VIC Used MkV Golf GTI- please help

[macdub]

Hello all,
to cut a long story short, i did a mistake getting a lease for 5 yrs and now 1 years 4 months later, i want to change a car and get into VW world. But as you know the payout figure is big which makes shortfall big.Currently trying to sell my car and happy to fork out couple out of my pocket. no luck yet and trade in so not an option as dealers will quote crazy price.anyway, the question is about next car if i gte rid of current. The next car I would like to keep it for minimum 3 years.

Is it advisable to buy golf GTI with high ks (90-100k)? I will be driving minimum 20k a year. Is DSG work fine till high kms say 200k? I love the car. Also is there any technical/engine difference between 2005-08 models? I know I can't ask financial advise but has anybody bought used GTI on novated lease? Lease quotes are very high for used cars and I cna probably get new polo GTI new for same repayments but wait is too long!! I can buy golf gti on finance but if I go on lease, at least I dont have to worry about maintanence and stuff. very confused.

any help is appreciated..

[Manaz]

This post does not constitute financial advice.

Can't give you much advice on the current lease, other than you're likely to get burned (as you already know) - cars wear most of their depreciation in the first year or so, and the lease won't account for that - so you'll likely have a shortfall as you've stated. You'll get more money for the car selling it privately than you will selling it/trading it to a dealer, so you're on the right path there at least. The other alternative is to put up with it for a bit longer, as you'll potentially take less of a hit that way.

On your new lease - you still have to pay for fuel, tyres, maintenance, etc with a novated lease, you just pay them pre-tax (. Novated leases tend only to be worthwhile if you're in a higher tax bracket (as you save most of the money in the difference between FBT and your top marginal tax rate - the higher your top marginal tax rate, the better off you are). 20,000km a year is good - I think the first beneficial FBT bracket still starts at 15,001km a year, 25,001 km a year is even better if you can do it.

You'd be best to ask in the Mk5 forum regarding the DSG gearbox, but the engine should be rock solid up to and beyond the 200,000km mark - the only area I'd question would be the longetivity of the turbo at that stage. It may well be worth getting a car < 3 years old and getting a VW extended warranty (*not* a dealer warranty, they're largely not worth the paper they're printed on). That will mean purchasing the vehicle through a VW dealer I believe.

Definitely seek proper financial advice - the leasing and finance companies can help here, but always remember they're trying to sell you something...

And good luck with it all regardless! Hope you get it sorted out and get into a GTI as you'd like soon!

[zenra]

Hi avvashi,
We currently have one employer who has 5 novated lease GTI golfs on the books, all over 100k's (the employees do 40,000kms+ a year so the kms add up quick). So far, touch wood, they have had no major issues other than alternators and a starter motor, on the real high ones (about 197,000 kms). They are happy enough, that they are planning their replacement with VW 'somethings' to be decided yet.

I would recommend doing a novated lease no longer than 36 months and with the min ATO residual of 46.88%.
It really means that at the end of the 3 years you have a choice, re-novate the same vehicle for a little longer or time to change.

Any employee earning over $40k a year and driving over 15,000 would see a real gain under a novated lease.
Zenra