Buy a Car at The End of It's Lease

Should I Buy a Car at The End of It's Lease? by Greg Culver
It happens with many people that they want to purchase their car at the end of their lease. The best way is to do some research before cracking such deal. Even if the research is detailed one, it is conducted only for your benefit.
You must calculate the cost of buying out your lease according to the agreement you have with the leasing company. The agreement always includes the "purchase option price" which you can pay to buy the car. This price usually involves the cost of the residual value of the car along with three to five hundred dollars additional for the purchase-option fee. The residual value of the car can also be calculated manually by ascertaining the monthly payments you paid according to the difference between the vehicle's ticker price and the estimated value at the end of the lease along with additional monthly financing fee that was included in the monthly payments. Residual value determines the value of the car after lease according to the rough depreciation calculated for loss in value of the vehicle. The percentage of the loss is set by the company when you took the car on lease. This way you can calculate the cost of buying out your lease.
Now the next step is to find out the market value for your vehicle in the retail market. Do some research by visiting some old car dealers showing your car as if you want to sell the car? The other way is to go to them and ask for the car of the same model and make, then ask the price of it. If you don't want to take that much pain then hop online and surf on various car sale and purchase websites such as Kelly Blue Book, Cars.com and Edmunds.com to research on the topic. You would easily get detailed pricing information about the car of your type. So, you can derive an estimate market cost of your vehicle.
After ascertaining the cost of your car now compares the amount for purchasing the lease and the market value of the car. If the former is larger than the later then it is better not to buy the lease else what could be better to purchase the lease.
In the case the cost of purchasing a lease is more than the market value of car then you can talk with the leasing company about it and settle at a compromising price. But this depends on your tactics how much you can convince the leasing company.

Buying a New Car

Buying a New Car: Tips to Help You Not Get Burned by Fisher Swanson
Do Your Research The first thing you will want is a clear understanding of what you are looking for in a car. It's best to narrow your search to a particular make and model that both fits your needs and has a good track record. If you go to a car lot for a particular car and find yourself being steered towards a completely different car don't buy it that day. Go back home and research it thoroughly. Edmunds.com has a great tool for comparing car features.<">http://www.edmunds.com/>;True Cost To Own Edmunds.com also has a wonderful "True Cost to Own" feature. This will tell you how much a car will actually cost you including interest if you are financing.<http://www.edmunds.com/apps/cto/CTOintroController? tid=edmunds.n.mainindex.prices>Be sure to research gas cost. Fueleconomy.org has a nice resource which allows you to compare the gas cost of different models of cars./">http://www.fueleconomy.org>;Trade-in Research Get the bluebook value for your trade-in at:</">http://www.kellybluebook.com>;Timing Shop for cars at the end of the month. Many sales people will be working to meet their quotas at that time and may be more willing to negotiate on price.Don't Pay Retail The retail price, often called the sticker price or Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price, is higher than what a dealer is actually willing to take for a car.Edmunds.com has tool for researching what particular cars are actually selling for in your area.<http:/ mv.edmunds.com/products mv/newtmv/TMVController?id=utmvss5302893>When you search for a car on Edmunds you will see two prices. The invoice price and the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. You will want to start negotiations at the Invoice price and settle on a price as close to that amount as possible.Say No to Add-Ons Don't let the dealer add costly Add-Ons like rust proofing. If you have done a good job at driving down the price initially the dealer may try to stick it to you with unnecessary Add-Ons or even an undesirable financing package.Don't Be a Sucker If you are not good at negotiating with people, bring someone who is. Don't let yourself be a pushover. Always be willing to leave the lot if you aren't comfortable. There are other cars just like the one you are walking away from. Don't make the final decision to purchase the car with the salesperson present.Don't Let the Salesman Flip The Script One trick that car salesman try to pull on people is offering different financing when it comes time to sign the papers. Never drive a car off the lot until all the financing is arranged and all the papers are signed. The sale is not final until you sign the papers.If you do drive off with your car and they call you back to deal with some details of the financing, be very careful to check that you are signing exactly the terms you agreed to. If the dealer tries to change the terms of the deal drop the keys on the desk and leave.The Federal Trade Commission has a lot of good information about buying a car.<">http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/automobiles/index.html>;If you are uneasy about the decision you are about to make, don't sign the papers. Don't worry about the car salesman's feelings. Make sure that you leave with a car and are completely content with your decision or you leave with nothing at all. If you have an unsuccessful car buying experience you will be reminded of it every time to drive your car.

