Car Leasing as an Investment Strategy

I recently wrote a Mortgage Column showing how we can use our Home Loan savings to help us reach our yearly IRA Contribution Limits. Lower interest rates mean monthly savings. Those monthly savings can be re-invested in our 401K or Retirement Investments. The reason I bring this is up is because the same principle applies to Monthly Car Leasing. It really doesn’t matter if we buy or lease cars; there is always a monthly payment involved in some form or another. For those who think paying cash for a car is saving them a monthly payment or bill, I ask, “How many months will it take to recoup the lost cash you sunk into your depreciating car?” When we buy used cars, we are forever faced with monthly maintenance costs and eventually having to replace it some day. Buying new cars on loan means we will eventually pay them off, but no car runs forever. There will always be a time when we need to replace our old cars. I prefer to lease cars, because it gives me greater control over my monthly cash flow, allowing me to invest the immediate savings elsewhere. Just as Lower Mortgage Rates allow us to put a little extra away towards are 401K and IRA Contributions, a monthly car leasing strategy can work the same way. Read the rest of this entry

Happy New Year

Best Car Lease

What is the Best Car Lease for the New Year? The best one I found is the 2010 Toyota Camry which Leases for $199.00 a month for 36-months and $1,699.00 down, including first-month payment. The Toyota Camry LE Sedan has a very good LVR of just 1.08%. This actually tops the Toyota RAV4 SUV which I raved about last month in our SUV Lease Specials for December.  This month the Toyota RAV4 lease offer is not quite as attractive. The low payment of $199.00 is the same, but an extra $500 down payment is required. For January 2010, I've rated seven cars as having excellent lease values based on the fact their Lease Value Ratio (LVR) is 1.16 or less. Notice the trend here?

• The Toyota Camry is on top once again.
• Low to medium-priced Japanese sedans are near the top.
• SUV's and more expensive luxury cars like BMW and Audi are closer to the bottom.

Speaking of luxury cars, have you ever seen a worse leasing deal than the BMW 550i? $809 a month plus $6,184 down payment?  This is the kind of car lease that gives car leasing a bad name. The expensive-to-lease BMW 550i is another example of how a sagging economy has hurt. The resale values of expensive cars are not what they used to be. When they are 2-3 years old, it becomes hard to sell such an expensive car. Obviously, $61,000 cars are taking a bigger depreciation hit these days. You are probably wondering why Cadillac (last month's winner) is not on the list. Check back soon. Cadillac could end up this month's winner again. Read the rest of this entry

Best Car Lease

I've made a game of trying to get these Monthly Lease Specials posted by the 5th of each new month.  Some of the Car manufacturers are not playing my game and have chosen to mix things up a bit with their lease offers.  For instance, Toyota is extending last month's leases through November 16th. I've not been able to find lease specials for Lexus for the last several months, and as of November 5th, neither Nissan or Mercedes-Benz are advertising any lease specials. If you know me, I'm a timely guy and take pride in getting my Best Car Lease and Lease Ratings published by the 5th of every new month. It's almost as if these car makers are doing this on purpose to make things difficult for me. Maybe Mercedes and Lexus don't like being judged by their Lease Offers every month. I decided there's no harm in going ahead and publishing what I have, without Nissan and Toyota car lease specials this time. This gives me a good excuse to post another article as soon as they do announce some new lease offers. Expect to see an update at least by November 16th when the current Toyota Lease Special expires. Read the rest of this entry