Latest news with #carpurchase
The Independent
5 days ago
- Automotive
- The Independent
Think electric cars are expensive? My new EV costs me less than a couple of posh coffees a day
When new car time came around in the Fowler household, the Vauxhall Grandland wouldn't have been at the top of our list. We'd decided to buy an EV, and my wife had her sights set on the new Renault Scenic – although I was trying to persuade her that the Renault 5 would be more up her street. But as with any big purchase, saving cash is always high on the agenda. And it's amazing how attractive things can look when they're cheap – finding a new car for less than the cost of a couple of coffees a day was too good a deal to ignore. Our previous family car was a Peugeot 2008, which cost us around £190 per month, and before that we had a Citroen C3 Aircross. Neither were our first choice, but both were boosted by great leasing deals. Leasing is simple: you pay a deposit, have an agreed monthly payment, a defined term and a strict mileage limit. At the end of the deal, you just hand the car back and go again. There's no chance to buy the car and own it. Why would you want to? You just head to the leasing websites again, check out the latest deals and see what's on offer. This is where it gets interesting. You'd be amazed at the cars you see pop up on these leasing sites for not much cash each month. So how do they do it? Car makers often have stock to shift. They might have made promises to head office to take a certain number of cars in a certain spec. They might need to keep cars rolling off production lines – it's really expensive to stop or even slow production – or they might need to sell more EVs to avoid fines under the government's ZEV mandate. Sticking it on the leasing sites with a low monthly price is a great way to sell cars. As you can imagine, deals come and go quickly. Once targets are hit, prices go up. It wasn't long before the bargain Scenics we saw on offer but weren't ready to lease yet (we didn't want to pay for two cars at the same time) disappeared. Keep in mind that there are some hidden costs to consider, like deposits and arrangement fees. And if you go over the agreed mileage, you'll have to pay extra, too. But in many cases, when you get your calculator out, leasing can work out way cheaper than a PCP, or 'personal contract purchase', one of the most popular financing options today for people who want more car for their money. Back to the Grandland, a car we're warming to, not least for its value. Our Grandland Electric in mid-spec GS trim has a list price of £38,255. The deal that's still currently on offer at (but could disappear any day) shows a deposit of £2,265.96, an arrangement fee of £349.99 and then 23 monthly payments of £188.83. That monthly payment means we're paying less each day than you might spend on a couple of posh coffees. And if you're a business owner and VAT registered, you can claim some of that tax back to make it even cheaper. This is no entry-level compromise, either. The GS is very nicely kitted out with a 16in infotainment screen that seamlessly blends into a 10in driver display, heated seats and steering wheel, wireless Apple CarPlay, adaptive cruise control, ambient lighting inside and fancy matrix-beam LED lighting on the outside, with the Vauxhall badge on the front and wording on the back all cleverly illuminated at night. It's close to a luxury car. We didn't get a choice of colour, but the white paint with the black roof looks good. And the the 77kWh battery gives a claimed range of 319 miles, although we charged to 100 per cent and the readout said 327 miles. We've no complaints about efficiency so far. Nearly three weeks into ownership, we haven't had to plug in again after its initial charge. And with our last car going back with 8,400 miles on it, we're unlikely to be bothered by the 5,000 mile limit for each of the two years we'll 'own' the Grandland. And for anyone who thinks EVs are expensive to insure, the Grandland is cheaper than the petrol Peugeot 2008 we had before. We got £194 back on our insurance for the six months left to run by swapping in the Peugeot for the Vauxhall. Vauxhall obviously has a few EVs to shift, but the Grandland is the cheapest (and best) of the lot. Electric