One of the main questions that plagues people when they are considering getting a new car is whether to lease a car or to buy one. The answer to this question will largely come down to your own personal circumstances and whether you decide that you actually want to own the vehicle outright. Here are some of the potential benefits of leasing a car to help you make the decision that’s right for you.
It makes Premium cars Affordable
Leasing helps you to drive around in a Mercedes while only having the budget for a Nissan. When you lease a car, technically you’re only really paying for the depreciation of it over the first few years, so you will find that you’re able to stretch your money that much further. For the equivalent cost of buying a cheap hatchback run-around outright, you can effectively have a healthy-looking leasing budget which will allow you to get behind the wheel of your dream car for a few years. This is one of the main reasons that so many people lease their cars nowadays. Why own car outright when you can own a premium car for a handful of years for the same price?
It makes Budgeting Simple
Owning a car can be expensive. It’s much easy to budget everything in your life monthly when you are paid, so leasing a car helps your car payments to tie in with that. Nowadays it seems that everything is collected monthly from your bank account, so it makes perfect sense that your car payments are too. The fact that you never own the car when you’re leasing means that the payments are considerably less than if you were to get a personal loan for the same car. Typically, you can expect to save between 30% and 60% on your monthly outgoings when you decide to lease.
Little Upfront Cost
Unlike when you buy a brand new car from the forecourt, the upfront costs associated with leasing are limited. A few years ago when leasing a car was generally only a business arrangement, a large deposit of up to 9 month’s lease of a car was required. Nowadays the costs are considerably lower and if you shop around you can lease car by only paying three month’s premium upfront. In some cases you may even be able to find a deal that requires no upfront cost. It’s important to remember that any deposit associated with leasing is part of the cost of the lease and is therefore non-refundable.
Less Hassle
Let’s face it, life can be hectic just at it is these days. Things like your Road Fund Licence or car tax are often pretty low down the priority list, and when you lease a car it means that this is one less thing to worry about. When you lease a car, the road fund licence is included in the lease price, as is the cost of any repairs. So leasing is a much more hassle-free way of motoring.
When you lease a car, it is brand new and therefore always still covered by the original manufacturers warranty. Therefore if there any problems with it you simply book it into the dealership and get the problem fixed – without having to pay a penny. When you lease a car you still have to pay for the maintenance items such as servicing and tyres, however there are often additional maintenance packages that can be purchased to help roll these into a simple, monthly payment as well. However these tend to only be recommended if you’re leasing a car for a longer term, such as more than three years.
New Cars Forever
When your car lease draws to an end, you simply hand over the keys and that’s the end of it. Or, as most people do you can swap your now two or three-year-old car for another brand new one. The great thing about leasing companies is that they are not affiliated with any car manufacturers, so they won’t try and hard-sell and car to you. Instead they will simply do their best to find the right car for you and your budget.
Is Leasing for you?
However you decide to look at it, every car loses value as soon as it is driven off of the dealer’s forecourt. Leasing a car levels the playing field a little as it means that you won’t personally take the hit of the car’s depreciation. It’s the same as renting a car, except it’s more of a long-term arrangement. It is possible to lease a car for just 12 months, most lease agreements range between 24 and 48 months, with some even being as long as 60 months.
While some people prefer to own their own car outright, if you’re not particularly keen on cars and just want something to get you from A to B reliably and hassle free, with simple monthly costs that are easy to budget for, then leasing is well worth considering.