Is it cheaper to buy or lease a car?

In most cases, leasing is cheaper than buying in the short term. That is, lease payments are usually lower than loan payments. However, you can usually save more money in the long run by buying because you will own the vehicle and can resell it. We don’t recommend leasing forever but leasing is a good way to drive a new, warrantied vehicle for a few years without paying a lot each month.

It is better to lease or buy a car?

This question is difficult to answer. It depends on your lifestyle. You shouldn’t lease if your life is unpredictable. You’ll have to agree to a maximum mileage per year, which means you need a fairly stable lifestyle or you could exceed the limit. There are also things to consider about buying. You may not be able to afford the loan payments for the car you need, for example. You might run into loan problems (qualifying for a lease is often easier than qualifying for a loan). You’ll be able to decide which options is better once you know how they both work. Read on to learn more about leasing.

Do I own the car when I lease?

No. You don’t own the vehicle while its under a lease contract. It belongs to the lessor. You can decide to purchase the car when the lease ends, however.

Can I negotiate the lease rate like I would negotiate the purchase price?

The lease rate isn’t set in stone. It is based on the vehicle’s purchase price. You should negotiate as if you are buying the vehicle before you let the dealership calculate the lease rate. When they calculate it, double check it to make sure it’s correct. Here’s how the calculation works.

What is “amount due at signing”?

The amount due at signing is the total amount you will have to pay on the first day of the lease term, which includes down payment, first month’s payment, taxes and fees. When advertised, the amount due at signing is based on a strong credit score. It will vary if your credit score is on the weak side.

Can I end the lease early?

Usually, you can’t end a lease before end term. Some lessors allow lease transfers or “lease assumptions,” which means letting someone else take over the payments and drive the vehicle. Your lessor might keep you on the contract and hold you liable for payments anyway, though. These conditions are something worth asking about before you sign any agreements.

How do you calculate a lease rate?

The basic formula is this: (purchase price – residual value at end term) / months in lease term For details, see this article from WikiHow.

What happens if I damage my leased vehicle?

Your lessor probably won’t mind a few scratches (they will have a policy for you to review), but expensive damage will be recouped by fees. You can buy excess wear and tear coverage, which will protect you from most minor damages. If you want full protection, think about GAP insurance, which covers the full value of the car. If the car is totalled, GAP insurance shields you from paying that loss to the lessor. Of course, it’s a good idea to read the policy carefully anyway. Ready to get behind the wheel? Your local dealers offer their most competitive prices to online shoppers. Click here for free, no-obligation quotes.

Everyone wants a great, low price on their next vehicle. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking the best offer you get is the best you can find. Every sale price should be negotiated, unless you enjoy paying more money than you have to. One of the tricks car salespeople often use during car negotiation is called the four square, like the playground game. It’s a sort of diagram that looks like this: As you can see, there are four basic elements in the four square. Purchase price is the price you’ll pay to take the car home. The value of your trade-in (if you have one) will go in the trade-in box. Your down payment, whatever you can afford, goes in the down payment box. Subtract the trade-in value and the down payment from the purchase price and divide by the months in your loan term to get the monthly payments, roughly. Now let’s talk about how this visualization, the four square, can be detrimental during car negotiation. What your salesperson might do first is ask you how much you have in your monthly budget for payments. Or, if you have a vehicle in mind already, the salesperson may quote your monthly payments using a standard down payment and ask if you have more money to put down, which would bring the monthly payments down.

Start with the Purchase Price

The problem is that starting with monthly payments gives the dealer an opportunity to appease you before you get a chance to think about the math involved. You should always start with the purchase price. Don’t let it simply show up on the four square. You should negotiate it. You can look up a fair market price using any of several websites, such as kbb.com. Or, you can estimate the vehicle’s dealer cost and make an offer close to it. It’s usually about as low as you can go. Here’s the formula, where the invoice price is the price the dealer paid for the car, destination fees are any fees charged to get the car ready for sale, and holdback is a payment from the manufacturer to the dealership for making a sale. dealer cost = invoice price + destination fees – holdback These are obscure numbers but you can usually find them with a quick Google search. Just include the make, or the auto brand, in your search. For example, if you’re looking for Honda’s holdback, search “Honda holdback.” Decide what to offer and negotiate until you come to an agreement. Remember, you can always say “no thanks” and walk out of the dealership. If the first dealership doesn’t work out, try another one.

