According to Fords build and price web site, you can still lease a 09 F150. After building your truck online, you are presented with the final price and estimated monthly payments for both a purchase and lease. You can manipulate the downpayments, terms, and mileage to see different monthly payments. I thought I heard that leasing is no longer available through Ford. Anyone know what is true?

 

I was under the assumption that leasing was gone. Maybe they brought it back under desperation?

 

I'm pretty sure dodge got rid of it....but i don't think ford ever did

 

not to be a smart alec but wouldn't ford's website be a better source of info than this message board?

 

Ford is still leasing...but the terms are pretty onerous. Low residuals...high interest rates...equals high payments. They've been seriously burned in the past by rapidly declining values and have lost a tremendous amount of money when the lease turn ins are sold at auction.

Chrysler is offering special deals to customers when their lease expires. I had a customer last week who was offered his Durango for $5000 less than the residual value. He still decided to turn the vehicle back to Chrysler and is now the proud owner of a 2009 Escape.

At this point...Ford nor GM have followed suit...at least as far as I am aware of.

 

Never undestood the point in leaseing. You pay a silly amount of money each month and you never own any part of the truck??? Is that not the biggest waste of money. Like renting a house.

 

I know it makes sense for our corporate vehicles.

 

Made sense for me for a while. Brand new car every three years. Always everything covered under warranty, lower payments even made money on a few of them selling them outright before the lease was up (before they got more accurate with residuals). Actually still do it for the wife becuase she is not sure what kind of car she wants - but we are stuck with the one we have that she hated after the first week. But we would be in the same boat if we bought it because we put so much cash down. Next time she will listen about smaller is never better in a family vehicle.

 

Big difference is a house goes up and value a car is a depreciating asset. If it goes up in value buy it, if it goes down in value lease it!! The leases were really getting crazy and out of control and i can see why some of the manufacturers are eliminating them. For example, my 07 ram had more rebates and a lower money rate than if i would have tried to buy it up front. Therefore it is actually cheaper for me to lease it and at the end have the option to buy it for a predetermined amount. With the big drop in resale values of theses trucks, my residual is already higher than what my truck is worth so it would be stupid of me to try or even want to purchase it at the end. In this case, the preset residual value is saving me from being upside down on my truck. I have never kept a vehicle longer than 3 years anyway so for my lifestyle it works perfect. Always in warranty, only maintaince is basically oil changes and tire rotations, never upside down on a car loat, and the best part paying no money down on a $37k truck and having a payment including sales tax of $310/ month vs a $500+ payment if i tried to buy it and i would still probably have negative equity when i tried to trade it in in 3 years. I know leasing isn't for everyone but i wanted to give an example of why some of us do it!!

 

From a financial viewpoint leasing almost always puts individuals on the short end of the stick compared to buying. You aren't getting lower payments for nothing, and if you bought vehicles with the intention of buying a new one every three years you'd come out ahead with buying because you have principle value in each existing vehicle knocking down the price of the newer vehicle. For businesses it can make sense because a lease is completely tax deductable without the implications of it being a capital asset, and in some cases, having to use a depreciation schedule.

There are many articles on financial web sites dealing with the false impressions about leasing. There are many online calculators for comparing personal leases verses purchasing - and leasing almost always loses. Trying to time leases and residual rates to what the market may be doing in three years is like trying to time the stock market: you can't do it and its the luck of the draw.

Personally, I don't see the value in having to make payments for decades on end just so I can have something new every three years (studies have shown that this tends to be the single biggest factor in lengthening the number of years you must work before retiring). I'd rather retire comfortably at 50 (working that now) than barely retiring at 65-70. Every new vehicle I bought was bought only when the incentives were huge and the interest rate low and driven until the vehicle lifespan was used up.

I don't buy new unless the deal is so good that a 2-3 year old vehicle doesn't measure up, otherwise I buy used. I use the one payment plan for used, and for new the interest rate must be lower than what my money earns in a CD, bond fund, or money market fund.

 

[quote=FTE Ken;6816500]From a financial viewpoint leasing almost always puts individuals on the short end of the stick compared to buying. You aren't getting lower payments for nothing, and if you bought vehicles with the intention of buying a new one every three years you'd come out ahead with buying because you have principle value in each existing vehicle knocking down the price of the newer vehicle.

