Car Leasing News

Used Car Expert, the leading used car magazine, has undertaken an analysis of the depreciation of small family hatchbacks (1.6-litre petrol or comparable engine) and has discovered some interesting results. They looked at the resale value of three year old values against their new price, with 30,000 miles on the clock.

They found that many new car buyers will have lost up to 50% of their money in this time. Depreciation is never on most people’s minds when they buy a new car and this is why business car leasing is becoming more popular with many small businesses, as the risk around depreciation is with the vehicle leasing company.

• New car prices are an approximate guide price of the price paid for a new car 3 years ago

Accelerator problem fix

Following the recent recalls to the Toyota car range, work has already started on fixing the accelerator pedal issue and the Prius software problem. Toyota has 206 repair service centres and has the capacity ro repair 6,000 vehicles a day.

All the Toyota technicians have received the necessary training and parts are in stock to deal with the 180,865 vehicles in the UK that are affected. The Toyota service centres are also extending their opening hours to complete all recalls within a matter of weeks and the pedal repair takes no more than 30 minutes.

Steve Settle, Toyota GB Customer Services Director said,”We are doing everything we can to ensure our customer’s vehicles are attended to as promptly as possible. With the assistance of the DVLA and the commitment of all our centres, we have been able to launch a repair programme that is thorough,  efficient and effective in ensuring all the vehicles affected by the recall are fixed”.

Used Car Expert magazine has commented that with some Peugeot and Citroen models also sharing the same accelerator part as Toyota, and also in need of correcting, that manufacturer recalls also need to be included as part of any vehicle service history.

Magazine editor Matthew Turnbridge said,”The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VoSA) tells me that 9.36% of vehicles or components recalled last year never got repaired.  While this shocking statistic includes stolen vehicles and motors that have been scrapped or written off, what it does mean is that there’s a huge number of cars out there that haven’t had a faulty part fixed – for one reason or another, owners have not answered the recall”.  

If you ever want to check the state of play with any manufacturer recalls campagins then you can search at the VoSA site@ http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/default.asp . One of the added value benefits of having a maintained leased car is that the leasing company will usually be told by the manufacturer about any recalls and will notify you accordingly.

Autotrader.co.uk, the site to sell new and used cars, vans, caravans, motorhomes and motorbikes, has named their top ten Superminis as follows.

1. Ford Fiesta
2. Volkswagen Polo
3. Mini Cooper
4. Mazda2
5. Fiat 500
6. Toyota iQ
7. Vauxhall Corsa
8. Suzuki Swift
9. Nissan Micra
10. Renault Clio

Before you buy your next car it might be worth considering car leasing however, rather than face losing money over time as the car depreciates. Depreciation is the biggest cost in car ownership.

The green motoring website, cleangreencars.co.uk, has reported that the average CO2 of all new cars, registered in 2009, fell by 5.6% to 149.8g/km. This is a record 8.9g/km less than a year ago and continues the trend of falling CO2 emissions year on year.

There are now two manufacturers (whose range includes four seat models and not just two seat city cars) who have now met the EU 2012 target of producing all cars with an average CO2 of 130g/km. Both Toyota and (127.9g/km) and Fiat (129.7g/km) are leading the way with MINI in third at 131.7g/km. Hyundai also gets a mention in fourth place and Ford saved over 30,000 tonnes of CO2 in 2009.

Finding all available new production low CO2 cars at one source is always a chore, however try the Super Shopper where you can choose all manufacturers and set the CO2 ranges you are looking for. All models currently available will then be shown. 

The full report from cleangreencars.co.uk can be found at;

www.cleangreencars.co.uk/jsp/cgcmain.jsp?lnk=370

VW Polo

The new Volkswagen Polo has beaten six other finalists in the 2010 Car of The Year Award to scoop the top prize. The result was announced by Autocars’ Steve Cropley, who is one of the six UK based jurors and one of 59 senior car motoring experts from 23 European countries who make up the COTY jury.

The top 5 results are as follows;

1- Volkswagen Polo – 347 points.

2- Toyota iQ – 337 points.

3- Opel/Vauxhall Astra- 221 points.

4- Skoda Yeti – 158 points.

5- Mercedes-Benz E-Class - 155 points.

Contract hire prices are available on all the above makes and respective models now.

Prius PHV

Toyota Motor Corporation has confirmed the introduction of the new Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, a plug-in version of their third generation Prius petrol-electric hybrid vehicle. The Prius Plug-in Vehicle (PHV) will offer a great range on electric power only due to the usage of lithium-ion batteries.

Toyota plans to produce 600 units in Japan, USA and Europe with only 20 units coming to the UK initially by mid 2010. The Prius PHV car can be charged using an external power source such as a household electric outlet and is the first Toyota vehicle to be propelled by a lithium-ion battery. CO2 emissions for the Prius PHV are 59g/km (as per the New European Driving Cycle).

Plug-in Hybrid

The Prius PHVs cars will be leased to government ministries, local governments, corporations including utility companies, universities and research agencies for use in a vehicle demonstration programme. Data will be then be collected to be used in driving forward Toyota’s battery charging infrastucture.

Toyota Financial Services (UK) has announced the appointment of Doug Gillies as their new Managing Director with effect from the 1st November 2009. Mr Gillies replaces David Betteley who retired in October.

Mr Gillies worked in banking, early in his career, with Lloyds Bowmaker and also worked in the Lloyds Bowmaker/Toyota Finance joint venture before joining the new formed Toyota Financial Services (UK) PLC in 1998, where recently he was Operations Director.

Ichiro Kiyoshima, CEO and President TFS Europe and Africa Region said,”Under the leadership of Doug, I am confident TFSUK will continue to grow and will overcome the current difficult trading conditions facing our industry”.

New Land Cruiser

Toyota has launched their all-new Land Cruiser with a choice of three equipment grades, LC3, LC4 and LC5, all powered by a 170bhp 3.0-litre D-4D engine with five-speed automatic transmission.

This tough 4X4 off-roader has been engineered to perform in the toughest conditions yet manages to retain comfort for its passengers when travelling on normal roads. It is slightly larger than its predecessor and comes with a series of user friendly features to help a driver tackle even the most challenging routes.

The list includes, full-time all-wheel drive with Torsen limited slip differential, Multi-Terrain Select (MTS), Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (KDSS), Crawl Control (controlling braking and engine speed when off-road) and Active Traction Control (A-TRC) with ABS and Vehicle Stability Control.

The entry level LC3 comes with 17-inch alloy wheels, roof rails, fog lamps, climate control, cruise control, Bluetooth and Smart Entry and Start, so it is also highly equipped.

The UK’s top car leasing companies, operating nearly 900,000 cars have voted the BMW Group as the most reliable manufacturer. The survey was conducted by Fleet News and financial consultants Grant Thornton and covered 840,000 cars.

The car leasing companies were asked to assess the reliability according to the number of breakdowns per model on their fleet. BMW had three entries in the top ten cars namely BMW 3 Series (2nd), BMW 5 Series (5th) and the MINI (8th).

FN50 survey results

Most reliable car manufacturer according to FN 50 car leasing companies

1. BMW
   
2. Honda
   
3. Audi
   
4. Toyota
   
5. Volkswagen
   
6. Mercedes-Benz
   
7. Ford
   
8. Mazda
   
9. Nissan
   
10. Skoda