Car Lease/Purchase

[Chilli]

Well, it looks as if I may be here a little longer than planned, so rather than endure the Honda Civic @ 2500 a month, I was thinking about a long term lease, or buying something....say for 12 months.
Any thoughts/experience on this idea? I don't really want to be stuck with a car when I come to leave, but really need something a bit, well you know, better.

Any ideas on the most cost effective way to do this here?

Many thanks.

[Hitch78]

Chilli said:

Well, it looks as if I may be here a little longer than planned, so rather than endure the Honda Civic @ 2500 a month, I was thinking about a long term lease, or buying something....say for 12 months.
Any thoughts/experience on this idea? I don't really want to be stuck with a car when I come to leave, but really need something a bit, well you know, better.

Any ideas on the most cost effective way to do this here?

Many thanks.

In my experience leasing is not a cheap option here - unless you're signing up for a 3 year contract the hire firms are reluctant to give you a deal. I think this is because there is such a transiant population here that they know the market is in their favour. We have a good corporate deal with Serco but a CRV/Rav 4 is still around 4000 a month which is ridiculous. Some guys have got Fortuners for 2800 pcm but they're on three year deals.

I got out of that as soon as I could, and I found buying really easy. There are some very good deals to be had. I've bought three cars since i got here in April and I've negotiated hard on all of them - I know I'll not get the 'real' value back when I eventually sell but I'd hope I've minimised the impact.

Don't be afraid to offer 15-20k below asking on a 100k car, especially if you've met the seller in person and are not desperate to buy. When I bought my Boxster my offer of 20k below asking was rejected but I knew it was too low for him at that stage. I watched the car on Dubizzle and when I e-mailed him two weeks later he agreed - not a bad saving for a two week wait.

I got the details of a pretty good insurance broker off a colleague with a Vanquish who's been here for years. I can send you their details if you want to run some quotes - they tend to use UK providers too which is good as the insurance for my Wrangler is in arabic and may well yet turn out to be a news sheet from a local Mosque!

It's the deciding what you want which is the difficult bit...

[Chilli]

Cool, thanks for that.
I was talking (well, attempting) to a cab driver who said that he pays 6000 for a nice lexus...350 or something. I quite fancied one of those.
20k is a HUGE reduction! Praps if I find what I want you could "beat him up a bit" for me, obviously for a fee.
I guess if I get a good enough deal, then I won't me pants pulled down when selling....perhaps.

Would you buy if you knew it was going to be for 12 months?

Thanks again.

[Mattt]

Do you have any Arabs you work with? I tend to get them to speak on the phone with people first before I do things, makes it a bit easier. (If you're buying off an Arab that is).