| Since you are reading this, I am going to assume that | | | | will pay through the nose for it, something like 30 |
| you are looking into the lease options for your next | | | | cents per mile. So in this example, at the end of the |
| new car instead of purchase options. A new car | | | | lease you have 40,000 miles on it, it is going to cost |
| lease MAY be a good deal for you but it is something | | | | you an additional $1200 to turn in the car. Ouch! |
| that you should examine very carefully, since you | | | | Over the course of a lease, you may want to |
| may end up in a much worse position. | | | | terminate the lease early. If this might even be a |
| On the up side, a new car lease is almost certainly | | | | remote possibility, know what your options are up |
| going to have lower monthly payments that a | | | | front. In most cases, there is an early termination |
| purchase, compared with the same amount of | | | | fee. Sometimes if you leased your car from a large |
| money out of pocket at the time of signing. You can | | | | dealership, they will allow an early termination fee |
| usually get a good deal on a car lease for less than a | | | | without penalty if you are within about 6 months of |
| couple thousand out of pocket. The monthly | | | | the end of the lease, but only if you sign another |
| payment is going to be determined by what the | | | | agreement on another new car lease. |
| estimated resale value of the car will be at the end | | | | One of the factors that will strongly affect how |
| of the lease. So a car with poor resale value is going | | | | good of a new car lease deal you can get is your |
| to have higher monthly payments than a car with a | | | | credit score. Most consumers are not aware of what |
| much better average resale value. | | | | their credit score is, but even more significant is the |
| But on the down side, you are still responsible for the | | | | fact that most credit reports contain errors! You |
| maintenance of your leased car - gas, oil changes, | | | | should get your credit report corrected before |
| tires, tune-ups, insurance, and all the other things that | | | | anybody pulls any credit score information on you so |
| normally accompany car ownership, but you are NOT | | | | that you can get the best leasing deal possible. Please |
| building any equity in the car. In other words, you are | | | | visit Improve Your Credit Score to find out how to |
| in effect RENTING the car, except that you also | | | | get that done. |
| have the responsibility for the maintenance of it. | | | | I would strongly encourage you to do a fair amount |
| Not all new car leases are created equally. You should | | | | of homework before you sign on the dotted line. |
| definitely do your homework as far as what leasing | | | | Even if the lease being offered by the dealership on |
| programs are available, what they include and | | | | your new car lease appears to be incredibly good, |
| exclude, and most of all, what is it going to cost you. | | | | you can almost always be assured that there is a |
| One big thing in almost all car leases is a mileage cap, | | | | better program available. Sometimes the payments |
| where a typically mileage cap says that you will put | | | | might be the same, but other programs may allow a |
| no more than 12,000 miles a year on the car. So at | | | | higher mileage cap, might have lower or no early |
| the end of a three year lease, you can have no | | | | termination fees, and a variety of other subtle |
| more than 36,000 miles on the car. You do not get | | | | differences that could make a huge difference to |
| any extra brownie points if there are fewer miles on | | | | you and your intended use of the new car. |
| it, but if there are MORE miles than that on it, you | | | | |