Introduction
“Yes, we can afford it,” answered my friend Charles. “I look at your income and your expenses. It much more than covers the new car payment.” Still, I did not feel comfortable. “How?” was my next question. “Well, you don’t need to buy the car. You can always lease it.” It was desperate advice of buying or leasing new cars that caught my attention, especially after I tried to explain my plights to Sydney. Her passion for words – “You are so stupid,” was correct. Each time I first heard suggestions, I had not a single notion of what the terms “leasing” and “buying” meant.
“How much?” it should have been simple. My wife was pregnant, and our family was growing and in need of a larger car. We liked our Honda Accord and wanted to pick up a Honda Odyssey. I had this simple question: “Can I afford it?” My family was well on our way to being a member of the two-career middle class, but this was not unlike our conversation when we took foot off welfare eight years ago and search for a new apartment. Once you get to be a member of the working poor, and even become middle class, every cent you earn is counted.
Purpose of the Article
Leasing can be an interesting but costly rapport. Conflicting numbers, limited disclosure, and some unspoken factors can tend to go towards clouding the relative appeal of this rent-alternative. In addition, many people are also discouraged from leasing because they foolishly believe they are themselves as the future purchase owner and then doubt the financial remunerations. The truth about leasing is, for most typical American driving needs, that while the expense is nearly always higher than financing, the gratification, when it is done right, is correspondingly higher and surprisingly well within one’s reach. The present article aims to make it much easier to comprehend the different benefits the two approaches promise in theory, and then show whom the present car leasing rule favours with those comparative savings in practice.
This article was created to explain the financial aspects of the “buy” option versus the leasing aspects of the “rent” option explicitly, using some little financial fundamental analysis and illustrations. It assumes that you are the prospective possession of a brand-new car, and that you have got to decide on one of the two alternatives: financing the car or leasing the car. At the conclusion of the article are some tips for those repeat owners of cars so that they can lower their costs significantly by choosing the right car.
Understanding Financing and Leasing
Financing is taking out an automobile loan to buy a car. It’s the big buying method. Cash, also a method, does not require borrowing—you still buy a car. Leasing is borrowing to rent. It addresses the hybrid driver. A lessee gets the exotic circus act that comes with vehicle ownership such as the access, refining, convenience, concierge enticements so ardently lusted after in the ownership society. And if the lessee is asked themselves “Why am I doing this?” and the quick and certain answer is to pull off the badges? Hmm, I’m not so sure I would still own. A famous jingle trumpets one way to plan a car change: “Lease a new Buick every two years.” It’s quaint and catchy. Everyone deserves the monthly thrill of driving the March of Dimes wagon. But, for those parking skip-to-the-loo attitudes, another equally famous slogan prefers to provoke a reflex at buy low, sell high. Get serious. Poucos momentos depois. It is investing at an exponentially increasing rate. Leasers assert “There is no equity in a car. Why own?” Buyers respond that “There’s no sense in loving and not leaving. My debt is close to paid.”
As the consumer economy emerges from the COVID-19 global pandemic, some are wondering whether becoming a new-car buyer or lease-taker might be a form of escapism or a way to regain a personal sense of control. Maybe, but that’s neither the job of a car nor a good reason to own or lease one. It’s not your passport to freedom or personal validation. It’s not your status. It’s not jewelry. Your car is transportation. This is the crux of the age-old question: buy or lease? Buying a car is less complex because it’s the more traditional route. Lease payments are determined by a myriad of factors, including a calculation to estimate the vehicle’s depreciation. Think of your lease payments as funding a depreciation budget. You drive the car and at the end of the lease you either buy the prepurchased depreciation budget and own the vehicle (paying the residual) or walk away. Drive and buy or walk away. The distinctions between the two courses have blurred over the years. You can favor new and choose features that may fluctuate in desirability as the years roll on, increase the depreciation rate, beef up the ingredients in your depreciation fund, or just avoid the depreciation exercise altogether. Your motivation to shelter your depreciation budget has a sizeable influence on your decision.
Definition of Financing
Explaining financing: By financing, you are taking out a loan to pay off the carmaker, dealer, or seller. With interest, the car will cost more than the sticker price. Financing a car works in largely the same way as other types of borrowing. Prospective borrowers apply for a loan, the lender approves or declines the loan application, and if the loan is approved, the borrower pays down the loan principal monthly. If all goes well, the borrower would feel considerable relief paying the last payment. The lender applies the funds to the car loan and forwards the title. If you need cash down the road and the car is title-free, borrowing against the Paid in Full vehicle with a secured loan is straightforward for some lenders.
