denlem

Seriously? Your opinion pretty much called out dealers ripping off customers with leases. I did the same thing you did but swapped dealer out for lawyer.

smrbrz

Again. Have a nice day.

cdynaco

I don't think I'd want him as my arguer.

JimC

I leased my wife's 2012 Lincoln - she wanted a really nice car, doesn't drive far, and the lease made sense for her.

Check on the different vehicles. I have already started pricing out a lease for my wife on a 2014 Lincoln MKZ because hers is up in April and figured that the hybrid was the same price so looked at that. The lease on the hybrid turns out to be quite a bit more than an ecoboost with similar options.

And one reason we went with the Lincoln - after pricing out a Fusion with the options she wanted we were in Lincoln territory already. We decided an upgraded interior and exterior, much better ride, and the Lincoln ownership experience (she can drop by the dealer any time and say "my car is dirty" and they give her a cup of coffee and take her car and wash and vacuum it for her - when she needs an oil change she stops in and if they can take it right in they give her a cup of coffee, if they can't get to it right away they hand her the keys to another Lincoln and tell her when to come pick up her car) made sense and the price wasn't that much different in the end.

You need to think about that statement. You will have to pay for "excess wear" when you return the car. So if you trash the interior you will end up with a bill at the end when you turn it in. You can buy a package up front that allows a certain level over "normal wear" - they actually send out a chart so you can check things like parking lot dings to see if they are within the specs, burns or holes in the upholstery, etc.

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Couple of other things - figure out how many miles she is driving now, and then determine a cushion. My wife was getting concerned because she was over her miles for awhile - turned out she likes the car so much she was driving more often and longer distances.

Her lease is up in April and if I lease another one I'm going to bump up the miles like I originally planned on this one. But she likes this car so much that she now thinks she wants to keep it so I may buy out the lease.
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Oh, and I also am an attorney and know how to read a contract -- I don't see where I was "fleased" on this deal. My wife got more car than I could buy at the same monthly payment and it has been a great car. Now I just need to compare what it will cost to buy it at lease end compared to leasing a new one for her since she really likes this car so much. She was always one who wanted a new car every couple of years so that was one more reason to lease for her - just pay for the time and miles that she was going to use it.

JimC

One other thing - if you join Mustang Club of America you can get X plan pricing. That works with leases as well. With X plan you can go to the Fordpartner.com site and input everything to see what the X plan rates are.

And as far as insurance, it wasn't any more expensive to insure it as a leased vehicle than it was to insure it as a financed/owned vehicle. Nothing different about it.

laserred38

Interesting. We have x-plan readily available, I didn't even think about it!

laserred38

Thanks for the thoughts. I actually saw an ad for the MKZ Hybrid lease for $349/month. I could easily do that, if it ends up really being that much.

Oh and the "trashed" part...Hah! I think most people on this site would define trashed differently than "normal people!"

I meant it wouldn't be cleaned every week and I might not vacuum the Cheerios crumbs or water splashes every week. Basically I wouldn't be worried about the baby eating or drinking in the car, which if I was actually purchasing the car, those two things wouldn't be happening in that car!

DarrenGT

I had leased a lincoln once upon a time with something called 'red carpet lease'. It was worth it. The quality of individual care and attention was awesome. Now they called 'concierge' service or something i think.

GrnT

The service you get when you lease is very good IMO.

Tony Alonso

I don't see today's cars as "dispoable". In fact, if anything, I see them as more durable and more likely to last longer. See this article. I also don't see hybrids as "throw-away" either, especially since the batteries are designed for long service life.

Interior technology's perhaps shorter lifecycles nowithstanding, the mechanicals and maintenance costs are two factors I look at very heavily in the cost of having a vehicle.


To me, an ideal lease candidate, other than someone who operates a vehicle for business use, has the following characteristics -

1) wants the "latest and greatest" vehicle that would cost more upfront to purchase and trades in with 36 months or less
2) drives lower than the average annual mileage of 15,000 per year (10,000-12,000 would be more like it)
3) maintains the car and does NOT trash it (if you return a leased car with a trashed interior, you likely would get charged for excessive wear-and-tear) EDIT - I see your trashed is not TRASHED
4) chooses a car with low maintenance costs in mind as a top priority (i.e., cheap on fuel, tires, and other consumables)
5) choose a vehicle with a high residual value because it is in demand

My wife has both leased and bought. This is the combination of factors that we evaluated when making the decision. She bought her last car.

In your case, I'd opt for a lease return with reasonable miles and go for the purchase. If that doesn't work because of needing a downpayment, then I would sell her car privately or turn it into a salvage yard to have something to start with on that payment.

Good luck in your decision.