HELP ! question about Toyota Lease

It works well for a business in most cases.

The reason many individuals lease is it gets them in a more expensive vehicle for a smaller monthly payment than a purchase finance. It usually means the individual is driving more vehicle than the can really afford.

 

X3

 

Not so much for a business Larry, with the mileage limits. I used to work for a cleaning and landscaping company and the owner would trade in his truck every 3 years. He put 40K a year on his truck, plus the fact that he was hauling trailers of equipment and did snowplowing.

One reason some would lease is if a dealer offers a true 0 down lease (Herb Chambers in MA is one) and a person doesn't really have the cash to make a down payment on a purchase. My father just did that on a Honda Accord.

 

How is that any different from always having a car payment?

It's one thing if you pay it off and drive it for another 10 years, but that's less and less common these days. People finance for 5 or 6 years and as soon as it's paid off (or before), they're trading it in.

If I only put 12k a year on a vehicle, I'd have no problem with a lease. Payment is typically $100-$200 under the payment.

 

The advantage of a vehicle lease in business is the cost is 100% deductable as an expense...for many business owners, it works better than a depreciation schedule that is usually employed for vehicles & equiptment owned.

It's no different on a balance sheet than renting a power washer every month.

This, of course, assuming the terms (including mileage) work for the business.

 

You can work out mileage limits for any situation. I worked for a major tire manufacturer and all of our company vehicles were leased. We had easily 500 of them and usually put on 30-40k/year.

In fact there are major corporations who coordinate the leasing and maintence of vehicles for these situations.

 

Same here.
My last company leased a bucket truck from Penske. It got very little mileage, was replaced on time as Penske updated their fleet.
We leased, first '07 Explorers, and then '08 4-Runners, for the field techs.

They didn't buy extra mileage on the Explorers and ended up rolling them in 24 months. We were issued the 4-Runners beginning in January '09 and they bought extra mileage on them. The one I had for 6 months (was laid off in June '09) was passed on to another tech who's Explorer was due, and ultimately the company purchased it to use as a shop truck when the tech was issued a '12 4-Runner.

 

OK, I get that if you are a large company you have a little more bargaining power on things such as mileage.

My example was of a small business owner. Top of my head he had 2 full size trucks (his and his son's), a smaller truck (one of the night managers), and 1-2 dump trucks.

 

I'm with you on that, I can't understand why on earth people just trade in right after paying off a vehicle unless it is just needing major work. I paid off my 2006 Colorado in June (first car payment I ever had) and traded it in October on the Tacoma. Reason being, over the summer with 78K it needed major engine work. The head went (Google it, they had a lot of issues) and took out the cam and timing chain. Even with the extended warranty it cost me almost $2000, in large part due to a dealer not trying to work with me and help me..not to mention his lies that I have since caught him in. I felt stupid for going against my plan of keeping it 5 yrs after paying it off but had zero confidence in it to be reliable.

 

You can buy mileage up front on any lease.

The advantage that a large company has is they can negotiate for "pooled" mileage where a couple of vehicles might be used for local runs and only get a couple k per year, while two others might run longer distances and "use" the mileage of the two local vehicles.

But even as an individual, if you look back and see that you normally run 20k/year, you can write that into the lease up front so you don't end up paying at the end... and 8k/year over can be significant... 16k on a 24 month lease, I think the mileage penalty is $0.15? That's $2400 on a 24 month just to drop it off and walk home, but only $100/mo if written into the lease up front, and if you don't use all of the mileage, then your residual is higher and you get it back at the end to apply to your new lease.

 

Yea. He still might be better off doing a lease considering how much he loses in 3 yrs.

40,000 truck drive for three years and trade in for probably 12-15k. So he's looking at $7k year in depreciation plus the monthly payments he makes of probably $500. So he's looking at $13k/year. I am sure he could probably find a lease of a full size truck with his mileage requirements for that.

But to each is own, that's why they have purchasing and leasing, each one works better for different people.

 

What inclines people lease (I call it rent) a personal vehicle? I'm curious.

 

Low payments, no/low money down & no worries about repairs or negative equity.

 

Some people like to have a new vehicle every 2-3 years.
Not everyone makes a hobby out of modifying their vehicle.
Leasing costs, per month, $100 or more less than buying.

For someone who drives less than 10k/year and the above fits, leasing/renting is perfect.

 

This was back in the early-mid 90's, so leasing had just started as a common thing.

I'll agree that leasing isn't for me, I enjoy working on my own vehicles to get what I want such as stereo stuff.

 

I am on Tacoma #3, all 3 were leased (5 yr.) and the first two were traded to a new truck before the 5 years were over... keeping it a Toyota means no mileage penalty (136,000 on #1 and 102,000 on #2). #1 was an '01 Extra Cab and when I traded it for the '05 Double Cab I needed to add $1000 to keep payment in my budget. When I traded the '05 for the '10, I did so with nothing down and only $20 more a month in the payments. The lease is deductible as it is a business truck, but also my only vehicle so it is my camping truck, too.

Now, the '10 is 3 years old, 46,200 miles on it (much less than the first two Tacomas at 3 years because of the economy) and I would like to turn it into a purchase (and hopefully reduce the monthly payments). The lease 'payoff' is $26,100 and the truck's value is $21,100 per the dealership. My business has suffered greatly after doing so well for so long (32 years) that I may not be able to keep my beloved Tacoma... so I need some ideas of how I can keep it or how (if no other option) I can walk away from it...???

Anyone savvy with car loans, etc. have any ideas (I do not have any money for a down payment or to lower the payoff amount to the current value amount)?

 

I used to sell and lease vehicles for GM, but a contract is a contract no matter what the vehicle. If you signed a 51 month lease, and brought it back early, then based on any contract I have seen you are responsible for the remainder value. You did not trade in the truck, because really it was never yours to trade in. All you simply did was return it to the lease company. When you got your new truck theres a couple things that could have happened, the dealer could have but the remainder of your current lease into your new vehicle and split it among the payments, or he could have simple returned it to the lease company and then they will send it to an auction for used car dealers to buy, and in the mean time they will send you a bill for the remainder payments.

Hope you get this figured out. You salesmen didn't care too much about you if he simple returned your current lease and got you into a new truck and never let you know about the bill that could be coming your way. Good luck!

 

If it had $3000 positive equity, I doubt they will foot him with a bill....but I dont know...

 

Well, guess what... one of my financial institutes came through and I am turning the lease into a purchase, with lower payments, nothing down, 2.4% interest, and this great truck is mine to keep (as long as I can make the payments, lol)! Yah, I am paying a lot overall for the truck... but it has been so near perfect of the three Tacomas I have driven, I kind of didn't want to take a chance on a 2013 model (if I could afford the payments). Thanks for the PM help some of you have been to me, I appreciate your time!

 

. Glad it worked out.