Prius Pip Lease Costs, Any Good Deals?

[rob the bank]

HI guys, I am currently looking in to my next company car, it will be either a plug in or a standard Prius.

I know it’s a lot more money for not much extra mpg, but the move from 10 to 5% company car tax and the move it would allow me in terms of swapping a fuel card for a mileage rate would not only save me money but actually make me a profit.

So my question is, has anybody found a good lease rate yet for the PIP?

The best price I can see on-line on a 3+35 with 10K maint on a none leather car was £459

Compared to a T3 no leather @ £270 on the same terms.

So over 3 years they want an extra £6804 for the plug in.

With a list price difference of £6400 (£28K - £21.6K)

Or in other words after 3 years they only expect the plug in to be worth £404 more than a none PIP, that’s either a massive profit margin or terrible depreciation.

Have others seen this big difference?, or am I missing something?

PS I will do 20 to 30K miles PA and have a £500 / mth pre VAT budget, hence the interest.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

The lease companies are NOT stupid yet Toyota believes its customers are.

The PIP in the UK is WAY over priced compared to the USA where it costs not much more than the traditional Prius once their $7,000 plug in rebate has been deducted. I did some figures a while back and worked out that Toyota UK appear to have added £5,000 to the cost of the PIP only to then deduct £5,000 in the form of the Government grant. It is difficult to do a direct comparison of US/UK prices as we have 10% import duty and 20% vat to add, but the figures work out about the same on the normal Prius but on the PIP it's out by £5,000. I even checked the Uk/US costs of the Nissan Leaf and that appears to be priced fairly in our market. So it's price manipulation by Toyota on the PIP pure and simple, and I guess the lease companies know that too and are waiting for massive depreciation once the £5,000 Government grant runs out.

Another way of looking at it is the following;

The top of the range existing Prius t-spirit costs £24,900 and the PIP before the grant is £32,895 a difference of £7,995. So even on the basic sums you're paying £8k more for a 10 mile usable range, except it's not as simple as that. The traditional Prius HV Battery costs £2,000 so if we remove that it means that to add 10 mile Battery technology costs £10,000 more in the PIP. That is BS, there is no way that it costs £10,000 to make a car go 10 miles on electric. Nissans own figuresfor their Nissan Leaf indicate their 109 mile Battery costs £10,000!

So to cut the waffle, the PIP is way overpriced, the lease companies know it and factor the future massive depreciation into their figures. Apparantly the new UK built Nissan Leaf due next year will be one THIRD cheaper than todays offering, so I can only assume that similar price drops will apply to the 2015 PIP, thus collapsing second hand values of the PIP released now.

[rob the bank]

Cheers for that, although like I said it’s the move from 10 to 5% company car tax where I get the biggest saving. As long as the car fits in my monthly budget it doesn’t really matter how much it costs.

The only thing that I thought may explain this big price rise is that I wonder if a leasing company receives the same £5000 discount that a normal punter would?

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I'm not a tax expert by any means but isn't the percentage of BIK claimable increasing in 2015 on EV's and plug ins? As it is chargable on the gross amount (£33,000 on the PIP) then you might find a sudden increase in costs in only a couple years yet still be tied into your lease agreement. Worth checking or hopefully some of the other members on here might add to this?

http://www.autocar.co.uk/forum/bik-tax-13-2015-electric-cars-and-range-extenders

I'm not anti plug in or EV, infact quite the opposite, but I guess I'm cheesed that Toyota manipulated the price so. I suppose they're in their rights to charge what they want on a car, though I'm in my rights not to buy one either :)

[rob the bank]

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[rob the bank]

Cheers for that, I hadn't spotted that at all. But now I see:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cars/rule-changes.htm

So basically the PIP will only save me money for 18mths of the 3 year lease period, compared to the standard Prius.

Or I suppose by then the government may have changed and the motoring policy may have changed again.

Makes you wonder why they are spending so much money now on grants and low tax rates to get the cars on the road, if they then plan to take all those incentives away (they = government).

OK I think I will get my calculator back out and work on the figures again, but I must admit it’s now looking more like a T Spirit none PIP may be going on the order books.

Cheers Grumpy!

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Makes you wonder why they are spending so much money now on grants and low tax rates to get the cars on the road, if they then plan to take all those incentives away (they = government).

OK I think I will get my calculator back out and work on the figures again, but I must admit it’s now looking more like a T Spirit none PIP may be going on the order books.

Cheers Grumpy!

Perhaps because SOME of the manufacturers are taking the Government and hence all of us and our tax money for a ride. By doing away with the incentives you'll suddenly find that prices drop to match those offered in other parts of the World (inc duty and vat).

If you're bored and looking for something to pass the time, check out a car price in the US, convert to £pounds, add 10% import duty and 20% vat. If it now matches the UK price for similar spec, then said manufacturer is being fair. If it's significantly more then you know they're lifting your leg!

US Prius Three = $25,565 = £16,277 + 10% + 20% vat = £21,485 (UK spec Prius t3 = £21,600 so fairly priced)

US Prius Five = $29,805 = £18,978 + 10% + 20% vat = £25,050 (UK spec Prius t-spirit = £24,910 so £60 less :) )

US Nissan Leaf = $35,200 = £22,408 + 10% + 20% vat = £29,578 (UK spec Leaf = £30,990 so £1,400 more than US price b4 grant :( )

US Prius Plug In = $32,000 = £20,377 + 10% + 20% vat = £26,897 (UK spec Prius Plug In = £32,895 before grant = RIP OFF)

Now the UK price drops to £27,895 for the PIP after the £5,000 grant but that's still £1,000 more than the US price and don't forget that the US residents can deduct $7,000 from their price in a similar way to our £5,000 grant! This proves Toyota is abusing OUR tax money to line their coffers. That's the proof and that's why the Government are now rightly adjusting the tax rates.

If Toyota had played fair, then the UK PIP price could have been £26,900 - £5,000 = £21,900 and made it viable for people to take a chance on the new technology. Toyota thought otherwise and hence government incentives are now being removed. Nothing to do with the Government being anti green.

[rob the bank]

So i have a couple of quotes back, best so far is £494 / month ex VAT on 20K Full maint & £552.81 on 30K Miles, so i think that's going to be out my budget.

So just checking "standard" Prius lead-times now, and i will be back on the forum soon asking for spec advice on one of those (after doing the sums that still comes in as a £2500 yearly tax and fuel saving over my 2.0 TDI Audi).