Author: Jimmy Desouza

Car leasing online offers are an attractive alternative to traditional car leasing, offering many financial rewards in addition to the same maintenance benefits.  

How many people do you know who have taken out a lease on their latest car rather than the traditional route of purchasing from a dealer or through private sale?

The chances are if you lived in the USA a good number of your family, friends and co-workers would have opted for a ‘car leasing’ arrangement, also known as contract hire. Car leasing has been popular for many years in the States and recently has become a phenomenon in the US motoring industry, now accounting for around one in four cars on the road.  

Driving towards a UK car leasing revolution  

The UK car market has been slower to act but finally it seems that the benefits are getting through and it looks like we are on the brink of an explosion in demand for leased cars. The growth potential is huge - latest estimates reveal that only around one percent of cars are covered by leasing deals in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.  

As scores of new car leasing/contract hire companies emerge and compete to gain early market share and establish their customer base, the UK public is being presented with an incredible opportunity to drive a great car for a really superb price.  

Car leasing: take the road less traveled  

The appeal of car leasing is down largely to the fact that through leasing it is possible to get behind the wheel of your dream car without paying out a fortune.  

If you love cars but your aspirations are bigger than your budget, it could make perfect sense to take the less conventional route of leasing. With traditional purchasing, you need a large lump sum and as soon as you buy a new car the dreaded depreciation begins. Within a few years the vehicle’s value has plunged, which can make selling it on a real pain. As a result, drivers often stick with the same car for many years, despite longing for an exciting new drive to rev up their life.  

With a leased car, depreciation is the contract hire company’s problem – and you can relax behind the wheel with a stress-free, low maintenance experience. There are many additional benefits to car leasing, which are all contributing to building the early market. Here is a round-up of the key reasons why leasing is often better than buying:  

- Drive down the payments: The monthly payments with car leasing are usually much lower than with typical car purchase loans  

- Stay in the fast lane: Keep up with the latest trends in car design and manufacture by moving to new models much more often   

- Appreciation, not depreciation: Cars can often be leased for less than the cost of the depreciation to a new car, so you can enjoy the fact that you don’t own a declining asset  

- Throw away disposal costs: At the end of the lease, you just hand the car back, and don’t have to worry about cost and hassle of selling or scrapping  

- Take control of your money: With leased cars, no large lump sum cash payments are required so your money is not tied-up in one purchase  

- Be free and easy: There is no need to negotiate with mechanics over repairs, deal with maintenance bills or road tax, as these should be the responsibility of the contract hire company.  

Internet is accelerating the car lease market  

The internet is proving the ideal environment for the car leasing market to flourish. Just like any other competitive market, contract hire companies are always coming up with special offers and last minute deals and the best place to find them fast is the Web.  

It’s true that you may also find car leasing bargains in magazines but the key difference is that online, car leasing deals are far more current – and if you are quick off the mark you can pick up a fantastic car before demand outstrips supply or the deal expires.  

Finding the best car leasing deal online  

To  find out more about car leasing and contract hire companies , or if you have any questions, it always pays to deal with the impartial experts.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/car-leasing-online-is-your-dream-car-a-few-clicks-away-124371.html

About the Author:
The Author, Jimmy Desouza, recommends you visit  http://www.contracthireandleasing.com  for more information on car leasing.

(PRWeb) November 23, 2006 — A survey of nearly one million company cars carried out by Fleet News has confirmed the reputation of Japanese models as the most reliable on the market.

The survey gave Honda the top honours for the second year running in a reliability survey carried out by Fleet News (http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/ ), the automotive newspaper for the company car industry. The firm took the overall title for the Most Reliable Company Car Supplier to car leasing firms for 2006, with the Honda Accord securing the title as the most reliable company car model by a significant margin over its rivals. The Honda Civic took fifth place.

Toyota retains second place in the manufacturer league table that it secured last year, with the Avensis also retaining its second position in the model table.

Audi also enjoyed a strong showing this year, taking third place, a jump of two places compared to last year’s table. It also had two cars in the top 10 most reliable company car models, with the A4 in third place and the A3 in eighth.

