At the end of August, my wife will be leaving her current job and when she does so she will be handing back her company vehicle which has been leased by her employer. The vehicle is available for purchase and I hoped you might be able to answer a couple of queries regarding this. The vehicle is a Volkswagen Golf GT 140bhp diesel 3-door with metallic paint and cruise control and will have covered approximately 62,000 miles. The first is regarding a valuation. We have been advised that the cost to purchase would be £7725, however this valuation was given around 22nd July and by the time we would be required to purchase it, at least one further lease payment should have been due. Whilst it is an easy option to purchase the lease vehicle we're not completely sure it is the vehicle we would want and are instead considering purchasing a vehicle from a main dealer. However, if the purchase price of this Golf was good enough it would seem churlish not to purchase it. My second query is regarding roadworthiness. I suffered a blow-out a couple of weeks ago and when that tyre was replaced (by a local branch of a national tyre supplier) I was advised that both front tyres would need replacing in "about 1000 miles". Subsequent to this, I had cause for the vehicle to be repaired by my wife's company's in-house workshop. The condition of the tyres were mentioned and we were told that "the tyres are good enough for your impending holiday in Scotland". I had checked the tyres myself and whilst the tread is very low I could not say they were illegal. So, to seek some reassurance I visited my local tyre supplier branch again and asked (a different mechanic) if he would look at them. This time the response (having covered at least 1000 further miles) was that the tyres were legal but if stopped by the police we would like be given a 'producer' by them. Our dilemma now is how to ensure that we are not driving a car that is illegal - as the in-house mechanics are not minded to change them. However as well as this I was wondering if you could advise whether or not there is some sort of legal obligation on behalf of my wife's employer to not sell a vehicle (i.e. to my wife) that has a depth of tyre tread that is illegal (or virtually illegal)?