Top 3 Car Leasing Scams

Below are the top three scams most frequently used by auto dealers. Any one of these could cost you a lot of money so before signing that car lease, always read the print.

Car Lease Scam 1: The dealer offers to take your current car as a trade in, pay off your loan balance on that vehicle (no matter how much it is) and lease you a better car than the one you have for lower payments.

Although the dealer will pay off your old loan as agreed, he will then credit the value of the trade-in against the price of the new car then add on the rest of the loan balance you owed to the price of the new car you're about to lease.  The payments won't change for the reason that you're leasing and not buying, so the amount will look lower than what you'd have expected, nevertheless the deal is far worse.

Car Lease Scam 2: The dealer offers to pay your remaining lease payments on your existing car lease in exchange for a new lease from them. 

Don't ever assume that the car dealer is taking over the responsibility of car lease payments. What they're really doing is just taking over the rest of the payments and when completed, will return the car to the company that originally leased it to you. Depending on the terms of your lease, if there's any problem with the car, such as excess mileage, scratches and among others, the leasing company won't send the bill to the dealer; they'll send it to you. Additionally, if the dealer doesn't pay the remaining payments, or doesn't return the car, the leasing company will come after you, not the dealer. Lastly, the dealer won't really be making those payments anyway, since they have found a way of adding the price of the remaining payments back into the total price of your new car.

Car Lease Scam 3: The dealer will try to convince you that all leased cars must have extended warranties, maintenance contracts, paint protection, rust proofing and window etching.

This is a sham. If the dealer press that you should have these extra warranties ans such, don't give-in. Car leasing companies don't insist on any of these things. All the items listed above give dealers higher profits and are unnecessary.