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Posts Tagged ‘interest’

Is leasing a car, rather than purchasing a car on time payments a good thing or not. As with questions in life, it all depends on your financial and/ or automotive situation and as well who tells the story.

It is true that business can write off lease costs whereas that is not such an advantage to an individual car user. However this is not necessarily so. First it all depends on your situation and as well you’re negotiating skills. It is always better to be in an informed and prepared manner.

First of all leasing a car is downright attractive due to current low interest rates. Almost every month you will read in the popular news that the “Fed has cut interest rates again”. What this means to you is that in an overall sense that interest rates are less to you. This should mean lower leasing costs to you. If interest rates, in the banking industry and market are lower, so should be the interest rate basis in your lease negotiations and payments.

What are the advantages of leasing a vehicle? You will get a new vehicle to drive. When your leasing agreement term is over – then you hand the car in and walk away.

It may be debated that by leasing the car you will have no equity or asset accumulation left at this point in this automotive transaction. If you had bought the car, with payments, the car would be yours at some point, lock stock and barrel.

However major components and overall costs of running a car are maintenance costs. With a new vehicle – it is unlikely that you will incur these costs. First of all the car is new. Major repairs and costs are unlikely. In addition the car will come with a manufacturer’s warranty which should cover you for the majority if not all of the lease time period.

With modern, newer and especially smaller cars it seems that all repairs seem to be very expensive. After a certain point of time, use and mileage, it is not as if the car “nickel and dimes” you to death. Most of the innards of modern cars seem to be electronic in nature with advanced (read expensive and hard to fix) modules. There are few simple to repair mechanically based, non electronic component, cars. In addition for mechanics to work on cars now “everything is struggle’ “and as well spaces are tight and very hard to work within. In a summary the old “nickels and dimes” are now “five hundreds, thousands and several thousands”. With a leased car arrangement you may not own the car, with its equity. Neither do you have repair costs and heartaches. In addition you have a reliable vehicle to get you to work or to chauffer around your family.

There are several terms and factors to be knowledgeable about in your calculations and comparisons for auto purchase versus lease workup and lease negotiations.

First of all research the leasing tax rules in your jurisdictions. For example in your state you may well only pay sales taxes on monthly payments, not on the cost of the vehicle. It all depends on the negotiations of your payments- which involve the time frame and value of the car at the take back time end of lease.

Next what are the fees? For example the fee at the end of turn in, paperwork fees and fees for “excess miles”. Are these negotiatiable? In the case of the “excess mileage” and “excess mileage fees” are these carved in stone or can the allotment or rates charged be reduced? In the case of the “turn in” fee. If you offer to increase your monthly payment – often this fee will be reduced.

In order to best negotiate you will have to speak the same language and terms as the lease negotiator. Several terms to know, comprehend and understand are “Capitalized Cost”, “Money Factor” and “Residual Value”.

Simply put the cost of the leased vehicle is confusingly described as the “Capitalized Cost”. Just as you would haggle over the cost of buying a new car, you should not accept a stated price or manufacturers suggested retail price (M.S.R.P.) as the price paid.

Haggle and argue over the “Capitalized Cost” just as you would in any car or automotive deal.

Next in line in proper automotive leasing terms is the term “Money Factor”. “Money Factor “is the interest rate upon which the leasing calculations are based upon. The lower the number of the “Money Factor”, the better for you. As a rough guide and estimate multiply the “Money Factor” value by 2550 to get an estimate of the relevant interest rate.

Last in the line of leasing and leasing lingo is the term “Residual Value”. “Residual Value” is the amount that the car, S.U.V. or truck vehicle is said to be worth at the end of the lease period. Simply put, the more the vehicle is deemed to be worth, at this time period, the less will be your total amount due to be paid overall for your lease. Thus the higher the “Residual Value” at the end of your lease, the much lower will be your monthly lease payments.

