Car Purchasing: Car Leasing
Car Leasing is a term that most people use because most people will most likely have to use in their life once they’ve reached a certain point in their life and they’re looking for an upgrade. But since my search with my partner for our car has begun, we’ve been looking at the things we want to be purchasing and in terms of how we finance it or pay it out right, which is the best option for us in the short term as well as the long term.
There are many a car that is within our budget, and many a car outside of our budget, but the real question is, is there a benefit to which way we purchase a car?
The first installment of this is “CAR LEASING”, since we’ve begun our search, this is one of the options. Car leasing begins with putting down a deposit/down payment. Once the down payment is complete, then you begin monthly payments on this car for the length of the contract, different places will have different lengths.
So the cost of a car would be for example for a $40,000 car: (all of which are just rough numbers, but these are the types of payments you will have to pay)
Monthly repayments: $2000
So the initial payment of the vehicle to even get to your house is fairly high, seeing as there is so much to pay, and unlike buying a car outright, there are a number of payments that are ongoing, if you choose them to be, e.g. insurance, petrol.
Annual payments of service, registration and insurance if you choose to do it annually.
The other thing to remember when car leasing is, it is ONLY leasing. As you make these monthly payments, the car is still not yours, it is the car company’s and if you choose to keep the car after the term of the contract, then it will be a lump sum (normally a fairly large chunk, say for a $40,000 car it might be a total of $10,000) at the end, in order to make the car yours and to finalise the payment of the time of purchase.
So if you’re not looking to actually buy a car, and don’t mind seeing the $20,000 that you’ve paid into the monthly payments gone to waste as long as you have a nice new car, then it might be for you. Though for me, the more I look at options like this, the more it scares me how much money goes towards a car company during leasing.
Though in terms of car leasing, there are a few benefits for some people. For example, people who are entrepreneurs and business owners, might be able to get tax returns on purchases of a new car/car leasing as it’s for business purposes.
The other benefit of car leasing is if you can get it as a salary sacrifice. If you are close to a lower band of tax, it might be worth salary sacrificing in order to get a new car, as salary sacrificing will reduce the amount of tax you pay, as long as it is before tax spend. Therefore it doesn’t count towards the amount you get taxed. Worthwhile thinking about and consulting a financial advisor in order to see if something like this would work for you.
Currently for us it doesn’t quite work, but just another installment in how to purchase a car! Enjoy!