Regardless of whether you purchase a car or go for car leasing, you have to keep maintenance and repair costs in mind. If your car leasing agreement comes with a full-maintenance provision, then you should ensure that your dealer carries out the maintenance and servicing at the scheduled intervals. The servicing should follow the stipulated manufacturer guidelines. Also check to see if the car service record has been stamped following each service. Get the damages sustained by the vehicle during usage repaired immediately.

Make sure that tyre pressure, coolant and radiator levels, engine oil levels are checked at periodic intervals. Get scuffs and chips to the car’s paintwork repaired quickly. In most cases, a touch up job will suffice. The windshield is your car’s safety component- get chips, cracks and star-breaks in your leased car’s windshield fixed immediately. This will prevent the damage from extending to the entire windshield, in which case an entire windshield replacement may be required.

Some lease agreements may also offer you the option to buy the car or trade it for a new one. When you lease a luxury car, you don’t have to worry about its depreciating value when you start putting the miles on it. This is not the case when you purchase the car, where you have to deal with the depreciating value of your asset.

From Aston Martins and BMWs to Jaguar and Porsche branded cars, leasing companies generally make a large range of luxury cars available to individual and business customers alike. Used car leasing may also be offered, in which case you can keep costs even lower.

When you initiate a car lease, keep certain things in mind. Make sure you do not exceed the mileage allowance stipulated in your car leasing contract. Maintain your car well to prevent end of lease charges for excessive wear and tear. Also make sure you buy gap insurance for financial security in the event of an unfortunate accident where your luxury car is totaled.

The mileage allowance provided will be clearly mentioned in your car leasing contract. Make sure you do not exceed the mileage limit or you may have to pay excess mileage costs at the end of the lease term. You are charged extra for every mile you exceed. At the time of signing the lease agreement, negotiate the mileage allowance with the dealer if you feel that the imposed limit is small.

Wear and tear is another aspect you have to keep in mind when you sign the leasing contract. If the car you lease suffers damage then you will be responsible for the repair costs. The damage caused will be assessed by the dealer and deemed normal or excessive.

Adhere to all the terms of your car leasing agreement and have a clear idea about the end of lease costs.

This purchase price is dependent on the car’s residual value and includes a purchase option charge. The residual value of your car is the value it has retained at the end of the lease term. For instance, for a residual percentage of 60% on a car costing £40,000, the estimated residual value at lease-end is £16,000.

If the car you have leased has not depreciated in value by much, then it is a good idea to purchase the car. This is because you will get to own the car at a price that is lower than the market rate for a car in this category.

Keep in mind that that the residual value of the car cannot be negotiated at the end of the lease term. Once agreed upon, you have to go by the residual value mentioned in your car leasing contract regardless of the current industry values. Keep this in mind when you make the decision to return or buy the car at the end of the lease period.

Start by negotiating the car’s selling price. Keep in mind that this may be a bit difficult given the fact that your dealer may have already lowered the price to lure with a lower monthly payment. If the selling price cannot be negotiated, see if the dealer is willing to offer you an extra or accessory with your car.

Ask the dealer for rebates or incentives that lowers your capitalized cost. See if you can negotiate the disposition and acquisition fees with the dealer as well.

The dealer calculates your monthly lease payment amount, based on the mutually agreed terms. Make sure you do your own calculations as well, using the residual value, cap cost and money factor that the dealer uses.

Think twice about dealer offers like credit insurance, extended warranty or any add on service. Sign the lease agreement only if you are comfortable with the car leasing terms and payments.

The truth is at this point you don’t. Car deals come and go and often you need to be in the right place at the right time to capitalise on the best options. Fortunately the internet can help you do the research, from what is available at the dealership before you even walk in to other online options where leasing brokers do the deal for you.

There is an issue here is some cases though, not all motor dealerships advertise what their leasing rates are or monthly premiums through their websites. In many cases they need the customer to walk through the front door and talk to a salesman, before you know what deals are available, giving the upper hand to the dealership who now can convince you why dealing direct is best.

Speaking to brokers you will find that in most cases (not all), they can do better than the dealerships, either because of cheaper interest rates, or just lower commission and charges to whoever sells the vehicle.

This is because you never really know if there is not someone else out there cheaper, even though these sites may state they are the cheapest. The fact is humans need to know who is the cheapest, rather than taking someone’s word for it and will search for that even cheaper car lease deal. We are sure that in many cases they will not necessarily get a better prices and those using Leasebam will be able to confirm individual prices made from real people. the point is until a customer has 3 prices to compare form three different companies, only then are they likely to act and buy.

This is how many find getting car lease deals a bit more complicated than it needs to be as there is only a few sites out there giving several car lease prices from one form and Leasebam is one of them.

The cheaper buying orice and 7 year warranty has also impacted o its reputation as a car you can lease. In terms of percentage, there is still substantial value loss, but as the intial cost is lower, many find a good leasing option with this Korean manufacturer, to the point brokers are marketing KIA as a main manufacturer.

Here is a review of  The KIA Ceed

If you are looking for KIA Ceed Lease then you could consider Leasebam

Or of KIA CEED Contract Hire is you thing, try this option

Favourable position of a balance sheet is vital for any business enterprise. It becomes more crucial for a newly started business. Vehicles are needed for day to day operations of the business and for other official business purposes. Buying vehicles calls for major investment and shows an outlay of funds in the balance sheet. This is not good for the health of the business. To escape such kind of a situation, financing vehicles through car lease  is a good option which will not show an effect on the balance sheet.

Following reasons make contract hire a beneficial option for procuring vehicles to meet your business needs:
1.    It is a better option compared to owning vehicles, as it saves you a lot of money.
2.    Wide variety of vehicles is available for rent which offers plenty of choices.
3.    It allows you to get the vehicle of your choice easily without making any major investment and thus enhances the cash flow and liquidity of the business.
4.    Many companies financing vehicles through contract hire offers flexible payment plans which makes it easier to compute monthly rentals that suits your budget.
5.    You don’t have to worry about the maintenance of the vehicle as wear and tear and other forms of maintenance are taken care off in the agreement.
6.    It allows you to stay up to date with latest trends of vehicles. As the car  lease is for a pre-determined period, it can give  you the option of changing cars on expiry of lease period, which is normally for a period of 1 to 3 years.
7.    It is an extremely tax efficient method of funding a business vehicle
8.    Hired vehicles do not show up on the balance sheet and therefore positively affect the profit ratios.
9.    It does not involve much paperwork and is less tedious as compared to purchasing a vehicle.
10.    The companies offering contract hire services often offer special rates to new businesses which are in accordance with their financial capabilities.

Getting a vehicle through contract hire ensures that the leassee will need to make minimal capital expenditure and does not need to worry about the disposal of the vehicle as the lessee never becomes the owner of the vehicle. It allows for accurate monthly budgeting and minimal running costs and therefore proves to be an ideal option for procuring business vehicle.

Summary- Contract hire is an ideal option for procuring business vehicles as it offers various benefits like minimal capital expenditure, accurate monthly budgeting, minimal running costs, wide variety of vehicles, flexible payment plans, no maintenance hassles, tax benefits and minimum paperwork. Also special rates are offered to new businesses which match their financial position.

This was written by guest blogger Atul