So what you are saying is that since my lease is saving me $200 a month i would be better off buying upfront and trading after 3 years because i would have equity in my vehicle? Lets see here, 36 months x $200/month savings is the equivalant of having $7200 in equity. Not to mention in a lease you don't pay sales tax on the whole vehicle, only the portion that you are using. Also at the end of my lease i have a guaranteed residual value which is what protects me ( the consumer) from having inequity. It also gives me the opportunity to trade out of my vehicle if my value is higher than the residual or even sell it, pay off the balance and pocket the profit. Leasing just gives you options. I like to look at it as a purchase with a guarantee. One thing i have noticed that is a negative to leasing is that all leases aren't created equal. Some manufacturers have outrageous money rates which aren't as good as apr's from a bank in a buying situation and also some manufacturers don't give you the rebates with their leases. My dodge gave me a money rate = to approximately 3.25% and gave me all the rebates + lease loyaty which was an extra $1000 + i negotiated the price to 500 under invoice. So my gross capitalize cost including lease acquition fee was $26300 on a msrp $37400 truck with a residual of $17200. So basically in my 39 month lease i am paying the difference from the $26300 from the lease end value of $17200. My payments are just over $310/ month including my sales tax of 6.5% with no money down. I still have a bit over a year left in my lease but i can tell you with the way the market turned there is no way i could get $17200 for my truck on trade in right now. This is where my lease has protected my from having negative equity plus i didn't have to fork over $1700 in taxes. And if i chose to keep my truck when the lease is over then i have the option to purchase the rest of the truck for $17200 which i will not do because i enjoy not having to keep a vehicle long enough for me to get to know the local repair/tire/brake shop. By the time my tires get a bit worn out, my lease is up and i get a fresh start. I am having a tough time finding all the shortcomings of this. I do believe this is why chrysler in particular has quit the leasing business. They are losing tons of money when these vehicles come back off lease and send them to auction where they are getting thousands less than residual values. Better them losing thousands than me!! Unfortunately the good old days of leasing are probably never gonna be the same and i will eventually have to bite the bullet and purchase my next vehicle. I will perhaps have to change my vehicle habits and try to keep my vehicle for 6+ years or perhaps by something preowned with low miles to knock off that initial depreciation. All in all i don't think you can say that all leases are bad for the consumer. Sorry for making this so long but i wanted to show that if you know how a lease works, you can make it work to your benefit. Problem is most people don't understand leases very well and negotiate a payment versus looking at the big picture.

 

One other quick note. Before I started leasing my vehicles i "owned" a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee and my wife owned a 1996 plymouth breeze. I realized what i owned when i went to trade them in and found out i was $5500 upside down on the breeze and $2500 upside down on the Jeep. Yeah that is something i was proud to "own". Now 7 years later my payment on my 2007 ram is $20 more a month then my used jeep was back then and i am enjoying a new vehicle vs used, my kids are safer and i am not spending extra money on tires/ brakes/ batteries ... etc Like i said before vehicles are not a good investment and we must find ways to minimize our losses for the luxury of getting to drive.

 

purchase price $48420 for both terms

10% down on both

lease needs another $6932 on top of the down payment

lease cost $745 a month x 36 $26820 + $6932= $33752

finance cost $1221 x 36 = $43956

Now as i look at it i will be $10000+ better of after the 36month term if i came to sell the truck. am i working things out wrong as you would have to be crazy to lease. I used ford lease or finance calculator so i guess it's pretty much spot on.

 

If these calculations are correct, it appears that the money rate is very high and the residual must be very low. On top of that i would bet that ford is not offering all the rebates available on the purchase for the lease. Like i said before, the good old days of leasing are behind us. The manufacturers are tired of losing money on them so they are reorganizing to make them less attractive or eliminating them all together. In your senerio i would agree that that is a dumb lease.

 

Wow, just went to the ford website and tried to estimate a lease payment on 2009 ford supercrew 4x4 for zero down 12k/year and came up with a payment approaching 700/month and that is figuring getting the vehicle close to invoice!! Wow these truly do suck. I am gonna ride enjoy my cheap payment as long as possible that is for sure!