Lease Your Car for Less: A Consumer Guide to Vehicle Leasing - Softcover

Kaye, Richard L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0962364452 ISBN 13: 9780962364457

Publisher: Teletravel Network, 1997

Synopsis

Today, leasing is the fastest growing form of financing private and business vehicle purchases. Yet, most consumers have little or no knowledge about leasing. That is all changed with the publication of Lease Your Car for Less.

This concise (only 74 pages), easy-to-read and understand book takes you through a basic explanation of the leasing process -- what a lease is and isn't. A comparison is made between leasing and conventional automobile financing. You'll then learn how the cost of a lease is calculated, and what can and cannot be negotiated to reduce cost or improve lease terms and conditions. Worksheets enable you to determine if a lease is right for your own circumstances.

Lease Your Car for Less reveals many deep, dark, hidden secrets about leasing that will enlighten you, help you strike a better deal, and avoid costly pitfalls inherent in a poor lease deal. You'll also learn to recognize and decode the fine print in misleading advertising, and, for the first time in any book, get the inside scoop on leasing a used car.

Used car leasing is the next big wave and it's about to hit the beach. No wonder. Consumers are just now beginning to realize they can lease a high quality , relatively low mileage, feature-rich, luxury car for about the same monthly payment they'd make on the purchase of a new, sparsely equipped, budget model.

Presently, automobile dealerships are being flooded with well-maintained, low-mileage vehicles coming off two and three year leases. They're being advertised at attractive prices and some manufacturers are even offering special, low-cost lease terms to move them out more quickly. However, used car leasing is not without its perils. Consumers should look for previously leased used cars which averaged 15,000 or less per year. It's also important to choose a car with a trouble-free service record and insist on an independent inspection by a qualified mechanic. Even then, it's necessary to understand the vehicle's warranty. The best extended warranty may not fully insulate the lessee from potentially high maintenance costs. For example, most warranties wouldn't cover the cost to replace a now-prohibited, freon-charged air conditioning system with a new freon-free system if the older system failed.

It is this kind of in-depth, sensible information that makes Lease Your Car for Less worth buying and reading before you visit the showroom.

About this title

About the Author

Richard L. Kaye is president of a Chicago-area marketing communications company. Over the years his firm has had several clients in the leasing business (lessors) and has worked with automobile retailers and financial institutions.

Kaye has had numerous articles published on leasing, as well as marketing communications. He has served as a member of the board of governors of the American Association of Advertising Agencies in Chicago, and as a volunteer Trustee of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in Chicago.

And, yes!, Kaye has leased all his cars since 1985. His first lease, and the one that pleased him most, was on a 1986 Audi 5000S, which was leased from 1985 to 1988. While the car was under lease, Audi values plummeted due to unintended acceleration problems with some of its vehicles (not Kaye's). At the lease's termination, Kaye turned-in the car and walked away, unscathed. Had he owned the Audi, Kaye would have lost thousands of dollars at trade-in time.

Lease Your Car For Less was Richard Kaye's first commercial publishing venture. Today, with over 200,000 copies in print, and now in its 4th edition, LYCL is - by far - the best selling, most often quoted book on car leasing.

From the Back Cover

Today, leasing is the fastest growing form of financing private and business vehicles. Yet, many consumers find they have little or no available information about leasing, particularly how to negotiate more favorable terms and rates. Now, in a few pages of easy-to-read and understandable information, Lease Your Car For Less can help you save money and aggravation.

Information heretofore guarded by the vehicle leasing industry can help you better understand exactly what a lease is, how lease costs are calculated, and what items in a lease can be negotiated to reduce cost or improve terms. In a step-by-step walk through the actual leasing process, key negotiating points are highlighted, as are potential pitfalls to be avoided. You will also be shown how to make economic comparisons between leasing and purchasing via conventional bank or dealer financing.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Used Car Leasing -- Until recently, leasing was all but confined to new car acquisitions. Today, that is all changed. In light of leasing's explosive growth, three things have happened. First, a tremendous pool of high quality used cars has come on the market. New car prices have continued their upward spiral, making it more difficult for many people to afford the price. Finally, lessors have come to realize the huge potential for added revenue available through used car leases.

Taken together, these circumstances have created a market where used cars can now be leased with the same convenience and ease as new vehicles. This chapter of Lease Your Car for Less will help you understand the used car lease and help you prepare to negotiate the most advantageous lease terms and conditions. Is leasing a used car really a good idea?

The goal of this book is to provide you with information, enabling you to make an intelligent decision on whether to lease or buy your next car. Several reasons point to used car leasing as a good idea: (

You can usually get more car for the money, or the same car for less money.

A large percentage of previously-leased cars, now finding their way onto used car lots, are upscale, fully-equipped, relatively low-mileage models only a couple of years old. Yet, they can be priced at a fraction of their original sticker value, even after the dealer adds-in a mark-up. Remember, most car designs have a five year life cycle.

So, if you can find a two or three year old vehicle which was originally leased in the first year of the design cycle, its style will remain contemporary for at least two more years. (

You can probably get a better quality car.

Leased vehicles are generally well-maintained by their drivers, who have a financial obligation to do so. As a result, you'll generally find a cleaner interior and a mechanically-sound vehicle under the hood. In many cases, the mileage will also be relatively low for the vehicle's age. (

Your monthly payments will probably be lower.

Remember, leasing isn't owning. You pay only for that portion of the car which you use over the lease's term. For example, if you lease a $25,000 car that will be worth $10,000 when the lease ends, your cost is $15,000 plus interest. Buy the same car outright and it'll cost you $25,000 plus interest. Of course, you'll recover some of your original cost when you sell the car, but who knows how much? (

You have no end-of-lease obligations to sell or trade-in the car.

When your lease is over, you simply turn the car over to the dealer and walk away. There's no worry about selling the car or getting a fair trade-in price.

Edition details

• Publisher: Teletravel Network
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0962364452
• ISBN 13: 9780962364457
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 74