BMW retains fourth place, while Volkswagen moves up from eighth to fifth and Ford shifts from ninth to sixth.

Mazda is placed seventh this year, down from third in 2005, while Lexus enters the table for the first time in eighth place. The final two places for Britain’s most reliable brands are taken by Vauxhall (ninth) and Mercedes-Benz (tenth).

The table of most reliable car leasing models includes many company car favourites, such as the BMW 3-series, in seventh, Ford Focus, in ninth and Volkswagen Passat, in tenth.

This is the fifth year of the reliability survey and this year’s sample is one of the biggest on record, with 987,000 vehicles covered in the manufacturer survey and 918,000 vehicles covered in the model survey.

Only multi-marque car leasing companies were included in the survey, covering the most reliable cars, according to the number of breakdowns per 100 of each type of model on their fleet.

Points were awarded according to the frequency at which brands or models appeared in the tables supplied by the car leasing firms and for the position in which they were placed.

Most reliable manufacturers

1) Honda
2) Toyota
3) Audi
4) BMW
5) Volkswagen
6) Ford
7) Mazda
Lexus
9) Vauxhall
10) Mercedes-Benz
Sample: 987,000 vehicles

Most reliable models

1) Honda Accord
2) Toyota Avensis
3) Audi A4
4) Lexus IS
5) Honda Civic
6) Toyota Corolla
7) BMW 3-series
Audi A3
9) Ford Focus
10) Volkwagen Passat
Sample: 918,000 vehicles

The Fleet News survey was part of the FN50 report, Fleet News’ annual analysis of the UK contract hire and car leasing industry

Notes to editors:

This and other articles based on exclusive research can be found on the Fleet News (http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/ )’ website, a free to access resource, including news, road tests, jobs, supplier directory, forum and vehicle running costs (http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/running_costs/window/index.asp?s=running_costs ) data, plus an archive of information stretching back 10 years. Further research covering speed cameras, petrol prices, traffic services, congestion charges, car tax calculators, train times, business mileage trackers, road tests, latest car news and mobile traffic tools, can be found on Company Car Driver (http://www.companycardriver.co.uk/ ), also available from Emap Automotive (http://www.emap.com/Site-search-item.asp?ContentId=2334 )
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Finance Minister Avraham Hirchson on Tuesday appointed a committee to examine the value of company cars leased by employees in response to a proposal by tax authorities within the Ministry of Finance to raise the assessed value of leased cars.

The committee will be led by Finance Ministry Director General, Yossi Bachar until January when his successor in that position, Yarom Ariav, will take over.

Authorities contend that leased cars are an undervalued benefit given to employees by their companies. By raising the value of the cars, authorities will be able to collect a higher tax from those employees taking advantage of this popular company perk.

Although the exact amount by which the tax could increase is still under debate, some of the suggested numbers would raise the tax by more than double the amount currently paid by employees.

“It has been an open secret that the actual amount [of tax] is less than the benefit,” said Eli Clark, a consultant with Profile Investment Services, in a recent interview. “There is no question that the tactical value of having one of those cars far outstrips what you are paying.”

Clark explained that most leasing arrangements entitle an employee to free maintenance, gas and even regular car washes. “Basically, all the government wants to do is bring the numbers in closer conformity with economic reality,” he said.

Such high increases, however, could have a significant impact on those who currently benefit most from the service, notably leasing companies, company employers and their employees. Hi-tech companies, some of the largest providers of company cars have thus far indicated an unwillingness to share in the tax burden with their employees.

“We have a compensation package for each employee and we will absolutely not take the burden of the tax,” said Niv Kochav, financial controller of NDS, a Jerusalem-based hi-tech company with more than 1,000 employees, 35 percent of whom currently take advantage of the company’s car leasing program.

With more than 250,000 leased cars on the road today according to the Israel Motor Vehicles Importers Association, Israel’s top car rental companies stand to lose out if employees choose to buy cars instead of leasing or decide to forgo having a car altogether.