Everything Else Falls into Place

Now that your purchase price has been decided, via proper car negoation, the rest is simple. You certainly can negotiate the trade-in value. Make sure your vehicle is clean and use kbb.com or another site to estimate its value, so that you know you’re getting a fair deal. As for the down payment, it’s up to you. A larger one will decrease monthly payments, but a smaller one could leave you some leftover cash to invest or save for a rainy day. Click here to search local inventory and compare prices for free.

Welcome to 2018. This year, you’ll be able to choose from a seemingly endless number of SUVs and crossovers. They just keep coming out of nowhere! Thankfully, someone at BMW is really giving their new vehicles some thought instead of dropping another bland CR-V lookalike. On the other hand, well, the X2 isn’t exactly groundbreaking. Do these specs looks familiar?

• $38,400
• 228 hp
• 2.0L Turbo 4-cylinder
• 21.6 – 50.1 ft3 (w/ seats down) cargo area
• 8-speed automatic

The X2 is 3 inches lower than the X1 and 3.2 inches shorter in length, making it really look and feel more like a sporty hatchback than an SUV. Because the X2 is sportier, it does lose some practicality. It has about 7ft3 less space than the X1, making it a little less useful for road trips. Overall, though, the X2 shares a lot in common with the X1. The wheelbase is the same, the dash is the same and the horsepower is the same, for example. If you’re wondering why you would want to buy an X2 instead of an X1, it’s the design. Whereas the X2 looks like a run-of-the-mill luxury crossover, the X1 has a fresher look. It recalls recent designs from other manufacturers, such as the Kia Niro and Hyundai Kona, but is a little less juvenile. Sorry, can’t think of a better adjective. There’s nothing wrong with a youthful feel but the X2 fits in with the likes of the Jaguar F-Pace and other mature crossovers, if you will. Although the X2 has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price, it’s not what you should pay for the vehicle. Get some price quotes from local dealers. Ask one of them to bring their price down to beat another dealer’s price. A little preparation could save you lots of money. Get free, no-obligation, local quotes the easy way. Click here to select your vehicle and dealers.

Have you ever used your smartphone to order takeout from your vehicle? Apps like GrubHub and Seamless make ordering from local restaurants easy but it isn’t safe to use such apps while driving. GM and other manufacturers are trying to make it easier by integrating partner restaurants’ menus into apps that run in vehicle infotainment systems. GM Marketplace can order from Dunkin Donuts, Exxon, Starbucks, Priceline and other retailers from GM infotainment systems. More partners are expected. Currently, GM Marketplace does not have voice recognition capability. Distraction has become a concern that is frequently cited by commentators, which is why some smartphone takeout apps have voice ordering features. You’ll have to have Android Auto or Apple CarPlay to use them in your car, though. On the upside, those two softwares are becoming more and more standard. Another concern is hacking. Adage says about 80 million vehicles will be online by 2022, increasing the potential for hacking. Since e-commerce will become a big part of vehicle infotainment, identity theft will be a problem. But that problem is nothing compared to concerns about hacking vehicle’s autopilot systems and causing accidents. We have plenty of work ahead to prevent these offenses. The question about in-car e-commerce is whether an established e-commerce app, such as Seamless, will create something that works better than automakers’ apps, giving drivers an effective way to order using only their voices. You might be asking yourself why GM would even worry about making their own e-commerce apps when Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are likely to take over that space. It’s because the future will be increasingly car-share and autopilot friendly. Passengers will be the market for a range of advertising and shopping in vehicles, starting in large cities. It will be more profitable if automakers use their own software and their own partners to offer these services, instead of leaving it all to smartphone companies. Are we getting ahead of ourselves? Is the risk of hacking too great? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page. Want free, no-obligation quotes from local dealers? Get them from the comfort of your home. Click here.

