“The important thing is
never to stop questioning.”
Albert Einstein
Top 3 things to know about an auto lease
1. A lease is just another way of financing, you have to know your price and rebates, if a dealer isn’t clear on these; leave immediately.
2. The lease end terms- everyone checks mileage charges but is there a disposition fee? ( a charge the lease company hits you with…… just to drop it off!)
3. You can call the leasing company and get your buyout figure any day during the lease. do this before you start shopping. Just like a finance contract you owe them until it’s paid or traded, you simply have the choice to walk away or pay/finance at the end of the term.
Sounds pretty simple and now you’re nervous because you have heard how so many people say they got “stuck” or “screwed” in a lease they couldn’t get out of. Okay, let’s analyze this monster under the bed….
Jane purchases a new car with financing. Jane doesn’t have a ton down but the payments are comfortable. Six months later Jane realizes she needed an S.U.V.; “I should have paid the extra $90 a month, let me go back to the nice dealer and see if they can do that for me know”, says Jane.
Jane sounds naive to you, doesn’t she? You know that once you turn the key in a new vehicle it depreciates a lot. Silly Jane, poor Jane, what does Jane have to do?
That’s right, wait to pay it down over time or put money down; you get a gold star, move to the front of the class. Now break out your computers, calculators and law books and let’s compare that to the lease. What happens to Jane if she had leased it? Virtually the same thing!
Your lease has a buyout at the end of the term. Every payment gets you a little closer to that buyout. Unfortunately, your vehicle depreciates quickly in the beginning so it takes a while for those payments to catch up, just like a finance.
If you only have a few payments left and you go online and research that your vehicle isn’t worth the buyout don’t freak out.
“Don’t freak out? Lann are you nuts?” You ask because being underwater or “upside down” as we call, it is about the worst thing. I answer you strongly “You are lucky!”
Incidentally, if you only have a few payments you are not greatly under water. Only those payments are your responsibility so if you have 3 at $400 each you are only $1,200 behind and some dealers (Northeast Ford) if you find the right one (Northeast Ford) may discount extra to help you, if they are hungry and considerate enough to help you like, say it with me…..”Northeast Ford!”
