LEASING VS. FINANCING
With a car loan, you are agreeing to buy a car. The best way to
describe a lease is that you are merely renting a car.
Once you satisfy all the
payments on your car loan loan, you in fact own your car. But, when
all the payments are made on a lease, you own nothing. Who
Should Lease?
If you are a small business owner, or use your vehicle
exclusively for business, leasing may be a good idea for its tax
advantages. Leases are tax deductible.
Leasing
a car also enables individuals to drive a car that they could not
normally afford. The only financial advantage of leasing for anyone
(other than business use) is that state sales tax need only be paid
once a month, as it's based on the amount of each monthly lease
payment. If you buy a car, it must be paid all at once and is
usually rolled into the loan.
Major Disadvantages
of Leasing:
When you lease a car you have all the responsibilities of ownership,
with none of its advantages. The car is owned by the finance
company, yet you are accountable for maintenance, repairs and
insurance. When you lease a car you are also limited in the number
of miles you can drive. Most leases only allow you to drive 15,000
miles annually. If you exceed this number, you'll end up having to
pay the finance company a significant amount of additional money.
Before
you decide to lease a vehicle, we recommend that you try the
car loan calculator to determine
what your payments would be if you decided to finance the vehicle
instead. Many people think that leasing is cheaper when in fact car
loans are quite affordable. We do not recommend leasing at all. The
bottom line is that once all of the fees are added up, you'll pay
less to buy a new car you'll own than to lease a car you won't.