Smart Car Leasing for Beginners

How to Get a Smart Car Lease

Here is an introduction to smart car leasing for beginners. Find out how to get a smart car lease if buying a smart car is not in your future...

If you're sold on the idea of owning a smart fortwo car, but you can't manage the price of one right now... or if you just like the idea of getting a lease and "trying out" a car for a couple of years, then a smart fortwo car lease might be the right option for you.

Smart cars can be leased for as little as $169/month, which – at least on the surface – looks like a pretty attractive rate in this day and age for a brand new car, especially one that is as cutting edge as the smart car.

Here are the advantages of leasing a smart car, according to smartUSA:

• Little or no down payment required and often no up-front sales tax payment (depending on where you live)

• Pay only for the portion of the smart car that you use during your lease term

• Money saved on monthly payments can be used for other investments

• No worrying about depreciation or resale value at the end of the lease

But it's easy to make mistakes with car leasing, and I'm no expert, so I can't really evaluate how good the smartUSA car leasing offer is. But I found a website for you that is a really great reference on leasing vs. buying cars. It's called LeaseGuide.com and I'll give you the link to the site in a moment. But let me sum up some of the main points.

Smart Car Lease vs. Buy... Which Is Better?

First off, it's important to understand that the answer to this question can be different for each person considering a smart car purchase. So much depends on your individual lifestyle, financial situation and priorities. But, in general, here are the benefits of each option...

Buying might be better if you...

• Don't mind higher monthly payments
• Prefer to build up trade-in or resale value
• Like the idea of owning your car
• Prefer paying off your loan and being payment-free at some point
• Don't mind the unexpected cost of repairs after your warranty has expired
• Drive more than average miles allowed on a lease
• Prefer to drive your cars for many years to spread out the cost
• Like to customize your cars
• Expect lifestyle changes in the near future that may necessitate new financial priorities

On the other hand, car leasing might suit you better if you...

• Enjoy driving a new car every two or three years
• Want lower monthly payments
• Like having a car that has the latest safety features and is always under warranty
• Don't like trading and selling used cars
• Don't care about building ownership equity
• Have a stable predictable lifestyle
• Drive an average number of miles
• Properly maintain your cars
• Are willing to pay more over the long haul to get these benefits
• Understand how leasing works

Consider Getting Expert Help...

Even though leasing a smart car might sound very attractive because of the low payments – much lower than with a smart car loan – how do you know if it's actually a good deal? One way is to learn how to evaluate smart car leasing deals.

That great resource I mentioned earlier, LeaseGuide.com is the perfect place to start. They do have quite a lot of free information on their site from a car lease expert, but for literally everything you need to know about car leasing, along with a bunch of tools like a lease deal evaluator and specific vehicle lease ratings, I'd encourage you to check out their Auto Lease Kit. For less than $20, you'll get worksheets, those tools I mentioned above and all kinds of other information that can help you avoid getting taken to the cleaners on a smart car lease.

In short, smart car leasing can be worth looking into if you don't have the means to buy a smart car outright at this point in time and you don't want to wait until you DO have more disposable income. Just be sure that the smart car lease you get is a good deal for you!