Eldan and New Koppel, two of Israel’s largest car rental companies have more than 60% of their fleets invested in leasing programs. Both companies have said they are waiting until the government decides to move forward before making any decisions about their future plans.

“It really depends on how much they are going to raise the tax,” said Haim Baral, a sales manager for New Koppel. “If it is going to be a reasonable rise, I don’t believe it will be an earthquake for the leasing market, if they multiply it by three or four times, it is going to be a big problem for employees and us.”

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by: Charles Essmeier

Buying a car can be rather complicated, as the whole process tends to be somewhat mysterious. It’s often hard to know if you’re getting a good deal or not, even as the salesman claims that he’s selling you the car “at invoice.” Leasing a car is much the same way, except that the terminology is different and you don’t get to keep the car. You’re still going to spend a lot of money, though, so it makes sense to be as well informed about leasing as possible.

For most consumers, leasing makes less sense than buying. When you buy, you have a tangible product that you can resell later or trade in for a new one. With a lease, the only thing you are buying is the right to use the vehicle for a while. If you don’t drive a lot or if you just like having a new vehicle every couple of years, leasing may be a good choice for you. Before you get involved, here are some things you may wish to consider:

The money factor - This is the equivalent of an interest rate on a car sale. The money factor, in order to remain mysterious, will be presented as an odd number with a lot of decimal places. To convert it to an approximate interest rate, multiply it by 24. The money factor, like just about everything else in a lease, should be negotiable.

The amount due at signing - The size of the check that you have to submit when you sign the lease can be sizable. You’ll hear a lot about low payments in the commercials, but little (except in the fine print) about the amount you have to pay upfront. That will include title fees, license fees, deposits and a reduction in the capital cost that will reduce the size of your monthly payments. Ask about this ahead of time; you don’t want “sticker shock” when you see the total.

Duration of the lease - Make sure you understand how long the lease will last. If you want a car for three years, make sure the lease isn’t for 24 months.

What happens at lease end? You may have to pay, or you may get to walk away, or you may have the opportunity to buy the vehicle. The end of lease situation is spelled out in the document; make sure you understand it before you sign.

Total mileage allowance - The lease will stipulate how many miles you may drive over the course of the lease; you will have to pay a per mile charge if you exceed that. The per mile fee can be excessive, so make sure that the number of miles that you are given matches your driving expectations. Keep in mind that the mileage amount and the per mile fee is negotiable.

Each of these things can be an expensive nightmare if you aren’t prepared for them. Leasing a car is different from buying one and you need to understand that long before you sign your name on the contract. Otherwise, you could be in for an expensive ride.

About The Author
©Copyright 2006 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing. Retro Marketing, established in 1978, is a firm devoted to informational Websites, including http://www.LemonLawHelp.net, a site devoted to automobile lemon laws and http://www.car-insurance-help.net, a site devoted to car insurance.

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by: Alex Fir

To lease a car, you have two options: either lease through a dealer’s finance source or through an independent car lease company. Whatever you select, you should know that there are fees involved.

Mention auto-leasing and the majority of people will automatically assume a low-monthly payment. There is actually more than what meets the eye, and a number of fees are involved at various stages of the lease process.

At the beginning of the lease, you have to pay a refundable security deposit, typically equivalent to one monthly payment, to safeguard against non-payment and any incidental damage done to the car at the end of the lease.

You are also required to pay an administrative charge, called acquisition fee. Other fees include licenses, registration, title and any state or local taxes.

During your lease, you are expected to honor your monthly payment obligations. Any failure to do so will result in late-payment charges.

You have to pay any traffic tickets, emission and safety inspections and ongoing maintenance costs. Ending your lease early will result in substantial early termination charges.

At the end of the lease, expect to pay any excess mileage costs, charged at 10 to 20 p a mile. Any incidental damage done to the car, and deemed to be above normal, will result in excess tear-and-wear charges.

Finally, if you choose not to purchase the vehicle, then you have to pay a disposition fee.

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