Leasing a TT

With all due respect, you may want to understand leasing a little better before you come to the conclusion that leasing is not for individuals, only for businesses. There are, of course, many situations in which leasing is not a good answer for certain people but, there are likewise many situations in which leasing can provide advantages and benefits.

I've been leasing all my family personal cars for the last twenty years, always successfully and with great benefit. I just leased my most recent vehicle (a high-resdiual, low money factor, low acquisition fee SUV for my wife)last week. I've never paid a cent in mileage or wear fees, bought a couple of the vehicles when the purchase price was less than residual, and typically negotiated better deals each time than the time before (the poor economy helps).

The problem seems to be that many people who don't understand leasing get into it for the wrong reasons and realize their errors later. They then declare that leasing is wrong for everyone -- to mask their own individual mistakes. It's true that leasing is more complex than simple financing, and there's more opportunity to make mistakes. But, as with any business transaction, if you know how it works and know what you're doing, you can do it successfully and make it work for you.

Rather than expound on details, I suggest you take a look at

Al

"Al Hearn" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...

Here in my country at least, only businesses lease their cars. Individuals here prefer to own their private cars. It is exactly the same with houses, we prefer to own.

and never had any equity.

Leasing companies aren't making profits based on their good looks. Buy vs. lease comparisons including captive leasing companies (GIAC, Ford Acceptance, etc.) are generally invalid, since the manufacturer is often footing a large part of the bill in order to offer a below market rate.

Haven't you ever heard the motto (paraphrased) "If it appreciates, buy it. If it depreciates, rent it."

Unless you run all the numbers for your own situation it really is meaningless. It does make sense for some people to lease (at least the way things are set up in the US) and it makes more sense for most people to buy a used car and drive it until it don't drive no more.

Scott

That's an oxymoron. The leasing company is obviously buying an asset which depreciates, and making money by doing so.

Yeah, but the leasing company is making YOU pay for the depreciation.

Thank you for making my point.

What the leasing company is actually doing is loaning you the car for a period of time and charging you for depreciation and interest. As I mentioned in an earlier post you can beat those rates by a bunch if you spend your own cash up front.

However, if you are borrowing the money then the bank is essentially buying the vehicle (it is a secured loan and the vehicle goes to them in a default situation) and charging you interest. Same thing applies here about beating the rates with your own money.

Again, run the numbers for your specific situation and vehicle to find out if it makes sense for you. You are ignoring the actual numbers already posted from real vehicles and situations.

Scott

Don't want any stinking equity in a depreciating asset. I'd rather put my equity money in something that appreciates, and only pay for what I use in an automobile (a lease). An automobile is a very poor savings account -- you get back a lot less than you put in.

I appreciate it when a captive lease company with deep pockets decides to give me a great lease deal. In fact, in the last few years, the lease deals from captive lease companies have been very agressive (read, they lose money) and I've been happy to watch for them and take advantage of them.

Al

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