Buying And Selling Cars

Buying And Selling Cars by Steve Gillman
Our neighbor Jose doesn't speak much English, which makes it tough to live here in northern Michigan. Despite that, he made a profit of over $30,000 last year selling cars out of his front yard. It's true that he's a mechanic, and that helps, but it isn't the key to his success. The Key To Buying And Selling CarsTo make money selling cars you have to know the value of cars. Knowing which cars people most want might help too, but any car will sell for some price, and you need to know that price. Drive around looking at cars for sale, or cars just sitting idle in people's yards. When you can easily look at a car and guess how much it will sell for, the rest is easy - just offer $1000 less. You'll eventually buy a car, and sell it for a profit. Then you can and repeat the process.To start learning about the used car market, you can watch the classified ads, keeping in mind that the asking prices are not the sales prices. Take notes. Used car pricing guides, such as the "bluebook," generally show inflated retail prices. Use them, but assume you'll sell the car for the "loan value", or average wholesale price. In any case they are good to show to your prospective buyers.If You Know Nothing About CarsWhat if, like myself, you know nothing about buying and selling cars and don't want to learn? Find a friend who knows cars and wants to make money. For example, I gave my brother $950 to buy an old truck because he said it was worth more than twice that. Sure enough, he sold it in a week and returned my money, plus half of the $900 profit. I gave another friend $3200 to buy an old plastic-bodied car. He paid $2200 for it, and put a transmission in it, along with other minor repairs. I didn't know what a Corvette was, why anyone would want a car from 1976, or where to go to get a transmission put in for $800. Fortunately, my friend did. Less than two weeks later he sold the car for $4200 and returned my money plus my half of the profit: $500. I've done this a number of times now with friends who know more about cars than I do. Are you cash poor? A short term cash advance on a credit card would have cost me about $50, still leaving a profit of $450.Here in Michigan, the law says you need a dealer's license if you sell more than six cars in a year. You could have six titled in your name, six in your friend's name, and six in your wife's name. That gives you a good chance to see if you like the business enough to get a car dealers license. Check the relevant laws in your state.The key to buying and selling cars for profit is knowledge - but you can get that from a friend.

Kelly Blue Book Used Cars

Used Car Buying Tips by Steve Gillman
Some of these used car buying tips won't be new to you. Often the trick is just to apply what you already know. On the other hand, when it comes to expensive areas of life like buying a car, one new thing learned can save you hundreds of dollars. Try some of the following.
1. Make a low offer. Okay, you knew this one. A trick you may not have used, though, is to make a low offer, and then leave your phone number with the seller. Time has a way of making sellers desperate, especially after you just helped convince them that they are asking too much.
2. Be careful with car price guides. Use the "blue book" etc, but try not to pay more than wholesale. I can't think of many times when people I know have paid more than "bluebook," so these "average" sales prices are doubtful.
3. Talk to people. This is one of the simplest and effective used car buying tips. Just let friends, family and others know you're looking for a car. Quite often people would be happy to avoid the whole process of advertising and showing their car if they could just get rid of it by giving a good deal to a friend.
4. Check out the engine. Have a mechanic look at the car, and tell you what it's likely to need in the next year or so. Then make a list, so the seller can see in writing why you are offering less than he wants.
5. Auctions. See if there is a public auction in your area. If not, maybe you can go with a dealer friend and give him a $100 to buy a car for you.
6. www.carfax.com. It's around $25 to run vehicle background checks for a month - long enough to find your next car. They'll show the chain of title, accident reports for the car, and even safety and reliability scores for that model.
7. "Ugly" cars. Watch for cars that sit on the lot for months. Dealers will often sell these "ugly ducklings" at a loss just to move them. Again, you may want to leave your phone number with a low offer.
8. Rental company cars. They are sold fairly cheap when they get the new ones in. Buy at bluebook wholesale or less, because they have had many different drivers, so they've more wear than normal.
9. Repos. Credit unions and some small banks do their own selling of repossessed cars. You usually bid on paper, maybe with a $50 deposit, and then get your $50 back if you're not the winning bidder. If they don't sell their own repossessions, ask where they are sold.
10. Consider gas mileage. High mileage may be better, but maybe a car that costs $500 less will use only $400 more gas in the two years you expect to own it. Do the math.
Use the tips here the next time you are shopping for a used car. Meanwhile, why not learn a few negotiating strategies. This helps in many areas of life, and is the most important of these used car buying tips.