I leased a Merc Mountaineer back in '98. At the time I had some CC debt and owned an Explorer free and clear. Hence I sold the Explorer, paid off the high CC debt and leased the Mountaineer for absolutely Zero down (except the first month payment) and got $500 in free gasoline as boot. The real beauty was I got 15K miles/yr and no extraordinary maintenance costs for the next three years at only $399/mth then I wiped my hands clean of the vehicle and moved into my Expy. There are certainly some appealing aspect to leasing, ie new car every couple years, no worry about resale value, not as **** about maintenance, etc.

Problem now is you can't get into a lease vehicle without some sort of down payment + TT&L. Seems that most manufacturers were way overestimating residual values several years ago and never realized any profits.

 

To me the only reason or the only time it would make sense to lease is if you’re going to be changing vehicles every few years. If you financing a vehicle and trade it in every few years I would be willing to bet if you put the numbers down on paper and figured it out you would be losing some money.

I could be wrong, but to me leasing is a complete lose and makes no sense unless maybe you’re doing it because of being in business for yourself. I don’t know if there is any tax advantage to it now days, it use to be a tax advantage.

Someone mentioned to have the dealer “price it out” the other thing you should DEMAND is to see what the interest rate is. They sometimes love to go around that and act like there is no interest rate, that it’s just a complete package. There IS an interest rate they love to bury into that “package deal” so DEMAND that they tell you what it is and you just may be surprised.

If they are telling you that you get free oil changes for the lease period you should tell them you do NOT want no free oil changes with the lease. Again you would be surprised just how UN-free those oil changes are. There is another gimmick they love to pull, all these “free” little benefits that come with a lease. BS, there is NO free benefits that come with a lease they all COST and are included in the price but since the lease agreement does NOT spell out all the cost you just don’t know they actually do cost.

 

Payments? I don't need no stinkn payments! I own my '97 150 outright! Plan is to upgrade to a F250 in about 5 years when the son is old enough to enjoy the travel trailer and boat!

 

The screw's paid for, wanted to share my thoughts on leasing.
I leased my 98 supercab cab for 3 years at 20k miles per year and around $320 per month. The buy out was 15 grand at the end of the lease. I could have purchased the truck for around $24,500 including tax back then, but I was intending to do quite a bit of towing and figured it would be shot in a couple of years so why not just use it and return it. To make a long story a bit shorter, the truck was great and I wanted to keep it at 60,000 plus miles so I figured I would just haggle on the buy out. Wrong!
They wouldn't budge.
I went back and looked at the numbers. I gave them $11,520 in payments, around $ 500 or so for excess miles plus all the other misc. fees, so lets just say they got 12 grand. I could have purchased it for $24,500 and I paid them $ 12,000 which leaves me to pay $12,500 to break even as though I had purchased it from the beginning. They wanted another 15 grand for the buyout which means I would be paying $ 2,500 more than if I have bought it out right. They came and picked it up, all smiles of course. I went shopping for the screw and the saleman was going on and on about their great leasing program. Great for them, not for me, I'll be buying from now on.

 

My rig has been paid for for two years and is still in mint condition.I am not planning a purchase now as there is tons of life left in this truck. I think the reason that most people lease is they get more vehicle than they could afford to buy.Leasing is a good deal for the dealers not the consumer.But if you don't mind having a payment all the time then I guess it works.

 

mine was piad for when I drove it off the lot 3 and a half years ago but now I'll have to wait at least until 2005 before I can buy a new one.

 

My '03 is exactly like Doug S's ( nice truck Doug) and it's paid for. Many years ago I quit thinking about what payment I could squeek by with and got more focused on purchase price and what I could really afford. Simply not living beyond my means. Now it seems like I can afford what I want, within reason of course.

 

I'm one of those 97 guys that have been paid off for over two years and loven it...

 

I forsgot what that was last October

 

Payment disappeared last spring on the Lariat.

When I did have a payment it $510/month.

Paid cash for the 99XLT and 98XL - both used.

 

Zero

Zilch

Nadda

Nothin'

Goose-Egg

Zip

0

[ ]

Less than $1

More $$$ for

But lots of mods and maintanence costing me plenty!!!

 

We got our 2000 XLT 5.4 4x4 in August of 2001. At the time, I had a '93 explorer that was needing more money dumped in it than I felt like putting in it. We wanted a truck, I knew exactly what I wanted and exactly what I could and couldn't do per month. I turned over my explorer to the dealer and got my truck (had a little under 15,000 miles on it) for $415/month, 5-year lease. I'm pleased.

Lease was the best option for us because a.) I didn't want to settle on any options, I wanted what I wanted, and b.) we couldn't afford the monthly payment on a purchase. At the time, we planned on keeping it until it fell apart, so no big deal, we could just buy out the lease when our 5 years are up. Since then, my wife has decided that she would rather have a 2-wheel drive Screw dropped on 20's or 22's, so when the lease is up, we are probably turning it back in.

I would do a lease again, but I don't want to do that long of a lease period again, because you never know when something else will come out that you like better (ie., 2004 F-150 and the 2005 Mustang coming out next year).

As some have said, it's perfect for some, not for others. It all boils down to what it's worth TO YOU personally to have the truck of your dreams. It doesn't matter what others think is too high or too low, as long as you're happy.


I FEAR NO BEER!!

 

My sales rep was saying that Ford was really getting away from the leasing thing. He said that Ford has taken a bath on it. I just can't see the advantage of the lease. I would rather own.

My payment $230 month. '03 Lariat, FX-4, 5.4L, loaded. I am fortunate enough to have paid off my previous vehicle in 1 year, so I had a huge trade in. I plan on paying this off in one year or two as well. 5 year plan through Ford....6.9% interest (i think).

 

Paid off. Le Pew, I swear, evey time I see your truck, it gets prettier. If you had a Lund Visor and a BugFlector II on there, and maybe some 285/75/16s, that would be the perfect truck.

 

My payment is $0! Only been paid off for 4 months. I hope this truck runs for many more years. 64,000 and no trouble yet.
Rich