Has anyone done a TCO calculation on a new California on PCP?

[scimmiamagia!]

The saving we could make everytime we go away for a weekend has got us thinking.

Has anyone done a TCO calculation on a new California?

Looking at what's around at the moment, £10k deposit, over 4 years, for a £70k van, amounts to around £800 pcm pcp.

We have calculated that we could theoretically save £7500 a year versus airbnb costs. We go away a lot due to kids sporting activities throughout the year including winter training.

This is versus £9600 a year in PCP payments. So based on the expected use, the van is effectively costing us £2100 a year plus deposit plus tax and fuel since in the first three years we get warranty and servicing free at the moment. The saving on the servicing etc must mount up, though I know the All-In warranty etc makes servicing quite inexpensive.

And then there is the final payment versus what the van would get if sold privately.

The final payment on a VW PCP seems to be quite pessimistic. Less than £40k after 4 years on a £70k van? That's over 40% depreciation. Other calculators suggest it is less than this, at around 20%, meaning we could be in credit when we sell by around £20k if we can sell for around £60k, which complete offsets the initial deposit.

Have I got this right? A new california could cost almost nothing in the first 4 years of ownership?

Please shoot me down for the optimistic fool I am if you like!

 

[andyinluton]

Where are you staying instead of airbnbs? campsites are not free. The other thing is that the van doesn't stop you using airbnbs so you may not realise all that saving....

The most important factor in the calculation is what is the cali replacing? if its instead of a car it makes even more financial sense as you only have to justify the extra over cost of a cali compared to a car.

I had always had Discoverys - if I were to PCP a current Disco 4 it would cost about the same as a Cali, so I could always argue that a cali hasn't cost me any more.

If you are doing a 4 year PCP try the numbers on a 5 year HP. It doesn't come out that much more on the monthly's & you would own 100% of the van at the end.

 

[dspuk]

Your personal TCO will vary depending on how often you go away. If you go away weekly the TCO goes up, but so does the justification to own vs hire. If you were to be particularly fiduciary about it you would also work out how many times you went away previously vs in the van.

The actual thing to worry about is the residual when changing. As pointed out recently in the BBAB video, they were able to own for 18 months and then sell, which netted them a few grand vs their TCO. The RV for a Cali is and has always been high, so the ability to hold their prices for us was a large justification for buying.

Our “TCO” is terrible. We do not use the van enough to justify the monthly cost. We don’t care.