At first glance a lease may seem like the perfect way to go. Low, if not, no down payment, lower monthly payments than you would have if you were purchasing the vehicle and basically the same insurance requirements. You may think you can’t go wrong.
If you are a company and you can take all of your vehicle expenses off your taxes, you may be correct in that assumption. But, if you are not a company a lease can be a very bad, very costly mistake for you.
If you look at the amount of mileage you are allowed, it seems like a lot, but it really isn’t. They are banking on the fact that you will go over your mileage allotment. If you do, they will levy a ‘per mile’ penalty and this can get quite steep. They will also look over the vehicle and if they deem that it has more wear and tear than it should for the allotted lease time, they can and will levy a penalty for this. If you believe this is a way to get you into a more expensive vehicle with lower initial payments, it only seems that way. At the end of the lease, you will still have a very large percentage of value still left to pay.
Even if you intend to keep the car a few years before selling it and getting a new one, in the end, it will be a more equitable decision to purchase rather than lease.