It’s yet another small SUV on the market! The Nissan Kicks. We’re not kidding. With a name like that, Nissan has to be trying to give the brand a happy, even carefree feel. The Kicks’ captivating tri-color exteriors portray that feel. We all know, however, that vehicles are never carefree. They have to serve their purpose and they have to be reliable. You can have fun in any car but can the Kicks carry out its duties day after day while keeping the driver happy? Can it replace the discontinued Nissan Juke, an obviously fun kind of vehicle, and still take care of the mundane stuff? The 2018 Kicks starts at $19,000, within a grand of the Hyundai Kona, the Honda HR-V and a few other subcompact SUVs. Considering the price, your money should probably go towards another brand if what you want is performance. The only engine available for the Kicks is a 125-hp 4-cylinder that Nissan has paired with a CVT transmission. The Kicks’ horsepower is about 20 less than competitors like the Mazda CX-3 have, and the competing vehicles often have more horsepower at higher trim levels. The Kicks lacks…..kick. Sorry. Hyundai offers its Kona SUV with a 1.6L, 175-hp turbocharged engine and plenty of technology for under $28,000, as a next-step option. So how does the Kicks make up for this performance mismatch? It has 25 cubic feet of rear cargo room, compared to Kona’s 19 cubic feet and HR-V’s 24 cubic feet. The Kicks’ interior has some unique flavor, with a leather-padded dash, a 7″ touchscreen and dual climate control. However, not all of those features are available in the base “S” trim. What does come with that trim is a backup camera, automated emergency braking, Bluetooth, and three USB ports. The Hyundai Kona doesn’t have any semi-autopilot features at the base trim but offers plenty at the next trim up, the SEL. The HR-V’s semi-autopilot safety tech begins for $21,000 at the EX trim. After thinking it over, you start to realize that the question isn’t whether the Kicks can do its job. It’s whether you can get your kicks driving the Kicks. It’s just not as cool or as eccentric as the peppy Juke, its defunct cousin. On the other hand, it’s not completely without attitude. It is a nice-looking vehicle. It has tready door jams with the Kicks logo on them, a steering wheel and instrument panel that make you want to grab on, and a design that’s much nicer than that of the average small SUV. While the Kicks isn’t the Juke, it’s something more drivers will be comfortable purchasing. Perhaps Hyundai offers a replacement for the Juke with the turbocharged version of the Kona. For those of us who don’t need that, the Kicks will serve us just fine. Click here to get free, no-obligation, online quotes from each local dealer. Save time and money! Click here.

Found out your credit score is not so good? It’s OK. You’re not the only one who would like a better one. It will take some time but you can bring it back up. After you do, you’ll save money by qualifying for lower interest rates at the dealership. Plus, you might be offered extra incentives and save even more. Here are three simple steps to improve credit score.

Start Paying On Time

We realize this isn’t always easy. There are some things you can do to make it easier, though. First, if your finances are tight, cancel any monthly expenses you don’t need. That means cable TV, Spotify, and anything else you can do without. Next, set up payment reminders. Most of your utilities and services provide this feature but you can simply put the due dates of all your bills on your calendar, if you’d like. A calendar that sends you a text or email when a bill is almost due is the best kind. Lastly, use credit cards sparingly. You don’t want to end up with more bills than you can afford anymore. If you do these things, you’ll have a better shot at paying bills on time.

“Look” OK

Dave Jones, retired president of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies, says it’s a good idea to appear to be in good financial condition. There are different ways you can do that. Making partial payments or charging more for you services are things you should avoid. Credit agencies don’t like these things. Taking cash advances or even spending money at pawn shops or divorce attorneys’ offices are also hints that you’re becoming risky to creditors (companies that loan money to you). People who always pay on time rarely spend money at those places, Jones says.

Keep at It

We know. It’s a corny thing to say, but it’s important. Stay cool and persist. You got this! The improvements might not happen as quickly as you’d like but don’t get frustrated. Keep your head in the game. You can check your credit score up to three times per year without causing it to decrease. There’s no reason not to do that. Before you know it, your score will be rising and you’ll be on your way to the dealer to buy or lease your new vehicle. When it’s time to buy or lease a car, start by getting free quotes from local dealers. You’ll have a clear picture of the local market in minutes. Click here.