Financing a car means you are buying it outright, as opposed to leasing. When you choose to finance new or used vehicles with a car loan, the car is yours – the only encumbrance being the loan or lien on the vehicle. You’ll receive the title once the loan is paid off (monthly visits to the DMV for registration are a given). Financing a vehicle means you can drive it for as long as you see fit. After you pay off the loan, pocket-watching is no longer part of the picture. To apply to finance a car, you’ll go to a bank, credit union, or dealership. Due to age, mileage, or condition, not all used cars qualify for financing or a car loan.
Definition of Leasing
When deciding between buying a vehicle new, buying one used, or leasing a new car, you must weigh your circumstances, the benefits to be gained from vehicle ownership and the features that are important to you. And, you must consider the cost. In the next section, we will compare finance and leasing costs.
Leasing is a simple concept. You choose the vehicle you want, then sign a lease contract that commits to making payments for a specific length of time. Some leases let you drive unlimited distances and others apply a per-mile charge, a factor you must consider. At the end of the lease term, you usually have the right to buy the car at a pre-set price. Monthly payments on a lease can be lower than on finance contracts, providing flexibility for those on a fixed or limited income, or a way to get more for your money. However, at the end of the lease term you do not get any of the benefits of vehicle ownership. You have no equity or trade-in value. It is as if you had rented the car.
Key Differences
As for location, you can lease a car wherever you want, as long as you comply with the financing company’s rules. This is especially helpful if you’re in the military or a temporary resident. Expect to pay early termination charges. If you do have to switch before your lease term ends, you may incur substantial charges. Make sure you read and understand all of this country’s charges, rules and stipulations before entering into a leasing agreement. Some conditions can involve paying a large dollar amount per mile if you exceed the number of specified miles in a given year, as well as the wear and tear on the vehicle.
Lease When you lease a car, you’re making payments to the financing company for the use of the vehicle over a specific period of time. During that time, you’re responsible to make all the payments, maintain the required insurance coverage, and keep the vehicle registered in your name. Tailoring the car only means buying new accessories. When the lease ends, you must either a) return the vehicle to the financing company and walk away; or b) pay some remaining amount (stated in the contract) to purchase the vehicle outright, no fuss.
Ownership of the Vehicle
Roughly one-third of cars sold are actually leased, rather than bought on credit. As we show in this paper, when comparing a lease to a car loan, an individual that wants a car faces a trade-off: the monthly operating costs of leasing may be lower than buying a car on credit, but credit leads to ownership. Given the importance of cars as the primary mode of transportation of many households and the fact that the overall transportation costs for the average household make up 16% of total spending (approximately $7,705 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2003, out of which 87% are roughly explained by purchases and maintenance expenses on the cars), we find it surprising that there are only a few papers about leasing, and rarely do they model the down-payment flexibility concessions.
The first key decision a consumer has to make when purchasing a car is whether or not to buy. Roughly one-third of cars hit the road through leasing and two-thirds through car loans. The major difference between the two is that with a lease, the consumer can skip some of the costs associated with ownership, namely, the resale risk and the loss of the time value of the car loan and down-payment monies that are part of the initial price paid for the car. Instead, the consumer will always have a car – albeit one that rents like a machine with nearly optimal maintenance. This is addressed in the main report and in the appendix in two parts: the first part deals with the “tactical” question: at which lease price would I be indifferent between a lease and a loan? The appendix provides a model to solve for a lease price in the long-run equilibrium under the assumption of a competitive market.
Monthly Payments and Interest Rates
There is a potential concept in underestimating true auto ownership and operating costs through the lease. This is also true in an automobile financing package. Actual ownership is indirectly represented by the purchase price plus monthly financing costs. This is a reason why the effective cost of purchasing the car is greater than that of renting the car. The consumer’s position is affected by the interrelationship between the dealer’s implicit financing charges, the dealership, and the car manufacturer. Fiduciary hopefully understands that the dealer can establish the terms of the financing agreement, such as the flag amount, the repayment period, the simple interest loan amount, and the finance charges, including the dealer reserve and the single offer. As a result, the contractual period is divided into two parts: the first part depends on the loan period, which equals the duration of the car’s collateral, while the additional period is determined by the increased duration of the car loan that arises from adding other services such as vision, servicing, and warranties.
