Auto Insurance and Leasing Benefits

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When leasing a car, it's easier to stick with the same company for your auto insurance. What you don't know, however, is that you may end up paying too much for your coverage and it's better to look elsewhere for lower rates.

When you lease, the vehicle that you will drive belongs to the leasing company. They want to make sure that their investment is covered in the event the vehicle gets damaged, totally or stolen. They typically want to get covered for the difference between what your auto-insurer pays and your outstanding leasing obligations at the time of the accident or damage. This is called GAP, short for Guaranteed Auto Protection, and is usually included in the leasing contract. If your leasing company is called BMW Financial Services, Chrysler Financial or any other finance division of an automaker, then chances are your GAP insurance will be offered by the same lease company.

You are under no obligation to accept GAP insurance included as part of your lease agreement. Why pay an insurance premium if you could get the same coverage for a lower price? Invest some time shopping by comparing quotes from other insurance companies, including your existing one. Ask for discounts that you already qualify for and adjust your coverage accordingly.

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Benefits Of Leasing

Despite aggressive low-interest financing, cash-back offers and other purchasing incentives offered by leading auto-makers to buyers, leasing numbers keep increasing steadily over the years. Leasing is not only an attractive financial proposition to most auto-consumers, but also a lifestyle and preference choice. Buying a car can be overwhelming. In fact, the pleasure of getting a new car can be quickly clouded during the financing decision-making process and price negotiations. Besides price haggling, many car shoppers are plagued with the decision to lease or buy. Which financing decision is right and why

Many new car drivers lease, rather than purchase, their vehicles. Although leasing can be a good deal for some people, for many it's not. Before the dealership persuades you that leasing is the answer to your prayers, you should have a good understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of a lease, where to get a good lease deal, how to get all the facts about cost, and what happens if you have to cancel the lease early.

Benefit Number 1:

Keeping up with the latest trends

Leasing is sometimes more of a personal and lifestyle choice than a financial one. Many people are not comfortable with the idea of owning a vehicle over a long period of time. They'd rather keep up with the latest trends of the industry and drive the latest models every two to three years.

Leasing a car gives you the convenience of having the latest technology and safety innovation, such as an electronic stability system, DVD entertainment systems and advanced stereo equipment. If you are willing to fore-go ownership for the latest set of wheels, than leasing is your best option.

Benefit Number 2:

Purchasing Flexibility

Leasing also offers purchasing flexibility: it allows you to defer the purchasing decision while using the car. You don't have to haggle with your mechanic over repair expenses, deal with hefty maintenance bills or worry about a depreciating asset. Provided you can keep the vehicle in good condition and stay within the contracted mileage allowance, you're effectively getting a test drive for the length of your lease. At the end of your lease, you can purchase the vehicle or simply turn in the keys and walk away. No questions asked.

Benefit Number 3:

Cash Flow

Leasing offers many short-term benefits. It reduces your initial cash outlay as you do not have to pay the large down payment required for car ownership. You only pay for the depreciation on the car - only the part you will use during your lease, not the entire vehicle. This results in lower monthly payments and frees even more cash. This cash can be put to use more intelligently elsewhere than the questionable investment of owning a depreciating asset. If you are self-employed or use your car for your job, then you can write off your leasing payment as a business expense.

Benefit Number 4:

Negotiating Leverage

Although it may seem a little unorthodox in this industry, almost everything about leasing is negotiable. If you know all the fees involved, you can lower your monthly payments, negotiate the purchase price of the vehicle at the end of the lease and contract additional miles on top of your mileage limit. You can also do some shopping around and compare deals from different auto-insurers to get the cheapest GAP insurance for your lease.

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Single-Payment Lease

A prepaid lease is a new type of lease which has made its foray into the market in recent times. In this lease, consumers forego the cycle of lease payments if they make a large payment at the beginning of the lease.

There are two amounts in a conventional lease that incur charges and determine your monthly lease payments. First, there is a depreciation charge which accounts for the value the car loses during the lease term. Second is a residual amount which is the projected value of the vehicle at the end of the lease. The sum of these two charges gives the monthly payments on your lease.The idea behind a pre-paid lease is to eliminate the finance charges for depreciation and only account for residual value charges in a single, pre-paid payment at the beginning of the lease.

Single-payment leases are devised with spend thrifts in mind: no cycle of monthly payments, a new car every two to three years and no interest in purchasing the vehicle at the end of the lease. You should only consider this type of lease if you are concerned about not being able to make monthly payments and have a lot of cash upfront.

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Lease Trading

Ever wanted to terminate your lease early, comfortable with the thought you weren%u2019t going to be hit with hefty fees? You can if you transfer your lease to someone else.

Trading a lease is the best option for people who want to terminate a lease early and don't want to pay the large termination imposed by most lease agents. It can also be an alternative to get out of a lease for far less than you would otherwise pay your original lease company for extra mileage and wear-and-tear charges that can run into the thousands of dollars. For a small fee, you can advertise your car lease for assumption to a large number of potential buyers on the look-out for leases on the Internet.

Before swapping your lease, make sure your leasing company approves lease transfer transactions. Caution must be exercised in choosing a lease swapping service: make sure they facilitate the whole lease transfer process, offer online or telephone customer-service help and registered buyers undergo stringent credit checks.

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  • pvednik Sep 14, 2011 @ 3:28 pm | delete
    Though there are some that go through life without driving, you know that almost every does so. This is why there is such stiff competition out there for auto insurance.

    The problem with this is that there are so many companies out there that it is impossible to know if they have selected the highest quotes and left off the ones that might truly save you money.

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