UKC

Looking at my first company car. I'm clear on the tax and finance situations, but I could do with some tips on the rest.

I've been told to look at 1+35 deals, but it's hard to find prices online (which would be useful to narrow my search). At the Audi garage today I was told asking for 1+35 was rare with 3 or 6 +35 more normal. Is this true?

Any tips on useful search sites - there are thousands out there.

How do you do the negotiating. In my case I have a use it or loose it minimum spend. Do I just go in and ask what the best they can give me, or do you keep that to yourself and then try and haggle. Afterall, when you buy a new car you don't walk in and say I've got £40k what can you give me.

Finally, anyone got anything bad to say about the Audi A5 sportback (probably 177 tdi).

In reply to Philip:

I've had cars on 1+35 but I think our current ones are on 3+33 so we pay the higher initial amount but the payments stop three months before the car goes back. The key thing is that, for a three year lease they like to slip in more than 36 payments so that their quoted monthly price looks better. Also, are you getting them to include all maintenance and tyres?

I think the first thing is to have good idea of what a reasonable price is so you need to get a few quotes (on exactly the same basis) from different sources and maybe for different cars. For actually haggling, the key thing is to have some options then play one off against another.

Telling them your budget can be useful later on if their best offer is still above your budget but I'd be wary of using it too soon.

In reply to Philip:
It's been a few years since I bought a company car but back then as soon as you said 'company fleet car' the price came down substantially. No idea why unless they were hoping that by giving a good deal on one they would get repeat business.

In reply to Philip:

So my day job is selling cars to businesses.

A 1+35 contract is rare, a 3+35 is far more common but the question is who told you to ask for a 1+35 and why? I do deal with companies that specifically ask for 1+35 contracts and they have reasons for it. If it's your employer who's told you to go for 1+35 then don't try to buck the trend.

You will find it a lot easier to find 3+35 quotes on the internet so if you want to compare quotes then get people to quote on both 1+35 and 3+35 that way you will satisfy your boss and be able to cross check prices.

I believe Audi finance works on a limited commission structure for the dealer. Audi UK set the prices and the dealer can build in up to £600 commission into the finance. That should mean any dealer you go to shouldn't be more than about £15 per month different than each other. That is if ones claiming the full commission available and another is claiming nothing.

You will occasionally find brokers that can offer deals on the vehicles that are better than the manufacturers, when you find these it's usually a case that one of their finance companies has bought in masses of stock and are needing to clear it.

Best thing you can do is chose the spec of the car you want and get a quote. If it's less than your budget start adding options(and be prepared to pay more company car tax), if it's more than your budget start removing options or drop a trim level or engine size.

The rough rule of thumb I work to is £1000 of options is about £30 per month.

In terms of useful sites... Contracthireandleasing.com has millions of offers, it's also full of chaff you need to sort through.

Sorry if that makes no sense, it's been a long day so far.

Mark

In reply to monkeymark:

I was told to look for 1+35 by my MD - it's what the local lease firm usually offer us and apparently they're generally competitive and of the 6 existing directors, their cars most have come from this company most times in the 3 sets of leases I've been there while they've had.

I'm not concerned about going over my allowance, I need 20k miles pa so I'm going to have to pay a reasonable amount. I don't want the garage knowing that.

I've seen the model I want for £309 on 10k on 6+35. Recalculating to 36 months instead of 41 payments and using 4p/mile as a rough guide for the extra puts it about where I want to be.

Should I expect much of a saving for a garage turning over stock - I'm not bothered about colour - over an online price?