In the end, your car purchase or lease decision will come down to two factors. Reliability of transportation and the total cash outlay from your personal pocketbook or wallet.

For the legendary Lamborghini sports car stable of fantastic ultra high performance and styled vehicles it all started with ordinary Fiat automobiles and tractors.

Mr. Lamborghini – fully named – Mr. Ferruccio Lamborghini got his start with Fiats and then went on to a large successful manufacturing concern that grew from a small manufacturing shop into a major producer of tractors. However at a certain point in every person’s life they search out to complete what their real passion is. In the case of Lamborghini was finely styled and crafted motor cars. At 60 years of age, an established manufacturer of agricultural tractors – Mr. Lamborghini – decided that he could a better job of building a high end, beautifully styled, performance racing automobiles than either of the two dominant Italian auto firms of that auto industry sector – Ferrari and Maserati.

The first product out of the door had a chassis that was multi-tubular; the engine was front mounted sporting a 3.5 liter 12 cylinder V-12 engine. The V-12 engine itself was fitted with six Weber carburetors and ran four overhead camshafts. It all clocked at 360 ultra smooth horsepower with the transmission drive being through five speed stick shift. Suspension involved a coil and wishbone independent suspension set up. In one word it was wow – both in terms of performance of the hop as well as the automotive styling.

Although the styling of those early Lamborghini models may be considered standard Italian sports car design – designs which have worked their way into the so called standard “sport scar designs “and “sport scar flair”, at the time it was new and innovative and for the most part if was twenty five years ahead of anything produced in the good old U.S.A. . The one American sports car which might be considered an exception to that point was the Chevrolet Corvette. For years to come nothing else really matched or was similar to the clean aerodynamic lines and styling of the early Lamborghini classic autos.

Even then Lamborghini had such innovative products the establishment and reputation of the Lamborghini product line was no easy road to hoe. Although the first cars were produced in 1963 it was not for two years later – at the Turin Motor Show that the car began to attract solid interest and for the reputation of the car and its studio to grow and begin to become accepted for what it should be.

The first real product of record for Lamborghini was what was marketed as Miura T 400 model automobile. Its first year of manufacture was the 1966 model year. The basic layout and design of the Miura T 400 was a mid-engined coupe with a slightly larger version of the overhead cam engine – the classic V-12 laid out transversely behind the two seats of the car. The rear wheels were then driven by this engine through” spurs gears”. Interestingly the gear boxes and rear axles were Lamborghini products all by themselves -so they shared a lineage that was unique and not the same as any other of the competitor’s models.

What was performance of this little cat? The V-12 engine could pour out a total of 385 barrel horsepower. Top speed of this little coupe was over 180 miles per hour. It could more than carry its weight with the local Italian contenders – even the famed Ferraris.

If the was one complaint from drivers or riders it was of noise levels in the car’s cockpit. It can be said that this was the price to be paid for success or in this case speed and performance. If you cannot stand the heat don’t stay in the kitchen. Certainly the buyers of Lamborghini fine motor cars who bought the product and established the revered name for its performance and advanced styling and forgo this small shortcoming or foible as the car as an assumed fact – even a luxury.

The next model in the Lamborghini stable was introduced approximately two years later. The entire life of the production run of the popular Miura model was nine years – with two cars being produced a week ( a production figure of only 100 or so cars a year). The name of this vehicle was the Espada. For the new Lamborghini model, the Espada, Lamborghini went back to a more standard front engine layout. Perhaps this was in response to concerns over noise levels in the cockpit of the Miura and the need to produce a more “standard” or “civilized “vehicle product. No one really knows what went on in the mind of the genius Ferruccio Lamborghini. However what was retained for sure were the Lamborghini basics – the four liter V-12 massive highly tuned engine with whizzy overhead cams and multiple choke carburetors all putting out massive automotive performance and handling.

In the end it can be said that the Lamborghini automotive and automotive styling and performance legends are more than unique and reek of power, thrust and acceleration.