonder how Volvo UK has such a big fleet that they can have so many 1-2 year old cars being auctioned off.

My understanding is that all the car manufacturers run large fleets of cars, typically offered either as company cars or as lease cars to their employees with hefty discounts. They all count as 'sales'.

Some Volvo registered cars are off-loaded quite quickly. We bought our previous XC60 at 6 months old with 5000 mikes at a decent discount.

My slight bugbear is ex-Volvo cars being labelled 'ex Volvo management'. Volvo doesn't have THAT many managers!

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by soupytwister

Absolutely 100% correct. The dealers/finance companies will be able to get cars with large discounts from Volvo on some occasions that the man on the street wouldn't be able to get - hence why you often get some unbelievable lease deals from time to time.

My 2019 Volvo S60 R-Design launch model I have leased for 18 months. It is £289/month with no upfront payment - so £5200 over 18 months with VED paid, warranty, etc. I think the car has got a £45k list price (I have no idea really - I just fancied it!). There is no way if I'd bought it for £45k cash new that I'd be able to trade it in for £40k after 18 months I'm unlikely to need to buy any new tyres/brakes etc, and the warranty items have all been covered free. So a nice easy fixed payment every month worry free. OK, perhaps someone can find a cheaper way, but it's just easier....bit like an iPhone contract. However, with an iPhone many people seem more than happy to pay £50/month for a £1000 phone!! I'm paying £289/month for a £45,000 car!! Which is better value

For the cash buyers out there, you'd have "less to show for it" after 18 months! Especially if your circumstances changed and you needed to sell it. With a lease, you can end it early and the penalty is 50% of the remaining payments. Is an easy "out".

I have 6 months out of the 18 months to go. I would just have to pay £289 x 50% x 6 payments to pay. So I simply phone up the finance house, hand it back to a guy who comes and collects it from my driveway, he drives it off, and I walk away. No WeBuyAnyCar, no dealers to sell to, no tyre kickers, no auto trader, etc etc.

With 6 months to go, I could take a hit of less than £900 to walk away from a £45k car hassle free...which in these crazy times, is an option that's nice to have!

** obviously we're talking about new/nearly new cars here so best not compare merits of a 6 yr old car in comparison to a shiny new whizzy up to date fancy technology car. Clearly driving around in a 20 yr old V70 Torslanda will (probably) work out cheaper Bangeromics is a matter for another thread (and one I also love having done that for years too!).

I thought x amount of payments had to be paid upfront as a deposit, then an agreed monthly fee going forward. You got yourself a great deal there! £289 per month for a £45k car with literally no hassle is brilliant.

Is it a personal lease that you've got, so there's no VAT in addition to the monthly premium? I'm aware that a vehicle that's leased for business purposes on a business lease means VAT needs to be paid.

[soupytwister]

Originally Posted by Kev0607

I thought x amount of payments had to be paid upfront as a deposit, then an agreed monthly fee going forward. You got yourself a great deal there! £289 per month for a £45k car with literally no hassle is brilliant.

Is it a personal lease that you've got, so there's no VAT in addition to the monthly premium? I'm aware that a vehicle that's leased for business purposes on a business lease means VAT needs to be paid.

Yes, personal lease and the £289 includes the VAT. Lease deals can be varied in terms of the monthly payment. The total amount is the same overall so just depends how you want to spread the payments. Doing a 9 month deposit just means your monthly cost is less. 1 month deposit and the monthly amount is more.

[Begonia]

I run an XC90 Inscription and have worked out, that it costs me around £8k in depreciation and swapping costs per annum to do so. That's if I change it every 4 yrs.

I really do look after it and it will be utterly immaculate when I change it, I would also load it up with an Extended Warranty, for as long as I can get when I come to sell it on. Why do I do the extended warranty?

Well, having a good vehicle warranty puts me ahead of other private sellers who are without one. Of course, it's of ZERO VALUE to a Volvo Dealership.

I will be selling it on myself using Autotrader and my competition on there will be other Volvo dealers as well as private sellers. I find the creation of my own advert on there to be relatively straightforward as one can generally plagiarise the advert wording for one's own vehicle from the wordings of similar other ones on there. My car will have everything needed to halp make it a really good deal for someone and i will also get a good price. A better price than part exchange too. When I buy, i am a completely independent cash buyer and will travel to get the best deal possible from a Volvo dealer.

So for me, it's all about, "How much does it cost to swap? and "How much does it cost me to run a new car for 4 yrs?" These questions are pretty much identical when you do the proper calculations.

Hope that helps you crystallise and sort out your own thoughts and plans on this important purchase.