Termination letter

I typed out the letter of Franchise Termination last night.  Printed, signed and sealed.  Sent it away this morning.  It should reach the office tomorrow through the pre-paid First Class envelope.  I cannot stand the franchise fee anymore.  I know I won't be able to live on this way, getting charged over £200 every week regardless if I'm earning or not.  On top of that, there's around £80 of fuel input a week.  Roughly £280 a week out regardless if I have lessons.  Which roughly, using cheapest lesson rates, translates to fourteen hours of work a week required to cover the weekly outgoing costs.  This also means I only start seeing profit on my fifteenth hour of tuition, which is roughly midway through Tuesday or even Wednesday morning!  Half the week where I don't get profit.  Nuht!  No way man!

So I hope the four weeks notice will take effect once the letter is received.  If so, it should mean the franchise agreement will be terminated in the last few days of March.  Time to really get into gear (pardon the pun) and start looking for another car.  I want to go for diesel engine now.  Trying to save on fuel if not anything, especially if I do high mileage over a year.  Going for a more robust engine means it is more tolerant and harder to stall compared to the petrol engine, which can only be a good thing for certain pupils!  :)

Cars

Cars in mind at the moment (purely based on higher MPG and positive instructor car reviews):

Ford Fiesta TDCI (50.4mpg)
Hyundai i10 (67.3mpg)
Hyundai i20 (55.4mpg)
Mazda 2 (55.4mpg)
Seat Ibiza (55.4mpg)

Lease or buy?

Another question to ask is: Should I lease from another company or buy the car outright?

Pros and Cons flying all over the place.

Lease

Lease means I pay something around region of £80 a week (as opposed to £205) and get a car that is fully taxed and insured with dual controls and readily replaced should it ever be off road for more than 24hrs.  Thankfully it has never happened with my tuition vehicles, but you never know eh.  Lease minimum term is 7 months and this can go up to 12, 18 or 24 months contract.  The longer the contract the cheaper the weekly fee.

End of term options could include buying the car from them or extending the lease on the same car and getting even cheaper weekly rate.  By then would the car be knackered?  Would I want to keep the car for longer?  Or exchange for another one?

Lease also means I would be tied down to the contract terms for the number of months that I sign up to.  Is that a good idea?  What if I go for a career change midway through the lease term?  Breach of contract would mean penalty or at least paying the rest of the 'unspent' weekly charges to fulfil the contract.

Buying outright

Buying the car outright would mean a big financial investment and the aim to make back the money through giving lessons and making profit someday in the future.  For a while I will still be recouping the money after the purchase.  I'd like to buy the car outright rather than on credit or finance plan to avoid accruing interest.

Buying outright means I am not accountable to anybody anymore besides the DSA and DVLA.  If I have scratches to the car, I won't have to pick up the phone to report the damage like I currently have to do and may have to do if the vehicle is leased.  On the bad days when I can't work I won't be paying any franchise fees or any lease fees.  No earning with no output is not quite so bad you see.  Not that I'd want to sit on my ass cos I'd still have the car to pay off or balance off shall I say.  But who apart from God knows what the weather might bring eh?  Or what my health will be like?

Buying outright has it's cons.  It will be my own car.  Ultimately my pride and joy.  Currently the previous few cars I've used have suffered damage to the alloy wheels (kerbing front-left tyre whilst pulling in), burst tyre, replaced tyres about four times, bumps and dents through parking, and unknown scratches which happened overnight.  If these things happened to my own car I'd freak out!!  I think I'd be totally gutted if my own car was revved very highly or if it went into a pothole.  These things happen to my car now, but I know ultimately it is not my car and so it doesn't hurt so much - besides my backside when the car bumps up and down! =P  But yeah, if it's my own car... oh my goodness I might just... oh, I don't know.  Let's just say I'll be very protective of my own car.  So will my blood pressure go up if I taught in my own car?  Will I be more readily to use the emergency brakes whenever I sense an inch of 'danger'?

So many things to consider.  When buying outright I'll need to sort out my own road tax and car insurance.  I don't think my five years Elephant.co.uk insurance will be valid for business use so I guess I'll have to start building up a new business no claims then.  Haha!