Mokkas and Astras are also currently showing as under £200 a month (plus deposit) on The only other models that come in cheaper than the Grandland are the budget Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03 – making the Vauxhall even more of a steal – while the Peugeot 2008 is the only other electric car under £200 at £199. Bargains just over the £200 mark currently include the brilliant Citroen eC3 and eC3 Aircross, the smaller-battery Renault 5 and the MG4 – but that all changes quickly. acts like a comparison site for leasing brokers, but you can go direct to the brokers themselves, too. is one of the better known, not least as it sponsors Reading FC who play in the Select Car Leasing stadium. Window shopping on the leasing sites can be addictive. For me it's become a hobby – I'm often swapping links to new deals with pals, seeing what we could get for not a whole lot of cash. If two years and 5,000 miles doesn't suit you, you can play around with the numbers on the leasing sites to see how moving the mileage and deposits changes the monthly payments. You can work with smaller deposits, but obviously the monthly payments will go up. Regular visitors to these sites will also learn much about the dynamics at play in the car business, seeing who has spare stock to sell and when. And there are some great deals on premium models, too: the brilliant Volkswagen ID.7 is often under £300 a month. BMWs can be very cheap, Lotus Eletres were on sale a while back and Polestars can be pretty tempting at times. Window shopping on the leasing sites can be addictive. For me it's become a hobby – I'm often swapping links to new deals with pals, seeing what we could get for not a whole lot of cash. EVs are popular on leasing sites as car makers rush to hit their ZEV mandate targets, and you may well see real desperation towards the end of the year as car makers rush to get credits or avoid fines. But there are plenty of excellent hybrids and petrol models available too. The British-built Nissan Qashqai is a regular amongst the bargains, as Nissan balances the need to keep the Sunderland factory flowing with the need to make money. Leasing may not be right for everyone. My advice is to think hard about what you need, how you'll use it and how you want to pay. Always have a budget in mind and stick to it – it's very easy to be persuaded to pay more to get something just a little bit nicer. If you're a deal hunter like me, it pays to not be fussy. That way you can end up with something that's still really nice, but at a price that have friends' jaws dropping at the dinner table. In the meantime, the Fowlers will be rolling around in a rather lovely and extremely cheap Vauxhall Grandland, counting down the days until I can jump online and grab another bargain.
Khaleej Times
29-05-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
UAE: Man loses Dh27,000 after WhatsApp screenshots fail to prove car purchase
A man who filed a lawsuit to recover Dh27,000 he paid for a car has had his case dismissed by the Abu Dhabi Family, Civil, and Administrative Claims Court. The court found he failed to provide clear evidence of a legal sale, especially since the vehicle was mortgaged to a bank and later taken back by the seller while the man was outside the UAE. According to the court documents reported by Emarat Al Youm, the buyer claimed to have paid Dh16,265 via bank transfer and Dh10,735 in cash after agreeing on a price with the seller. He said the seller promised to transfer ownership, but later discovered the car was under a bank loan. When he returned from travel, he found the car had been taken back. The court found that the man's WhatsApp screenshots, an unclear copy of the vehicle registration, and six untranslated bank transfers were not sufficient to prove a formal agreement. It stated that the bank transfers did not by themselves prove a sale and described the plaintiff's claims as "unsupported and unsubstantiated." The court also rejected his demand for Dh5,000 in compensation for damages and loss of income, saying there was no evidence of a mistake or wrongdoing by the seller. Since there was no confirmed sale and no legal responsibility proven, the court dismissed the case and ordered the plaintiff to pay all legal costs.
