A lot of confusion surrounds car leasing and renting. Hopefully by the end of this article, you will have a much better understanding on the difference of these concepts.
First off, renting lets people use a car for a short period. The rates are determined by a rental company and can range from daily to weekly charges. On the other hand, leasing is a financing option. This lets people drive and pay for a car that they want much like a loan.
Renting is relatively easier than leasing. Credit ratings, income and debt are all examined before being able to lease a vehicle. This often reflects on your credit report. Renting meanwhile is not much fickle when it comes to customers.
A rented car is easier to return and replace than a leased one. Certain terms often prevents a lessee to return the vehicle especially without penalties. A lease contract is also long-term and more difficult to opt out than a rent.
Car rental companies do not have much variety in the cars that they offer than car leasing companies. Your choice of rented cars is much more limited.
Rented ones are usually covered with basic insurance but you have to agree to pay for fuel and not damage the vehicle. Warranties can be included in a leasing agreement which covers for maintenance but not gas. Any damage to the vehicle must be paid for by the lessee.
As you may know understand, car leasing and car renting are very much different from each other.
Car leasing may be a good option for those individuals or companies that want to have a new car but want to save some of the money it costs in full car ownership. Car leasing is a way to rent a car over a specified period of time. The car is not owned by the person or company leasing it at any point and at the end of the lease, the car is returned to the dealership or the car leasing company.
There is a deposit associated with car leasing. This initial deposit is non-refundable and is simply a way for the leasing company to protect themselves. After the initial deposit, the person or company leasing the car will pay a monthly amount that has been agreed upon by both the individual and the car leasing company. The term of the lease is usually approximately two or three years however, it is possible to lease a car for a year or even less.
Leasing a car is not the same as taking out a car loan. The largest payment that is required is the initial deposit and that is usually only about one, two or three months total of the monthly lease payments. This allows the person or company leasing to keep their money in a high interest bank account and to simply make the lease payments as part of their monthly living expenses. This can be especially useful to companies that want to lease a company vehicle. They can then take the payments out of operational expenses rather than out of capital expenses.
Because the lease will usually be less than three years, the car will always be covered under warranty and it will not require an MOT. This means that the person or company leasing the car will not need to worry about major repairs. The only things the person leasing the car needs to worry about are routine services such as oil changes and consumable items such as tires. These items are not usually a great expense during the first three years.
Another benefit to car leasing is that a person or company may change their cars every few years. This is beneficial for many reasons. The first reason being that the individual or company will not need to worry about their car breaking down all the time as it gets older and becoming more of a burden rather than an asset. Another benefit to leasing is that the individual or company will get a new car every two or three years.
Changing cars every few years is made so simple by car leasing. It is not necessary to try and sell the car before another car is obtained. Instead, one car is simply given back to the leasing company in exchange for a different car. It can be lots of fun to try out different cars all the time and will save the hassle of major repairs and grief.
