Vehicle Leasing

[fuel4soul]

Can someone explain this to me? How long a least last? How does it work and where do you get it? Is it every vehicle?

[Sputnik]

I'm on my second lease right now. You can lease for as long or as short as you want, usually, however the shorter the lease, the higher the monthly payments. Typically leases last 3 or 4 years (36 or 48 months). My lease for my cavalier was 36 months and my Vibe is 48 months. You can also lease any car as well (I don't know of any car that you can't lease, but maybe there are). You can put a downpayment down the same as if you were buying, to lower your payments, however remember the car is not yours in the end. At the end of your lease you can either give the car back and leave, buy the car for the set purchase price, have someone else take over the lease... there's lots of options. People who lease over buying, tend to do so because monthly payments usually are lower, and you can get a new car every few years. Also there is usually a set amount of kilometers (or miles) that you can use on a lease vehicle. If you go over that amount you're going to pay for each extra kilometer. So if you drive often then leasing may not be a good option.

[fuel4soul]

You still get rebates?

[Sputnik]

Yeah usually, I think. Although there were none on at the time I got my Vibe. I think my Cavalier was discounted with rebates and incentives though.

[Reynoma]

Quote, originally posted by fuel4soul »You still get rebates?Usually you don't get the same rebates as a regular sale. They do; however, have different rebates for leases - usually lower.I had a really bad experience with a lease and would never again consider leasing another car.

[JohnC]

In general leasing is usually a bad deal, imo. If you would like an unbiased explaination about auto leasing see Consumer Reports, they had a very informative article about it.

[AKLGT]

i got out of a lease on my tundra. what a waste of money! don't lease a vehicle, especially if you drive a lot or want to do any mods. you must return the vehicle in perfect condition or they'll hit you with extra fees. basicly, you're renting the car for x months at y price for z number of miles. let's see, i got my tundra for $30,000, put $2600 down= $27,400 left. at $450 monthly for 60 months (yes, 60!) that still left $14,400 at the end. I made 26 consecutive monthly payments=$9270. my payoff was $24,400.... you do the math and can see i gave them an additional $6,270 and wasn't even going to be mine at the end!

[Sputnik]

I like leasing. I never want to have a car thats older than 4 years anyway so I prefer leasing. I only pay the taxes on the portion of the car that I drive (ie I don't pay tax on the whole car, only taxes on the time I have it for). Leasing is only a bad option if you plan on keeping your car or you plan on driving it a lot. I don't drive very often and I don't plan on keeping it. You don't have to return the car in "perfect" condition. I returned my Cavalier with several dings in its front fender and they ended up sending me money at the end (Not me paying for the dings)! If I had bought my Vibe instead of leasing it I would have been paying $420/month Under my lease I'm paying $368/month. I'm not saying leasing is for everyone, because obviously its not. But its definitely not the "evil" that a lot of people believe. It totally depends on your circumstances if its going to work for you and it depends on your driving habits.

[drunkenmaxx]

to me, a lease is good if you make decent money and are able to shell out the downpayment for something that isn't yours. i probably would have made out better w/a lease, if i didn't drive so far to work. i still owe like 18,000 on my car and it's probably only worth about 13,000, it kind of sux!