Business or Private Car Leasing: Does it Make Sense?

Private, business or company car leasing allows you to drive a car of your choice without

actually having to pay a huge sum of money and purchase it. Leasing out a car requires you to

pay a small down payment which is followed by payments on a monthly basis till the lease

duration ends. Once this lease expires, you are supposed to return the car.

Who can lease a car?

Before you go out and lease a car, you must be sure that business or private car leasing makes

sense in your case. One of the disadvantages of leasing out a car is that if you do so for a long

period of time, say ten years, the cost of leasing cars for this period is bound the exceed the

cost price of a new car. On the other hand, leasing out a car does make sense in the following

conditions:

- You don’t have a car of your own and don’t have the cash to purchase a new one but

are in urgent need of a car

- You want to drive a vehicle that is out of your price range

- You are not likely to exceed the mileage limit stated in the contract

- You are capable of taking good care of the interiors and exteriors of the car and you are

not likely to let the car sustain nicks, spills or other cosmetic damages

- You expect to lease out another car once the contract on the current car expires

If you fulfill most of these requirements, you are qualified for company or private car leasing. It

is important to understand that leasing out a car is very much like renting a house and that it

requires great attention to detail on your part on several factors such as pricing, maintenance

and so on.

Things to consider when leasing a car

As mentioned earlier, you must realize that leasing a car only makes sense if you don’t have the

cash to buy a new car or are looking for a particular model that isn’t within your budget. The

reason for this is that over a period of time, you would have paid more towards private or

company car leasing that what a brand new car would cost at present and this is not the wisest

form of long term planning.

Again, when you lease out a car, you should also be careful to maintain it like your own. Any

damage done to the car’s appearance or performance will land you in a soup. You will have to

pay penalties for these damages. Additionally, if you cross the mileage limit for the car, you will

also have to pay an extra amount of money on every mile. It is therefore important to check for

all these peripheral costs when going for business or private car leasing. Overshooting the limit

on miles or scratching the car is not something that is done intentionally but these things do

happen. It is therefore better for you to be well aware of the price you will pay for these

unaccounted situations.