Car advice

[markem]

I leased a car from a while back. Two things to consider:

1. NO MATTER WHAT, you have to pay the lease. While I never had a bad accident, I have been told stories from people about how the payout from the insurance company didn't come close to fulfilling the lease requirements.

2. The amount of miles per year is negotiable. I negotiated mine up by 3K per year. Hit the number almost on the nose when I turned it back in at the end.

If you can afford a buy, I would go that route for many reasons, but most probably the flexibility to pay it down early and save some dollars. If the dealership doesn't have a relationship with your bank, then go ask the bank about interest rates and also see if they have a buyers program.

Do not under any circumstances lease a car until you have had a private conversation with your insurance agent.

One last item: be sure that the lease spells out exactly how "book value" will be determined at the end of the lease. It used to be that they'd look around for the highest value even if that didn't match your car's condition.

[stearns]

Originally Posted by markem

1. NO MATTER WHAT, you have to pay the lease. While I never had a bad accident, I have been told stories from people about how the payout from the insurance company didn't come close to fulfilling the lease requirements

As some know I recently totaled my 4 month old leased car (well, the guy who hit me totaled it). There was a lot up in the air whether or not I had gap insurance (covering the difference between market value and payoff value), after many phone calls I learned that ALL leases from Nissan come with this included, it's not something that needs to be considered or paid for additionally. It sounds like a lot of car companies are doing this, probably to protect themselves from somebody totaling the car and not paying the full amount so they lose out or have to go to collections. In my case my insurance company will be (eventually) paying Nissan their fair value, Nissan will write off the rest, and I will be completely out of the lease.

Gap insurance is definitely something worth asking about when considering the lease, because I could have been out a few thousand dollars despite not being at fault in the accident. I didn't consider it when making the lease, so there were a few overly stressful days there while trying to get it figured out