X Car Lease Strategies You Should Know About

Leasing is attractive to people looking for flexibility, convenience, and a way to save some cash. As leasing continues to grow in popularity, banks and car dealerships alike offer options to help more shoppers hit those targets.

Before leasing your new car you should be aware that there are some leasing tactics that can save even more money, provide additional flexibility, and raise the convenience factor.

Read on to familiarize yourself with the car lease strategies that you should know about. 

Look for flexible mileage options One of the most common reasons consumers shy away from leasing a car online or in-person is because they assume they drive too many miles and don’t want to pay the penalties on the contract’s back-end. Whether you buy or lease a vehicle, you’re going to pay for the number of miles you drive.

The difference is, you have an option on how you want to take the loss. You can customize your lease by buying additional miles upfront, or you can pay incurred mileage penalties at the end. Both options end up costing about the same. The difference is that you can better budget the expense by buying upfront, but it also means you lose the cost of any miles you don’t happen to use because they aren’t reimbursable.

Ask if there is a one-pay lease variant 

Not many people know that this is an option - paying the lease’s entirety in a single lump sum to save money on the lease. It makes sense, though. Instead of paying a few hundred dollars every month, you pay the entire lease off and get a lower interest rate.

This is an excellent money-saving option if you can give that much cash upfront, and if the dealership or the seller offers this possibility, make sure to ask about it. 

Make a more significant down payment 

If you’ve only ever financed vehicles in the past, you may have noticed that your down payment didn’t make a significant difference on your monthly payment.

However, this is not the case when leasing a car. Since you’re only paying the difference between the vehicle’s price and the value at the end of the contract in a lease, making a more significant down payment makes a lot more sense.

Trading-in your old vehicle also has a more significant effect when you lease since it’s essentially used as a down payment.

Check if there is a month-to-month option

Just because your lease is about to expire doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll need to determine whether to buy the car outright or find a new one right away. Many dealerships will allow you to extend the lease month-to-month if you’re unsure about your decision.

This allows you the flexibility to do further research on vehicles on the market and gives you more time to decide whether you’d like to purchase the vehicle outright.

Don’t forget about gap insurance

Gap insurance covers you for the difference between the vehicle’s market value and the amount remaining on your loan should you get into an accident. Since you generally pay less every month in a lease, it’s a perfect idea to get gap insurance, as you could otherwise end up owing thousands of dollars if your car is totaled or stolen earlier in the lease.

Unless you’ve made a significant down payment upfront, getting gap insurance is a smart decision. Many leases come with gap insurance included, but it's your responsibility to make sure you have it. It's generally a small cost, but well worth the peace of mind.

Find a car that holds its value 

Lease costs are mainly influenced by the difference in the price that the leasing company pays for a new car and the amount that they can sell it for at the end of the agreement. That’s why it’s worth choosing a car that won’t plummet in value.

Seek more information on the cars that you’re looking at. The simplest way to gauge this is to search for cars with certain contract terms (a set contract length, mileage allowance, and initial payment), to see which have the lowest monthly payments.

Lease a make and model with a reputation for reliability and high resale value to get a lower monthly payment. Rare or trendy cars depreciate quickly, and you pay for all that depreciation. Go online and check resale values before choosing a vehicle.

Use common sense 

 When you're shopping for a lease, you'll come across some ads that seem too good to be true. That's because they are.

When you read the fine print, you'll notice the ad only applies to certain undesirable trim levels, has a driving limit of 10,000 miles per year, and/or has a large down payment and security deposit. When you factor in all these additional costs, it's really not as great of a deal as you first thought.