Auto Transportation

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Is leasing a car, rather than purchasing a car on time payments a good thing or not. As with questions in life, it all depends on your financial and/ or automotive situation and as well who tells the story.

It is true that business can write off lease costs whereas that is not such an advantage to an individual car user. However this is not necessarily so. First it all depends on your situation and as well you’re negotiating skills. It is always better to be in an informed and prepared manner.

First of all leasing a car is downright attractive due to current low interest rates. Almost every month you will read in the popular news that the “Fed has cut interest rates again”. What this means to you is that in an overall sense that interest rates are less to you. This should mean lower leasing costs to you. If interest rates, in the banking industry and market are lower, so should be the interest rate basis in your lease negotiations and payments.

What are the advantages of leasing a vehicle? You will get a new vehicle to drive. When your leasing agreement term is over – then you hand the car in and walk away.

It may be debated that by leasing the car you will have no equity or asset accumulation left at this point in this automotive transaction. If you had bought the car, with payments, the car would be yours at some point, lock stock and barrel.

However major components and overall costs of running a car are maintenance costs. With a new vehicle – it is unlikely that you will incur these costs. First of all the car is new. Major repairs and costs are unlikely. In addition the car will come with a manufacturer’s warranty which should cover you for the majority if not all of the lease time period.

With modern, newer and especially smaller cars it seems that all repairs seem to be very expensive. After a certain point of time, use and mileage, it is not as if the car “nickel and dimes” you to death. Most of the innards of modern cars seem to be electronic in nature with advanced (read expensive and hard to fix) modules. There are few simple to repair mechanically based, non electronic component, cars. In addition for mechanics to work on cars now “everything is struggle’ “and as well spaces are tight and very hard to work within. In a summary the old “nickels and dimes” are now “five hundreds, thousands and several thousands”. With a leased car arrangement you may not own the car, with its equity. Neither do you have repair costs and heartaches. In addition you have a reliable vehicle to get you to work or to chauffer around your family.

There are several terms and factors to be knowledgeable about in your calculations and comparisons for auto purchase versus lease workup and lease negotiations.

First of all research the leasing tax rules in your jurisdictions. For example in your state you may well only pay sales taxes on monthly payments, not on the cost of the vehicle. It all depends on the negotiations of your payments- which involve the time frame and value of the car at the take back time end of lease.

Next what are the fees? For example the fee at the end of turn in, paperwork fees and fees for “excess miles”. Are these negotiatiable? In the case of the “excess mileage” and “excess mileage fees” are these carved in stone or can the allotment or rates charged be reduced? In the case of the “turn in” fee. If you offer to increase your monthly payment – often this fee will be reduced.

In order to best negotiate you will have to speak the same language and terms as the lease negotiator. Several terms to know, comprehend and understand are “Capitalized Cost”, “Money Factor” and “Residual Value”.

Simply put the cost of the leased vehicle is confusingly described as the “Capitalized Cost”. Just as you would haggle over the cost of buying a new car, you should not accept a stated price or manufacturers suggested retail price (M.S.R.P.) as the price paid.

Haggle and argue over the “Capitalized Cost” just as you would in any car or automotive deal.

Next in line in proper automotive leasing terms is the term “Money Factor”. “Money Factor “is the interest rate upon which the leasing calculations are based upon. The lower the number of the “Money Factor”, the better for you. As a rough guide and estimate multiply the “Money Factor” value by 2550 to get an estimate of the relevant interest rate.

Last in the line of leasing and leasing lingo is the term “Residual Value”. “Residual Value” is the amount that the car, S.U.V. or truck vehicle is said to be worth at the end of the lease period. Simply put, the more the vehicle is deemed to be worth, at this time period, the less will be your total amount due to be paid overall for your lease. Thus the higher the “Residual Value” at the end of your lease, the much lower will be your monthly lease payments.

In the end, your car purchase or lease decision will come down to two factors. Reliability of transportation and the total cash outlay from your personal pocketbook or wallet.

The automotive performance of a car is always related to the amount of fuel consumed by it. However, a car’s performance can be increased in certain ways without negatively affecting the gas mileage of a car. Given below are few tips:

Performance chips: Computer chips that operate most new cars these days keep track of how much horsepower and torque can be displaced. Using performance chips or recalibrating the current chip used in a car can help in increasing the torque and horsepower to a great extent.

Cold air Intake: Power of a car engine can be increased if the temperature of the air that enters the car can be reduced. An under the hood modification in the form of cold air intake can help in this. Such an enhancement also beautifies the engine bay by making it colorful and attractive. Such a unit will also make an appealing sound.

Reusable air filters: Throughout the life of most of the cars, about 6 to 12 auto air filters are used without facing any problem, but when not in use most of them end up at the landfills for waste materials. Even though reusable air filters cost thrice as much as normal air filters, they are washable and last much longer than the regular ones. In fact, when you buy a reusable air filter for your car, it is actually the last one you will be ever buying for it. These air filters help you to increase acceleration and horsepower, besides having a very positive impact on the environment.

Performance exhaust systems: Another way to unleash horsepower, trapped up torque, and improve the overall automotive performance is by using “catalyst-back exhaust systems” (cat-back) for cars. Such a system installed in a car reduces exhaust back pressure by using low restriction performance mufflers and large width exhaust pipes while keeping all the important emission parts in their proper place. In addition to better performance, the exhaust system emits awesome sound.

To improve the automotive performance of your car, you may have to bear additional costs. While shopping online for the auto aftermarket products always opt for a trusted wholesaler. That way you will be able to acquire good quality automotive parts at very low prices. The auto aftermarket products/ services for increasing automotive performance of cars include accessories, replacement parts, appearance products, lubricants, various tools and equipments required for repair and service repairs. If you do the shopping yourself, you will be able to save a lot.

In 2007, the auto aftermarket had done better than in 2006, with a total sale of $285.5, which is a 4% increase from the previous year. In the light truck and car section alone the auto aftermarket experienced $211.4 billion sales while in case of heavy duty vehicles the aftermarket sales figure stood at $74.1 billion.