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Up until now, I have only ever bought the cars that I have driven.  Recently though I’ve discovered that leasing a car rather than buying one has become rather popular.  It hadn’t really been something that had occurred to me as a viable option in the past but after discovering friends doing it I decided to do a little research.  There are so many places you can lease a car from but the important thing is you choose somewhere reliable.  Zen Auto, for example, comes up as a highly rated company on trust pilot with a rating of ‘Excellent!’

Why Are More People Opting to Lease Instead of Buying Cars?

What is Car Leasing?

It is similar to renting in that you’ll have a car for an agreed amount of time for a set fee.  The choice of car is up to you.  This was often popular with businesses but now more individuals are opting to do this.  There are various advantages which we will look at in this post.

Cost of Leasing a Car

Leasing a car is typically not as expensive as buying initially.  Instead of forking out a large lump sum and watch the value of the car depreciate over time many are choosing to lease their vehicles instead.  Car loans often come with pricey down payments.  Leasing down payment costs tend to be cheaper.  The cost of leasing is calculated from the initial purchase price of the car (new) and the car’s value at the end of the lease.  The estimated yearly mileage and length of contract will also be used to calculate the overall cost.

Costs normally associated with purchasing a car are normally included in the fee.  You won’t need to worry about road tax, breakdown cover, manufactures warranties will cover major mechanical issues – normally up to 3 years.  Service and maintenance packages can also be negotiated when agreeing the contract.  Higher value cars often retain their value well.  This means that the cost of depreciation can sometimes be lower or equivalent to some lower value cars.

The Leasing Agreement Means you Are Protected Against Depreciation

The second you drive a shiny new car off a forecourt it loses value.  Within the first year, the value of the vehicle can drop somewhat in the region of 15-35%.  Leasing a vehicle means you’ll only pay for the depreciation that occurs during the time the contract covers.

Drive a New Car Every 1-3 Years

Depending on how long you sign the lease for, you could find yourself driving a lovely new car every 1-3 or so years.   The new car smell is great and so is the fact that it’s a great new car, rather appealing to a fair few people.  The option to drive something different every few years can also attract people as well as the fact they can lease a car that they couldn’t afford to buy outright.  This has the added bonus of getting to drive cars with the latest fun features including an inbuilt navigation system, parking assist, Autonomous Emergency Braking, etc.

No Need to Worry About Selling or Part Exchanging

Once your lease is up you can simply renew it for the same car, a newer model, or a completely different car.  The worry that comes with selling on the car for a fair price is no longer a problem.  Many opt to part exchange vehicles when selling as an easier option and have to accept a lower amount than if sold privately.  Again, this isn’t a concern when leasing your vehicle.

Safety

Newer cars are safer than they ever have been.  With the changes in structural design and materials being used in car frames to redistribute crash forces passengers are much safer in newer cars.  These offer superior protection for passengers as well as high tech accident avoidance systems.  The result is that those driving newer cars have a lower number of fatalities than those that are older.  The newer models will conform to the latest safety regulations often not met by older cars.

Reliability

It goes without saying that a newer car is going to be far more reliable than one that is older.  The wear and tear of an older model already means there is more risk of something going wrong and the car breaking down.

Making a Decision

It’s important to think about whether leasing is suitable for your needs.  Things to take into consideration is how much you drive, how important it is to you to drive a new car, do you have enough saved to buy or would leasing work out a better option, do you have the time and inclination to arrange maintenance (less of an issue in new leased cars), etc.

Which of these reasons would be most important to you?

(Feel free to pick more than one.)

For my dad who wanted to find out more about leasing a car x

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