1. When you lease a car you never have to worry about car repairs happening. All new cars come with a lease that covers any drive train repairs like engines, transmissions, or any other major mechanical mishaps. Yes, when you buy a car you get the same warranties but after the warranty is up you are on your own.
2. Since the manufacturer is picking up the tab on all repairs you will be able to bring your car into the dealership without having to spend a dollar. With most dealerships or car repair shops charging over $100 an hour just to take a look at your car this will save you a ton of money.
3. You are getting a new car every two or three years. This way you can change with the times and drive a number of different cars in a life time.
4. All cars and trucks are liabilities. They will depreciate. When you lease your car you will not have to worry how much it really is going to be worth at the end of your contract. Hopefully the car manufacturer charged you enough in your monthly payment where you would have paid down how much it was intended to depreciate.
5. Lease payments are always going to be less than car payments. Most car loans are 5 years now. Take a $30,000 car over 5 years and even with a 0% interest rate. If you bought the car you would pay $500 a month for that car. A lease payment would be around $350 saving you $150 a month. This way you can keep your money and invest it. If you really like the car at the end then you can buy the remaining balance out right.
6. It is usually easier to get approved on a lease than on a loan. The car manufacturers need to get somebody else paying down the balance on the loan and are willing to loosen their guidelines more than a bank because they need to make a sale. A bank sees you as a risk because they are giving you money to buy something that will be worth less the second you take it off the dealer lot. If you default on the loan, the bank is stuck with a vehicle that is worth less than what the balance of the loan is.
7. Most car leases are pretty straight forward and up front. Usually, every element of the deal, lease price, term, money factor, residual, vehicle make and model is already in place and cannot be changed. This way you know you are getting a good deal. You still can negotiate if you want to, but most cars like a Ford Focus or Ford Fusion are priced as is. Ford knows that they need to get a lot of them out the doors to make a profit so they already go down to that profit margin they need to be competitive. If you are thinking about leasing a truck or SUV then try negotiating. Most of those vehicles are priced higher and can come down.
8. Leasing takes the guess work of having to deal with a used car in the future. People think that getting a 3 to 6 year old car will benefit them in the long run because they will pay it off if they had to take a loan. All that happens now is they have a car payment and have to pay for car repairs. Most used car loans are 3 years. Take a $10k car loan at 0% and your payment is still $277 a month. This is hoping you don’t have any car repairs along the way. When getting a lease you could probably get the same new car for around the same monthly payment and not have to worry about $100 an hour labor charges.
9. New cars do not have to be maintained as much as old ones because you know you are going to be turning it in. This does not mean to not change the oil but little things like waxing it every month. The car is still new and you are not supposed to wax a car for the first 6 months of getting it anyways. The paint is still settling from the factory.
10. Piece of mind. How many times have you been driving around in your old beat up clunker and something broke. Your car repairs cost over $1k and it puts you in debt. Its a never ending cycle with cars. Sure, car companies are making better cars, but they are man made. They will break down no matter if it is a Mercedes, Lexus, or a Ford.
Great car leasing article and one worth revisiting as time goes on and the recession moves from stage to stage. In the UK we have seen a huge increase in people leasing cars. They no longer wish to put them selves in debt with their lease cars as they no longer have job security to take on big car loans. Instead they are taking car leasing as an option and simply paying the depreciation on the car and enjoying the benefits of driving the newest and latest lease cars.