Hi All... I run a company that consults auto dealers in the area of finance... As well as other matters.
Smartbuy (as someone pointed out earlier) is very similar to a balloon note. You may or may not be able to walk away at the end of the term. The difference between Smartbuy and Smartlease (or any lease) is that with Smartbuy... You own the car.. It is titled in your name. With a lease you don't. The lease company owns it and you "lease" the car from them. It is titled in the lease company's name C/O you. Some may think that there is no difference but there is. Mostly business and legal stuff. The Smartbuy allows you to make lower payments while you own it and then either trade it or pay the balloon. There are options that allow you to walk away. With most leases now you can just walk away at term end and only owe for excess miles and wear and tear over what was originally agreed upon. The differences come up in insurance. Leasing usually costs you more becuase the leasing company wants higher coverage than most people have. They want to be protected just in case. The leasing company or finance company sets the residual value of what they think the vehicle will be worth at the end of the term. I've known some people to buy the car and sell it for a profit because the lease company set the residual too low. Most just walk away. This is why you are crazy to put money down on a lease. (More than what you normally would for taxes and tags.) Why put money down to just walk away at term end???
Leasing is great for those who tend to trade every few years and drive less than 15k miles per year. Leasing also makes sense for business reasons and are great write-offs. Others, like myself, sometimes keep cars past their payoff and want true ownership. (I like to modify my vehicles... I'm not paying for mods to hand it over to the lease company!) If you tend to keep cars a long time and/or you drive high miles.. Go for a longer term to lower the payments. You can finance now out to 96 months. (Though I feel you'd be crazy to go over 60 or 72 months.)
Just my .02
Rick
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2006 H3 - Luxury - Superior Blue - Sunroof - Chrome Pkg. - Chrome Step Tubes - AVN30D with rear view camera and iPod connection - Volant CAI - MagnaFlow dual exhaust - Throttle Body Spacer - Train Air Horn (to be installed) - More adds to come (New shoes & supercharger!)
1990 Porsche C2 (911) - Highly modified and very, very fast!
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