Sky News
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- Sky News
Money Problem: 'Arnold Clark offered me a coffee cup for a £230 mistake'
Every Tuesday our Money blog team answers your Money Problems. You can email yours to moneyblog@ Today, we are tackling this issue sent to us by Colette Masters... I changed cars on 19 March with Arnold Clark Renault Liverpool. The old car had finance to settle which was factored into the deal and the dealer was supposed to pay off the old finance. Four weeks later the finance company took a monthly payment for the old car. I complained to Arnold Clark and have been astounded by the lack of customer care in trying to find a resolution. My husband was told that they would see if they had a coffee cup or something lying around to give me as compensation. We were sorry to hear about your experience - you went into a lot more detail in your message and sent us all your correspondence with the dealership. Our first port of call on this was to see what Arnold Clark had to say. Its press team was responsive and escalated the complaint. Just under a week later, Arnold Clark provided us with this statement: "We've acknowledged the customer's concern and we're currently in the process of resolving their complaint. We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate their patience and understanding. "Our aim is to always provide customer service of the highest level and will continue to work with the customer to fully resolve this." Our team then caught up with you, Colette, and learned that they called to offer you a full refund on the overpayment. We could leave this one here, but it's obvious that companies shouldn't need a call from the media to sort these things out, and journalists can't look into every case that comes into our inbox. With that in mind, we asked Complaints Resolver Scott Dixon to run through what he would have done to find a resolution in this case. He wrote... Buying a second-hand car is likely to be the second biggest purchase you are ever likely to make, and it tops my inbox with the most complaints. The Financial Ombudsman Service received more than 68,000 complaints between October and December 2024, with car finance complaints up by 294% on the same time last year. Complaints range from mis-sold finance and faulty vehicles to disputes over rejection rights. A look at the Arnold Clark website shows how much it boasts about putting customers, and fairness first, but your account suggests that wasn't the case here. Here's what I would do in this situation: Step one: I would lodge a formal complaint to the CEO and other key officials. Search on LinkedIn and RocketReach, which is a search tool for finding key contacts in organisations. You can also look on Companies House or just do a simple Google search for the CEO's email address. They may not read it themselves, but in my experience, it often prompts action. Send all additional correspondence as attachments with a bullet-point timeline so they can clearly see how this has unfolded and explain how badly you have been treated. Cross-reference your experience to the promises on the firm's website. A coffee cup isn't going to cut it. I would seek a written apology acknowledging the poor handling and dire customer service, and a full refund of £230 paid due to Arnold Clark failing to settle the finance on time. Ask for a detailed breakdown and confirmation of what has been paid as a settlement figure to the finance company, as there appear to be some discrepancies and misunderstandings, so you know that everything has been settled as agreed. You also want an assurance that no adverse credit reports have been made due to their negligence and incompetence. State that you want a resolution within 14 days from the date of your letter. Step two: Contact your lenders. I would contact both lenders and explain what has happened, and ask that they do not record any missed payments or defaults from this case. Step three: Check your credit file in a couple of months to make sure that everything is in good order and no errors or defaults have been made. If any errors have been made, ask for a "Notice of Correction" to be put on your credit file to explain it in more detail to help lenders understand the background if it's incorrect. Step four: Leave reviews online and report to Trading Standards. I would leave a review on Google Reviews to warn others and report this dealership to Trading Standards. This feature is not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about.
Telegraph
06-05-2025
- Automotive
- Telegraph
Ask the expert: Why must we pay a higher rate of car tax?
Dear Alex, When we ordered our Toyota RAV4 in 2022, we had intended to get a 4x4 model, but in the end opted for a two-wheel-drive to bring the new cost below £40,000 and thereby be liable for the lower road tax. The car was eventually delivered 13 months after the order was placed; our dealer honoured the original price, due to delays caused by the war in Ukraine. One year after delivery we were charged vehicle excise duty (VED) by the DVLA at the higher rate. Both Toyota and the DVLA say nothing can be done because the list price at the time of delivery was indeed over £40,000. If so, we would surely have specified the car with four-wheel drive as originally intended. Is this right? – AC Dear AC, You have been caught out by a loophole in the current car tax (VED) laws, which an increasing number of drivers are also experiencing. What's happened is that you ordered the car at one price, yet by the time it has been delivered, Toyota adjusted its prices to keep pace with inflation, taking the list price for your model over the £40,000 'luxury tax' threshold. A manufacturer increasing the list price while a car is on order is, of course, nothing new. Usually, it's dealt with by the dealer applying a discount to bring the price down to the amount agreed when the car was ordered. However, the rules are very clear about which price your car's tax rate is to be based on – it's the list price at the time of delivery. In other words, the price you agree when you order the car is irrelevant to the DVLA. And while it will happily take optional extras into account if they bump that list price above the £40,000 threshold, it won't do the same with discounts that take the price below it. For example, if you order a car costing £39,000 but its list price is £41,000 by the time it's delivered, you'll still be taxed at the higher rate – even if the dealer takes off £2,000 to match the price you agreed. And there is nothing you can do about it, I'm afraid. It's just one more unintended consequence of the current, rather daft new car VED system. For any other readers hoping to order a car whose list price falls just below the £40,000 threshold, yours is a salutary tale.