In general, monthly lease payments, which represent the minimum fee to make the car available to the lessee, are lower than monthly rental payments. Yet, in addition to representing the right to use the car, monthly rental payments also include part of the car’s purchase price, as well as operating expenses. If the capital component of the monthly rental payments were to be netted out of the rental payment, the remaining expense would include operating costs such as taxes and insurance, or various ownership costs such as license registration and lease preparation. On the other hand, the repayment component of monthly rental payments includes the holder’s stated interest rate plus the lessee’s financing costs.
Flexibility and Customization
Dealers love to sell you a car but respect the customer who enters knowing all of the available options, and leasing is one of them. Even those not interested in exploring a lease the first time they visit a dealer should remember this simple fact. Just by knowing the one or two basic numbers of a lease the dealer must provide by law, they can put the lease payment side by side with the equivalent purchase price and have some meaningful discussion. While the dealer controls the lease money factor, as a calculator will show you, you can do the same thing just knowing the price after and down payment they are using to calculate the lease payment. Also, given this information, the dealer can’t play any games with inventing money factors or residual values to come up with the lease payment discussed on page one. They have all of the data.
Leasing has become a far more flexible way to get into a car. Early termination fees have become standardized across the car makers and generally run the amount of your remaining car payments. Generally, there is no penalty if you decide to buy the car at the end of the lease. If you negotiate upfront for a higher mileage limit or for the right to buy additional miles per year, these costs are also more predictable. You can also transfer the lease to another party at any time, which is a big advantage if your personal situation changes.
Pros and Cons of Financing
For those who choose to take the vehicle financing route and opt for a loan, there are benefits that can be obtained when they choose to go for it. The benefits of financing a loan instead of leasing are based on the customer’s preference. Financing a vehicle can make it more flexible for customers to fully own a vehicle. Customers can drive a vehicle for as long as they want, without worrying about severe excess mileage penalties at the end of the lease. For those customers who tend to place many miles on their vehicle, they may be better off purchasing a vehicle because at the end of the loan payment, customers own the car and they are free to drive the car as many miles as they’d like. At the end of the loan, the customer’s only extra cost related to taking care of the vehicle is for the maintenance that the vehicle requires. Mileage restrictions in a lease contract limit the number of miles customers can drive the car over the life of the lease, often to 12,000 to 15,000 miles per year. Mileage over this amount generally costs a customer 15 cents or more per mile. This means that customers who drive 15,000 miles a year could pay $1,500 or more in excess mileage costs if they lease a vehicle for three years.
Many consumers have different reasons for financing a vehicle. Vehicle financing is often used as an alternative way for those consumers who do not have enough cash to purchase a vehicle. Vehicle financing offers many benefits, including having the flexibility tailored to meet the needs of different individuals who are in need of a vehicle. One method is to obtain financing from financial institutions such as banks or hire purchase corporations. Such companies are involved in providing funds to purchase a vehicle for customers in return for repayment of the amount together with interest. Another type of vehicle financing that is available is hire purchase, which enables customers to pay for the vehicle in installments. At the end of a predetermined hire purchase period, the customer will have to make a final payment and therefore become the owner of the vehicle.
Advantages of Financing
As long as you pay the utilized loan funds in full, the bank will require lesser interest and you can transfer title. With a lease, the leasing company retains ownership of the vehicle until the end of the term, no matter how many sums you have paid. When you speak with automobile funding institutions, make sure that you are not bound by limits on alterations of the automobile. One of the best advantages of putting your money down on a vehicle is that if you show the documents to an insurance company, you may elect not to acquire gap insurance. When you buy a car and finance any accumulated loan funds, the balance of the guarantee is yours. With the funds, you should use money to pay off the amount or go purchase a substitute vehicle.
There are several advantages in favor of traditional car loans or auto finance options. First, when you buy a car, you are effectively building equity in a major asset. Although cars usually depreciate over time, making the decision to sell or trade in a car is entirely yours. You could theoretically sell it after day one, which is not the case with a lease. Additionally, when you finish making car payments, you own the vehicle outright. You have no more debt and can trade in or sell whenever you feel like it. You can keep all of the proceeds or use some to make a down payment on another car. Additionally, if you keep your car in good shape and properly maintain it, it can last for many years without any monthly payments. Furthermore, with a traditional car loan, you are free to drive as many miles as your heart desires. A couple of additional vehicle loan options have no early payment penalties or settlement amounts.
