Should I lease a vehicle?

Question

I see a car payment in my future forever. I look at it as "I pay this much each month to drive this vehicle." I stick with cars that are $25k or less and do a 72 month loan (I pay $400 a mo.) and then trade my car in at about the 2 year mark when I am at my break even point. I pay $500 down and leave with a new car. I want to drive a Nissan or some other nice car, but those cars will never be $25k or less, so I'm thinking if I lease, I could get into one of them and possibly pay less money each month.

A couple questions I have is: How long are leases? They vary don't they? The longer you lease, the less amt of money it costs or vice versa? If I lease from a South Florida dealership and move, do I have to return the car to the same dealership or is that negotiable? Any other information you have, I appreciate as I'm trying to figure out if this is an option for me.

I will pick a best answer.

FYI, I'm a woman, not a "jr." And as soon as my new car hit its break even point, I trade it in...and yes, that does happen at about the 2 year mark in my loans. I've done this with 3 brand new cars now. And again, YES, I know every brand of car has a car for under $25, but none I would like to drive. For instance the Nissan 350Z...maybe I should have been more clear in my message so you would understand better.

Answer 1

Because you do not OWN your vehicle when you lease.. your insurance premiums will be higher due to the fact that your liability limits will be higher (100,000 / 300,000) this drives your insurance premiums UP. they do this because if you cause damage to person or property with the car the responsible party is your LEASING company and not you.

You have your driving limits in a leased car also. anything over 15k miles per year comes out of your pocket. Usually to the tune of 17 to 25 cents per mile OVER the preset limit in your contract. It's like driving a taxi.

Lease length can vary. That is decided as your sitting in front of the company leasing your car.

If you're not a business owner leasing is probably not for you.

Answer 2

That's a very good question, and the answer depends on what you do with the vehicle. Please keep in mind that a lease is in effect a long term rental of the vehicle. When the lease is up, the dealership checks everything, and might give you a bill of some contingencies written in the contract you signed years before. So if you put an extra 3,000 miles on the car, at the usual lease charge of 0.33 cents a mile, that's a thousand bucks you owe them. You'll also be given a choice of whether you get to keep the car. A lease is not a purchase over time. You will have to actually buy the car if you want to keep it. The price is usually 40% of the total you paid over time on the lease. The price is higher if you lease for 36 months or less and lower if you lease for 48 to 72 months.

Leases are good for business because they are tax writeoffs, but having been through a lease, I don't recommend leasing for an everyday vehicle. I am not sure what happens if you move out of the region you leased the car from. I recall hearing if you return the car at a sister dealership affiliated with the original, that's fine, but if there are no sister dealerships, your return has to go back to the original spot.

Buying the car through car payments means a couple things. First, you actually own the car although you have a six year payment on it, and second, if you had decided to lease and did overmileage or any paint deformities, you pay for those. With buying a car, you may receive certain perks that you don't get with leasing. A lot of dealerships offer free oil changes and free maintenance for two years or more. And you can haggle with the dealership in terms of finance if you have good credit, possibly getting a rock-bottom price that over time might be less than leasing.

Answer 3

Read the lease agreement _carefully_ and be absolutely certain that you completely understand it BEFORE you sign.
An automobile lease can be the worst thing that you have done. You would probably be much better off if you purchase a used car through conventional financing.
Leases charge you exhorbitant fees for 'over milage'..the miles that you drive which exceed the total amount that you leased.
Any scratch, dent, or defect no matter how minor will be taken into consideration when turning in your leased car and you WILL be charged for it.
You also will probably have a large fee to pay at turn-in time.

Leasing a car is not a good option for most individuals. Perhaps for a company, but not a regular person.
You may get some answers which tell you that leasing is the greatest thing in the world, but be very careful about it.
The dealership will try to lease to you because the DEALERSHIP makes a TON of profit on a lease, plus they sell the car as a 'program car' at lease end for a large markup.

Answer 4

1st off, car payments are inevitable,

2nd, you will be upside/down in a car until the 3rd possibly the 4th year of payments, not the 2nd,

3rd, leases do vary but it also depends on what you want out of it, the average is 36 months and 40k miles, but if you go over the miles you pay for them, if you want to keep the car you pay for it.

Leases are also a great way to build credit but you must keep up the payments and trade the car at the proper time.

If you happen to move, you can trade in your lease at a local dealer where you move to, the dealer will do most of the paperwork. And yes jr, all car makers now have a car under 25K, even nissan and toyota.

For most people though, leasing isn't an option worth the risk. Plus if you like the car enough you might as well keep it for a long time.
Good luck and hope this helps.

Answer 5

You may actually be one of the few who is well served by leasing. You have to remember, however, that there are stiff penalties for exceeding the stated mileage in the contract. You also will have to pay for any repairs of damage the dealer has to make after you turn it in. However, if you take good care of your cars, and don't drive more than 12-15k/yr, you may do well leasing.

The terms are all negotiable. Negotiate the price of the car. Negotiate the cost of money (interest). Check out two year vs. three year leases. Look at leasing a 1 year old car, as this can save you a lot of money also.

You can return the car to any dealer that uses your leasing company. When I leased from Ford Motor Credit, I could have returned the car to any Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury dealer in the continental US. Make sure you know who your leasing company is, however. Some dealers use outside leasing companies, as they sometimes offer a better deal.

Answer 6

Leasing is good if you want to have a new car every 2 years,but if you drive alot and travel more than 12,000 miles a year then you may not want to also with a lease you cant change the car to how you may want it after you purchase it.

Answer 7

you won't be in a position of legally sell a vehicle you do no longer very own. you're able to easily does no longer be waiting to pass the identify. the only way i will see it working is that if somebody became prepared to pay you up front, earlier you're taking criminal possession of the vehicle. you need to then purchase the vehicle and pass identify on your customer. i think of your suitable shot could be to discover a customer, then charge them a finder's fee. you nonetheless have a difficulty nevertheless, in the event that they returned out or cost will become a difficulty. I in user-friendly terms see this working in the event that they are providing you with a great cost on the vehicle. i could lookup the blue e book cost. i could additionally examine the style between what they are asking and what you hit upon interior the classifieds - and bear in mind that the fee somebody is advertising isn't the fee they are getting.