Disadvantages of Financing
High Penalties for Early Payment of Debt: As we said above, during the agreed credit period, your financial flexibility decreases in order to prioritize the payback of the car loan. The current rental period is not the same for the entire loan period. If you opt for accelerated repayment, you can benefit from very high amounts on which you have signed at the beginning of the agreement. However, somewhere I heard about a variable penalty. If, on the other hand, you choose to sell this asset, you will have to bear the cost of the early repayment that is assumed by financing the current one, the amount you are going to pay.
Manners on Repayment Flexibility: Some people are not capable of financial planning in a way that allows for increasing monthly expenses within a set time interval, no matter how much they want to buy their next car. They, therefore, do not want the emotional pressure that comes with this decision and the obligations that might come with it, knowing that they will probably not respect the agreed deadlines. Do not be fooled by the appearance of payback flexibility, because there are always costs you will have to bear in the long term. If you do not respect in due time all the scheduled dates which are agreed with your collaborators, the penalties are not in your favor at this time.
Pros and Cons of Leasing
Lease Versus Ownership: The vast majority of people who will benefit most from leasing are those who use, not earn income from, their car – people like business owners and professionals who can, within specified limits, utilize the business car not only as a business and entertainment tax deduction but also as an earning aid. These deductions can be utilized without driving at least 12,000 to 15,000 miles a year.
As far as business owners and professionals are concerned, utilization of the business car as a tax deduction is not available by buying unless it is being used by the business to earn additional income. Deductions can be based totally by using the car that may lead to higher business mileage, and this advantage is highly stressed and overwhelmed.
Listed below are the pros of choosing to lease as opposed to choosing to buy. The list has been formulated by taking into consideration the use of a new car every few years and by analyzing the likelihood of owning a car for a couple of years only. This is an important assumption because most people who need automotive transport for only a short time and those who want to have a new car every two to three years will benefit most from following the leasing route.
Advantages of Leasing
A lease can offer many advantages over conventional companies in terms of cost savings and increased purchasing power. Because leasing companies can typically negotiate a lower selling price for an asset, your company ultimately reaps the benefits. You also don’t have to worry about the hassle of accounting for depreciation and its affect on earnings. You rent the asset rather than making an outright purchase. In addition, you can acquire better equipment because you don’t need the total upfront cash to make the purchase. Leasing enables you to lock in today’s rates for the entire lease term with a 10 percent purchase and option end of term. It is also flexible financing that can be secured rather easily with a simple application process.
There are several advantages to leasing rather than buying a car: 1) You can trade-in and drive a new car every two or three years; 2) You don’t have to deal with selling the car when you no longer want it; 3) The down payment on a lease is often less than required when you plan to finance a purchase; 4) Monthly lease payments are usually lower than monthly loan payments; and 5) In many locations, sales tax is only applied to the portion of the price you lease rather than the entire purchase price. Your lease also may be partially or fully deductible.
Disadvantages of Leasing
When you lease, your miles of travel become an annual consideration, unlike ownership. As with a cell phone plan, you buy “X” dollars for “Y” dollars, regardless of whether you use them or not. You must establish the amount of miles you expect your lease to have, and you must agree to a lease that pays for those miles at the lease initiation. If you exceed these miles many times down the road, the costs relative to ownership may well exceed the advantage. With ownership, you can drive however many miles you believe you like, and you have the freedom to do as you like with your automobile. Each mile of extra driving with a leased car adds to the cost of leasing.
When you lease a car, you need to keep the automobile in good condition. The firm that leases the car will examine it carefully. At lease’s end, you can expect that any scratches, dents, broken parts, or excessive wear and tear will result in “excess wear” and “excess mileage” charges. These charges can surprise you. On the other hand, when you buy an automobile, you have to worry about only what you do to the vehicle, without anyone ever checking up on you.
Leasing a car locks you into a contract for a long time (typically three years, but sometimes two). If you decide that you need a bigger vehicle or have a new job that requires more miles than you expected, you may be “stuck” in a car that cannot be afforded. Since commitments of this magnitude may be difficult to predict, a lease redemption charge may be required upon early termination of a lease. In other words, if you want to get out of your lease before the contract is over, you’ll be paying for the privilege.
